PRE-GAME HUDDLE

 Two huge games are on tap Friday night when the Williamsburg Yellow Jackets host the Campbellsville Eagles and the Whitley County Colonels travel to Letcher Central to play the Cougars.

Corbin and Lynn Camp will be at home, but both teams should be in store for lopsided wins over Knott County Central and Clinton County.

• A district title is on the line for the Yellow Jackets. Both Williamsburg and Campbellsville come into the game 2-0. Williamsburg has beaten Berea and Clinton County while Campbellsville has wins over Lynn Camp and Berea.

Should Campbellsville win, the Eagles are pretty much assured of the championship while Williamsburg will have to hold off the celebration because they must still face archrival Lynn Camp.

“They are a very fast football team,” Williamsburg Coach Jerry Herron said of the Eagles. “They have a lot of quickness, they are very versatile and get after you. They run to the football really well on defense.”

“They are under-sized, but they explode to the ball,” said Herron. “Offensively they spread the field and try to make you make the plays.”

Jay Cobb, who turned the Somerset program into a championship contender the last several years, coaches the Eagles.

Campbellsville got off to a slow start, losing four of its first five games. The Eagles lost to Breathitt County and Russell County before shutting out rival Taylor County, 22-0. They lost to Bardstown Bethlehem and Green County before coming back to beat Lynn Camp 14-0. They defeated Berea last week, 18-6.

The Eagles have a sound defensive team allowing 13.8 points per game, however 43 of those points came against Green County.

Jim’s Pick: Williamsburg 36-28.

• Whitley County faces the most crucial game of the week. Mathematically the loser of this game will more than likely be eliminated from the playoff format.

First-year coach Mike Whitaker has seen his young team lose five of their six games by a combined margin of 213-126. They are averaging 21 points per game, but are giving up 35.5 points and outing.

Letcher Central opened the season with a 32-21 victory over winless South Laurel, but has dropped five straight including back-to-back setbacks to Perry Central (50-23) and Harlan County (39-8).

The workhorse of the team appears to be Jessie Rose and Logan Johnson. Rose has 51 carries for 345 yards and a touchdown while Johnson has three touchdowns on 57 carries.

Quarterback Logan Johnson has hit on 28-of-66 passes for 506 yards with only one interception. The top receivers are Matt Boggs, eight catches, 122 yards and Keaston Hall, four catches, 116 yards.

The Colonels will once again rely on seniors Cody Bramlett, Justin Goins, Jordan Singleton and quarterback Travis Inman.

Jim’s Pick: Whitley County 36-14.

• The Corbin Redhounds host the Knott Central Patriots Thursday night. Last year Caleb Watkins ran for eight touchdowns and the ‘Hounds whipped the Patriots, 85-34. Will something like that happen again? The Patriots gave up more points in Class 2A than any other team. Nothing has changed; the Patriots are once again at the bottom of the class.

Knott Central has scored 40 points in six games.

“They have put in a new system this year and they run more of a spread type offense,” said Corbin Coach Steve Jewell. “They are a very young team and don’t have a lot of experience.”

“They are definitely in a rebuilding stage,” added Jewell.

Instead of fall break coming up at the end of the week, it should be more like Thanksgiving, as the Redhounds will feast on the Patriots.

Jim’s Pick: Corbin 54-6

• Lynn Camp will host another team searching for some success in the Clinton County Bulldogs. The Dawgs are 0-7 with district losses to Williamsburg and Berea. The Pirates edged Clinton County, 8-6 the first game of the season.

Senior Matt Staton, sophomore Gavin McWhorter, senior Kylan Asher and senior Dillon Crawford, lead Clinton County.

Lynn Camp will enter the game 1-5, but shouldn’t have much trouble with the Bulldogs. A young group ready to make a run at the district title, the Wildcats are led by sophomores Nathan Black at quarterback and Clinton Jackson in the backfield.

The Wildcats hope to rebound from a 14-0 loss to the Campbellsville Eagles and go into next week’s game at Williamsburg with a 1-1 district slate.

Jim’s Pick: Lynn Camp 48-14.