A look back at South Laurel and a look ahead to Magoffin
JACKSON – September 5, 2019 – Fletcher Long – Breathitt Football Columnist and Live Feed Play by Play Announcer!
Looking back at South Laurel…
Really don’t know what can be said about the 2019 Honey Bowl against South Laurel other than we really played well. We didn’t quite hit on all cylinders but we came close and the level of competition we were facing required a considerable effort on our part. The Big Blue Wave (O-Line) was awarded Offensive MVP, as a group, by Bluegrass Sports Nation at the conclusion of its Facebook-live broadcast.
Charles Andrew Collins (Geenie) was selected the overall MVP by the Honey Bowl committee and we have no argument with that. Dalton Manns was selected offensive MVP and we have no argument with that either.
Anytime two running backs in the same backfield have the type of games those two had, it figures the offensive line played mighty well. That is why Casey Allen, Ty Back, and I gave the award to the five hairy-legged, big-uglies upfront.
The Defensive MVP of the Honey Bowl was Caden Hogg. On this selection both the BSN broadcast crew and the Honey Bowl committee agreed. Talk about your stat-stuffers, Hogg had 5 solos, 4 assists, a QB sack, 5 QB pressures, and a forced fumble which was scooped and scored by Dalton Manns. Now, that is flat playing.
The first-team defense, particularly the down-three (Hogg, Long, and Spencer), applied pressure to South Laurel’s backfield consistently on the evening. South Laurel was held without a first-down into the second quarter.
Geenie Collins had 8 tackles at LB, including 6 solos, and Brandyn Slaughter chipped in 4 tackles, a pick-six, and a pass defended to go along with what was a really strong defensive effort. Overall, the defense scored twice. Any offense will take that from its defensive counterparts.
All in all, the team ran for close to 300-yards and averaged 9-yards per rushing attempt, scored on defense twice, and even added a 70-yard O’Hara to Jacob Noble TD pass to cap-off the scoring at 43-points. Collins was deprived a 70-yard TD scamper on a penalty called on Dalton Manns. The penalty was for holding and it just very clearly wasn’t.
We have watched the play on film multiple times, in slow-motion. Manns’ block was a perfectly legal, effective, and well executed, downfield block which impacted the play’s outcome, just as one would draw it up on a white-board.
On the year, the Bobcats have surrendered 16-points in two games. Both scores and both 2-point conversions were very late in lop-sided games with an entire lineup of youth and inexperience playing.
Final score, Breathitt County 43, South Laurel 8.
Looking forward to Maggofin County…
This Friday night the Bobcats take its 2-0 mark into Magoffin County to play Coach Chris Gamble’s Class 3A, 8th District Hornets. The Hornets opened the year with a 51-22 home drubbing of Knott County Central and then traveled to Sheldon Clark to play Martin County on August 30, 2019. Martin County beat Maggofin County 22-6.
Through its first two games, in going 1-1, Magoffin County has scored 57-points while allowing 44. The Hornets have rushed the football for 438-yards while allowing 215-yards. They have thrown the football for 165-yards while permitting opponents to throw the ball for 115-yards.
Offensively for the Hornets, Nick Caldwell (No. 4), has gone the whole way at QB, or at least for the most part. Caldwell, in the first two games, is 12 for 25 for 165-yards and 1 passing TD offset by an interception.
Jaylon McDuffus (No. 32), has been the leading rusher and has 15 rushing attempts in two games for 160-yards with no rushing TDs. Fernando Irvin (No. 22) is the second leading rushing with 130-yards in 11 attempts with 1 rushing TD and Zach Conley (No. 26) is the third leading ground gainer with 90-yards in 6 attempts with one rushing TD.
The rushing TDs on the year, and there are 4 through two-games, have been scored by Irvin, Conley, Caleb Howard (No. 8), and Nick Caldwell, the QB.
Mason Lovely (No. 9, remember this name) is the leading receiver with 6 receptions in two games for 82 of the 165 yards receiving. Basically, Mason Lovely is someone for whom we must account on both sides of the football. There has been one TD receiving, thus far, and it has been caught by Brad Standifer (No. 7).
Defensively for the Hornets, it has been the Mason Lovely Show over the course of the first two. Lovely has 25-solo tackles, 21 assists, and 3 TFLs in two games. Mack Parson (No. 1) has recorded 4 TFLs himself and is second on the team with 15 tackles, and Caleb Howard (No. 8) has a tackle for a loss.
Look out for Buddy Collins (No. 11). He doesn’t necessarily make a slew of tackles (8 in two games), though he does alright. However, he does appear to have a penchant for tackling folks in the backfield. Collins has 4 TFLs in two games. All told, Lovely, Parson, Howard, and Collins have all 12 of the team’s 12 TFLs.
The team has two sacks, recorded by Collins with one and Logan Reed (No. 3) with the other. All told, just looking at both the statistics and jersey numbers, the strength of the defense is in the back-end.
Mason Lovely has an 80-yard, pick-six to his credit. The only other interception was recorded by Caleb Wilson (No. 6), who didn’t find pay-dirt, but did return it 24-yards.
Well folks, we hope you enjoyed this retrospective look ahead and we hope you continue to check us out each and every week as the Bobcats continue on its march toward a State Championship. There is work to be done but there has been very good work completed thus far. We appear on the right track, moving in the right direction.
For BSN, I am Fletcher Long and we are reminding everyone of you to keep on PLAYING THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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