Holiday Tournament Action

Both the boys and girls are back in action. The boys are playing in Campbellsville in the Coca Cola Campbellsville University Classic. They play Metcalfe in the first game. The boys are shorthanded, they are without senior center Dillon Allison. He's out with a knee injury.

BOYS- click to see tournament bracket.

The girls are playing Mercer County in the Titans Christmas Clash. They play St. Henry in the first game.

Click here to see girls tournament bracket.

LC Defeats Defending Champs

LC trailed 19-18 at the half. A big 3rd quarter run, and huge night at the free-throw line won it for the Pats.

Long-17
Z. Hill-12
Cooper-15
Allison-10
Edgington-7
Sharpe-2

Polson (West Jess.)-23

Basketball Update

The Lady Patriots fell to Dunbar Saturday night in Lexington 64-52. They were playing in the Lady Defenders Classic. Here's a look at the tournament field. link

The boys will play at West Jessamine tonight. West is thought to be one of the favorites in the region. They return their top player, Jarrod Polson, from a final four Sweet Sixteen run from last year. Tip-Off is scheduled for 7:30 tonight in Nicholasville.

Pats Sweep the Cards

Lady Pats 60 - Lady Cards 28
Pats 74 - Cardinals 64

The girls got the festivities underway with a bounce back victory against the Wayne County Lady Cardinals. The Lady Pats won 60-28.

(scoring n/a)

Game 2 (boys):

Big win for the Patriots. Somewhat of a statement win to show the rest of the 12th region that they are once again going to be a player for the 12th region and 45th district championship.

Oddest stat about this game, LC didn't get a single point from their bench. Pats didn't need anymore scoring on this night, they defeated Wayne County 74-64.

Scoring:

Edgington-11

Z. Hill-17

Allison-4

Long-21

Cooper-21

Pats Travel to Wayne County

The Pats will make the trip to Wayne County tomorrow night for a tough early season test against 12th region foe Wayne County.

It will be a double-header. The girls will play first, and the boys will follow. Should be two very entertaining games. The boys have one common opponent. Wayne County defeated Rockcastle County by ten points last Tuesday. Lincoln County played the Rockets last Friday night and defeated them by 18pts.

Wayne County Boys- 2-0 (wins over Mercer Co./Rockcastle Co.)
Wayne County Girls- 0-2

Lady Pats Fall to Lady Rockets, 63-47

The Lady Pats suffered their first loss of the season Friday night in Stanford. The Lady Rockets controlled the game, and easily defeated Lincoln County 63-47.

This was the second game in a row that the Lady Pats had played against a top 25 team.

Scoring:

Fox-8
Upchurch-11
Bustle-14
Coleman-6
Smith-8
Saylor-1

Pats Beat Rockets 59-41

Lincoln evened their record at 1-1 on Friday night, when they defeated the Rockcastle County Rockets in Stanford.

The Pats and Rockets were tied 35-35 in the third quarter. The Pats then went on a 17-0 run to take a 52-35 lead. The Rockets didn't get their first bucket of the 4th quarter until the 3:00 mark. By that time the Pats had too big of a lead. Good win for the Pats (1-1).


Long-20 (5- 3pt)
Cooper-12
Hill-11
Allison-5
Edgington-2
Luke Hill- 2pts
Cummins-2
Deboard-2
Ward-2

Double-Header Against Rockcastle County

The boys and girls will play a double-header in Stanford tonight. The boys will play the first game at 6:00pm. The girls game will follow, probably around 7:30.

Both games should be very good. Especially the girls game. Both Rock and LC are considered a top 25 team by most around the state. The two, along with defending champ Casey County, are expected to compete for the 12th region title.

Pats Drop Home Opener, 61-49

The Russell County Lakers played spoiler for the second year in a row to the Lincoln County Patriots. Last year the Pats ventured to Russell County and lost. This year, they hosted the Lakers and lost again.

The Pats got off to a great start, and led 17-9 at the end of the first quarter. Foul trouble and good shooting by the Lakers allowed them to take control of the game in the second and third quarters. They eventually built a 17 point lead before LC decided to make a comeback.

LC cut the lead to six with a minute to go, but it was too little too late. The Lakers held on to win by a final score of 61-49.

Scoring:

Zack Hill-17pts
Matt Cooper-14pts

50-48, Lady Pats Knock Off Lexington Catholic

The Lady Pats used a 15-4 run in the 3rd quarter to erase a 10 point halftime deficit. This was a statement win for LC, it's a big deal to go to Lexington and knock off Catholic. The Lady Pats have raced off to a 2-0 start and have a huge regional game against Rockcastle County on Friday night.

The play of the game was a huge block by senior center Kendra Brown. She rejected a potential game tying shot by Lex Cath with five seconds left in the game. Huge play.


Bustle-10
Upchurch-15
Brown-8
Smith-7
Coleman-3
Fox-6

Boys Home Opener

The Girls got the season off to a good start last night, blowing out Pulaski County. Tonight, the boys will play their first game of the year at home against Russell County.

Tip off is set for 7:30 pm in Stanford. If you can't make it there, tune in to 102.9 FM for play-by-play coverage.

The Pats lost in the second round of the regional tournament last year to McCreary Central. They were two time defending champs of the 12th region prior to last year.

*The boys lost the season opener at Russell County last year.

Pulaski County @ Lincoln County

Quarter by quarter scoring:

LC/PC
24-5
49-13
67-21
81-28

Scoring
Jessica Upchurch-13
Nikki Bustle-3
Kendra Brown-12
Emily Fox-10
Shelby Smith-6
Korey Coleman-9
Sydney Harris-12
Rachel Spangler-8
Ciara Saylor-4
Taylor Elam-2

*PC scored first goal with 4:56 to go in the 1st quarter. 14-0 run for the Lady Pats to open the game.
*LC had 10 different people score.
*Starters didn't play much.

Lady Pats Home Opener

The wait is finally over, the 12th region runner-up from a year ago will finally get their regular season underway tonight in Stanford. They will host 12th region foe Pulaski County at 7:30 tonight.

The Lady Pats are ranked highly in the preseason polls, and are considered the 12th region favorites. They return nearly their entire roster from a year ago. The Lady Pats finished with a 26-6 record last year. A 45th District Championship and a 12th Region runner-up. Obviously, the runner-up finish means they finished one game short of the Sweet Sixteen last year.

This year that's the goal, a 12th Region Championship and a trip to Bowling Green to the Girls Sweet Sixteen.

Click here to view the schedule and roster: link

* Lincoln Co. opened at Pulaski Co. last year and won 62-25.

Local Football Scores

*Boyle County 13 Bell County 10 (Boyle County advances to the State Championship Game)

*Pulaski Co. 12 Highlands 52 (they too are headed to the State Championship)

Boyle County will face Lone Oak, western Kentucky power, in the championship game. Highlands will play John Hardin.

Lady Pats Scrimmage

The Lady Pats scrimmaged highly touted Marion County at Rupp Arena today in Lexington. Both teams are considered top 25 programs, Marion County being ranked as high as 1 or 2 in some preseason polls.

The Lady Pats battled them to a draw. Yes, a tie. No overtime in a scrimmage. The final score ended up being 44-44. Looks like the Lady Pats are in store for a special season. Hopefully it will end up in Bowling Green...

The Lady Pats will open their regular season at home Monday night against Pulaski County.

2009 All-Area Team Football Team

The Advocate Messenger has released their annual All-Area football team (even though this year it should of been called the All-Boyle County team-Rebels have 14 players on the team). The Patriots have to players that made the team, and two more that made honorable mention.

Seniors Clayton Cooper and Matt DeBoard made the team. Cooper as a defensive lineman and DeBoard as a punter. Cooper had a great season on the defensive line, average 6 tackles per game.

DeBoard was a great utility man for the Pats, he played many positions during the season. But he may of been most important on special teams. He was the punter for the Pats (and the All-Area team). Averaging a little over 32 yards per punt he was able to keep the Pats out of bad field position a lot.

Seniors Julian Calhoun and Jerricho Ware made honorable mention. Congrats to all.

Link

High School Football Scores of Interest

Lex. Catholic 20 @ Boyle Co. 34

Pulaski Co. 31 vs Letcher County Central 14



Boyle Co. will host Bell County Friday night. Bell Co. defeated Boyle Co. last year on their home field in the state semi-finals. This will be Coach French's 3rd straight semi-final appearance. He lost two years ago (coaching for Lincoln Co.) to Highlands, and at Bell Co. last year.

