10-20-10 —       The Wayne County Cardinals met district rival Somerset, last Friday  

night at Clark Field, in an important match up for both teams. The  

Cards entered with a 2-1 district mark and 3-4 record overall, while  

the Jumpers, the #1 ranked team in Class 3A, could clinch the  

district with a win. Somerset owned a perfect 8-0 record, coming off  

a 49-16 win at Garrard County while the Cards were fresh off a 55-6  

home win over Jackson County. The contest marked the 30th meeting  

between the two schools with Somerset owning a 23-6 series advantage,  

including a 9-0 win at Jewell Field in 2009.

    Junior running back Alex Lange rushed 11 times for 158 yards with 2  touchdowns, as Somerset totaled 455 yards of offense, en route to a  62-10 win. Lange scored on runs of 15 and 29 yards, while Eric  Manning totaled 251 yards of offense with 3 scores.

    Manning, a 5-10 175 lb. senior quarterback, completed 7 of 18 passes  

for 159 yards with scoring passes of 28 and 10 yards, plus added 92  rushing yards on 10 attempts. The All-State candidate scored on a 17  

yard run and senior back Zach Bastin tallied touchdown runs of 8 and  2 yards, as the Jumpers broke the game open with 27 unanswered points  in the second half.

    "Somerset has a good football team and just so many weapons on  offense. We knew they were so dangerous with the big play and make  things so tough on the defense. If you don't have speed your chasing  

it and we never quit, but we chased their athletes all night," said  

Cards head coach Shawn Thompson. Wayne County also struggled on the  

offensive side of the ball, as the squad used 61 total plays to net a  

season low 90 yards. The squad rushed the ball 41 times for 0 yards  

and Shawn Dishman completed 9 of 20 passes for 90 yards with one  

touchdown, against one interception.

    The junior quarterback was under pressure all night and was sacked 8  

times, which left the Cards rushing totals skewed.

    "We are a pretty banged-up football team. In the second half we  

struggled to have enough healthy backs to run the offense. The  

numbers are ugly, but anytime a team has minus 80 yards on just  

sacks, that's tough to overcome, Somerset is very good up-front and  

quick all over the field. We just have to go back to work and try to  

heal up before Taylor County," said Thompson.

    Sophomore wide receiver Kyle Gehring grabbed a game high 4  

receptions for 41 yards and junior back Dustin Dodd paced the ground  

attack with 37 yards on 9 attempts.

    "We ran sixty-one plays, so we tried a little bit of everything, it  

was just one of those nights. I don't fault my kids at all I thought  

we played hard with good effort. Kyle Gehring did have a good night  

on both sides of the ball and had some good catches, plus an  

interception," said Thompson.

    The Cards opened the game with the football and used 8 plays to move  

the ball to the Somerset 20 yard line, before the drive stalled short  

of the first down marker at the 16 yard line.

    "We came out and moved the ball pretty well early, but just couldn't  

break a big play," said Thompson.

    The Somerset offense scored on their first five possessions of the  

game, including three touchdowns in the first quarter. The Jumpers  

used 8 plays to march 80 yards and scored on an Eric Manning 17 yard  

touchdown run. The Colby Hall extra-point pushed the lead to 7-0 with  

6:45 left in the quarter.

    A Storm Wilson 35 yard punt return gave the host great field-

position on their second series, at the Wayne County 17 yard line.  

Zach Bastin scored 3 plays later on an 8 yard touchdown run with 4:26  

left in the period.

    Somerset pushed the lead to 21-0, just 4 minutes later on an Alex  

Lange 15 yard touchdown run, as the Jumpers totaled 155 yards of  

offense in the opening 12 minutes.

    The Cards fumbled away the football on their next possession, on  

their own 29 yard line. The Jumpers used two Manning passes of 19 and  

9 yards, to set-up a Derrick Jackson 1 yard scoring plunge. The Colby  

Hall point-after moved the score to 28-0, with 11:56 left in the  

first half.

    Wayne County battled back with their best drive of the night, aided  

by two Somerset penalties of 15 and 5 yards.  The Cards used 14 plays  

to travel 67 yards and score on a Shawn Dishman 6 yard pass to Dagan  

Shelton. The Filip Hillhammer extra-point closed the gap to 28-7,  

with 5:24 left in the second period.

    The Somerset offense continued their fireworks, as an Eric Manning  

58 yard pass to Zach Bastin, setup a Manning 10 yard pass to Taylor  

Sears. The extra point pushed the lead to 35-7, with 3:56 left in the  

half.

    "Just an offensive buzzsaw, that's all you can say," said Thompson.

    Wayne County added a 26 yard Filip Hillhammer field goal, as time  

expired, which left the halftime score at 35-10. The field goal was  

setup by a Jr. Ruiz fumble recovery on the Somerset 9 yard line.

    "I thought we competed pretty hard in the second quarter and made a  

couple of plays on both sides of the ball," said Thompson.

    Somerset dominated the second half with two touchdowns each in both  

the third and fourth quarters.

    Zach Bastin added his second score of the game, on a 2 yard run,  

which pushed the lead to 42-10, at the 6:53 mark of the third  

quarter. The Jumpers scored again less than two minutes later, on an  

Alex Lange 29 yard touchdown run.

    Wayne County struggled with injuries in the second half and couldn't  

muster any offense, as six possessions produced 6 punts and 0 first  

downs.

    Somerset continued to pad the stats in the final 12-minutes, as Eric  

Manning connected with J.P. Henderlight on a 28 yard touchdown pass  

and then reserve will Lange added a 33 yard touchdown run, which left  

the final score 62-10.

    "We have to go back to work and its a short week with the game on  

Thursday, so we don't have a lot of time to heal up. This was a very  

physical game and hopefully everyone will be back healthy soon, I  

know a lot of our guys missed snaps with injuries," said Thompson.

    For a preview of the Wayne County and Taylor County game see related  

article in this weeks Outlook.