9-22-10 —     The Wayne County Cardinals hosted their oldest rival last Friday  

night,  Russell County, at Jewell Field. The Cards entered with a 1-2  mark and were coming off an impressive 47-0 home win over McCreary  Central. The Lakers entered the 34th match-up between the two schools  with a 1-2 mark, coming off a 47-28 home loss to Pulaski County.  Russell County claimed a 50-34 win in 2009 over the Cards and owned a  19-14 all-time series advantage.

    Russell County used just 26 plays to total 330 yards of offense,  plus used two defensive scores to build a 28-7 halftime lead, en  route to a 56-27 road win. The Lakers used the three touchdowns each  of Nick Britt and Jeron Hammond, to improve to 2-2, on the season.

    Britt, a 5-8 150 lbs. sophomore, rushed 8 times for 118 yards and  scored on runs of 97, 4 and 3 yards, plus added a 59 yard touchdown  reception from Martin Cross.

    "Russell County has great speed and they made us pay anytime we  didn't do our jobs, or missed a tackle. Nick Britt is one of the  

fastest players we've faced since I've been the head coach and this  is the second straight year he's made big plays against us. Russell  County has some offensive weapons, so give them credit, but we have  to play better period. We're missing too many tackles and getting out  

of position, which is a lack of focus. We practiced like a distracted  team and it showed, so hopefully we learn from that," said Cards head  

coach Shawn Thompson.

    The Lakers ran only 7 offensive plays in the first half. "We wanted  to keep their offense off the field and run the clock, but that goes  out the window with five turnovers. We have to make better decisions  and take care of the football, if we want to compete in our district,  or against anybody for that matter," said Thompson.

    Wayne County used an eye-popping 72 plays to total 14 first downs,  with 381 yards offense, but once again was plagued by five turnovers,  the miscues converted into 28 Russell County points, as the Lakers  

returned an interception 35 yards for a touchdown, plus scooped a  fumble and returned it 35 yards for another direct score.

    ‘I'm speechless on that, other than we just have to play through our  mistakes. After watching the film again and again turnovers cost us  our chance to win the game," said Thompson.

    Junior running back Dustin Dodd scored on runs of 47 and 2 yards,  while totaling a career best 83 rushing yards on 11 attempts. Shawn  

Dishman totaled 85 rushing yards on 21 attempts and Devin Sloan  tallied 65 rushing yards, with a 9 yard scoring run, as the Cards  rushed 59 times for 298 yards.

    "We moved the ball pretty well all night, but we must find a way to  avoid turnovers and finish drives off. That killed us last year and  it's a trend this year," said Thompson.

    Senior back Travis Pace added a season best 59 rushing yards and an  11 yard scoring run, as four different Cards eclipsed the 50 yard mark.

    The Lakers added to their lead on their next possession as senior  quarterback Martin Cross connected with Jeron Hammond from 59 yards  

out. Cross finished the night 3 of 6 in the air for 82 yards, as the  extra-point pushed the advantage to 14-0 with 5:02 left in the  opening period.

    Wayne County closed the gap to 14-7 with a 9-play, 77 yard drive,  

capped-off by a Dustin Dodd 47 yard touchdown run. The Filip  Hillhammar extra-point left the Cards within a score, at the 10:03  mark of the first half.

    Wayne County used an onside kick to grab the momentum and 8 plays  

later was inside the Russell County 5 yard line, but their second  

turnover of the night stalled the march.

    After the fumble the visitors used just one play, a Nick Britt 97  

yard scamper, to push the lead to 20-7, with 4:10 left in the half.

    The Cards' third miscue of the half, a fumble on their own 35 yard  

line, led to Baron Mann 35 yard swoop and score, as Martin Cross  

added the conversion run to push the score to 28-7, with 2:06 left in  

the second stanza.

    Both teams traded interceptions, as Russell County owned a 28-7 half  

time lead.

    "After the onside kick, we converted a big fourth down pass for 28  

yards, but lost the momentum and Russell County made a couple of big  

plays to end the half. This was another should've, would've, or  

could've halves of football," said Thompson.

    Russell County scored on both of their drives in the third quarter,  

with Nick Britt runs of 4 and 3 yards, ended Laker drives of 52 and  19 yards. The last score was setup by another Cardinal miscue, this  time on special teams as the host fumbled on a kick return. Lucas  Williams booted both extra-points, at the 9:57 and 9:24 points of the  quarter, as the Lakers pushed to a 42-7 lead.

    The Cards responded with a 20-play, 80 yard drive that ended with a  Dustin Dodd 2 yard run. The point-after left the score at 42-14, with  10:36 left in the game.

    The next five minutes of play featured four touchdowns, as both  teams traded scores on the game's next four possessions. Jeron  Hammond scored both Russell County touchdowns, on runs of 3 and 47  yards, while Wayne County seniors Devin Sloan and Travis Pace  answered with scoring runs of 9 and 11 yards, as the teams combined  for 34 points, in the final period.

    "We never quit, which is a positive, but we'll hopefully learn from  this game and get ready for a good Garrard County squad," said Thompson.

    The Wayne County defensive stat sheet didn't feature very many tally-marks as Dustin Dodd led the attack with 7 total tackles, while four  other finished with 2 stops each.

    "We have to go back to work and have a focused week of practice. We  play five out of district games and the first four are all setup to  prepare for the district, so this is a big week for our football  

team," said Thompson.

    Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday night.