The Louisville Bulls will finally have a home game.

Saturday August 15th will be the Bulls home opener hosting the

Cleveland Cobras at Fern Creek High School.

Kickoff is at 7p.m.

Admission is $8 at the gate,

but you can buy a ticket in advance from

a Bulls player or staff member for just $6

Kids 12 and under still FREE at Bulls games

The Louisville Bulls opened the 2009 season on the road at Evansville Central Stadium, facing the Ohio River Bearcats of the Mid-West Football League.  The Bulls came away with the 24-6 victory but received mixed reviews from the coaches.  While the Bulls scored on their first 2 possessions and appeared to be in firm control of the game late in the 2^nd quarter a turnover handed the Bearcats a touchdown and put them back in the game, with confidence and momentum going into halftime.  The Bulls rallied and held the Bearcats without a second half score, but could only put 3 points on the board themselves in the half.   The offense was able to put together 4 good scoring drives but other drives were stalled by lack of execution and penalties.  The defense held the Bearcats to zero offensive scores, including five red-zone possessions, and had 5 fumbles recovered, but allowed some big plays and too much yardage for the coaches to give better marks for the game as a whole.

The Bulls had some good showings by returning players, including Bernard Barnes amassing 221 yards of total offense, 201 yards in the first half alone.  Thomas Wilkins had 8 carries for 82 yards, Keena Watts had 2 receptions for 25 yards, and Chris Curry added a 19 yard reception.  Quarterback Marcus Warren had a solid performance completing 6 of 17 passes for 90 yards but an interception returned for a touchdown and several dropped passes marred his night.

MCFL 2008 Defensive MVP Mike Snyder kept going into this year, with 5 solos, 8 assists, 4.5 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble, and 1 pass break-up.  Charles “Cookie” Ricketts had 1 solo and 6 assists, and 2 sacks, while Brandon Burfict, Danny Smith, Phillip Garrard, Lamont Hunter, Stuart McCormick, TJ Young, Dustin Noe, and Nick Moore all had good performances on defense.

Newcomers also had big games for the Bulls, Tony Blocker completed 2 of 3 passes for 79 yards.  Rookie running back Leonard Gwinn had the first touchdown for the Bulls in 2009 with a 5 yd run.  Gwinn is also known as “Dirty Carleone” and his rap videos can be found on youtube, Gwinn relocated to Louisville from Alabama and is pursuing a music career in Louisville.

Bulls “Free-Agent” signee Brandon Ditto had a huge impact on the game with 5 solo tackles, 4 assists, 3.5 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 4 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery, and a pair of quarterback hurries.  Joe Elder added 1 solo and 3 assists, and Josh Jenkins had 1 solo, 1 assist, 1 break-up and a fumble recovery.

New Bulls kicker Karl Heinz-Williams was perfect on the night connecting on all 3 PAT kicks, and a 25 yard field goal, as well as handling punting duties.

The Bulls started the game strong with a 46 yard opening kickoff return by Bernard Barnes, 3 runs by Thomas Wilkins and a 20 yd Warren to Barnes pass led the way for Leonard Gwinn’s 5 yard touchdown.  The Bulls defense forced a Bearcats punt.  Tony Blocker connected with Bernard Barnes for a 81 yd pass, setting up Nick Moore’s 3 yd TD plunge, Heinz-Williams’ kick gave the Bulls a 14-0 lead with 6:58 remaining in the 1^st quarter.  The defense then forced a 3 & out punt, followed by several traded possessions by each team.

The Bulls defense forced a Bearcat punt with just under nine minutes left in the 2^nd quarter.  Bernard Barnes had a 33 yd return putting the offense on the Bearcat 43 yard line.  Thomas Wilkins ran for 10 yards on first down, then broke free for a 33 yard score on the next play.  Heinz-Williams added the kick and the Bulls led 21-0 with 8:35 left in the 2^nd quarter.

Linebacker Mike Head put the Bearcats on the scoreboard with a 35 yard interception return, the kick failed, and the Bearcats closed the gap to 21-6 with 3:40 remaining in the first half.

            The Bulls closed out the scoring on a drive set up by a Mike Snyder forced fumble, recovered by Brandon Ditto, putting Louisville 1^st & 10 on the Bearcats 32 yard line.  The Bearcats defense stiffened and held the Bulls to a 25 yard field goal by Heinz-Williams.

            While the Bulls got the victory, there were signs of rust from the offseason, and the Bulls have things to work on for the 2 remaining non-league games prior to the MCFL regular season.  Several key players did not play in the first game, and most should be joining the team for the next game vs the Louisville Saints.

This season you can follow the Bulls on Twitter!

Bulls VP Pete White will be "tweeting" from the press box of all Bulls games

this season, so you can follow the game live when unable to attend with updates after each score, end of quarters, and any big plays or key stats.

 In addition the coaches may post tweets through Pete at other times.

The Bulls Twitters account is www.twitter.com/louisvillebulls

We have 2 different sites to view Bulls pictures, the first is the Shutterfly site that comes with our eteamz site and allows anyone to add albums or pictures.  It is available here

http://louisvillebulls.eteamz.shutterfly.com/action/

The second is a Flickr site done by Bulls FB/DE Nick Moore ( # 44 ), the pictures were taken by his wife Jessica.  It is available here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/louisvillebulls