Pulaski County will be taking on Highlands for the rights to move on to the State Championship game. Good luck with that Maroons, you'll need it. Nevertheless, you've had a great season and represented the district well.

Hometown Celebrity

Who knew Lincoln County had a TV star? Well they do, they also have a famous model. For those who didn't follow the show "America's Next Top Model" on the CW, I'm talking about Laura Kirkpatrick.

Kirkpatrick is a recent graduate of Lincoln County High School. She was a participant on the hit CW television show America's Next Top Model. Kirkpatrick made it to the finals of the the reality television modeling competition. She placed second (even though she should of won). It was interesting to see her persevere throughout the show and make it to the final round.

She is presumably going to win the "fan favorite" award today (will be announced on the Tyra Banks show at 4pm) and she has said that she has many opportunities awaiting in the modeling business. The award for winning the fan favorite award is 6th months free rent in NYC.

Congrats to Laura, you can read more about her and the finale of the show here link.

You can read about her and keep with her on her blog.

Fun Story

Interesting read from ex-Lincoln County Patriot Rob Hacker. Hacker is now a team manager for the Morehead St. mens basketball team. He recently made a trip to Rupp Arena with the Eagles and wrote about his experience...

LINK

High School Football Scores of Interest

Danville 21 @ Green Co. 61
Garrard Co. 12 @ Breathitt Co. 62
Boyle Co. 48 vs. West Jessamine 7
Pulaski Co. 40 @ Whitley Co. 34

7th Grade Girls Championship Photos

CKYSports.com was live at the state tournament this past weekend. They did a live broadcast of the event, and they have plenty of pictures. LINK

Click on the link above and take a look...

State Champions

The Lincoln County Middle School 7th grade girls basketball team won the state championship yesterday. Congratulations to the team. The future is looking bright for LC.

Isiah Thomas Loses Debut to Northwood University

First of all, the answer is yes. Isiah Thomas the NBA legend is who I'm referring to in the title. Why is an NBA legend being mentioned on patriotsportstalk.com?

Because one of our own, ex-basketball star Noah Keeton, helped get Isiah's new coaching job off to a rocky start. Isiah Thomas made his college basketball coaching debut for Florida International last night in Miami, Fla. FIU played host to Northwood University. Northwood is an up and coming NAIA school located in West Palm Beach Florida.

Northwood U. knocked off the FIU Panthers 71-61. Congrats to Noah Keeton and the Northwood University basketball team, had it not been for the World Series ending last night this would of been the top story in the country last night. Still made headlines among all major news outlets.

espn

LC Wins On Senior Night

LC had been showing signs of improvement, and it finally paid off on Friday night in Death Valley. The Pats put their first complete game together, and defeated their border rival 14-7 on Senior/Homecoming night.

The game, due to the high winds and muddy field, was going to be won in the trenches. And LC dominated there. The Pats pushed back the Golden Lion line all night long. They ran with success all night, the only problem was they couldn't get on the field in the first half. GC did a good job of holding the ball.

Finally, they got on the scoreboard in the 3rd quarter on a 1 yd QB sneak by Austin Hinds. They followed the up with a Matt Carrier td run in the 4th to go up 14-0. Carrier finished the game with 129 yds rushing and the one score. GC quickly answered on a 70 middle screen pass to Tyler Ray, Ray broke four tackles on his way to the end zone. An amazing run by Ray, but aside from that play, LC pretty much bottled up the Golden Lions.

I was glad to see the seniors go out with a win. It's been a difficult couple of years for the boys. But, they have had tremendous careers and have set the way for the future of LC football and the Settles era. I truly believe they are on the right path and will make big strides next year. But for now, everyone enjoy the win, it was much needed and hard earned.

Sad to see football end, but at least it was on a winning note.

Pats Lose a HeartBreaker

The Lincoln County Patriots went down to London, KY tonight and fought a battle. The Pats battled South Laurel all night, but eventually fell 29-21. A win would of put the Pats in the postseason, the loss ran LC to 1-8.

The Pats played with more fire and emotion than I've seen all year. However, their own mistakes still cost them the game. LC started the game by holding to Cardinals to a three and out. On 4th down they blocked the punt and recovered it inside of the South 15yd line. The Pats ended up getting a big hold and having to settle for a 41yd field goal attempt. The Carl-Lewis Cummins kick was long enough, but hit the goal post and didn't fall.

The Pats got the ball inside the red zone again on their second possession. Once again they came away empty. South finally got on the board after the LC misfires, and took an 8-0 lead. South led 15-7 at the half. LC's only first half score came on a Julian Calhoun 70yd punt return. LC's only offensive success came via the running game. Sophomore Deon Shannon had his coming out party, running the ball 22 times and gaining 115yds. Shannon scored on two big strikes (had a third run, 51 yards, called back) and got LC the led 21-15 late in the 3rd. First lead LC has had in the 3rd quarter since the Washington County game.

South Laurel scored the final two touchdowns of the game to win it, 29-21. LC really hurt themselves with penalties. 10 flags for 105 yards isn't a good thing. They and not scoring in the red zone lost them the game. Still, it was good to see the kids fight so hard. Now, they have to go home next week and defend the home turf against Garrard County. It will be a rare senior night/homecoming game for LC.

Titans 35 Patriots 9

Same old thing for LC. Fast start, slow finish. The Pats jumped out to a early 6-0 lead at Mercer County on Friday night. The Pats kept the lead until midway through the 2nd quarter.

Mercer seized the lead in the second quarter, and never relinquished it. The Titans led 14-6 at the half, LC came out and intercepted a MC pass early in the 3rd an had a great opportunity to take control of the game. Brandon Graham made a great play on the ball, however, he was ran down on the 4 yard line and LC was only able to get 3 points out of the trip. Red zone scoring really hurt LC. They were unable to convert a td on two separate trips, getting only 3pts.

Neither team was able to get a lot going, LC was held to 120 total yards for the game. Mercer was able to do their damage with the big play, connecting on three long pass plays for three of their scores.

The win puts Mercer County in the drivers seat to gain a district playoff spot. Lincoln can still make the playoffs next week with a win over South Laurel. But that will be a tough task, especially in London on the Cardinals home field.

The Pats fall to 1-7 on the season, Mercer is 1-8.

Pats Fall in the Mud, 27-0

The Patriots travelled to Meade County to face the the Green Wave on Friday night. A pretty fitting mascot for the conditions, is was a sloppy game.

Weather conditions weren't to kind. Many local teams cancelled their games and rescheduled. LC made the 2 plus hour voyage to play 6a Meade County on their home field in the pouring rain. The outcome wasn't to pretty for the Pats, losing 27-0. First shutout of the season, and just a miserable game.

The field was in awful shape, it rained non-stop and LC was dominated. The lineman for MC dominated the game on both sides of the ball. They enabled their backs to run the ball, and prevented LC's from having any holes to run through. MC held LC to 104 yards, and only 3 passing yards.

One bright spot for the Pats was sophomore Deon Shannon. Shannon led the Pats with 74 yards rushing. LC will venture back into district play next week when they travel to Mercer County for a very important contest. LC will be 1-6 and Mercer County will be 0-8. The winner will more than likely claim the last playoff spot in the district.

On the injury front, LC TE/DE/P Matt DeBoard suffered an injury in the 1st quarter and was escorted off the field on a stretcher. It was thought they he had a dislocated elbow. Hopefully he is ok. Also LC was without the services of one of the best defensive players. Vinny Morris was not in uniform last night due to injury.

Forfeit Loss, 1-0

It looks like the flu got the best of the Pats. LC has been forced to forfeit their game (scheduled for last night) against Pulaski County.

The school originally postponed the game due to illness. The school has been closed since Tuesday, including ALL (even practice) school activities. The score of this one will go down as 1-0 in the record books. Just an unfortunate situation for the program and the school.

Pulaski County @ Lincoln County (10/02/09) Cancelled

The Pulaski County @ Lincoln County game scheduled for this Friday night has been cancelled due to illness in the school system. All school activities have been cancelled until at least Monday. No word yet on whether or not the game will be rescheduled. It would seem necessary since it's a district game.

Other than that, the school stands to lose out on the gate and concessions if the game isn't played. None if this really matters in the big picture though, the main thing right now is getting everyone healthy. There is a lot of illness floating around Lincoln County.

