Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Homecoming vs. Flu

This week is homecoming week. That is, as long as the flu-bug allows. The flu has already shut down the 6th grade center in Lincoln County and has really taken a toll on the whole community. The Pats felt the symptoms of the flu last week, missing some key contributers and others (that played) were unable to compete like normal because they were feeling the effects of the nasty bug.

Hopefully they will be better by this Friday, when the Pats host Pulaski County at Death Valley. It's the annual homecoming game, and the team really needs a lot of festive homecoming spirit to rally the troops and get the team ready to go. Last weeks game was probably the most uninspired, somber crowd I've ever seen at a LC game. The team feeds off the crowd, show up and support the team (win or lose)!

Now on to the game. The Maroons are bringing a 3-3 record into the contest. This will be their first district game of the year. They have had a weird season to date. They lost a couple of their best players in the first couple of games of the season.

PC will still have plenty of athletes on the field, and will run a wide open offense. They score a lot and give up a lot of points. they average 35ppg and give up 31ppg. They've played a couple of the same teams the Pats have played. PC defeated Rockcastle 47-41, one week after Rockcastle blew out LC. And they beat East Jessamine 35-30, a team LC fell to on the opening weekend of the season.

PC is led in rushing by Alex Abner. Abner has 500 yards rushing and 10 rushing td's. Backup QB, who took over after star QB Chris Muse went down in game two, has thrown for over 800 yards 12 td's. So, they have a balanced attack. Expect a lot of shotgun, wide open, spread offense.

The Pats really need to get this win. They have came out and played well in spurts, but they seem to run out of energy and give up a big play. The margin for error is to narrow to give up the big play. It'll take 48 minutes of determination and focus to pull off the upset, but the Pats can do it.

PC- 3-3 (0-0)
LC- 1-4 (0-1)

Korey Coleman Headed to State

Korey Coleman recently placed third in the regional golf tournament held at General Burnside Island State Park.

Coleman finished behind two other girls, who were both from Russell County. Coleman almost made it to state last year too, missing the cut by one stroke.

LINK

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Pats Lose 3rd Straight

The Patriots dropped their third straight contest on Friday night in Death Valley to the Southwester Pulaski Warriors. The Pats played a very competitive first half, leading 7-6 at the end the 1st quarter. But they were unable to sustain that early success and eventually fell 38-7.

The Pats got off to a great start. Stopping SW on their first drive of the game. However, LC fumbled the ball on their first play from scrimmage and SW quickly capitalized and scored. The Pats answered matched them right back and took the lead on a Austin Hinds 10 yard pass to Ryan West.

That would be the end of the scoring for the Patriots. They were really never able to move the ball the rest of the game, finishing with 115 yards (65 rushing, 50 passing). The Pats were their own worse enemy, turning the ball over 4 times. Including three interceptions. The loss puts the Pats at 1-4 (0-1 district). The Pats second district contest will be next Friday night against the Pulaski County Maroons. The game will also serve as Homecoming for Lincoln County High School.

Click for Stats: STATS

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Pats Lose 48-24

Washington County came to Death Valley on Friday night and made a huge second half surge to blowout the Pats 48-24.

The Pats dominated the first half, smashing the ball down the throats of Washington County. Matt Carrier had a huge night running the ball. LC eventually led the game 24-7 in the 3rd quarter. LC lead 24-13 entering the third quarter, the gave up 35pts in the 4th to lose the game 48-24.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Know Your Foe: Game 4

The week four foe: the Commander (n.) n. A person who commands, especially a commanding officer.

This week the Pats will try to rebound from a disappointing performance in the Renfro Valley Bowl and get their second win of the year against the Washington County Commanders. The Commanders are coached by Head Coach Mark Perry. They are a 2A school (region 1, district 4).

