Where do our local football teams stand in the district, state?

As we move into week five of the high school football season where do our local teams stand even though no official standings have been released by the Kentucky High School Athletic Association.

At 4-0, Corbin is rolling along in class 4A.

The Redhounds have outscored their opponents by a combined 156 to 34 and are averaging 39 points a game.

Among the other teams in District Seven: Knox Central is 3-1, Wayne County is 2-1, and Lincoln County is 1-3.

None of the other teams have statement wins on par with Corbin’s victories over Franklin County and Pulaski County.

When you talk 4A football in Kentucky, in addition to Corbin, Boyle County, Franklin County and Johnson Central are cream of the crop.

Boyle County, the defending state champions, are 3-1 on the season, losing to class 2A power Lexington Christian at home on Aug. 28, 35-28.

The Rebels also beat Pulaski County and still have defending class 5A champion Bowling Green and Frederick Douglas on the schedule.

Franklin County is now 2-2 on the season after following up the 27-7 loss at Corbin with a 31-13 loss at home to Louisville Ballard.

The Flyers must still face undefeated Woodford County and Louisville Central.

Johnson Central has been a thorn in the Redhounds’ side, knocking them out of the playoffs each of the last two years.

Coach Jim Matney has gone looking outside of the state for competition, until COVID–19 struck in 2020.

That came back to haunt the Golden Eagles this season as one of those games was against Bishop Sycamore out of Columbus, Ohio. That is the team that got a nationally televised game on ESPN and later drew media attention as to whether it is an actual high school.

Bishop Sycamore, which had gotten into the game with the claim that it has a number of Division I college prospects, lost to IMG Sports Academy, 58-0.

Johnson Central played Bishop Sycamore in 2019 winning 34-8.

After all of the media attention and questions, Bishop Sycamore forfeited the remainder of the season as part of a house cleaning measure.

As a result, Johnson Central was awarded the 1-0 victory.

That offsets the 1-0 loss the Golden Eagles suffered as a result of a COVID cancelation in the scheduled game against Lexington Catholic.

When the Golden Eagles have taken the field, they are 2-0, having defeated Henry Clay in the opener and Cahokia, Illinois last Saturday in overtime.

Friday night, Johnson Central will host Rock Creek Christian Academy out of Maryland. When the Golden Eagles pick back up with Kentucky teams, the schedule doesn’t bring oos and ahs, so Cahokia and Rock Creek Academy better be just short of the greatest thing since sliced bread. Because Corbin has certainly upped the level of competition and upped its own level of play to match it.

The Whitley County Colonels are sitting at 1-2 on the season, but as one wrestling announcer frequently said, “Business is really picking up.”

The good news for the Colonels is that they will be at home playing in front of the Whitley County faithful.

The next two opponents on the schedule are Bell County and District Eight opponent Pulaski County.

Among the other District Eight opponents for the Colonels: Southwestern is currently 3-0, North Laurel is 3-0, Pulaski County is 1-3 and South Laurel is 0-4.

Pulaski County’s record continues to deceive. Its losses have come at the hands of Corbin, Boyle County and Lexington Catholic.

The Maroons still have Bell County on the schedule.

Southwestern has yet to score that win to make you believe that they are for real.

In addition to Pulaski County, the Warriors will finish up the season at home against Madison Central. Winning those two games may build some credibility going into the playoffs.

North Laurel opened the season with an overtime win against Bell County. The Jaguars close the season at home against Wayne County.

South Laurel is just looking for any type of win. If it doesn’t happen Friday against Rockcastle County, the only other real chance will be at Grant County. Though the Cardinals gave the Colonels all they wanted when Whitley County came out soft in 2019. 

South could easily play spoiler if a team overlooks them.

The Williamsburg Yellow Jackets are 2-1 and will have had two weeks to prepare for Somerset.

Oneida wasn’t fielding one of its best teams when the Jackets demolished them in the opener. Middlesboro gave Williamsburg the wake up call it needed in week two with a 60-28 victory as running back Caleb Bongonko ran wild through the Williamsburg defense.

Williamsburg will be right back home on Oct. 1 against Sayre, which ran the table during the regular season in 2020 only to be knocked out in the first round of the class A playoffs at Pikeville.

The Spartans have started out 2021 with a 3-0 record and will likely be 5-0 coming into the game against Williamsburg.

Coach Jerry Herron, Jr. will see how far his team has grown since Middlesboro.

Among the other District Eight opponents: Pineville is 3-1, Harlan is 2-1 and Lynn Camp is 0-4.

Pineville, Harlan and Lynn Camp each have Middlesboro coming up on the schedule in addition to trying to end Williamsburg’s 19-game district winning streak that dates back to 2015 

The last district loss for the Jackets was Oct. 9, 2015 at Harlan.

Among the other class A powers, defending state champion Paintsville is 1-2, but the two losses have come at the hands of Pikeville and Beechwood.

Pikeville is 4-0 with Paintsville and Wheelersburg, Ohio the only teams able to stay close.

Hazard is 2-2, losing to Middlesboro in the opener and to Letcher County Central.

Kentucky Country Day, which defeated Williamsburg in the state semi-finals, is also undefeated.

Among the wins was the home opener against class 6A Eastern, 25-20, and at class 5A Atherton, 27-26.

After the Middlesboro game, another team is going to have to outplay the Jackets to win because Williamsburg is not going to allow another game like that to happen this year.

There is still a lot of football to be played, but things continue to look up for our local teams. It is just a matter of them making things happen.