Thursday, February 28, 2008

Lincoln Girls Victorious in 45th District Title Bout

The Lincoln County Lady Pats won the 45th District Championship tonight, in Stanford, 72-57. The Lady Pats maintained a double figure lead most of the night, leading by as many as 21 at one point in time.

The win improves the Lady Pats' record to 23-6, and puts the team in the top half of the 12th region tournament bracket, assuring them a first round game against a loser from another district. The draw for the 12th region tournament is Saturday. WPBK FM (102.9) will air live coverage of the pairings. The 12th region girls tournament will be at the Lincoln County gym.

Three LadyPats were selected to the 45th District All-Tournament team. They were sophomore Jessica Upchurch, sophomore Nikki Bustle, and senior Savannah Lane.

Don Story has led the Lady Pats to the 12 region tournament all three years as head coach. The last time the region was held in Stanford, three years ago, was Story's first year. The team was eliminated by Rockcastle County that year.

The LadyPats will be one of the favorites to win the championship, on their home court, and advance to Diddle Arena for a Sweet Sixteen appearance. Everyone get out and support the girls next week. The tournament will start next Monday, March 3.

We'll post game times as soon as they are available.

Patriot Sports Talk Call-In Show

Patriotsportstalk.com will be hosting a postgame call-in show after every round of the girls 12th region tournament. The show will be called Patriot Sports Talk and will be hosted by Brad Smith and Vance Mitchell.
The first show will be on Monday night at the conclusion of the 12th region tournament action. The show will be on 102.9 WPBK FM. The show is geared toward interaction from the audience, so please call in and be part of the fun.
Here is the link to the WPBK home page, there is an article about the new show on there. http://www.wpbkfm.com/

WPBK is the official home of Lincoln County Patriot sports action, tune in and catch all the Patriot action live as they follow the Patriot squads on their quest to the state tournament.

Monday, February 25, 2008

District Tournament

The basketball season starts over this week. The district tournament starts tonight, at Lincoln County High School, with boys basketball action. The Danville Admirals will play Kentucky School for the Deaf in the "play-in" game for the oppurtunity to move on in the 45th district tournament. The winner of this game will play the number one seed, the Lincoln County Patriots. Here is how the boys tournment lays out.

Monday: Danville vs. KSD
Wednesday: Lincoln Co. vs. winner of play-in game
Garrard Co. vs. Boyle Co.
Friday @ 7:30: Boys district championship.

The girls tournament action will get underway Tuesday night. The LadyPats too have the top seed. They will be hosting Garrard County Tuesday night in the opening round. Here is the girls schedule.

Tuesday: Lincoln Co. vs. Garrard Co.
Danville vs. Boyle Co.
Thursday: Girls championship

If you notice, the girls and boys both have their own night to cut down the nets this year.

Everyone needs to get out to the games this week and support the teams. They are having two of the finest seasons in the history of the school. The boys enter the district tournament with a 22-5 record. And are one of the favorites to win the region. http://www.kentucky.com/289/story/327273.html (look at #15)

Even the Advocate Messenger cannot deny the Pats, http://www.amnews.com/public_html/?module=displaystory&story_id=38638&format=html picking them as their favorite too.

The girls enter the district tournament with a record of 21-6, and have a great shot a sweet 16 run. They have the advantage of playing the rest of the season (district and region) on their home court. Hopefully we will be seeing them play a lot more games at home this season.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Welcome Coach Settles!!!!!!!!!

Patriot Sports talk would like to welcome Coach Mike Settles to PATRIOT Country. I have heard nothing but great things about Coach Settles and I am excited about the future of LINCOLN football. Mike Settles was selected as coach of the year in 2005. He is a great defensive mind and believes in hard work in the weight room. I also heard that he is recruiting some top level assistants to bring to the program as well, and it's not Stonebreaker or anyone mentioned earlier. Let's all get behind him and support him in any way we can. Thanks to all parties that made the hiring of Mike Settles possible.

Basketball Update

It's tournament time, and Lincoln County is on a roll. The Boys and Girls basketball teams are having great seasons. Both squads have 21 wins. I can't remember a time when the school had more success than now. Both teams sporting 1 seeds and home court advantage in the upcoming district tournament.

The coaching duo of Jeff Jackson and Don Story are doing great things with the Lincoln County basketball program. The success doesn't end there, the middle school had the most successful teams in the history of the league too. All three grades (6,7,8) went undefeated in conference play and made deep tournament runs. The 7th grade made it to the final four and the 8th advanced to the sweet sixteen. Coach Eric Ralston and his staff are doing a great job.