Washington County played at Death Valley last year in the Death Valley bow, where they defeated the Patriots. They are playing at Lincoln again this year on Friday night at 7:30. The Commanders bring an 0-3 record with them. They suffered a heartbreaking loss to rival Taylor County last week, 28-27. They have were blown out by Western Hills and also lost to Shawnee. So, they are pretty desperate for their first win of the season.

In years past, Perry has ran a wide open spread offense at Washington County. I expect him to do the same on Friday night.

This is a big game for the Pats, they need to rebound from their bad first half in Mt. Vernon and even the record at 2-2. The Pats didn't play with a lot of emotion in the first half the other night. They came out in the second half with fire in their belly and played a pretty good half of football. The Pats need to put four good quarters of football together and send the Commanders back to Springfield 0-4.

Everyone get out and support the team, get excited about football. A little help from the crowd would go a long way in getting the gets energized. Heck, I'd like to hear the "we don't, we don't, we don't mess around" chant make a comeback.

Washington County 0-3
LC 1-2 (0-0)

Friday, September 11, 2009

Renfro Valley Blues

Much to my surprise, the Patriots were involved in a bowl game on Friday night. The Renfro Valley Bowl to be exact, where they faced the Rockcastle County Rockets on their home field in Mt. Vernon. The Rockets dominated the Patriots from start to end, and won by a margin of 42-14. On top of that, defensive standout Vinny Morris sustained an injury at the end of the first half and was unable to return to the game. Hopefully, he is ok.

I didn't have a clue that this was a bowl game, and I noticed the PA man for Rockcastle County said they had another bowl game in Mt. Vernon next week. Every game must be a bowl game???

Back to the matter at hand, the game. LC came out flat and allowed the Rockets to score 21 unanswered points in the first quarter. Rockcastle was lining up and running it right down LC's throat. John Saylor and Clarke Rowe were having there way gaining over 300 yards rushing combined on the evening. The bright spot for LC had to be the play of the defensive lineman. Clayton Coopet, Matt Deboard, Jerricho Ware and the boys did a good job at getting into the backfield and making some tackles for a loss.

The Rock took a 28-0 lead to the half, holding LC to -35 rushing yards in the first half (-47 for the game). Lincoln came out after the half and played with some fire, trailing 35-0 in the 3rd they Pats quickly scored two touchdowns. First, on a 1 yard run by Matt Carrier (set up by a 49 reception from Jordan Coffman). Then, after holding the Rockets to a 3 and out, the senior Julian Calhoun fielded a punt on the 41 yd line and returned it for a touchdown. The Pats then kicked an onside kick and recovered it. But were unable to capitalize and eventually fell 42-14. Rockcastles defense was too much for LC, holding them to negative rushing yards on the night.

LC, believe or not, had plenty of chances to make this a game. They just did too much arm tackling in the first half, and allowed the Rock to build a big lead. The loss sends LC to 1-2. The win moves Rockcastle County to 2-1.

Here is a look at some stats:

Rushing- Carrier 6/-1yds TD
Calhoun 7/-8yds
Graham 2/2yds (fumble)

Passing- Hinds 7/22 119yds 3 interceptions

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Know Your Foe: Game 3

The week three foe: the Rocket (n.) any flying device propelled by the reactive force of hot gases expelled in the direction opposite its direction.


The Patriots are fresh off of their first win of the season. They will take their 1-1 record to Mt. Vernon this Friday night and battle their long time rival, the Rockcastle Rockets.


The Rock enters the contest with a 1-1 record. They were easily defeated by the Boyle County Rebels in week one, 42-22. They followed that up with an easy win of their own in week two, defeating Wayne County 34-0. Lincoln County leads the all-time series between the two 11-8. LC has won 2 of the last three games between the two.


This will be a daunting task for the young Patriots. Rockcastle is a tough place to play, and they have a pretty solid team this year (as usual). Rockcastle runs a pretty balanced offense. They will mix it up with the run and pass. Their leading rusher is Clark Rowe. He has 266 yards on 41 carries. The Rock's quarterback is Dustin Bishop. Bishop is 24/36 on the season, with 273 yards and 3 td's.