The game will go down as a forfeit (1-0 in the record book) if it is not played. It's going to be hard to find a make up date too. LC has already used their bye week this season. It was used on the first week of the year. Pulaski County still has their bye week, but LC has a non-district game against Garrard scheduled that week.

As of now, the possibilities to me are this:

1. Play the game next Monday.
2. Cancel the Garrard game and play Pulaski County last week of the year (because PC is a district game). But you still lose the gate/concessions.
3. Forfeit the game.

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

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

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.

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)

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

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

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

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)

Weekend Recap

Well, football has officially started at every school in the area now. A lot of exciting football was played this weekend.. I got a chance to check out the Bob Allen Pigskin Classic, and saw one of the finest rushing performances in recent memory.

*Game one featured Rockcastle County vs. Boyle County. The Rock jumped out to a 7-0 lead at the end of the 1st quarter. But Boyle County quickly rallied and took a demanding 28-7 lead in the second, scoring 4 straight td's on 6 possessions. Boyle went on to win the game 42-22.

Boyle was led by running back Rees Macshera. Macshera ran for 344 yards on ONLY 13 carries. That's a nice 26 yards per carry average. I'd say Macshera firmly planted himself on the Mr. Football shortlist with that performance.

*Danville won the second game 22-8 over Franklin County. A nice bounce back win for the Ads, after getting crushed by Mason County last week. Danville was also assisted by a nice running game. Patrick Brand ran the ball 18 times for 186 yards.

*In other area action, Garrard County won a thriller in game two of the PBK Bank Death Valley Bowl, scoring with six second left to win 41-35. The Golden Lions are now 1-1.

*Mercer County fell to 0-2, losing a heart breaker to Tates Creek. Mercer trailed 22-7 at halftime, they rallied and took the lead in the 4th quarter. The Titans couldn't hold on and eventually lost 41-36.

East Jessamine 34 LC 12
Tates Creek 41 Mercer County 36
Boyle County 42 Rockcastle County 22
Danville 22 Franklin County 6

LC Loses Opener, 34-12

The Death Valley Bowl wasn't kind to the Pats again this year. Lincoln County really has a hard time winning this game, and their luck didn't change in the 2009 version of the PBK Bank Death Valley Bowl. The Patriots lost the home opener by a margin of 34-12 to East Jessamine.

East got the scoring started in the 1st quarter on a 41yd touchdown run by Austin Hager. The Pats did a decent job on Hager, but the other backs really hurt LC. East piled up 286 yards rushing and 307 total yards.

Lincoln County was led in rushing by junior quarterback Austin Hinds. Hinds had 15 carries for 76 yards. He added 75 more yards through the air. Including two touchdowns and one interception. Hinds has a lot of potential at QB, he just needs experience. I think he could have a big year as a dual threat QB.

The changing point in the game happened right before halftime. LC was driving down the field trailing 13-7 with under two minutes to go in the half. Hinds threw a pass in the direction of a receiver that never turned around to locate the ball. The pass was intercepted and returned inside the red zone. East went on to punch it in for a touchdown with only 8 seconds left in the half. LC went from having a chance to tie or take the lead to trailing by two touchdowns. The deficit pretty much stayed at 2 touchdowns until East scored with 44 seconds left in the game on a 1 yard run by Seth Hunt.

The Pats showed some good and some bad, but they never gave up and definitely showed their potential. I was most impressed by the offensive line. They did a great job of protecting the QB, and got a pretty good push most of the night. The line has a chance to be very good.

Here is a look at some stats:

Rushing:

Calhoun 10-29
Hinds 15-76
Graham 4-10
Carrier 4-25

Passing:

Hinds 3/13 75yds 2TD's 1 interception

Soccer & Volleyball Update

*First and foremost. I need help covering soccer and volleyball. I don't get a chance to go to the games, and the scores are hard to locate. So, anyone willing to give me boys and girls soccer updates please email them to our email at patriotsportstalk@gmail.com.

*The boys are off to a tremendous start this soccer season. They are 3-2, and have won their last three matches.

*The girls season is also underway, they have started the season 0-3-1. Their one tie came against Pulaski County.

*The middle school boys are 2-1 so far in regular season play, with wins over Boyle County and Anderson County.

*The volleyball team has also got their season off and running. They are 1-4 so far in this young season. Their next match is Thursday at Pulaski County.

Know Your Foe

Week 1 Foe: the Jaguar (n.) A large feline mammal (Panthera onca) of Central and South America, closely related to the leopard and having a tawny coat spotted with black rosettes.

This Friday night kicks off the football season for the Lincoln County Patriots. First up this season, the East Jessamine Jaguars. The Jaguars are a 4a school. They are in district 1, region 6. They play in a very tough district along side Boyle County and Lexington Catholic.

East Jessamine enters this contest with a record of 0 wins and 1 loss. This will be the first game for LC. East lost to Spencer County last week in a barn-burner by a final score of 35-34. East is a heavy run team, they didn't have any passing yards in their first game. They ended up with 356 rushing yards in week one, most of those going to running back Austin Hager. Hager ran the ball 34 times for 239 yards and 2 touchdowns. Stopping him will be the key to success for the Patriots.

East has dominated the series between the two. They are 5-1 all time against LC. LC last won against East way back in 1999. Hopefully, that will change this Friday night.

LC 0-0 (0-0 district)
East Jess. 0-1 (0-0 district)

News & Notes

*The first coaches show of the year was aired on 102.9 WPBK-FM today at 5:30. The show was hosted by Tim Estes. Coach Settle did a great job of breaking down the schedule and talking about the roster. WPBK-FM does a great job of covering LC sports. The was broadcast from Uncle Bob's downtown Stanford.

I love to hear Coach Settles talk about building the program. One thing he said that stood out to me was when was talking about his staff and mentioned moving Daniel Foster to offensive coordinator. He said, "Daniel has been here for a while, and he's not leaving." That is a very important mindset to have. Keep the good guys at home.

Coach also talked about the freshman team. This is the first time the school has had a freshman team in a long time. He said they currently have 21 freshman practicing. That's fantastic news! He also discussed the youth camp that was held this past weekend. 80 kids showed up for the camp.

*Former Patriot standout Braxston Miller has move from defense to offense. He got his first shot at running the ball for WKU this past weekend during a scrimmage. Miller ran the ball 4 times for 96 yards. Good luck to Miller and Calhoun, both Hilltoppers, in the upcoming season.

*The PBK Bank Death Valley Bowl is now only four days away.

Death Valley Bowl Preview Show

102.9 WPBK-FM will be airing the Death Valley Bowl preview show this Sunday afternoon at 3pm. The show will be hosted by the Patriot radio team of Kevin Bandura and Tim Estes. They will be interview coaches from all four teams (Lincoln Co., Rowan Co., East Jessamine, Garrard Co). They will also be interviewing players from all four schools.

Tune in and get ready for all the action that will take place next weekend.

Area Football

Well, we're getting closer to the kickoff of the Pats football season. The Pats will open the season one week later than most schools. The Pats will kick off the season next week against East Jessamine in the Death Valley Bowl.

If you can't wait until next week there are plenty of games around the area to check out. Boyle County and Johnson Central should be a battle of two teams that have postseason aspirations. Anderson County will be travelling to Lancaster to play the Golden Lions. That would be good chance to see what Garrard County has, having already seeing what Anderson County is capable of that game might be a good barometer.

The game I'd most like to see is the Mercer County vs. Breathitt County game. This is an interesting game for a couple of reasons, one to see what Mercer County has. They are a district foe and it's always nice to see what the competition looks like. And secondly, to see Mr. Football front runner (and University of Tennessee recruit) Channing Fugate. Fugate is a great running back, he ran for over 3,000 yards and scored 36 touchdowns last year.

Friday, August 21:

Anderson Co. @ Garrard Co.
Danville @ Mason County
Johnson Central @ Boyle County
Caverna @ Casey Co.


Saturday, August 22:

Breathitt Co. vs. Mercer Co. (Campbellsville)

Scrimmage Notes

First and foremost, I was really impressed with the energy of the team and the crowd. The team showed a lot of energy before the game and to start the second half. They just need to find a way to sustain that energy on the field. The crowd was just as impressive. A really big crowd for a controlled scrimmage on a hot summer night. The Lincoln County faithful always show up.

