REDHOUNDS ROLL

The Redhounds easily took the first step in the AA playoffs by running past Morgan County, 40-6 Friday night.

Caleb Watkins and Ryan Fritts sat out the game with injuries, which allowed a sneak preview of what to expect from next year’s squad. Vinny Hoover opened eyes with his quickness and speed as he darted 22 yards for the game’s first score, and of course, Matthew Taylor ran for 197 yards and three touchdowns.

During last weeks loss to Lexington Christian, my son Scott, who attended the game with me, remarked after a pass reception and bull like thrust for a first down by Taylor, “that sure looked like a Taylor effort”, Scott played with Matthew’s dad, Roy and his uncle Greg, who were both all-time Redhound great players.

Brady Foley also ran real well, blocked great and spearheaded the defense. Taylor is one of the best one-on-one tacklers I have seen in years. Once Matthew zeros in, he is like a missile.

Whitley County, another local team with a legitimate shot at doing well in the playoffs has been a bit of an enigma, starting the season with a great effort against Lexington Catholic in a game which quite frankly, I feel they were robbed.

 Then through a few games struggled and lost, before regaining momentum. I really like Alex Patrick and Jamie Lebanion and Jordan Singleton, who is the son of my old softball buddy, Joe Singleton, who can fly and he did for a 90-yard kick off return against South Laurel.

I attended Redhound basketball practice last week and I am very excited with what I saw.

First I must say Coach Tony Pietrowski and his staff run as good a practice session as any I have ever seen. The drills are quick, precise and physical.

The Redhounds are put through drills that require total focus and excellent hand-eye concentration and physical dexterity. There is no wasted time, they have a few water breaks that are three minutes long and it is back to work.

There are several players who have made marked improvement over the off-season. The seniors Madison Johnson, Issac Wilson, Luke Stewart are teaming with junior Josh Hopkins and sophomore Travis Smith in providing leadership. A new addition to this year’s squad is Hunter Sizemore, a transfer from South Laurel and of course after football season, Aaron Manns, Matthew Taylor and Vinny Hoover will join the mix.

Backcourt players who will make contributions are Brody Freeman, who is a tiger, Justin Olson, Eric Jones, Taylor Jones, Baily Pietrowski and Kyle West. Dominic Timperio, Ronnie Igo and Josh Duncum will add frontcourt help.

Shifting back to football. Saturday afternoon it came down to watching my grass grow or catching the University of Kentucky play Eastern Kentucky University with Rob Bromley doing play by play. I chose watching the game it was easier to sleep with Bromley doing play-by-play.

I believe the only thing that could slow down John Calipari’s basketball Cats would be if they let Bromley do play-by-play.

Seriously, I believe Coach Cal is going to have to find away to incorporate Patrick Patterson into the offense, he looks lost among all of the new talent surrounding him.

I believe he has yet to assert himself as the talent he is. I am not worried, however, I feel we have a coach who will solve any problem that arises. John Wall may well be the most talented player ever at Kentucky. He reminds me of a smooth Dwight “the blue” Anderson if you can remember him.

 

Junior Matthew Taylor ran for 194 yards and scored three touchdowns as the Corbin Redhounds rolled past the Morgan County Cougars, 40-6 in the first-round of the KHSAA football playoffs Friday night at Campbell Field.

It proved to be an easy win for the Redhounds, even without senior running backs Caleb Watkins and Ryan Fritts. The leading rushers/scorers were given the night off to recover from some nagging injuries.

The Redhounds were still able to score six of the first seven times they had the football. Corbin used a little trickery to get on the scoreboard on the game’s first drive. Quarterback Roman Mitchell missed on his first three attempts and it looked as if the ‘Hounds would put the ball away. However, an 11-yard run by Taylor gave Corbin new life at the Morgan County 47-yard line. That was all the sparked they needed as Taylor took the ball to the 33-yard line on the first-down play.

Sophomore Vinny Hoover broke loose on his first carry of the game for 33 yards to the end zone. From that point it was all Corbin.

Taylor scored on runs of 10, 32 and 55 yards while Ben House connected with Mitchell on a 20-yard pass play to put Corbin up at the half, 28-0.

Brady Foley got in on the scoring in the third quarter with a 49-yard run for six points.

By virtue of the district championship, the Redhounds will be at home again this week as they host the Wildcats of Shelby Valley.

Corbin Coach Steve Jewell expects a much tougher game from the Pike Countians. “They are a very physical team and have a dominant senior class,” said Jewell. “They have been playing together a long time and block well for one another.”

“Their offensive backs block extremely well,” added Jewell. The Wildcats have two 1,000-yard rushers in B.J. Roberts, a senior and Dillon Hughs, a senior. Roberts has scored 17 times this season on 116 carries. He has 1,682 yards for the season. Hughs has added 10 touchdowns on 120 carries and has 1,397 yards. Senior quarterback Cody Varney has rushed for eight touchdowns and passed for 12 TD’s. He has a combined 1,234 yards.

Tanner Tacket, a senior back is capable of putting points on the scoreboard. He has eight touchdowns.

The top receivers are Roberts and Donovan Hamilton, each have four touchdowns from Varney.

Defensively the Wildcats have 25 take-aways this season with Hughs and Rusty Roberts intercepting the ball three times. Colton Bentley has two steals for the Wildcats.

The teams have three common opponents in Knott County Central, Leslie County and Morgan County. Shelby Valley, coached by Jeff Norman, has four wins from the three teams. The Wildcats shutout Leslie County last week, 41-0.

Jewell said the keys to the game would be, “taking them out of their game plan and taking the run away from them. Obviously, we want them to pass the ball a little more, I think that is more to our advantage.”

“If we can keep our offense on the field and keep theirs off I think it is a big benefit for us,” said Jewell.

Two of the Shelby Valley losses came to teams that are still undefeated, Prestonsburg (11-0) and Lawrence County (11-0). They also lost to Clintwood, Virginia, 24-11.

Shelby Valley has scored 413 points and average 37.5 while Corbin has scored 412 for an average of 37.4. Defensively the Wildcats have the advantage in the stats, giving up 14.1 per game while Corbin has given up 16.5.

 

 

 

Corbin 40, Morgan County 6

Morgan Co.            0    0    6   0-   6

Corbin           14 14 12   0- 40

C- Vinny Hoover 33 run (Saxon Okuma kick)

C- Matthew Taylor 10 run (Okuma kick)

C- Taylor 32 run (Okuma kick)

C- Ben House 20 pass from Roman Mitchell (Okuma kick)

C- Taylor 55 run (kick failed)

C- Brady Foley 49 run (kick failed)

MC- Michael Harvey 1 run (kick failed)