Louisville – After facing perhaps the most brutal schedule imaginable, including four top 15 teams in their first seven games, and suffering serious setbacks due to injuries, the Oldham County Colonels were due a break.

But instead of a schedule break, they got the the tenth-ranked Bruins of Ballard. At Ballard. On Homecoming Night.

And instead of a break from the injury bug, they got a new "break" – as in the breaking of leading receiver Brandon Gathof’s fingers during practice.

Fortunately for the Colonels, the game wasn’t an absolute "must-win" game. In fact, Oldham County will still be favored to make the playoffs…but that’s hardly a given, and after losing to Ballard, the Colonels now must depend on help from others. But more on that later.

Ballard got things going quickly. On their first series, the Bruins started on their own 10 after a penalty on a punt return. On the first play from scrimmage, senior quarterback Whit Bradley completed a pass for 38 yards to move Ballard to just shy of the midfield stripe. The pass ignited a thirteen play drive. After ten plays, the Bruins had mixed six runs and four passes effectively, and moved the ball to the Oldham County four yard line, with Bradley hitting all four of his passes for 64 of the 86 yards.

But on first and goal, with the Bruins in a shotgun formation, the snap sailed high over Bradley’s head, and bounced out toward midfield. By the time Bradley fell on it and was smothered by Oldham County defenders, the ball had rolled all the way to the Oldham County 37 yard line.

On third and goal from the 37, Bradley completed a 15 yard pass to the 22. From there, Chris Harden nailed a 39 yard field goal to give Ballard a 3-0 lead with 4:18 to go in the first.

The two teams struggled to move the ball against stubborn defenses until midway through the second period, when Oldham got a big play.

After starting on their own 34 yard line, the Colonels had advanced the ball just nine yards, when sophomore running back Kevin Bramblett took a handoff and sprinted to the outside. He found a slight crack along the sideline, and took off for the endzone, pursued by three Ballard defenders. The safety, Chris Hall, appeared to have the angle on Bramblett, but Kevin outraced him 57 yards for the touchdown. Nick Hoover’s point after made it 7-3, Oldham County, with 7:59 remaining in the half.

Late in the half, Ballard put together a 55 yard drive that culminated in a one yard touchdown plunge by Steve Chaney. Harden’s kick regained the lead for Ballard – for good – at 10-7.

Harden had the opportunity to stretch the lead just before intermission, but he missed a 21 yard field goal as time expired to end the first half.

At the half, the Colonels had just two first downs, and the passing game had amassed a miniscule 10 yards. In fact, over half of the Colonels’ 104 first half yards came on Bramblett’s 57 yard touchdown run.

Ballard, on the other hand, had moved the ball at will, garnering 12 first downs and amassing 217 yards in total offense. While Oldham had effectively bottling up the Bruins’ main offensive weapon, its potent running game, limiting Ballard’s runners to just 12 yards on 15 carries, Whit Bradley was raking the Colonel secondary for 205 yards through the air. The Bruins would have probably had more points at the half, but had suffered an interception, the bad snap that killed the first drive, and the missed chip-shot field goal to end the half.

The Bruins put together a long drive to start the second half, and Harden kicked a 41 yard field goal to extend the lead to 13-7.

The Colonels seemed to finally get their stagnant offense rolling on their first possession of the second half keyed by a 29 yard halfback pass from Miles Brewer to Ryan Phillips. But the drive ended when Oldham turned over the ball on an interception, the first of three Colonel turnovers in the second half.

When the third quarter ended, the Colonels trailed just 13-7, but they had yet to show the ability to move the ball against the attack defense employed by Ballard. Ballard also was finding the going more difficult as the Oldham defense was playing more aggressively.

Ballard fumbled away their first possession of the final quarter. And that’s when the "what if’s" began to pile up for Oldham County.

With about 9 and a half minutes to play, the Colonels fumbled the ball back to Ballard at the fifty yard line, killing a drive. The Colonel defense immediately put on the pressure on Ballard though, as D.J. Briggs came through the line untouched and sacked Bradley for a six yard loss. The Bruins were then flagged for a five yard penalty, threw an incompletion, and got tagged for a five yard delay of game penalty, setting up third and 26. Although Bradley completed a short third down pass, the Bruins were looking at a fourth and long play near midfield.