Now for the game. LC had a hard time getting anything going on both sides of the ball. The offense had a lot of three and outs, and the defense was having trouble containing the Anderson County pass attack.

The Pats failed to score a TD in the first half, but came out and put a quick score on the board to start the second half. Julian Calhoun sprinted around the end and broke a nice run for a score.

It's hard to gauge a controlled scrimmage. It is close to a real game, but you can't do some things that are really important. That being said, Anderson County controlled the game. They were the better team. That's not a bad thing, Anderson County is one of the better teams in their class, and they will have a very successful season.

*Only two weeks until the real thing, can't wait!

Anderson County @ LC (scrimmage)

The long wait is over for football fans. The first live action of the school year will take place this Friday night at Death Valley. Anderson County will be travelling to Lincoln County to scrimmage the Patriots this coming Friday night (Aug. 14th) at 6:30 pm.

Anderson County will be a good test for the Pats, they are expected to be very good this year. They run a wide open offense led by quarterback Jacob Russell. Russell has been hearing from a lot of schools including Indiana University, Purdue, UofL, WKU and UK.

Come out and watch the Pats get the season underway, should be an exciting night for football.

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News and Notes

*Practice is underway at the high school and middle school levels. It will probably be easier for the coaches to get in their routines now that school has started. Man that seems ridiculous. I remember when school started the day after Labor Day. Labor Day was the dreaded holiday because you knew it symbolized school starting back. Last I heard the high school had around 50 kids practicing and the middle school also had a lot of kids out for practice.

*The scrimmage against Anderson County has been moved up one week. It will be in two weeks (August 14th) at Death Valley.

*The football team will be leaving for a weekend camp this Friday. They will return on Sunday. Hopefully this will give the boys some time to bond and come together as a team.

Annual Pig Roast

The annual Lincoln County football boosters pig roast is approaching. The event will be held on August 22, @6 pm at Lincoln County High School. As usual, feel free to bring your corn hole boards and footballs to pass around. Most importantly, bring your appetite. They are planning on having a live auction this year too, so bring your wallet too and help out the 2009 football Pats.

Coach Settles on WPBK-FM

Coach Settles was a guest host of the Jammin' With Jayme morning show this morning on 102.9 WPBK-FM. Settles, along with host Jayme Phillips and Sports Director Tim Estes, talked about Lincoln County football non-stop for well over an hour.

It was a very informative and exciting show. Coach gave a good breakdown of the current state of the program. He broke them down class by class. Settles indicated that there was around 50 kids currently practicing with the team. While 50 players is still too small of a roster for a 5a school, there is some encouraging news about that number. 20 of those 50 players are incoming freshman. Settles mentioned that he was pleased with that number, but would like to see that grow to 30 or 35 freshman coming out each year. I've mentioned many times before, a school the size of Lincoln County should be dressing 75-80 kids.

Settles also talked about the coaching staff and the new additions. He raved about the new strength and conditioning coach and the program being installed. He talked about Daniel Foster taking over the offense, and acknowledged that stability was the key factor in making him the OC. The addition of Travis Leffew was discussed, and the great things he brings to the table along with his brother Bobby. I think it's fantastic having those two at LC, they are local football legends that had very successful careers all the way to the professional ranks.

Most of the discussions talked about the process of building this team into a program. And with the big freshman class coming out (hopefully the majority will stick with it) I think Coach Settles is well on his way. Just remember (even in sports) patience is a virtue.

The best news of all that was talked about is this. Opening kickoff is four weeks from Friday and the first live action is three weeks from Friday, when Anderson County will travel to Lincoln for a scrimmage (by the way, Anderson County is really, really good).

News & Notes

*Looks like the Pats promoted from within. Daniel Foster will be calling the plays for the Pats. Foster has been on the staff for a long time. He'll do a good job for the Pats, and most importantly he wants to be here. The Pats desperately need some stability. They've ran through some offensive coordinators that past few seasons. Good luck to Daniel Foster.

*The coaching search is over in Lancaster. The Garrard County Golden Lions are hoping that the third time is a charm. They've hired Dave McDaniel to fill their empty boys head coaching spot. This will make the third stint for McDaniel at Garrard County.

He has a 73-89 career record at Garrard County. Some other names mentioned for the job were Scott Bolin and Ronnie Bottoms. Garrard is probably in for a long season next year, they graduated pretty much their entire roster.

News and Notes

*Lincoln County Middle School football starts tonight. Good luck to those boys, hopefully they will have a big turnout and enjoy a successful season.

*Garrard County is searching for a boys basketball coach. They lost a good one last week in Lee DeForrest. DeForrest left Garrard County to be an assistant at Christian County. Seems like an odd move to me and is a pretty good indication that the cupboard is bare in Lancaster.

A couple of names I'm hearing for that job are Scott Bolin and Ronnie Bottoms. Bolin coached at Garrard a few years ago before leaving to take a job on Centre College's staff, and is now a girls coach at Garrard County. Bottoms had a lot of success at Boyle County, leading them to a Sweet Sixteen and a couple of deep regional tournament runs. Bottoms would be a good pickup for the Golden Lions.

Yeast Leaves Pats for Marion County

As speculated, ex-offensive coordinator Craig Yeast has left the Lincoln County football team (less than one week before the season). Yeast was the going to be the head man on offense for the Pats, but last week decided to take the same job at Marion County High School.

Yeast will not only be calling the plays in Marion County, he will also be the track coach and working in the school system. This according to an article in today's Advocate Messenger.

It is bad timing for the Pats, losing the offensive co. just days before practice starts. LC is a young team, and the youngsters have spent the entire spring and summer working on Yeast's offense. Now, he has left them high and dry..... overnight. I really don't know where Coach Settles can turn. The most logical thing to do at this point in the year would be to promote from within. Maybe one of the Leffew boys, they played under Bobby Petrino at UofL and Chuck Smith at Boyle County. They definitely played on teams that know how to score points.

The reason promoting from within seems to be the best option is a pure timing issue. It would be too hard to find a spot for a teacher (if a teacher were sought after) and bringing in a brand new coach (who may or may not run a similar offense) would be a tough adjustment. No matter which route they go, they need to find someone who wants to be at Lincoln County. The offensive coordinator position has been a carousel these past few years. The team needs some stability within the offense.

Local Coaching News/Rumors

*Rumor has it Garrard County boys basketball Head Coach Lee DeForrest has resigned as the head man at GCHS to take an assistant job at another school. This is a big blow to the Golden Lions, DeForrest as a very promising young head coach.


*There is also some big news involving the Patriots. Craig Yeast has left the Lincoln County football staff. Perhaps to take a job at another school. If so, that's bad timing for the Pats who have had a carousel of offensive coordinators the past few years.


Now, for some more important news. FOOTBALL STARTS NEXT MONDAY.

Red Heat Finish 4th

The 11 and under Lincoln Red Heat team recently finished 4th in the national championship tournament held in Indianapolis. The team was competing against 35 other squads for the title.

Here is a look at the roster (and coaches):

Kelsi Honaker, Ashtyn Lovett, Heidi Huffman, Spencer Sims, Hayley Comorat, Caitlin Adams, and MaKenzie Carrier from Lincoln were joined on the Red Heat by Adison Corder and Destiny Molden from Southern Middle in Pulaski County. The coaches were Tony Honaker, David Adams and Rowe.

LINK

Countdown to Kickoff

50 days until the Death Valley Bowl, where the Pats will battle East Jessamine. Let the countdown begin.

I'm excited for the season and to see how the lineup shapes up.

Local Football Team Schedules/News

Here is a look at the schedules of all the area football teams LINK.

In other area news, Mercer County has named Will Weaver as their new Head Coach. Weaver is leaving Madisonville-North Hopkins to accept the Mercer County job. He was 12-9 there in two seasons. He was an assistant at Ft. Campbell before accepting that job in Madisonville.

UPDATE
*Ok, so maybe Mercer doesn't have a new coach yet. Seems like Weaver got smart and decided not to make the move. Actually visiting Harrodsburg must of done him in, he was introduced and had said his goodbyes to his old team. LINK

*Looks like they are offerring the job to ex-Danville Admiral Shadon Brown now.

*UPDATE
Third time's a charm, Mercer County Hired Bill Mason.

Skills Camp

It's not too to participate in the Tim Couch and Craig Yeast Skills Camp. The first camp was held last week in Rockcastle County. The next camp will be held in Pikeville at the high school field. This camp is for skill players on the offensive and defensive side of the ball.

