CMS Redhounds stomp opposition in state championship game

To paraphrase a line from one of my favorite retired NFL coaches, how about them Redhounds!

Mark White is Editor of The News Journal.

The Corbin Redhounds Eighth Grade Football Team won their second consecutive division two state championship during a game late Saturday afternoon against the Paducah Middle School.

This is actually the Redhounds third eighth grade state title in five years having also won the title in 2017.

Kudos to head coach Brent Jackson and his staff. It was well earned victory that all of Corbin should be proud of.

I’ve known Brent for several years and he is a real class act in addition to being an exceptional coach.

Will we see a third consecutive eighth grade state title next season? I wouldn’t be shocked if we did. As Brent noted after Saturday’s game, that is the goal.

The Corbin High School Football Team is a lot like the University of Kentucky Basketball Team in that as many people say, they don’t rebuild after several starters and key players graduate or move on, but instead they reload.

With back-to-back eighth grade state championships, one has to think that the high school team will be loaded to make a long run in the state tournament three years from now.

Speaking of football Friday night, I got my first look this season at the Williamsburg High School Football Team, and they looked good beating the Pineville Mountain Lions by a score of 48-13.

From what I have read about Williamsburg this season, this is a team with talented players that just didn’t seem to always be focused on the job at hand many times this season.

Take the first Williamsburg-Pineville match-up of the season, when the Jackets pulled out a 21-13 win thanks to a last-minute defensive stand, and a key interception late in the game prompting Head Coach Jerry Herron to comment after the game that “the biggest thing we’ve got to do is fix ourself.”

Friday night the Jackets and the Mountain Lions each drove down the field for touchdowns on their first possessions of the game. For then on, it was all Williamsburg.

So, what was the difference between Friday’s game and the previous game? I think it was adversity.

Williamsburg was fortunate to have had a bye week the prior week as they had to bury one of their brethren, sophomore Nick Rainwater, who died on Nov. 1 at the University of Kentucky Medical Center following a long illness.

Herron called the past two weeks the most difficult of his career.

“We have dedicated everything to him. Everything we say is Nick Strong. He is on our mind and will never go away,” Herron said after Friday’s game. “He gave us strength and everything tonight.”

While this year’s squad is talented, I don’t think too many people familiar with football would call it the best team that Williamsburg has ever fielded, or, the most talented team in the state this year.

Still, this year’s squad has lots of talent. It also now has something to coalesce around.

Will this year’s team band together to win a championship for their fallen comrade? Only time will tell.

If Williamsburg is going to do so this season though, they will have to go on the road during the rest of the playoffs to do so. First up will be a long trip to Pikeville High School this Friday. This is a high school with a very good football team, which is notoriously difficult to beat at home.

Suffice it to say this is going to be an uphill battle for the Jackets.

While on the subject of high school football playoffs, we’re now at the point where there are no more easy games left in the season.

This Friday’s other local high school match-up will feature Corbin High School, who will be at home playing against Johnson Central.

According to the Kentucky High School Athletic Association’s last regular season Rating Percentage Index (RPI) for 4A football, which was compiled on Oct. 30, undefeated Corbin ranked third in the state with a .67523 RPI behind only Boyle County and Lexington Catholic. Meanwhile, Johnson Central, which is now 10-2 on the season, is in fourth place on the 4A RPI list at .59702.

So, what is RPI you may ask? In layman’s terms the complicated KHSAA formula for ranking teams based on wins, losses, strength of schedule and so forth.

In other words, this coming Friday’s match-up will involve two of the best 4A teams in the state.

Should be a fun game to watch.