The Lady Pats improved their record to 21-5 last night, with a win over region foe McCreary Central. A chance for regular season win number 22 will come Friday night, when they travel down to Liberty for battle with Casey County. This is a preview of two of the better teams in the region, and a good tune up for the upcoming tournaments. The Lady Pats have the district and region tournaments on their home floor, so a sweet sixteen trip is not outside the realm of possibilities for this young Patriot squad.

The boys ran their record to 21-4 on Saturday night with nice road win against Somerset. The Pats will play their final regular season home game tonight against the Dunbar Bull Dogs.

Dunbar brings an impressive 17-6 record into Patriot Palace. They are 8-5 within their region, which is regarded as the toughest region in the state. They are currently ranked 12th in the Rating the State power rankings. Oddly enough, LC has fell out of the rankings despite winning three games this week. This will be a good game for LC heading into tournament time. Dunbar has the type of talent they will test LC and get them ready for a deep tourny run.

This is the last regular season home game for these great seniors. Everyone get out and support this kids tonight. If you can't make it to the game, 102.9 WPBK will be carrying the game live.
Pregame starting at 7:15, tipoff around 7:30.

Monday, February 18, 2008

It Ain't Physics, Bring Back the Mascot

All this talk of the search for a new football coach got me thinking. A football coach ain't all this school is missing.

Every great team is represented by a symbol that is identifiable to all who see it.Western Kentucky University is known as the Hilltoppers. Their mascot has received nation wide fame over the past few years. Numerous commercials on national television. Great exposure for a rather unknown small university located in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Teams are recognized for their mascot, or mascots. Heck, UK has two. The famous Wildcat, and fun and goofy Scratch. USC has the Trojan Horse, Notre Dame has the Leperchaun and so on and so on.High school sports teams don't always showcase their beloved mascots. It is very rare in this day and age. It's time for change!

Those who have followed the Pats for years probably remember the good ole days when their mascot attented every football game. The majestic white horse galloping down the hill onto the track (which ironically is now in such bad condition a horse could not eat off of it) bring school spirit and pride to all. People from afar wondering who or what could being jockeying this creature of freedom, fans chanting, yankee doodle went to town being blasted (heard at least ten feet from the bleachers) by the band. All this in anticipation of the PATRIOT. The one and only mascot of Lincoln County High School. Who was behind the mask, the mystery is unknown; unless you were a member of the FCA or took Physics at LCHS or looked real closely at the man on the horse.

It didn't matter who the man on the horse was, or if this story is true. Mascots are cool, and entertaining to kids and wives who pay no attention to the game. Mascots are for all the people watchers out there, who need something to do when the game gets boring. We all know one or two.

SARCASM, some get it. Some don't

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Can the Lincoln County Patriots win a State Championship???

What does everyone think? I think it should be our goal in every sport. What does it take to get to that level? Can Lincoln get there? I believe it takes a special combination all aspects of the game coming together in the same year. I truly believe Lincoln has had years in the past where they were better than the eventual state champion in their respected class, but one of the aspects fell apart. For example, Bell County won the 3A state championship in 1991, and Lincoln County smashed them in scrimmages at camp that same year. So does that make Lincoln County the State Champion, no, because they didn't put the whole year together. One of the wheels fell off that kept them from making it.
Here are my thoughts on what it takes to make it: 1. Talent, you have to have it. 2. Great coaching, talent won't matter if it's not focused. 3. Discipline, have to stay focused on and off the field throughout the year. 4. Committment, from all parties involved. 5. Easy path in the playoffs, this matters because two top notch teams could beat each other up before you get to them, you only have to battle one. 6. Leadership, someone has to step up and carry the torch. 7. Heart and Desire, without a doubt, uncontrollable and most neccessary, it must come from within.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Lincoln County Patriots extend record to 18-4

The Patriot basketball team has gone 4-0 over the last 4 games against Danville, Wayne, Monticello, and Mercer. Lincoln now sits at 13-1 in the region, with the only loss to McCreary. McCreary lost last week to Rockcastle, who Lincoln plays this Friday in Lincoln County Lightning Arena. This has been a great year, and I hope it only continues as we look to invade Rupp for the second straight year. Ryan Young has already eclipsed 1000 career points this season and Noah Keeton and Daniel Ralston aren't far behind. It is really something to have three guys make this milestone in the same year. I understand that the school board has approved plans to turn the ridge behind Death Valley into a Mount Rushmore type of memorial to Young, Keeton, and Ralston.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Lincoln's new coach????

Here we go true Patriot fans, who will Lincoln's next coach be? Who will lead us to the coveted state championship that we all want to bring home to Standing Fort. Drop some knowledge on who you are for and what you think.....