LINK

Local Golfer Nearly Qualifies for US Open

Danville native Phil Hendrickson played in a sectional qualifying event in Dayton, Ohio on Monday for a chance to earn a spot to play in the US Open at Bethpage Black.

Hendrickson came out firing and shot a 65 in the first round. It is a two round event, and Hendrickson couldn't capitalize on the amazing first round score, shooting a 74 in round two for a two round total of 139. He needed a 136 to qualify for a spot in the Open.

The event hosted a total of 68 golfers competing for 4 spots. The four qualifying scores were 130, 134, 136, 136. Dayton was one of 15 host sights around the world.

It would of been nice to see a local golfer teeing it up with the Tiger and Phil at Bethpage.

LINK

West Jessamine Hires New Head Coach

West Jessamine boys basketball had an amazing season. They made it to the final four of the state tournament, and represented the 12th region better than it has been represented since South Laurel left a few years ago. But the great season had a bad ending for the Colts. They lost one of the best coaches in the region/area, Robert Hammonds.

Their head man left West for Letcher County Central. It seemed like a weird move to me. West is returning a few good players, including potential all-state candidate Jared Paulson.

West filled their vacancy with another very good coach, Damon Kelly. Kelly was at Lafayette this past season, and was very successful there. It's hard to replace a coach as talented as Robert Hammonds, but West got another good one.

Personally, I thought one of their assistants from last years team would've got the job.

Lincoln County Football Schedule *Update*

Here is a update on the football schedule for the 2009 football season, thanks to one of our posters (Paula Sluder).

Freshman Schedule:

Aug. 31- Garrard Co. @ Home 6pm
Sept. 10- Boyle Co. Away 6pm
Sept. 17- Rockcastle Co. Home 6pm
Sept. 24- Mercer Co. Away 6pm
Oct. 1- Pulaski Co. @ Home 6pm

* Game are subject to change

JV Schedule:

Sept. 14- Boyle County @ Home 6pm
Sept. 21- Southwester Pulaski @ Home 6pm
Sept. 28- Pulaski County Away 6pm
Oct. 5- Rockcastle County Away 6pm
Oct. 12- South Laurel Away 6pm
Oct. 19-playoffs

It's very encouraging to see the freshman have this many games scheduled.

Summertime in the LC

First and foremost, congrats to the 224 seniors who graduated today and good luck. You'll look back on this night years from now and say, "those were the days." I know you are happy right now, but reality will hit soon. I'll leave it at that. You'll understand one day.

*Schools out for the summer, and I'm sure the kids, parents and teachers are happy. The good news is when school starts back, it's almost FOOTBALL season. Speaking of football, senior multi-sport standout Trey Edwards was recently named 12th region KHSAA Sportsman of the Year. LINK

*Rumor has it that Lincoln County now has two Leffew's on the staff. Travis has now joined brother Bobby. Great news. This staff has a plethora of "big time" football experience. Travis Leffew was a standout at UofL, and had a taste of the NFL for a few different teams. RESUME

*Lastly, I would like to encourage everyone to get out to Kings Mountain Memorial tomorrow night and support Team Animal. They are a MMA team that trains here locally at Precision Fitness. Many locals will be fighting. Should make for a good night of entertainment. These guys train hard and are excellent athletes, get out there and support them. I especially want to give a shout out to my man Sterling Skipper, do work son!!!

Henderson Headed to Asbury College

Lincoln County Lady Pat basketball standout, Kiera Henderson, will be extending her playing career. She has decided to sign with Asbury College. Wilmore isn't too far from Stanford, so hopefully she will get plenty of fan support.

Henderson was a great player, and I'm sure she will continue to excel at the collegiate level too.

http://www.theinteriorjournal.com/public_html/?module=displaystory&story_id=8134&format=html

Jaggers out at Mercer County

Ex-Lincoln County Head Coach (football) Marty Jaggers has resigned as head coach of the Mercer County Titans. Jaggers wanted to retire and stay on as coach, like many other local coaches have done recently, and the Mercer County Administration wanted no part of it.

Mercer is probably looking at this as a cost saving situation. But it is hard to replace good football coaches, and like him or not Marty Jaggers is a great football coach. He won the state championship at Mercer three years ago and he also guided Lincoln County to a state title game appearance in 1993. Jaggers was 36-14 at Mercer County. Jaggers was 49-27 in his tenure at Lincoln county.

This is good news for Lincoln County, Mercer County shouldn't be as good without him. Makes the district a little easier... I hope.

http://www.amnews.com/public_html/?module=displaystory&story_id=50504&format=html

From the Advocate Messenger article:

However, he also had a 49-27 mark in six years as head coach at Lincoln and took the Patriots to their only state title game in 1993 when Lincoln went 13-2.

This is false, the Pats also made it in 1990. Doesn't surprise me though...

2009 All-Area Baseball Team

The 2009 All-Area team was announced, and the Lincoln County Patriots did not place a single player on the 12 person team. Really hard to believe. Sure the Pats didn't have a great season as far as W/L's are concerned, but there are a couple really talented kids on this team.

The ironic part of the choosing of the team was that Boyle County had 4 on the team and Danville had 3. Correct me if I'm wrong but Danville won the district and region..... hum??? That doesn't make a lot of sense.

The Pats did have 3 receive honorable mention status. Trey Edwards, Cody Hensley and Brandon Weir. Really surprised Johnny Robles didn't make this list.

http://www.amnews.com/public_html/?module=displaystory&story_id=50459&format=html

Danville Wins 45th District Baseball Championship

The Danville Admirals won the 4th District Championship, defeating the Boyle County Rebels 13-3 in the championship game. Both teams will advance on to the region.

The Pats lost a heart breaker to Boyle County in the first round of the tournament, 3-2. Johnny Robles was named to the All-Tournament Team.

LC's season is over. They finished with an 11-17 record.

1st District Win, 8-2

Lincoln County got a big win over rival Boyle County to pick up their first district win of the season. The Bat Pats easily handled the Rebels defeating them 8-2. This is the first time they have beaten Boyle County in baseball in a long time. The last time LC beat BC was in the district tournament a few years ago.

LC pitching star Brandon Weir made is return to the to the mound and pitched a great game. LC was playing some good baseball until Weir was injured a couple weeks ago, hopefully his return will propel the Bat Pats onto a very successful postseason.

LC is now 9-12 on the season.

Other Recent College Choices

These are some more college choices from Lincoln County Student Athletes. If you have more, please add them to this list.

Chase Marcum (football)-Campbellsville University
Cody Wills (football)-Campbellsville University
Ethan Spurlin (basketball)- Transylvania University
Trevor Edgington (basketball)- Transylvania University
Trey Edwards (football)-Eastern Kentucky University

I am sure there are more, please let me know and we'll add them.

Haley Hart Signs With Georgetown College

Lincoln County tennis star Haley Hart is officially signing with Georgetown College today at Lincoln County High School. Hart has been a force on the KY tennis circuit for many years now, dating back to her middle school days.

From Georgetown College Athletics:

Hart, also a two star recruit, comes from Stanford, KY. The eighth seed in the 2008 KHSAA tournament, she reached the quarterfinals. She is currently ranked No. 3 in Kentucky in the under 18 age group. “Haley is a fantastic player, student, and leader,” said Calhoun. “She is going to have amazing success here. In many ways, Haley is the cornerstone to this class- she gives it a depth that is necessary to compete at the top of the NAIA.”

http://www.georgetowncollegeathletics.com/Teams/Tennis/

Here is an overview of her tennis career, https://www.tennisrecruiting.net/player.asp?id=208226

Congrats to Haley and good luck...

Schedule Change (Baseball Makeup Game)

This information was provided by a post on another thread. Thanks for the information.

I got an email that said that the boys are playing at home tonight... On Friday night (May 1), the High School Varsity Team will play Garrard County at home at 7:30pm. This is a district game and must be made up before May 3. The Middle School also has a district game that they must get in so they will play their "A" Team Game at 5pm. Thus, there will be no Middle School "B" Team game nor will there be a High School JV game.

The baseball team schedule and results can be found here: http://www.leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=lcbaseball

Another Coaching Change

Rumor has it that Lincoln County has changed its mind about who its offensive coordinator is going to be next season. This is a fast change, even for Lincoln County standards. LC has had a different offensive coordinator every year for many years now.

