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Much respect owed to the athletes that won’t quit on a bad season
Late November will mark one year since I took over as sports editor at the News Journal.
With the focus on high school sports, you begin to notice certain athletes in each sport for the way they play, plays they make or seeing their names in the stats sheets time after time.
Seeing those players that have excelled in one sport struggle on a team in a down year is hard.
I will say that I take no joy in writing that a local team is struggling mightily or was on the losing side of a slaughter.
As Williamsburg Football Coach Jerry Herron, Jr. said in his comments last week, “These are kids.”
Give credit to many of these kids. Going out there, game after game, and getting badly beaten can’t be fun. It is no fun losing badly in anything.
You wonder what keeps them from calling it quits?
The good news for some of the players is that their time is coming. It is funny that the fall sports team that is struggling will see the players move on to basketball or spring sports and feature a good number of the same athletes.
A number of those teams will excel.
Meanwhile the fall sports team that is playing lights out has athletes that will play on basketball and/or spring sports that will struggle.
As ESPN’s Chris Berman has said repeatedly, “That’s why they play the game!”
Much respect to all of the athletes that are willing to put in the time and effort to represent their respective school and community.
A few other things:
- Congratulations go out to Corbin High School golfer Eli Fischer who finished tied for 63rd out of 143 participants in the boys’ state tournament.
Fischer shot a six-over-par 78 at Bowling Green Country Club on Friday to qualify to participate in day two.
- This week it is the girls’ turn to hit the links in the state tournament. Corbin’s Kelsay Collins is among the players scheduled to compete at Bowling Green Country Club.
- All three local football games Friday night are big for different reasons.
Corbin will travel to Lincoln County for the second of three district games. The Patriots are 3-5 on the season with wins over Somerset and Wayne County.
Lincoln County ran for 229 yards in the 29-0 district win over the Cardinals, and forced three turnovers.
The Patriots held Wayne County to 146 yards of total offense.
Can the Redhounds continue the quest for an undefeated season?
Williamsburg will be on the road for a district game at Pineville that will, likely, decide the district championship.
Coach Herron appears to have the Yellow Jackets’ attention based on the way they bounced back from the loss to Sayre with a 48-0 win at Harlan.
With 305 yards on the ground and Sydney Bowen throwing for 263 yards and three touchdowns, the Jackets were clicking on offense.
Defensively, the Jackets held the Green Dragons to 95 yards of total offense and forced two turnovers.
Pineville is coming into the game at 6-1 after defeating Lynn Camp, 51-6 last Friday.
The Mountain Lions pounded out 224 yards on the ground against Lynn Camp.
Whitley County has a legitimate chance to pick up what most would consider an upset win and send the seniors out of Colonels Stadium on a high note when they host North Laurel Friday night.
The Jaguars have been on a roll all season, but ran into a couple of brick walls in the form of Southwestern and Pulaski County that has them looking to end a two-game losing streak.
North Laurel will be looking to run the ball, but the Colonels can’t ignore quarterback Tucker Warren’s arm.
It will be a tough climb for the Colonels as North Laurel has an impressive season opening win over Bell County. It is the Bobcats’ only loss, yet, this season.
The win would put the Colonels in position to take the three seed in the district with a win next week against South Laurel. What, exactly, that would get them is to be determined as Southwestern and Pulaski County are scheduled to meet on Oct. 22 for the district title.
Coach Zeke Eier’s squad desperately needs something positive at this point in the season.
- Finally, congratulations to Coach Armando Cima’s Corbin Redhounds Soccer Team on winning the 13th Region Monday night.
Corbin will not learn which region champion it will face in the semi-state round until Wednesday morning when the drawing is held. It will be one of the winners from 9th through 16th regions.
The game could take place in Corbin as the home team will be determined by RPI.
Cima said a second drawing will take place to determine the matchups for the elite eight. Should the Redhounds reach that point, they may very well be on a trek across the state, again depending on how their RPI stacks up against the opposition.
Stay turned.
