PIGSKIN CLASSIC SATURDAY

 The Cumberland Falls Pigskin Classic is back. After a one-year hiatus the Corbin Redhound Varsity Club will hold the 18^th Classic Saturday at Campbell Field. The Knox Central Panthers and Knoxville Karns Beavers will kickoff the action at 5:45 followed by the Redhounds and the Lexington Christian Eagles.

The Redhounds own a 4-2 edge against the Eagles dating back to their first meeting in 2005. Corbin defeated LCA in the last meeting, 29-22.

The series has seen a lot of points put on the scoreboard with Corbin outscoring the Eagles 195-167 in the six games. The teams combined for 82 points in the 2008 game that saw the Redhounds win, 48-34.

“They have another very good team,” Corbin Coach Steve Jewell said. “This is an athletic team. They have good receivers and a good running quarterback. He throws the ball well, so we expect to see more of a passing attack then we saw last week. They are a very balanced team. They are about 50-50 run pass.”

The Eagles feature junior Lincoln Henzman (6-2, 185-pounds) at quarterback along with junior wide receivers Justin King, Ryder Brown, Colin Duzyk. Senior Sam Maybriar is the Eagles starting fullback.

The Eagles opened the season last week with a 13-12 win over Christian Academy of Louisville while the Redhounds came from behind to beat George Rogers Clark by the same score.

“We’ve got to keep the ball away from them,” Jewell said. “We have to limit their possessions. The other night against Clark County they had the ball 29 minutes and we had it 21. We want to keep our defense off the field as much as possible.”

Jewell feels like the ‘Hounds made some mistakes he would like to see corrected this week. “We have to protect the ball a little better and we had nine penalties, we can’t have that. I think we had five false starts and that is a mental concentration type thing,” he said.

Jewell said this year’s Pigskin Classic pans out to be among the best two games ever. “Karns is on the upswing, they proved it last year. They came down here and beat us in a really close ballgame.

It was the first time in years that they made the playoffs in Tennessee with a new staff. It is their third year and they are going in the right direction,” Jewell.

Knox Central opened the season with an easy win over South Laurel, 40-21. “Coach (Scottie) Russell has been doing a really good job and I think they had a big win over South Laurel. They are putting up big numbers as well so it should be a good battle,” Jewell said.

“We’ve had some classic ballgames with Lexington Christian. It has been a slugfest the last five or six meetings,” Jewell said.

“As hard as they played last week, this is the biggest task for our kids. I told them the hardest task they will have is to repeat the intensity and excitement that they had last week,” Jewell said.

“It’s exciting for the fans to watch kids play like they did last week. It always feel good to get a win at the end, but anyway it turned out the other night you had to feel proud the way the kids were fighting and staying in to the very end,” Jewell said.

Pigskin Classic Winners

1995 – Breathitt Co. 29, Ryle 22

1995 – Corbin 21, South Laurel 7

1996 – Cincinnati Moeller 19, Male 14

1996 – Corbin 48, Whitesburg 7

1997 – Riverdale 36, Fern Creek 8

1997 – Lawrence Co. 42, Corbin 19

1998 – Whitley Co. 28, Ludlow 18

1998 – Corbin 60, Lynn Camp 20

1999 – Henry Clay 46, Fern Creek 13

1999 – Conner 16, Corbin 7

2000 – Whitley Co. 27, Conner 7

2000 – Corbin 21, Henry Clay 10

2001 – Danville 42, Bryan Station 6

2001 – Lexington Catholic 20, Corbin 14

2002 – Lexington Catholic 32, Danville 26

2002 – Corbin 28, Bryan Station 14

2003 – Rockcastle Co. 21, Larue Co. 8

2003 – Corbin 54, Somerset 22

2004 – Somerset 39, Larue Co. 25

2004 – Corbin 42, Rockcastle Co. 22

2005 – Oldham Co. 23, East Jessamine 13

2005 – Pikeville 30, Corbin 0

2006 – East Jessamine 20, Pikeville 8

2006 – Oldham Co. 34, Corbin 20

2007 – Corbin 21, Paul Dunbar 18

2007 – Middlesboro 14, Knox Central 0

2008 – Corbin 35, Knox Central 14

2008 – Middlesboro 27, Paul Dunbar 0

2009 – Corbin 31, Danville 14

2009 – Boyle Co. 63, Pikeville 7

2010 –  Danville 40, Pikeville 0

2010 – Boyle Co. 42, Corbin 10

2011 –  No Bowl