Williamsburg seeks to shake off ‘butt kicking’ against Leslie County Friday

Williamsburg Football Coach Jerry Herron, Jr. said there is a big difference between Friday night’s 60-28 thrashing at the hands of Middlesboro and last year’s 27-7 loss in the state semi-finals to Kentucky Country Day.

While the loss to KCD ended the Jackets’ 2020 season, Herron noted that they will be back on the field Friday night to host Leslie County.

“This ain’t our first butt kicking,” Herron said. “The biggest thing is you hope that your kids and your staff are going to be willing to do what it takes to adjust and get better.”

The Williamsburg defense allowed 480 rushing yards, including 352 yards on 22 attempts by running back Caleb Bogonko.

Quarterback Cayden Grigsby added 117 yards on 14 carries as the duo scored seven rushing touchdowns on the night.

“We didn’t do anything to put up a fight,” Herron said noting that Bogonko was running off big chunks of yardage on multiple plays before a Williamsburg defender touched him.

Offensively, while the Jackets were able to put up the 28 points, it was primarily by the efforts of quarterback Sydney Bowen.

Bowen ran the ball 12 times for 115 yards.

However, he was limited to 185 passing yards of the night, completing five total passes to primary receivers Jayden Rainwater and Martin Shannon.

Shannon caught one pass for 57 yards while Rainwater caught four passes for 86 yards.

Herron noted that while Middlesboro has been an annual opponent for Williamsburg with the exception of 2020 because of COVID–19, this is the first loss in the series for Williamsburg since 2002.

“Their program is hungry. Our kids were not hungry,” Herron said.

“A loss is not a good thing, but we will realize what we are doing wrong,” he said.

“We’ll get it fixed!”

Williamsburg will welcome another regular opponent in Leslie County to Finley Legion Field at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

The Eagles lost at home to Clay County last Friday, 28-14 after forfeiting the first game because of COVID–19.

Wyatt Orstrander completed nine of 17 passes for 144 yards and two touchdowns in the loss.

Clay County held Leslie County to 36 yards rushing on the night.