Hounds, Jackets ousted from football playoffs

Football season came to a sudden end Friday night as Corbin was eliminated from the Class 4A playoffs and Williamsburg was knocked out of the Class A playoffs.

Corbin Redhounds

The Corbin Redhounds hopes for a perfect season and another state title ended Friday night with a loss to the Johnson Central Golden Eagles, 34-13.

This was the second year in a row that Johnson Central handed the Redhounds a playoff loss.

 “We had a really good year. 12-1 record that’s a good season for most people,” said Coach Tom Greer.

The Golden Eagles dominated the time of possession racking up 454 yards rushing on 54 rushing attempts with only one unsuccessful passing attempt for the game.

Greer said Johnson Central took advantage of the size difference between its offensive line and Corbin’s defensive line.

“The biggest thing is that they outweighed us up front by about 42 pounds per player,” Greer said noting that despite that, his players did everything they could to hang in there with the Golden Eagles. “There was no lack of effort.”

Johnson Central won the toss and elected to receive the ball to start the game.

The Golden Eagles then methodically marched the ball down the field scoring their first touchdown of the game with 3:54 to go in the first quarter to go up 7-0.

Corbin started its first drive near mid-field, but the drive was short lived due to a Redhound fumble and a Golden Eagle recovery by Ryleh McKenzie.

Johnson Central then put together a short drive from mid-field to score its second touchdown with 1:06 to go in the first quarter.

The Redhounds then traded possessions with the Golden Eagles.

Corbin’s only touchdown drive of the game was set up in part by a Johnson Central shanked punt that gave the Redhounds a short field starting their drive near the Johnson Central 46-yard line.

The Redhounds scored on a two-yard touchdown run by Cameron Combs. However, there was some confusion due to the ball coming out near the goal line. After the officials huddled together for about 30 seconds, they determined it was a Redhound touchdown, which cut the scoring margin to 14-7 with 3:39 to go in the second quarter.

This was as close as the Redhounds would get as Johnson Central marched down the field to score its third touchdown of the night with 1:09 to go in the second quarter to go up 21-7.

On the next play, Corbin had a touchdown kick return negated due to a holding call.

A short time later, a Corbin passing play to the 26-yard line with 0.02 seconds to go in the second quarter set up a 43-yard Jacob Baker field goal as time expired in the half to cut the margin to 21-10.

The second half would see Corbin unable to find the endzone twice settling for field goal attempts after they crossed over into Johnson Central territory.

The Redhounds got the ball to start the third quarter starting their drive on their own 32-yard line. The Redhounds got as close as the Johnson Central 5-yard line before a holding penalty on third down moved them back to the 22-yard line.

The drive ended on missed Baker 39-yard field goal attempt.

Johnson Central then took over and scored its fourth touchdown of the game with 1:52 to go in the third. A blocked extra point attempt left Johnson Central up 27-10.

The next possession would see the Redhounds getting as close as the Johnson Central 8-yard line before having to settle for a Baker field goal with 11:10 to go in the fourth quarter to make the margin 27-13.

Johnson Central needed less than one minute on its ensuing drive to the find the endzone for the game’s last score to go up 34-13.

As the Redhounds go into the offseason, Greer said the goal will be to get bigger, stronger and faster in preparation for 2022.

“We have got a good group coming back,” Greer said noting that the Redhounds have a number of underclassmen that saw significant playing time and made big contributions.

As to the 2022 schedule, Greer said that with the exception of the opponent for the Cumberland Falls Pigskin Classic, The Redhounds will face the same teams.

In addition to district opponents Knox Central, Wayne County and Lincoln County, Corbin is slated to play, Somerset, Pulaski County, Simon Kenton, Campbell County, Franklin County and Whitley County.

“We have got to find someone for the Pigskin Classic,” Greer said.

Williamsburg Yellow Jackets

An emotional season for the Williamsburg Yellow Jackets ended Friday night with a 50-21 loss at Pikeville in the Elite Eight round of the Class A playoffs.

“We played hard. We just shot ourselves in the foot,” said Coach Jerry Herron, Jr.

The Jackets struggled to move the ball early going three-and-out on their first two possessions.

On its first possession, Pikeville took the ball on its 23-yardline and marched deep into Williamsburg territory.

However, the Williamsburg defense stepped up, recovering a fumble to end the drive.

Pikeville was able to get on the board late in the first quarter, capping off the 75-yard drive with a two-yard run by Blake Birchfield.

Pikeville quickly extended the lead on its next possession when quarterback Isaac McNamee hit Wade Hensley with a long touchdown pass.

The Jackets got their second break of the night on their next possession.

While Williamsburg was forced to punt, Pikeville fumbled the fair catch attempt.

Senior Chris Howard recovered the fumble to put Williamsburg in good field position on the Pikeville 36-yardline.

Quarterback Sydney Bowen capped off the drive with a one-yard touchdown run to cut Pikeville’s lead to 12-6.

Pikeville appeared to be set to answer, driving to the Williamsburg 3-yardline.

However, the Jackets’ defense made a stand, stopping Birchfield on fourth-and-goal at the one-yardline.

“We played the run great,” Herron said

On Williamsburg’s first play from scrimmage, Bowen was tackled in the endzone for the safety as Pikeville extended the lead to 14-7.

Pikeville added two more touchdowns in the first half to extend the lead to 28-7.

Williamsburg answered with just seconds remaining in the first half as Bowen punched in his second touchdown on the night.

Pikeville poured it on in the second half to start the running clock.

“We just couldn’t get anything going in the second half,” Herron noted.

The Jackets answered with a late touchdown by senior Jayden Rainwater with 4:58 remaining.

Williamsburg finished the season with an 8-4 record.

“These kids played hard,” Herron said. “We got beat by a good team.”