On paper, it appeared that this would turn out to be a much closer game.  Both teams came into Friday night’s contest with identical records, 8-2 overall and 5-1 in the WHC.
The sole conference defeat for both teams had come at the hands of Mitchell, with both teams losing to the Mountaineers by a single point. Even the team mascots, the Wolverines and the Bearcats, are really nothing more than different names for the same animal.
Football games, however, are not played on paper, but rather, a chunk of real estate 120 yards long by 53-1/3 yards wide. And Friday night, on the field of play at the Little Big House, the visitors from Hendersonville left no question as to which team deserved the title of Western Highlands Conference champs, as the Bearcats thoroughly dominated the Polk County Wolverines.
“I felt like they outplayed us, outhit us and outcoached us – I’m man enough to admit it,” said Polk Head Coach Bruce Ollis following the 37-12 humbling that denied the Wolverines a third straight WHC championship. “We knew we were going to have to play about as well as we could play to beat them, and we didn’t – not by a long shot, we didn’t.”
The Bearcats jumped out to the early lead, as QB Grant Rivers connected with Mahcallum Duckett for a 25 TD strike midway through the first quarter.
Though Polk was able to answer the bell, with QB Alec Philpott sneaking into the end zone late in the quarter, the balance of the first half was all Bearcats, as Hendersonville notched three touchdowns in the span of eight minutes to make it 28-6 at the intermission.
Much of the hometown crowd, surprisingly small given the significance of the contest, made their way to the exits, leaving the teams to play out the mostly uneventful second half in an almost surreal stillness.
“I was very disappointed with the lack of fan support we had,” said Ollis.  “I thought that our seniors deserved better, and our football team deserved better.”
The loss was a disappointing end to an otherwise outstanding regular season, but Ollis promised that the Wolverines would redeem themselves as they open the state playoffs at home this week against Owen.
“We’re going to be PIGs this week – we’re going to play with Pride, Intensity and Guts,” said Ollis. “I’ll assure you that you’re going to see a better performance out of our football team this Friday night – I will guarantee it.”