Boys of Fall- 2024 FOOTBALL PREVIEW
James Collier
Ashland Beacon
ASHLAND
2023 RECORD: 10-2
SEASON ENDED: State Playoffs Quarterfinals (35-28 Loss Covington Catholic)
COACH: Chad Tackett
Ashland’s 2023 campaign results looked more like video game numbers that favored the Tomcats. Ashland averaged outscoring its opponents 44.8-19.8 with only one regular season blemish to the record in a 36-33 loss to Johnson Central. Outside of that contest, Ashland’s tightest contests came in a 28-21 win over Raceland in Week 1 and 49-42 win over Simon Kenton following the loss to Johnson Central. Ashland cruised past Harrison County, 56-14 to open the postseason but fell short to Cov Cath in the second round in a 35-28 defeat in Northern Kentucky.
Ashland had plenty of playmakers on both sides of the ball and were led by standout quarterback LaBryant Strader. The Tomcats’ junior threw for over 1800 yards with 20 touchdowns and only one interception. He also ran for seven scores. Strader was joined in the backfield by a stable of running backs highlighted by Braxton Jennings who paced the Ashland rushing attack with 807 yards on 104 totes and 15 scores. Tay Thomas scampered for 776 yards and six house calls. Thomas is loss for the season due to a car accident. Cam Davis added six scores of his own with just under 500 yards on the ground.
Through the air, Strader had plenty of weapons to choose from. Brandon Houston was his primary target with 26 catches for 604 yards and six touchdowns. Jennings hauled in 536 yards and 5 touchdowns. Davis had 362 and four scores.
Defensively, Sawyer Edens and Austin Nichols set the tone for the Tomcats with 115 and 101 tackles, respectively. Edens had six tackles for loss while Nichols had four with a sack. Thomas led the team in TFLs (10) and was tied for most sacks (3) with Jake Sexton, Tucker Rogers and Rieday Rucker. Ashland picked off 10 passes as a team with Maverick Ashby and Jennings leading the way with three each and a pick-6 from both.
Ashland departed 17 seniors to graduation, with several key players leaving on both sides of the ball. Asher Adkins, Cole Christian, Edens, Houston, Nichols, Rogers and Sexton highlight that list of key starters the Tomcats will need to replace in 2024.
Ashland opens its season on the road the first two weeks with trips to Raceland and West Jessamine. The Tomcats will unveil the new turf at Putnam Stadium on Sept. 6 with a visit from Harvest Prep, followed by home contests against Bardstown and Russell. District play begins on the 27th with a trip to Greenup County followed by Rowan County on Oct. 4. The Tomcats close district play with visits from Boyd on the 11th and Johnson Central on the 25th before closing the season on the road at Simon Kenton.
BOYD COUNTY
2023 RECORD: 6-6
SEASON ENDED: State Playoffs Quarterfinals (28-14 Loss Johnson Central)
COACH: Evan Ferguson
A difficult district along with a gauntlet of a non-district schedule had Boyd County on a roller coaster of a ride all season. The Lions finished 6-6 but never won or lost more than two games in a row all season. The Lions two-game skid game in weeks two and three in home losses to Bell County and East Carter. Boyd notched consecutive wins over Rowan and Lawrence to close out the latter part of the season. Despite the record, Boyd pulled off a hearty defeat of Mason County, 14-7 to open the State Playoffs and had a valiant effort against Johnson Central slip away late in the contest in a 28-14 shortcoming in the quarterfinals.
The good part of the Lions roster this season, only nine seniors departed, leaving a firm foundation for Boyd County to build upon this year. It's no secret the Lions will lean on quarterback Rhett Holbrook after a stellar 2023 season. Holbrook threw for over 2000 yards with 19 touchdowns and ran for over 600 more and 11 scores. Camaron Collins will join Holbrook in the backfield after racking up six scores and 523 yards last season. Hunter Hedrick ran for 152 yards and three scores will look to fill the void of senior Dakota Thompson who had eight touchdowns.
Holbrook’s primary target of Garrett Crum is gone due to graduation after leading the team with 678 yards and 49 catches. He was second with seven scores. Cole Hicks paced the receiving core with eight touchdowns. Marcus Brumfield hauled in four more.
Boyd’s biggest hit comes on the defensive side of the ball with two of the Lions leading tacklers graduating. Thompson led the Lions with 89 tackles and Jack Hogsten added 70 while leading the team with 20 tackles for loss and three sacks. Erik Germann returns with 83 tackles, nine TFL and 2.5 sacks. Hicks had seven of the Lions 14 interceptions with one pick-6.