Craig Yeast was set to run the offense this year. I was pretty excited about it, it's not every day that an ex-NFL player is running a high school offense. Hopefully this is nothing more than a rumor and the coaching staff will remain the same.

2009 Patriot Football Schedule

East Jessamine, Madison Southern and Meade County are all newcomers to this years schedule. Meade County is interesting, it's where Coach French coached before coming to Lincoln County. East Jessamine and Madison Southern is a nice trade for Scott County and Hoptown.

8/28 East Jessamine
9/04 Madison Southern
9/11 Rockcastle County
9/18 Washington County
9/25 Southwestern Pulaski
10/02 Pulaski County
10/09 Meade County
10/16 Mercer County
10/23 South Laurel
10/30 Garrard County

WPBK has a neat historical overview of this years matchups, and much more intesting Lincoln County football information. http://www.wpbkfm.com/sports.asp?id=63

Spurlin Invited to KY/IN All Star Try Outs

Ethan Spurlin's season didn't end last month, he has been busy preparing for the Kentucky versus Indiana All-Star game try out. He was the only 12th region player invited out of the 40 total players invited to try out for the event. There are only 11 spots available for the team.
http://www.amnews.com/public_html/?module=displaystory&story_id=49270&format=html

Spurlin and fellow senior Trevor Edgington are also playing in other all-star events this summer.

Red/White Scrimmage Tonight

Lincoln County football spring practice will conclude today with a Red/White Scrimmage. The scrimmage is supposed to start around 6 pm tonight.

Before the game starts there is going to be an alumni flag football game.

Spurlin Named Player of the Year

Ethan Spurlin was named Kentucky Association 12th Region Player of the Year last week. This week he was a unanimous choice for the Advocate Messenger's Area Player of the Year. Spurlin averaged 20pts, 7 rebounds and 4 assist per game.

He was joined, on the All Area Team, by fellow senior Trevor Edgington. Edington was named to the second team. He averaged 10 points and 4 assist per game. Another senior Patriot, Skyler Gilbert, was All Area honorable mention.

http://www.amnews.com/public_html/?module=displaystory&story_id=48822&format=html

Sweet 16 Updates

The first round winners were:

West Jessamine, Grayson County, Central, Eastern, Lex. Catholic, Holmes, Shelby Valley and Elliot County.

The elite eight looks like this:

West Jessamine 72 v. Grayson County 67 (12:oo)
Central 71 v. Eastern 65 (1:30)
Lexington Catholic 56 v. Holmes 72 (6:30)
Shelby Valley 69 v. Elliot County 75 (8:00)

It will be a tough ticket at Rupp tomorrow, especially for the night session. The night session today was the largest in Sweet Sixteen history for a first round game. Over 21,000 in attendance.

UPDATE:

The 12th region has been represented well this year at the Sweet 16. West Jessamine defeated Grayson County 72-67 to advance to the final four this afternoon. They were led by junior standout Jarred Polson, who finished with 22pts, 9 rebounds and 8 assist. West Jess. will play Central tomorrow in the final four. Central pulled the upset over Eastern in the second game this morning.

UPDATE:

Final Four-

West Jessamine 48 Vs. Central 52
Holmes 67 Vs. Elliot County 57

Update:

West lost a heartbreaker to Central in the final four, 52-48. Great season for the Colts.

Neat Story

Morehead State has a had a fantastic season, winning the OVC championship and grabbing a win in the NCAA tournament last Tuesday night in Dayton. Lincoln County graduate Rob Hacker has been part of the magical ride. http://www.amnews.com/public_html/?module=displaystory&story_id=48782&format=html

Several Lady Pats on All Area Team

Several Lincoln County Lady Patriots were named to the Advocate Messenger All Area Team. Jessica Upchurch was named to the first team, Nikki Bustle, Keira Henderson and Kendra Brown were all named to the second team.

To see the entire 1st and 2nd team, click the link below:


http://www.amnews.com/public_html/?module=displaystory&story_id=48719&format=html

West Wins 12th

West Jessamine defeated McCreary Central 47-42 to win the 12th region championship. It was another hard fought game by both teams, West just made more plays in the last couple of minutes to seal the deal.

McCreary celebrated a night early, running on the court and acting as if they had won the championship the night before may have came back to haunt them. They set themselves up for the classic let down game. Both of these teams will be contenders again next year. McCreary returns their entire roster and West returns many key players, including junior Jarrod Polson who averaged a robust 31ppg during the tourney.

West Jess. will play Hazard in the first round of the Sweet Sixteen. A game they could easily win.

Here is a run down of the Sweet 16 field:

http://scoreboard.12dt.com/scoreboard/khsaa/kybbk08

Heartbreaker

The Lincoln County Patriots fought their hearts out, but came up short in the 12th region semi-finals against the McCreary Central Raiders 47-44.

What a great run these boys have had. Two Sweet Sixteen's, a Regional Semi-Final, and 87 wins... What a career for these boys. Probably the winningest team in school history.

BIG GAME

Who: LC vs McCreary Central

What: 12th Region Semi-Final

When: 8:00 pm tonight

Where: Stanford, LC gym

Be there, pack the stands people. McCreary Central will bring. We must too...

GO PATRIOTS!

Lady Pats Fall in Championship

All I can say is that it was a great season for the Lady Pats, it didn't end as they had hoped, losing 32-21 in the 12th Region Championship Saturday night at Pulaski County High School.

Nothing to hang your head about Lady Pats, 26-6 and a 12th Region runner-up trophey at too bad....

Lady Pats Advance to Championship, 50-49

What a great game. The Lady Pats came out firing early, and held the lead most of the first half. Lincoln County used strong rebounding in the first half to push the lead all the way out to 10 points at one point. The second half was a battle. LC went the entire 4th quarter without a field goal, scoring from the free throw line only.

Rockcastle battled back and cut the lead to 1 point with 5:09 left in the game. The Lady Pats then proceeded to turn the ball over on their next possession, and gave Rockcastle their first lead in the second half at 46-45. Lincoln finally ended a 5 minute drought and regained the lead on two Henderson free throws, giving LC the lead back at 48-45.

Then the craziness began. With 2:32 left in the game LC's Jessica Upchurch was fouled, and took a nasty fall. She was injured (cut chin) and was tended to on the court. The game was delayed for several minutes. She was finally able to get up off the floor and sent to the locker room to change her jersey. Upchurch quickly came back out, and returned to the game. Now that's hard core... Not only did she return, but she hit a free throw to tie the game at 48-48 with 36 seconds left.

Angie Lawrence then went to the line for Rockcastle and missed the front end of a 1 and 1. Kendra Brown grabbed the board and she was fouled. Brown stepped up to the line with 30 seconds left, and hit a free throw to give LC a 1 pt lead. She missed the second. Chaos then broke out, both teams turned the ball over.

Rock finally got it back again, and was fouled. One free throw was made, tying the game again at 49-49 with 15 seconds to go. Upchurch then got the rebound and was fouled. She missed the front end of 1 and 1, but was bailed out by Henderson. Henderson got the offensive board, and she was fouled in the act of shooting. She calmly stepped up and hit 1 free throw, giving LC the lead 50-49 with 8.4 seconds to go. The free throw stood up, as the Rock missed two shots as time was expiring.

What a crazy last three minutes, and a great game. The Lady Pats found a way to win without making a 4th quarter field goal.

Brown-9
Patterson-5
Bustle-14
Upchurch-15
Henderson-7

Alexander -16
Hammond -13

LC 67 CC 46

Lincoln County took care of business on their home court in the first round of the 12th region tournament on Thursday night, defeating the Casey County Rebels 67-46.

Lincoln County jumped out to a early led, and never looked back. They led wire-to-wire and did what they were suppose to do, beat the undermanned Rebels and advance to the second round.

The Patriots will play again on Monday night against the McCreary Central Raiders. They hadn't been to the Region in a long time, and it really showed. They had a lot of fans there tonight. LC still had more, but overall the LC fans didn't make a lot of noise.

LC faithful, get out to the game and show McCreary Central what's up...

Boys Start the Journey for 3-Peat

The Patriots will begin the journey for their third consecutive 12th region crown on Thursday night on their home court at 8:00. Their opponent will be the Casey County Rebels, a team they beat 69-56 less than two weeks ago.

