Monticello — The Wayne County Cardinals met host McCreary Central, last Friday night

at Norm Parsons Field, in the 13th meeting between the two rivals. The Cards

entered their first road game of the season with a 0-2 mark and were coming

off a 34-0 home loss to Rockcastle County, while the Raiders owned a 2-0

record coming off an impressive 30-18 home win over Edmonson County. Wayne

County had won the previous 12 games in the series, including a 62-26

decision at Jewell Field in 2004.

Aaron Watts, a 6-2 senior quarterback and All-State candidate, scored on

touchdown runs of 27 and 30 yards, plus added scoring passes of 65 and 16

yards, as the Raiders rolled to an impressive 30-14 win. Watts rushed 14

times for 81 yards, which included a 18 yard play late in the game after the

outcome was decided and connected on 3 of 7 passes for 88 yards, as McCreary

Central improved to 3-0 on the season.

Watts scored 4 touchdowns, but senior runningback Zach Roark helped

carry the load with 155 rushing yards, on 20 attempts, plus added two

conversion runs. The Raiders never punted and totaled 336 yards of offense,

with 11 first downs, against just 1 turnover, which happened on the opening

series of the contest.

"Watts and Roark are both just athletic, hard-nosed, good football

players. They are both solid on offense and defense, plus neither kid makes

very many mistakes. We had trouble stopping them on offense, or blocking

them when on defense," said Cards coach Shawn Thompson.

Wayne County was done in by a first half performance that totaled 171

yards of offense and three drives inside the Raiders' 15 yard line, that

resulted in 0 points. The squad fumbled at the goal-line, plus turned it

over on the 7 and 12 yardline on downs.

"That just takes all the air out of your team and the wind from your

sails. It's so disappointing to be able to move the football, put good

drives together and not being able to do anything with it once we get close.

We didn't play with enough consistency, which leads to fumbles, missed

blocks, or assignments and we can't beat anybody with that kind of effort,"

said Thompson.

The Cards did end a 10 quarter scoring draught that started in the

middle of the opening quarter against Monroe County, with two scores in the

final quarter. Wayne County used the 209 total yards of senior running back

D.J. Hall to total 316 yards of offense on 57 plays, with 18 first downs.

Hall rushed for a season best 178 yards on 23 attempts, with scoring

runs of 26 and 8 yards, plus added 3 receptions for 31 yards.

"We certainly had some opportunities to score. My biggest

disappointment, or frustration is we're not playing with any emotion as a

team. We still have not jelled as a unit, so hopefully we'll go back to work

and maybe with some changes and adjustments, we'll find the right mix," said

Thompson.

The Cards forced their only turnover of the night on the third play of

the game, as Thomas Owens picked off an Aaron Watts pass, at the Cards own

38 yardline. The visitors used 11 plays to march 48 yards, but the drive

stalled at the 5:11 mark of the first quarter.

Watts made up for his only miscue on the Raiders' next series, as the

senior quarterback capped of a 4-play, 86 yard drive, with a perfect 65 yard

touchdown pass to Dustin Stephens. Zach Roark added the conversion run to

push the Central lead to 8-0, with 3:15 left in the opening period.

Wayne County appeared ready to answer with a score of their own on the

next series, but a 14-play, 65 yard drive stopped with a fumble at the 1

yardline.

Central made the most of the turnover and grabbed all the momentum in

the process, using the running of Zach Roark to set up their next score.

Roark had runs of 24, 5, 37, 20 and 1 yard, which set up an Aaron Watts 16

yard touchdown pass to Dustin Goins. Roark added the conversion run to push

the Raiders' advantage to 16-0, with 5:48 left in the first half.

The Cards once again looked ready to find the end zone as an 11 play

march totaled 53 yards, but a busted play on third down was followed by an

incompletion on fourth down, which allowed McCreary Central to take a couple

of knees and head to intermission with a 16-0 lead.

Wayne County opened the second half with excellent field position near

midfield, but three plays totaled minus 1 yard, which resulted in the only

punt by either team, for the game.

After the teams traded empty possessions, McCreary Central recovered a

Wayne County fumble just inside the 50 yardline and stayed on the ground for

5 plays, capped off by an Aaron Watts 27 yard touchdown scamper. The

conversion failed, leaving the Raiders with a 22-0 advantage with 2:49 left

in the third quarter.

Senior quarterback Zack Stephenson, inserted in the lineup in the second

half, responded in his second series with three runs, plus completed passes

of 6 and 20 yards, which set up a D.J. Hall 26 yard scoring run. The

conversion failed, leaving the score 22-6, with 11:20 left in the ballgame.

"It was good to finally stick one in the end zone. I know it had been

awhile, plus it put us back in the game with a stop," said Thompson.

Central refused to let that happen as the duo of Roark and Watts

combined for 7 runs for 59 yards and scored on a Watts 30 yard keeper. The

talented senior added a 14 yard run earlier in the drive on the third down

and then connected with Dustin Stephens on the conversion pass to put the

game out of reach with a 30-6 score, with 7:30 left in the final quarter.

The Cards did add a final score with only :36 left on a D.J. Hall 8 yard

run and Stephenson added the run to leave the final score 30-14, which gave

McCreary Central their first ever win against Wayne County in 13 attempts.

"Give McCreary Central credit they played extremely hard for four

quarters and that starts with big time efforts of Roark and Watts. We just

have to go back to work and we should be a very hungry team headed to face

Russell County on Friday night. I'm sure it will be a dog-fight, it always

is," said Thompson.

Sophomore line backer Dustin Dodd paced the defensive attack with 12

total tackles, while Thomas Owens added 4 stops and his second interception

of the season.

Up next for the squad is a Friday night road trip to long time rival

Russell County.

The Lakers opened the season with an impressive 39-20 win over

Campbellsville, but have struggled the past two weeks in losses to Somerset

(40-20) and Pulaski County (50-26).



Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. at Laker Field. For details on the preview of

that game see related story inside this edition of The Outlook.