Boyd opens the season at home with a visit from South Point followed by road trips to Bell County and East Carter. The Lions return home with a visit from Mason County on Sept. 13 followed by the district opener with Johnson Central on the 27th. Boyd visits Greenup on Oct. 4 followed by Ashland on the 11th. District play wraps up on the 18th in a visit from Rowan with the Lions closing the season at home on the 25th with Lawrence County and Nov. 1 with Pikeville.
FAIRVIEW
2023 RECORD: 2-9
SEASON ENDED: State Playoffs Opening Round (48-8 Loss Sayre)
COACH: Alex Roy
Fairview is hoping a new face can help reshape a struggling program. Alex Roy was named the new head coach for the Eagles and hopes his playing days can translate over to the coaching side of his football career while restoring a competitive level of play from the Eagles in a tough district in Class A football. Roy slung the ball around with the best his senior season, tossing for nearly 3000 yards and 32 touchdowns and ran for nine more. The Eagles finished 7-5 that season, which was the last season they have had a winning record.
Freshman Jace Manning led the Eagles with 1532 yards through the air with 17 touchdowns in 2023. His primary receiver was Xavien Kouns who caught eight touchdowns and had over 600 yards. Kouns also led the Eagles in the ground attack, rushing for 433 yards. Jace Murray and Manning each scored three rushing touchdowns. Roman Mayes hauled in 36 catches for 357 yards and three scores.
Kouns led the Eagles defensively with 52 tackles. Manning had 45. Wyatt Bowling kicked in 42. Manning snagged a pair of interceptions on the season. Senior Rusty Fitchpatrick had one as well.
Fairview opens the season on the road at Bath County followed by four consecutive home games beginning with Betsy Layne on Sept. 6. Morgan County follows on the 13th, Green, OH on the 20th and Powell County on the 27th. District play begins on Oct. 4 at Nicholas County. Fairview welcomes Raceland on Oct. 11, travels to Phelps on Oct. 18 and closes district play against Paris on the 25th.
RACELAND
2023 RECORD: 11-4
SEASON ENDED: State Championship (21-0 Loss Pikeville)
COACH: Mike Salmons
The expectation for Raceland last season was a trip to Kroger Field. The Rams achieved that with a pair of road wins after the RPI forced the Rams to travel for the first time in several years prior to Thanksgiving. Raceland overcame a rainy night in Lexington and a stellar offensive attack from Sayre to earn another State Semifinals berth with a 42-27 win. The following week sent the Rams to Louisville against Kentucky Country Day which offered little resistance to the Rams in a 42-6, running clock beatdown to send the Rams back to Lexington for a rematch in the title contest with Pikeville. Although Raceland outlasted Pikeville in a defensive struggle during the regular season, 7-6, the Rams could not get the Panthers in the most important game of the year, falling 21-0.
Raceland’s season started with a road loss to Ashland, 28-21 but a 40-20 win at Letcher County Central the following week had the Rams off and rolling. Raceland won five consecutive with wins over Newport Central Catholic and Hazard before making a clean run through district play in wins over Paris, Fairview and Nicholas County. The Rams took losses to Highlands and Lexington Christian.
Raceland’s biggest task in 2024, replacing a senior heavy roster from 2023 that saw 16 departures from graduation. The Rams lose their starting quarterback, all three running backs, leading receiver, key pieces on both lines, all four starting linebackers and a chunk from the secondary. Logan Lundy closed out a stellar career at Raceland with over 2000 passing yards with 25 touchdowns while running for six more. Noah Wallace paced the Rams rushing attack with just under 1200 yards and 15 touchdowns. Jaxon Heighton added eight scores with 482 yards. Parker Fannin closed out a storied career from the Rams with 917 receiving yards and 10 scores. Bryson Rowsey had 399 and five scores. Parker Ison finished with 385 and four scores but will transition to QB1 this season for the Rams.
Defensively, the Rams will be starting nearly an entirely new unit after departing four of their top five leading tacklers. Heighton led the Rams with 88 tackles with four tackles for loss and a team-high 6.5 sacks. Wallace added 82 tackles from the secondary with four TFL. Cam Bell had 67 tackles, a team-high seven TFL and three sacks. Ty Tyson tallied 59 stops and five TFL. Rowsey and Fannin led the Rams with three picks each with the team racking up 16 interceptions. Wallace and Austin McKee had two each.
Raceland opens the season at home for the first month of the season after being road warriors last year. The Rams welcomes Ashland followed by Letcher County Central on the 30th followed by Pikeville on Sept. 13. Raceland makes a pair of trips to Northern Kentucky with stops at Highlands and Newport Central Catholic. Raceland welcomes Hazard Oct. 4 before opening district play at Fairview on the 11th and Paris on the 18th. Raceland closes district play on the 25th in a visit from Nicholas County and wraps up regular season play at LCA on Nov. 1.