Here's a glance at the Rebels:

9-19 (overall)
7-10 (12th region)
4-5 (district)

Lincoln enters the tournament with 19-9 record overall, and they have the best record within the 12th region (17-3). LC has beat every team in the tournament, and their only lost to 12th region tourney teams was to Danville in December in a holiday tournament.

Get out and support the boys tomorrow...

Lady Pats Win Big....Advance to Second Round

The Lincoln County Lady Pats led wire to wire Tuesday night at Pulaski County High School in the first round of the 12th Region Tournament.

The Lady Pats rode a hot shooting start to a BIG win, blowing out the East Jessamine Lady Jaguars 58-40.

They led by double figures most of the night, (all of the second half) and were able to rest some starters down the stretch. They will play the winner of Rockcastle County and Wayne County Friday night at approximately 8:30.

Leading Scorers:

Upchurch-23
Bustle-8
Henderson-11

A Little of This & That

*The girls 12th region tournament opened up last night in Somerset at Pulaski County High School. Mercer County defeated Boyle County in the first game, and Casey County beat Southwestern Pulaski in game two. The first round resumes tonight at 6pm.

Lincoln Co. vs. East Jessamine @6
Rockcastle Co. vs.Wayne County @ 8:30

*The Advocate Messenger has ran a couple of nice feature stories on the boys lately. Something they rarely do. First, one about senior Skyler Gilbert http://www.amnews.com/public_html/?module=displaystory&story_id=48332&format=html and then one about senior Ethan Spurlin http://www.amnews.com/public_html/?module=displaystory&story_id=48372&format=html.

The Race For Diddle

The race for Diddle Arena starts tomorrow night for the Lincoln County Lady Pats. Diddle Arena is the home of Western Kentucky University, and the Girls Sweet Sixteen.

They are seeking their first regional championship since the 99-00 season. The Lady Pats lost only one game all season within the 12th region. That lost was to Casey County by one point at home. Luckily they will not have to face them again until the championship, assuming they both get there.

The first foe for the Lady Pats is the East Jessamine Lady Jaguars:

12-12 overall
7-7 in region play
4-3 in district play

EJ lost their district championship game to Mercer County by two points, 54-52.

Lincoln County enters the game 24-5, 16-1, 8-8. The LadyPats beat East Jessamine by 10pts back on December 12th. If LC wins, they will more than likely have to play Rockcastle County in the second round, a team they beat in Mt. Vernon earlier in the season.

Good Luck...

12th Region Draw (Girls/Boys)

Girls:

Monday

Mercer Co.
Boyle Co. 6:00pm

Casey Co.
Southwestern 8:30 pm

Tuesday

Lincoln Co.
East Jessamine 6:00pm

Wayne Co.
Rockcastle 8:30 pm

Boys (Wednesday)

Rockcastle 13-16 (4-6 last ten)
Wayne 16-14 (4-6 last ten) 6:00pm

Danville 12-13 (4-6 last ten)
West Jess. 23-8 (8-2 last ten) 8:30pm

Thursday

McCreary Central 19-11 (7-3 last ten)
East Jessamine 20-10 (6-4 last ten) 6:00pm

Lincoln Co. 19-9 (8-2 last ten)
Casey Co. 9-19 (3-7 last ten) 8:30pm

The girls are 6-1 against the field.
The boys are 7-0 against the field.

Lincoln Boys Win 45th District Championship

Lincoln led after one, but trailed for most of the second and third quarter, by as many as eleven points in the second. Heading into the fourth quarter, LC was down 45-40. LC buckled up the defense, holding Danville to four fourth quarter points and pulled out the victory 54-49.

Danville got their first basket with 2:55 left in the fourth quarter. LC's defense allowed them to get back in the game, and finally pull out the win. Lincoln could have made life a lot easier if they had done a better job on the boards.

Congrats on winning the 45th district championship boys!

Spurlin-23
Allison-8
Gilbert-12
Hill-2
Long-3
Edgington-6

Taylor-16 for Danville

Lady Pats are 45th District Champs

Congratulations to the Lady Pats. They totally dominated the district all year...

LC-44

BC-31

On to the regional tournament @ Pulaski County.

LC Escapes in OT, 59-49

Did that really happen?

Not a very good game to watch, LC seemed tight, and disinterested. But, they got the win, and that's all that matters. Win and advance, that's the name of the game at this time of the year. The win guarantees LC a spot in the region.

They will get a chance to defend their district title on Friday night against Danville.

Lady Pats Advance to District Championship

Defense! Defense! Defense!

That's about all that needs to be said. The Lady Pats held the Lady Admirals to two points and no field goals in the first half at Boyle County on Tuesday night in the first round of the 45th district tournament. They led 23-2 at the half, and went on to win 48-27.

The Lady Pats defense finally had a three quarter field goal-less streak snapped when Danville made their first one with 7 minutes to go in the third quarter. The streak extended all the way back to the last game against Casey, were they held them without a single point in the 4th quarter last Friday. The girls gave up 2pts in 3 quarters....... WOW!

The next game will be for the 45th district championship on Thursday night at 7:30.

Here is a look at the stat's:

Henderson- 14pts, 13 rebounds
Upchurch-13pts
Brown- 6pts, 6 rebounds, 6 blocks

Step 1: District Title

You don't necessarily have to win the district, but it does help a little heading into the regional tourney. What you have to do is win the first round game. The top two seeds from each of the four districts get to play in the region tournament. The advantage that winning the district does is allow you to play a runner-up in the first round of the region.

I think the girls will easily win the district, they haven't had a game within 15pts all season in 45th district play. They will play Danville on Tuesday, then probably play Boyle County on their home court for the championship.

The boys will open with Boyle County on their home court. The pats haven't had much trouble with Boyle this season, beating them by 21 in Stanford and by 17 in Boyle County on the 14th of this month. I expect the Pats to beat BC, then beat Garrard for the 45th District Championship.

Then, on to the 12th Region tournament. Where a lot of experts, are already making their picks for Sweet 16 contenders. Jody Demling, who I consider to be one of the best High School basketball guru's in the state, is picking the Pats to 3-peat. He likes the Rockets on the girls side.http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/blog.html

8th Grade State Tourney

The once beaten Lincoln County Middle School Eagles head to Lexington to play in the state tournament this weekend. Updates and comments are welcomed....

LC-43
Hayes-17


Round of 32
LC-46
Meece-39

Sweet 16
LC-41
LCA-31

Elite 8
52-54 OT (loss)

Great season for the 8th grade team, along with the rest of the boys and girls middle school teams.

LC vs. Casey County

Well, for the first time this season the Lady Pats lost a 12th region basketball game. It was a hard fought game for 32 minutes, the girls came up 1 pts short. Losing 31-30.

LC had a shot to win it, even though they were severely out rebounded and only scored 23pts through the first 3 quarters. Casey led 31-23 entering the 4th. Then LC did the unthinkable, they pitched a shutout in the 4th quarter. Casey County did not score a single point in the 4th. That's the good news, the bad news is that LC only scored 7. They needed 8. They had a shot to win it, but missed a shot with four seconds left and time expired as they fought for the rebound. The final seconds were not without controversy. It appeared that Casey fouled LC as they inbounded the ball, but nothing was called and LC went on to get off a shot and miss it.

The boys struggled for the better part of the first half, but were sparked when junior Dillon Allison scored 5 straight points to end the 1st half. LC came out and blew the game open in the 3rd quarter, and went on to win 69-56.

LC got a big effort from senior Skyler Gilbert, 21pts. Ethan Spurlin did a good job of distributing and rebounding. The boys shared the ball well, and took good shots. Two good signs going into tourney time. The one thing I didn't think they did well was defend the 3pt line. Way too many open shots for the Rebels.

Coach Jackson started and ended the game with the five seniors (Ethan Spurlin, Seth Ellis, Trevor Edgington, Cody Wills and Skyler Gilbert) on the court. Seth Ellis knocked down a big three to start the game.

New Offensive Coordinator

Craig Yeast will be the new offensive coordinator for Lincoln County. He was a member of the staff last year, he will be running the offense this year. Just think about how good those UK glory days were with Couch and Yeast. I would like to see LC run pass happy offense...

Congrats to Coach Yeast.

Hard to Beat the Recruiters

What a crazy and exciting game. Lincoln jumped out to a 23-9 lead against the 6th ranked Lexington Catholic University. Catholic came roaring back and took a 20pt lead in the third quarter. Lincoln then made another run and got it down to 3 in the 4th quarter, but eventually fell 76-63. Catholic outscored the Pats by 10 the last two minutes.