But the defensive stand was wasted when Ballard faked the punt, instead snapping the ball to the up-back, Whit Bradley. Bradley’s pass was completed for long yardage to the Colonel 22, setting up Harden’s third field goal, a 41 yarder, with 5:38 to play that made it 16-7.

The next offensive series proved disastrous for Oldham. The Colonels were moving the ball well, aided by a new wrinkle. Quarterback Derek Miller lined up in the shotgun formation , with two backs lined up directly to his right and one on his left. The third back was often defensive lineman Cord Johnson, all 300 pounds of him, providing added pass and run blocking. Often the snap would go to Kevin Bramblett or Miles Brewer directly, and the Colonels racked up big yardage on the ground with the play.

But Oldham self-destructed after Miller completed a fade pass to Brewer for a 27 yard gain to the Ballard 34. As Brewer was heading out of bounds, he was stripped of the ball. It bounced into the waiting arms of a Ballard defender, and the Bruins returned the fumble all the way to the Oldham 15 yard line. Seconds later, the Bruins were on the board again as Bradley found Dana Calhoun in the corner of the end zone for a thirteen yard touchdown pass. Harden’s kick made it 23-7 with just 3:53 remaining.

That’s when Oldham put together a last-ditch rally that nearly forced overtime. Starting from their own 20, the Colonels moved quickly downfield, keyed by the running of Bramblett. (Bramblett gained 90 yards on his final six carries of the game). Then, just 34 seconds after the Ballard touchdown, Brewer hauled in a pass from Miller along the sideline and raced 58 yards for the touchdown. Bramblett ran in the two point conversion, and suddenly Oldham County was back in the ball game, trailing just 23-15 with 3:19 to play.

The Oldham coaching staff elected to kick off deep, foregoing an onside kick attempt, and put the game in the hand of the defense. Ballard managed one first down, but was ultimately forced to punt the ball away. With 2:11 to play, Oldham had the ball at their own 27 and their fate in their hands.

The Colonels quickly moved to midfield, using out of bounds plays and first down plays to stop the clock. But on second and two, with the Colonels in their new-look formation, the ball was snapped over the backs’ heads. Jeremy Edgar fell on the ball for a nine yard loss. Besides bringing up third and 11, the play forced the Colonels to use their final timeout.

Brewer picked up nine yards on the next play, but on fourth and two, Miller was stopped on a quarterback keeper just shy of the first down marker with about 30 seconds to play. Bradley then took a knee, and Ballard ran out the clock to preserve the victory.

Ballard improves to 6-2 on the season and 3-2 in the district. Oldham County falls to 3-5 and 1-4.

• Oldham County forced two turnovers in the contest after Ballard had turned the ball over only twice in the previous three games.
• Oldham held the Bruin runners to just 56 yards on 31 carries. Ballard came into the contest averaging 180 yards rushing per game, and had averaged 238 yards in its previous three contests. It was only the second time all season Ballard had been held under 100 yards rushing; Trinity had limited the Bruins to 50 yards previously.
• The Colonels are guaranteed their worst record under Mike Jackson. In his eight seasons, no Mike Jackson-coached squad has lost more than four games (the Colonels are 3-5) and no Colonel team has finished lower than second in the district (this team can finish no better than fourth). Unless this team wins its last two regular season games and a playoff game, it will become the first Oldham squad with a losing record since the 1994 team went 3-7.
• The Colonels have now faced five teams (in eight contests) ranked in the top 14, according to the Courier-Journal Litkenhous ratings. The Colonels defeated #5 Danville and lost to #14 St. Xavier, #11 Eastern, #1 Trinity, and #10 Ballard.

Rushing – Kevin Bramblett, 15 carries, 170 yards, 1 TD

Passing – Derek Miller, 6 – 14 – 1 TD, 101 yards

Receiving – Miles Brewer 2 catches, 85 yards, 1 TD

Ryan Phillips 2-38, Justin Hoover 2-11

Though suffering through its worst district campaign ever under Mike Jackson, the Colonels will likely make the playoffs as the fourth place team in the district if they "win out" by defeating Jeffersontown next week and South Oldham in the season finale.

The Colonels will need some help; the Shelby County Rockets must lose to either Eastern or Fern Creek in one of their final two games. The Rockets will be heavy underdogs vs. Eastern. And South Oldham must lose to Ballard next week.