RUSSELL
2023 RECORD: 7-5
SEASON ENDED: State Playoffs Quarterfinals (Lexington Catholic Loss 48-0)
COACH: TJ Maynard
Coming off a 2-9 finish in 2022, Russell wanted to flip the script in 2023. The Devils started off with a 28-8 win over Mason County but would lose three of their next four to Greenup County, South Point and Ashland. However, Russell rolled off four consecutive district wins over Fleming, West Carter, Lewis and Bath that set up a showdown with East Carter for the top seed in the district. Russell would fall 28-21 to the Raiders, but took down Bourbon County, 42-8 in the opening round of the state playoffs.
Russell’s offense went through senior quarterback Ethan Pack last season as the signal caller accounted for 15 passing touchdowns and 10 more on the ground. He threw for 1240 yards and ran for 897 more. Andre Richardson-Crews battled through injuries while missing three games, but still racked up 567 yards and seven scores from the backfield. Elijah Hankins and Ben Totten tacked on three scores each and both will be heavily leaned on this year. Caden Pennington led Russell’s receiving core with 365 yards on 19 catches and a pair of touchdowns. Parker Mitchell had a team-high six touchdowns on 22 grabs. Haiden Anderson and Jayden Pennington had a score each. Noah McDaniels made two house calls.
Defensively, Pack did the same as on offense for the Devils by leading the way with 70 tackles. Brennen Smith had 56 tackles with four tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks. Josh Hudson made 49 stops. David Harless led the team with 11 TFL and four sacks. Calvin Dickins also had four sacks. Mitchell anchored the Russell secondary with four of the Devils 17 interceptions. Hankins and Pack added three each. Totten and Hudson had two.
With only nine seniors on the roster last season, Russell has a good foundation returning in 2024, but of those nine, several were in key positions. Harless, Hudson, McDaniels, Mitchell, Pack and Richardson-Crews leave major voids that Devils will have to address this season. Hankins along with Jayden Frasure have split quarterback duties in the preseason with both expected to be main cogs in the Russell offensive wheel this year.
Russell opens the season at Mason County before welcoming Greenup on the 30th and South Point Sept. 6. Russell makes a trip to Magoffin County on the 13th and Ashland on the 20th to close non-district play. Fleming County visits Russell on the 27th to open district slates along with West Carter on Oct. 4. Russell plays at Lewis on Oct. 11, welcomes Bath on the 18th and closes at defending district champion East Carter on the 25thin Grayson.
GREENUP COUNTY
2023 RECORD: 6-5
SEASON ENDED: State Playoffs opening round (49-12 Loss Covington Catholic)
COACH: Travis Jones
Travis Jones had been waiting for his first opportunity to be the man in charge. Jones, a long time assistant at Greenup, got that chance in 2023 when he became the bench boss in Lloyd. Jones watched his squad come out of the gate flat in the first half at Coal Grove which resulted in a 36-28 loss, but the Russell alum got a win he will never forget for his first after the Musketeers took down the Devils, 21-19 in Lloyd. Greenup used that win to springboard four straight by defeating Portsmouth in overtime, winning a shootout over East Carter, 46-36 and hung 44 points at Montgomery County to get to 4-1 halfway through the year. But district play did not welcome the Musketeers well with three consecutive losses to Ashland, Boyd County and Johnson Central. Greenup picked up their lone district tilt with a 55-19 win over Rowan County to earn the fourth and final spot in the postseason.
There was no secret about what Greenup County was going to do offensively last season with Tyson Sammons accounting for over 3000 yards. The junior threw for 1537 yards and 14 touchdowns while rushing for 1561 and 25 more. The bullish yet slippery back had teams in fits trying to find a way to slow down No. 2. Sammons who got some help in the backfield from Ike Henderson and Waylon Perkins. Henderson battled injuries while missing four games but still tallied nearly 500 yards on the ground with three scores. Perkins added 229 yards. Seniors Aiden Gue and Brody Stevens were Sammons primary targets in the air attack with 650 yards on 29 grabs for Gue with nine scores and 376 on 24 catches and a pair of scores for Stevens. Drew Boggs had 25 grabs for 361 yards and two touchdowns.
Defensively, Perkins and Caden Holmes led the way with 78 and 70 tackles, respectively with both tacking on three tackles for loss. Boggs had 68 stops. Austin Walker led the Musketeers with four TFL. Gage Gullett had 1.5 sacks. Gue had three of the five interceptions on the season.
Greenup opens the season with a visit from Coal Grove followed by a trip to Russell on Aug. 30. Greenup visits East Carter Sept. 13 before starting a three game home stand with Montgomery County on the 20th, Ashland on the 27th and Boyd on Oct. 4 in the final Greenup home game of the year. The Musketeers end the year with three straight on the road with Johnson Central on the 18th, Rowan on the 25th and Fleming on Nov. 1.
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