Whitley County Falls

The Whitley County Colonels kicked off the high school football season Friday night at Russell County in a losing effort, 30-0.

To look at the statistics, one would thank the Colonels would have won this contest or at least scored against the Lakers. “We just made inexperienced mistakes,” Whitley County Coach Jim Black said in his post-game show. “We hurt ourselves during the game. We let Britt (Nick) three times and it hurt us. Overall we did a decent job on him.”

Black was referring to the Lakers’ junior running back that scored three touchdowns and ran the ball 14 times for 209 yards. The three touchdowns accounted for 175 yards.

The Colonels shot themselves in the foot time after time and could have easily had the lead going into halftime.

Whitley County drove the ball from their own 20-yard line to the Russell County 25-yard line on the opening series of the game. Junior Boston Bryant accounted for 39 yards on five carries, but the big fullback came up short on a fourth down carry.

An 11-yard pass from Barton Mann to Blake Ellis got the Lakers out of the hole and up to the 35-yard line where Britt picked up the Lakers’ second first down at the Colonels’ 46-yard marker. Britt took the next hand-off to the end zone. The PAT made it 7-0 with 5:26 in the opening quarter.

The Colonels’ defense stepped it up a notch for the rest of the first half holding Britt and company out of the end zone. A fumble cost the Colonels midway through the second quarter Bryant pushed his way down the field for a 28-yard run, giving Whitley County a first-down at the Russell County 23. The Colonels lost the ball on the ensuing run by Josh Nichols at the six-yard line.

Whitley County held the Lakers once again and sacked Mann on a third-and-8 at the 26-yard line. The Colonels took over at their own 22-yard line after a punt and drove the ball down to the five-yard line where the half ended.

The Colonels had impressive runs by Tyler Sears, Bryant, Austin Hooper and Nichols. Facing a fourth-and-one from the five-yard line, the Colonels came up short with 38 seconds left in the half.

“Good teams don’t make those mistakes,” Black said. “Right now we are not there, but we are getting better. We are making less and less mistakes.”

Britt scored the first time he touched the ball in the third quarter and a Blake Ellis interception return of 35 yards in the first two minutes of the period put the Colonels in a 20-0 hole.

The Colonels had several drives turned back in the second half.

“The kids never stopped fighting,” Black said. “You’ve got to give them credit. This is the first game for a lot of those players.”

“I am proud of the offensive line. They kept on hammering away even when Michael Hill (senior) went down Austin Stephens went in and did a good job for him,” Black said. “So many kids contributed tonight to the effort, but we have to correct the mistakes and get better. Like I have said before we are a work in progress.”

The offensive line helped lead the Colonels to 368 yards, while Russell County had a total of 315 yards. Bryant worked his way on the ground for 159 yards on 21 carries to lead the Whitley County offense.

The Colonels will travel to Mt. Vernon Friday night where they will play the Rockcastle County Rockets (2-0) in the Renfro Valley Jamboree Bowl.

The Rockets have scored 90 points while giving up just one touchdown in their first two games against the Sheldon Clark Cardinals (45-0) and Frankfort Panthers (45-8).

Clarke Rowe led the Rockets to the win over Sheldon Clark, scoring three touchdowns while Steven Thomason, Nick Thomason, Chance Ansardi and Chris Luna added one each.

Rowe, senior, came back to score three TD’s and an extra points in the win over Frankfort last week. He rushed the football 16 times for 195 yards.

Russell Co. 30, Whitley Co. 0

Whitley Co.            0   0     0   0-   0

Russell Co.             7   0   16   7- 30           

RC- Nick Britt 46 run (Williams kick)

RC- Britt 79 run (kick failed)

RC- Blake Ellis 35 interception (Williams kick)

RC- Williams 22 FG

RC- Britt 50 run (Williams kick)