Colonels Fall

It was a new look on offense for the Whitley County Colonels last week, but it was the same ending, a heart breaking Senior Night loss to the George Rogers Clark Cardinals, 29-14.
This time the Cardinals spotted the Colonels an 8-0 lead late the first half but came storming back with three touchdowns in a minute and a half. The Cardinals took an amazing 21-8 lead into the dressing room at the break.
“I don’t know what happened there,” Whitley County coach Jim Black said in his post-game show. “I thought we played well in spurts. I see flashes of brilliance then I see flashes of other stuff.”
“It’s hard to figure out but I thought the kids didn’t didn’t give up,” said Black. “Their legacy is going to be that they fight to the end.”
“We were fighting to get back in it here at the end,” said Black. “I want the seniors to have more. They can go out on a positive note, we have a very winnable game against North Laurel.”
“Ninety seconds put us out of the game,” said Black.
The Colonels did an outstanding job controlling the line of scrimmage early in the game and holding the Cardinals out of the end zone.
Neither team made a lot of noise in the first 20 minutes of the game. It was the fourth series that saw the Colonels strike pay dirt. Senior Jonathan Bowman hit Kevin Wells on a third and twenty pass to the Clark County 27 yard line for a first down.
Whitley County took advantage of the field position but faced a fourth and three after a Josh Wynn pass of seven yards. The Colonels went for the first as Bowman bullied his way to the 17 yard line. Just enough to keep the drive going.
Bowman hit the hole for a four yard gain followed by a Cody Jeffries run of three yards to the Clark County 10.
Jeffries took the ball down to the three and Bowman finished it off with a touchdown run. Shaun Baird added the two point conversion and Whitley County led 8-0.
Then the real fireworks started as Clark County struck three times in ninety seconds. The first was a nine-yard run by Clint Green into the end zone. Green added the PAT and the game was tied 8-8.
A Michael Interception with 1:02 on the clock gave the Cardinals a 15-8 lead when he returned the ball 40 yards for a score. GRC added the point after for the seven-point margin.
The Clark County defense held and made Whitley County punt with :22 left in the half. They were able to take the ball into the end zone for the third TD of the half. The Cardinals added the extra point with :01 remaining on the clock and went into the dressing room with a 22-8 lead.
The Colonels came back in the third quarter with fire in their eyes, not wanting to go down lightly. Bowman scored on a three yard run with 4:32 in the third then added the conversion as the Colonels sliced the lead to six, 22-16.
Whitley County looked to be on its way back when Clark County struck in the fourth quarter on a 40 yard pass play from Dougie Mason to Robell Rogers.
The Colonels were unable to get on the scoreboard in the final minutes against the Clark County defense. “We’ve got to get better at throwing the ball because we can run the ball against anybody,” said Black.
“We still have four quarters of football,” said Black, referring to the North Laurel game. “We need to make the most of it not only for the seniors, but to pull this win out and build on something positive going into the off season.”
The Jaguars will be one of five teams in the new district next season when the Colonels move up to 5A with the likes of Clay County, Perry Central, Letcher Central and North Laurel.
The Jaguars will bring in a 3-6 record with wins over Leslie County, Madison Southern and South Laurel. However, North Laurel has fallen on tough times the last four weeks losing big to Clark County (39-6), Montgomery County (25-7), Lincoln County (52-7) and Madison Central (48-0).
During that span the Jaguars have scored only three touchdowns and given up more than 41 points per game.
“This is a very winnable game,” Black said.

Clark County 0 22 0 7- 29
Whitley Co. 0 8 8 0- 16
Second Quarter
WC – Bowman, 3 run (Baird pass from Bowman)
CC – Green, 9 run (Green run)
CC – Clark, 40 interception run (Farthing kick)
CC – Clark, 30 pass from Mason (Farthing kick)
Third Quarter
WC – Bowman, 3 run (Bowman run)
Fourth Quarter
CC – Rogers, 40 pass from Mason (Farthing kick)