STATE-BOUND

The Williamsburg Middle School eighth grade football team captured their second Mountain Middle School Athletic Conference title Saturday with a 42-6 romp over Harlan Middle School.

The win allowed the Yellow Jackets to finish with a 10-1 record and represent the conference in the Kentucky Middle School State Playoffs that begin Saturday with a home game against the Campbellsville Middle School Eagles.

Should they win the Yellow Jackets coaches by Matt Jones will play in the Region 2 finals Saturday, Oct. 22 against the Somerset Meece-Old Kentucky Home winner at Campbellsville University.

“We are getting better every game,” Jones said of his team. “The group shows a lot of leadership and they are a very talented team. We teach them the same system that the varsity uses so they can be prepared to move up.”

Williamsburg is averaging 35.0 points per game behind the scoring of Andrew Griffith and Austin Huskey while the defense has recorded two shutouts and are giving up 12.1 points per game. Jordan Osborne and Stone Hughett are the top defensive players.

The Yellow Jackets started the season with back-to-back shutouts over Pineville (38-0) and McCreary Central (38-0) before losing their only game of the season to Frankfort, 24-0.

Williamsburg then held off Corbin 32-28 and beat Lynn Camp 38-6. They defeated Wayne County, 42-20 and beat Lexington Christian, 26-6. The Jackets edged Harlan 42-38 the first time the teams played then followed that with a rout of Middlesboro, 52-6.

Williamsburg was supposed to play Middlesboro in the opening game of the playoffs, but the Bell County team forfeited to the Yellow Jackets. That set up Saturday win over Harlan for the second time.

Members of the Williamsburg Middle School team are: eighth graders, Alex Patterson, Jordan Osborne, Austin Huskey, Matthew Mattingly, Chris Mullis, Hunter Browning, Carter Berryhill, Stone Hughett, Dalton Shackleford, Dakotah Dunn and Logan Goodlet. Seventh graders, Justin Davis, Hagen Hawn, Jeremiah Wallace, Noah Purdie, Jacob Harrison and Cameron Hendrix. Sixth graders, Alec Poore, Dalton Dunn and Zach Caddell.

Corbin to host Casey

Corbin will play in the Kentucky Middle School 7^th Grade Tournament with a home game against Casey County Saturday. The winner will go on to play Southern Pulaski on the road Tuesday, Oct. 18. The Region 2 finals will be held at Campbellsville University as well. The game is schedule to begin at 1 p.m.

After starting the season off rough with a 52-14 loss against Southern Pulaski, Corbin Middle School Redhound Football Team Head Coach Wendell Foley wasn’t worried. “I felt like we had work to do but, I knew we had a group of athletes that the coaching staff was capable of working with.” Foley said.

The Redhounds continued on and weren’t giving up without a fight. They rebounded with a win against Boone County then ran off nine straight wins.

They captured the regular season conference title and after playing the Clay County Tigers on Tuesday night for the Conference Championship, will advance to state play. With solid play of Jaxon Stewart, Tucker Jewell, AJ Moore, and Drew Carter, Coach Foley feels confident going into the State Playoffs.

Foley says, “The key to winning in the State Playoffs will be the play of our offensive line and I feel like our coaching staff will have the kids ready for a run at the State Title.”

The Redhounds finish their regular season 9-1.

Editor’s note: Kennedy Foley contributed to the Corbin portion of this story.