9-22-10 —     The Wayne County Middle School football teams were very busy last  week with a home date against Knox County on Monday night followed by  

a road trip to McCreary County on Thursday night. The Cards lost both  the 7th and 8th grade games to a powerful Knox County squad, but  

followed that effort up with a sweep of McCreary County to wrap-up  the week.

    Knox County claimed an 8-0 win in the abbreviated 7th grade game and  used 240 total yards of offense with 5 touchdowns, to roll to a 40-6  

win.

    The Cards, led by the 42 rushing yards of Logan Gardner were held to  

a season low 114 yards of offense, on 34 plays as the team dropped to  

4-3 on the season.

    "Knox County is a very big, strong and physical football team and we  

didn't match their intensity very well. We hope a game like this  

helps down the road, but we left the field pretty banged-up and hurt.  

Offensively they had a lot of weapons and defensively they just bring  

it," said Wayne Middle coach Shannon Hutchinson.

    Wayne County bounced back three nights later with a sweep of rival  

McCreary County. The 8th grade battled back from 12-6 halftime  

deficit, with 14 unanswered points in the second half to take a 20-12  

road win.

    Quarterback Logan Gardner paced the offense with 13 rushing yards on  

15 attempts, while totaling three touchdowns. The Cards finished the  

night with 188 total yards of offense, on 38 plays.

    "We played McCreary County two weeks ago and I knew it would be  

tough to win at their place. Offensively they controlled the clock  

and we played from behind most of the night," said Hutchinson.

    The defense, which held the Raiders scoreless in the second half,  

was led by the 8 total tackles of Jared Philpot. Gardner added 7  

stops and Rodney Rednour added a season best 6 tackles, as Wayne  

County improved to 5-3, on the season.

    "We have now qualified for the Kentucky Middle School State  

Playoffs, we just have to wait and see if we get a berth. If it all  

works out it should be a really nice deal for our kids, but we won't  

know anything for sure for another couple of weeks. It would be nice  

to compete against schools near our size," said Hutchinson.

    In the nightcap the Cards used a very stingy defense to battle  

McCreary to a scoreless draw, at  the end of regulation, but  

penalties and turnovers ended any serious scoring threats.

    "We struggle to move the ball with any consistency on offense, but  

give credit to the defense for keeping us in the game," said Hutchinson.

    McCreary received the ball first in overtime and four plays totaled  

minus 10-yards, which setup the Wayne County 7th grade for their  

second win of the season.

    Full back Kody Vaughn rambled in from 8 yards, which gave the Cards  

a hard-fought 6-0 win.



    "We use our 7th grade games as a learning experience for our kids,  

but anytime we can get a win it's a huge plus. I'm proud of this  

group, we know we have some limitations in some areas, but we keep  

playing hard," said Hutchinson.

    Both  teams return to action on Thursday night, at Pulaski Southern  

and kickoff is set for 6 p.m.