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