LC should be riding high with confidence coming off of their dismantling of the Madison Southern Eagles. LC had a huge not running the ball. Rockcastle is known for having a stingy rush defense, so it may be tougher sledding this week for the Pats who gained 302 yards rushing last week.

Rockcastle County (1-1)
LC (1-1, 0-0)

Brown Committs to Gardner Webb

Gardner-Webb is best known in these parts for beating UK in mens basketball two seasons ago, now locals will have a reason to root for the Runnin' Bulldogs. Senior Lady Pat basketball standout Kendra Brown has verbally committed to play basketball for Gardner-Webb next year.

Brown will be receiving a full scholarship to play for the D1 program located in Boiling Springs, NC (about five hours from Stanford) Brown has been a force in the 12th region for years now, and has been the anchor to LC's deep tournament runs. Good luck to Kendra and her family.

LINK

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Pats Stomp Eagles

The Lincoln County Patriots rebounded from the Death Valley bowl loss with a win over the Madison Southern Eagles. The Pats scored early and often, jumping out to an 28-0 lead and eventually winning the game 42-21.

LC was paced by a very impressive rushing attack, and a superb performance from sophomore defensive end Vinny Morris. The entire LC ground game had their way on Friday night at Death Valley. However, junior Matt Carrior anchored the attack running for 107 yards (2 td's) on 14 carries. The Pats nearly had two 100 yard rushers. Sophomore Deon Shannon fell just short, running for 95 yards on 9 carries. The Pats ran for over 300 yards as a team.

The Pats run defense was on point all night long. Limiting the Eagles to 54 rushing yards, only giving up 202 for the entire game. 67 of those came on one play in the 4th quarter when Carrington Roberts hit Rico Brown on a 67 yard strike for a touchdown. LC's defense was very aggressive. They sacked the Brown 4 times. Vinny Morris got to him twice. Morris had 6 tackles, 2 sacks, forced fumble, defensive td and a blocked extra point. He really put on a show. He has a lot of potential.

The Pats came out and played with emotion, and sustained it for most of the game. Now they have to build on this success, next up is Rockcastle County. Who shut out Wayne County 34-0. This was an impressive win for LC. Southern had to be thinking they had a shot to win this game. Especially coming off of their close performance against West Jessamine. West defeated Southern by one point last week. West followed that up with a game against Garrard County this week, and beat Garrard.

Stats:

rushing-
Matt Carrier 14 carries/107 2tds
Deon Shannon 9/95 1td
Julian Calhoun 8/35 1td
Brandon Graham 8/34

passing-
Austin Hinds 4/14 53 yards, 1td

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Know Your Foe: Game 2

The week 2 foe: the Eagle (n.) 1. a large bird of prey with broad wings and strong soaring flight.

The second game of the young season is upon us. The Pats will once again be playing at Death Valley this week, kickoff is slated for 7:30 against the Madison Southern Eagles.

The Eagles are a 4a school (region 1, district 7) and are coached by David Brumley. Southern opened their season two weeks ago, losing at West Jessamine 27-28. Southern had a chance to tie the game with less than a minute to go and had their extra point blocked. That close score was a big surprise. Most expected West Jess. to have their way with Southern, since the Eagles are coming off of an 0-10 season.

I'd say the kids were real excited about that close first game of the year they played, and are hungry to come to Death Valley and try to get a win over a program like Lincoln County. Southern had their bye week last week (undoubtedly watching the Death Valley Bowl).

The Pats are looking to rebound from their disappointing loss in the PBK Bank Death Valley Bowl against East Jessamine. Hopefully, with a real game under the belt and the support of the faithful Patior fans the team will rebound this week and get their first victory of the season.

One thing I didn't mention after the game last week was how good the press box looks. A much needed paint job, and they got the LC history put back up. It really gives Death Valley a different look.

Madison Southern 0-1
Lincoln County 0-1 (0-0 district)