Great games from Zach Hill and Trenton Edgington. Hill got the start, and didn't disappoint. I've been wanting to see him get more minutes all year. He is a great young talent, and an energy player. Probably the best pure rebounder on the team. Trenton came in and hit a big three in the 4th quarter.

Vee Sanford had 17 for Vee Sanford.

Here's a look at the scoring:

Spurlin-22
Hill-13
Gilbert-14
Edgington-8
Trenton Edgington-3
Long-3

Lady Pats in a Romp, 69-26

It was over fast, like by the end of the 1st quarter. The Lady Pats were sporting a 24-5 lead at the end of the 1st. It was a good chance for Coach Story to get some youngsters some clock. They went on to win the game

The Lady Pats are really rolling. Just blowing teams out, with suffocating defense. They have held teams without field goals for whole quarters!!!

Congrats to Niki Bustle, 8 three pointers... WOW!

Here's a look at the scoring:

UpChurch-12pts
Bustle-26pts
Brown-10pts
Henderson-8pts
Spangler-2pts
Fox-2pts
Smith-4pts
Coleman-2pts
Tinsley-4pts

BRING ON THE REBELS!!!

Lexington Catholic University Comes to Stanford

The boys will step out of region play and host Lexington Catholic on Tuesday night. Should be an interesting match up. Catholic is down a little this year, however they still have the second best record in the 11th region and are 18-7. If you get a chance, come to the game. Catholic has a great D1 prospect at point guard, Vee Sanford. A kid that is getting a lot of looks, and has scholarship offers from UK, Miami and Bradley.

It is not outside the realm of possibilities for LC to pull off this upset. West Jessamine, a team LC beat by 17 early in the year, just beat Lex Cath about a month ago by 10 points. A high scoring affair, 102-92.

McCreary Central @ Lincoln County

The Lady Pats look to keep it rolling tonight, and stay undefeated in the 12 region play. The Lady Pats won the top seed in the 45th district last Saturday, when they blew Boyle County off of their home court. Now they look to finish the season unblemished inside of the region against McCreary Central and Casey County on Friday.

*The Lady Pats are winners of seven in a row, and 13 out of their last 14.
*McCreary Central has a record of 6-19 (0-6)
*Lincoln County is 21-4, (6-0, 13-0) Only undefeated team inside of the 12th region.
*Only two regular season games left, tonight and Friday night. Both at home.

Rating the State

The Lincoln County Lady Patriots are ranked 16th in the state, in the latest version of the Cantrall ratings. That is great, however it only puts them third in the 12th region. Behind Rockcastle (who LC beat) and Casey (play this Friday). I usually think this is the most reliable high school rankings, but in this case I have to disagree with Dave. LC is #1. Speaks volumes about how good the 12th regions girls is.

Lincoln County boys check in at second in 12th region, just behind West Jessamine. The 12th region doesn't have a team in the top 25. However, it is a very balanced and even region. There are eight teams that could win, in my opinion.

http://www.kentucky.com/232/story/696278.html (click here to see full rankings)

Girls and Boys Clinch One Seed

Owned!!!

No better way to celebrate V-day...

A regular season sweep, and clinching the top seed on Boyle's home court. Two humiliating blow outs. The Lady Pats continued their dominance, winning 69-44. Finished the season undefeated in the 45th district.

The boys followed that up with a beat down of their own, winning 57-40.

Big Weekend of 45th District Basketball

The girls and boys both have a big weekend ahead, and I'm not referring to Valentines day.

Both squads are in the drivers seat in the 45th district. It's simple, you win out and you are the one seed. The quest starts tonight in Danville, where at 6pm the girls will take on the Lady Admirals. The Lady Pats have won 11 or their last 12, and are undefeated in the 45th district and in the 12th region. They have totally dominated in district play. Their closest game was a fifteen point victory over Garrard nearly a month ago.

The boys are in the drivers seat too. Danville beat Garrard last week, opening the door for Lincoln County. If the Pats can beat Danville and Boyle they are the 1 seed. LC has split the two games against Danville this season. Losing by a buzzer beater in a Christmas tournament, and a blow out victory in Stanford. LC has been playing well, with the exception of the loss on Tuesday night.

I fully expect both squads to take care of business.

Not a Good Night, Pats Fall 62-38

The Pats dropped a tough at home Tuesday night to Southwestern Pulaski. SW slowed the game down, and it really bothered LC. Lincoln didn't seem to play with same fire that they had in the last few games. Four games in six days caught up to the Pats. The loss ends LC's undefeated home season.

LC had won five in a row, the lost dropps them to 14-8, 11-3 region. The score go out of hand in the fourth quarter.

Another 1000 Point Scorer

Ethan Spurlin went over the 1000 point (career) scoring mark Tuesday night in Stanford. Spurlin is the fourth player in the last two seasons to do so. Last year, Ryan Young, Noah Keeton and Daniel Ralston all joined the 1000 pt club. It is hard to believe one team produced four 1000 pt scorers. It is rare to see four 1000 pt scorers in the same starting lineup.

Ethan Spurlin Named McDonald's All American Nominee

Ethan Spurlin is getting a lot of statewide and nationwide respect. He has been named as a 2009 McDonald's All American Game Nominee. The list is comprised of the top ranked senior players in the United States.

This is good recognition for an outstanding senior. Congrats...


http://www.mcdonaldsallamerican.com/2009%20Boys_Girls%20List%20for%20WEBSITE%20-%20State.pdf

Home Sweet Home

Lincoln County avenged their worse loss, in three years, in the 12th region by defeating Garrard Co. 61-50 in Stanford on Monday night.

LC got a huge game from senior Ethan Spurlin. Spurlin led all scorers with 32 points, 20 in the 1st half. The win keeps LC perfect at home, and puts them in 1st in the 45th district and runs their region record to 12-2. At this point, they have cemented themselves as a favorite for a 3-peat.

No time for rest. The Pats get back after tomorrow night against SW Pulaski, another 12th region contender, then have two important games this weekend. Danville on Friday and Boyle County on Saturday. LC needs those two games to clinch the 1 seed in the district tournament.

The Pats are playing good ball, winners of 5 straight. They are now 14-7 overall.

FREE ADMISSION

Everyone make there best effort to get to the game tomorrow night in Stanford between LC and Garrard County. This is the makeup game for the scoreboard game, and is a VERY BIG game. The winner will be in the driver seat for the district 1 seed. Garrard will actually be the 1 seed if they win, we won't have to worry about that happening though.

Seriously, it's free admission. No reason not to go, probably the two best teams in the 12th region. The Pats need to bring it, because Garrard whipped us over in Lancaster, it's payback time!!!

Wear red, get there early, and be loud.

Lincoln Sweeps Another 12th Region Foe

Lincoln County pulled their normal 12th region sweep Friday night in Stanford. The girls won the first game 45-43, and the boys won the nightcapper 58-53.

The win didn't come easy for either team. The girls trailed most of the night, and by as many as 11 in the second half. They were down 9 to start the fourth quarter. The momentum seemed swing after Head Coach Don Story was hit with a technical foul. The girls came all the back and eventually took the lead on a Nikki Bustle three pointer. Mercer tied the game late, Lincoln took the lead for good on a put back by Kiera Henderson with :18 to go.

The boys were involved in a back forth, up and down game all night with Mercerburg Scottie Titans. LC took the lead for good in the third quarter on an Ethan Spurlin three pointer. LC never relinquished the lead after that shot, going on to win 58-53. Spurlin led all scorers with 25 points.

Next up for the boys, the Lancaster Burger House Golden Lions. It's payback time.....I hope.

Pats Dominate Raiders

LC put a good old fasion butt whoop'en on the the McCreary Central Raiders in Stanford on Thursday. LC fell down early 5-0, then proceded to go on an 11-0 run and never looked back. The Pats totally dominated 3 1/2 quarters and went on to win 70-54.

The Pats were led in scoring by Ethan Spurlin, with 32 points. Edgington pitched in 15. Spurlin made a statement tonight. He showed he is the best player in the region, badly outplaying Aaron Watts.

This was a big win for LC. This runs their record to 12-7 (2-1, 10-2 region). More importantly, it's three straight for the Pats at a very integrial part of the season. They now control their own destiny in the 45th. Next up, Mercer County. Then a big rematch with the Golden Lions.