10/08/2026
BY JACK BULLOCK
FLORA - The Flora Wolves put together another dominating performance on Thursday night at home against Hamilton County.

Coach Brian Tackitt's squad came up with their third shutout of the season as they led from start to finish in a 36-0 win over the Foxes on a rare Thursday night contest.

Senior Night turned into quite the celebration as the Wolves held Hamilton County to just 108 total yards of offense.

Flora senior quarterback Thane Warren threw a trio of touchdown passes and classmate Kormik Massie carried the ball 14 times for 168-yards and two touchdowns in Flora's seventh win of the season.

Seven different ball carriers combined for 239-yards and Warren finished with 127-yards in the air.

But the defense on the night was exquisite, as they also forced a pair of interceptions in the win.

“We talked about it that we want to be playing our best football at the end of the season,” said Coach Tackitt. “We thought tonight was going to be a tough one. They (Hamilton County) are really, really good but we played really well tonight. Tonight scared me a lot. A short week and we had to prepare for an offense that is unique. We haven't seen a quarterback like that this year. We want to keep the momentum going.”

Hamilton County and head coach Rhet Vaughan fell to 5-3 on the season with the loss.

The Foxes didn't cross midfield until the fourth quarter on their final drive of the game.

Flora's Gage Dugan and Kehlin Crawford led the Wolves in receiving yards.

Crawford caught three passes for 71-yards and Dugan finished with two receptions for 51-yards, including a 17-yard touchdown on Flora's first possession of the game to take a 7-0 lead.

Massie closed the scoring with a 63-yard third quarter touchdown run while senior Zane McKinney and junior Ashton Williams each caught scoring passes from Warren, who broke the single season record for TD passes in the win.

Junior quarterback Dallas Benbrook was just 6-of-18 passing for Hamilton County, with a pair of interceptions.

Senior running back Brody Bilderbeck led the Foxes with 30-yards rushing on eight attempts.

“Our defense executed the game plan pretty well tonight. We tried to contain Benbrook as much as we could,” said Coach Tackitt. “Our seniors showed up big time tonight.”

Flora took the opening kickoff and it took less than three minutes to score.

The 57-yard scoring drive of eight plays finished with the Dugan TD, a 17-yard strike from Warren.

Senior Mateus Tricerri kicked his first of four extra points for a 7-0 advantage with 9:15 left in the opening quarter.

After forcing a three-and-out by Hamilton County, the Wolves started their second scoring drive as they quickly picked up four first downs and moved 80-yards for points.

A 27-yard pass play from Warren to Crawford got the ball to the Hamilton County one-yard line.

Massie finished the job with a run up the middle for the touchdown and a 14-0 lead.

Flora began its third scoring march from their own 21.

The drive took 12-plays.

Dugan caught a 22-yard pass in the drive and Massie added to his rushing stats with 28 of the 79-yards.

Warren hit McKinney with a screen pass and the senior running back scored the Wolves' third TD.

Another PAT by Tricerri pushed the lead to 21-0 early in the second quarter.

Flora forced the Foxes into another three-and-out and finished off the first half scoring with a second touchdown pass from Warren.

Sophomore Carson Smith got in on the action rushing the ball five times for 43-yards in the game, with three of the attempts coming on the fourth scoring drive.

His nine-yard run set up an 18-yard touchdown pass from Warren to junior running back Ashton Williams.

Senior lineman Brennan O'Donnell got in on the fun of Senior Night as he took a hand-off from Warren and plowed into the endzone for a two-point conversion and a 29-0 halftime lead.

Stopping Hamilton County after the second half kickoff, Flora scored its final points on its first possession.

Massie took a hand-off and took off on a 63-yard run for a touchdown.

The senior broke through the Hamilton County defense and out-raced the Foxes to the endzone.

The final PAT kick by Tricerri finished the scoring.

“He (Massie) is just solid. When you think about Flora football and what you want your kids to be like, it's Kormik Massie. He's just so tough. I would not want to have to tackle him. He just wears defenses down. He's been the heartbeat of this team this year.. We will go as far as he takes us.”

Three of his five kickoffs for Flora ended up being touchbacks.

Flora will close out its season next weekend with a Saturday afternoon game at Red Hill while Hamilton County will travel next Friday night to Fairfield.

With the expanded playoff format, both Flora and Hamilton County will qualify with their current win totals.

Flora, with a win next weekend, would finish 8-1 and would likely get a first round bye while the Foxes would likely have to play in the opening round.

“We have talked about getting that bye because we think we can get healthier so it would be nice to not have to play Week 10,” said Coach Tackitt.