Shannon Hutchinson, Sports Writer
Monticello — The Wayne County Cardinals, 1-5 on the season and 1-1 in district play,
travel to Jackson County this Friday night. The Cards are coming off a 42-22
win at Casey County, while the Generals are 0-6 overall and coming off a
56-24 loss, at Garrard County. The match up marks the 3rd meeting between
the two schools as Wayne County has dominated the previous two, including a
60-8 decision at Jewell Field in 2008. The Cards have outscored Jackson
County 115 to 8, the past two seasons, but that won't matter on Friday
night.
"Jackson County has a new coach, new facilities and I'm sure they'll be
ready to go. We are coming off our first win of the season, so I hope we are
hungrier than ever to continue to improve as a team. Road district games are
always tough, plus this is our fifth straight away game. It will take
another good effort and that starts with a focused week of practice," said
Cards head coach Shawn Thompson.
The Generals, in just their fourth season of varsity football, have a
new head coach for the third straight season. Arthur Carter, a former
assistant coach at Bell County, takes over the reigns and is still looking
for his first win.
"Jackson County on film appears to be a big, strong team with a lot of
good, hard-nosed football players. They are aggressive on both sides of the
ball and I'm sure they're getting more comfortable with Coach Carter's
system each week," said Thompson.
Jackson County bases their offense out of the wishbone formation and
averages 13.7 points per game. The unit has reached double digits just
twice, in a 39-38 lost to Betsy Layne and last week at Garrard County. The
Generals will face a Cardinal defense that allows just under 31 points per
game, but that number shrinks to 21.5 in district play. The Cards limited
Garrard County to just 1 first down in the second half and then held Casey
County to only 1 first down in the opening half last week.
"Our defense is playing better the past two weeks and I think our
intensity level has something to do with that. Combine the two halves of the
Casey and Garrard games and that's 48 minutes of pretty solid football. We
must continue to win the battle on the line of scrimmage and make sure we
wrap up on the initial hit. We've missed fewer tackles the last two games
and that's always a key," said Thompson.
Wayne County, coming off a season high 42 point effort, battled sloppy
field conditions to total 361 yards of offense, on 64 plays. Senior
offensive back D.J. Hall paced the effort with 28 rushing attempts for 194
yards and also added 2 catches for 29 yards with 4 total touchdowns.
"Offensively the big key was zero turnovers. When we take care of the
football, good things will happen. We still need a more consistent effort in
our blocking in all areas, we do a good job in spurts, but that's something
that needs to be consistent," said Thompson.
Eric Rhule is coming off a career best offensive night that totaled 11
touches for 103 yards and a touchdown. Rhule posted a season best 6
receptions for 33 yards and also rushed for a season high 70 yards, that
included a 53 yard touchdown run.
Jackson County allows 36.2 per game and that average swells to 41.5 in
district play, but the squad allowed a respectable 23 points against Powell
County and 28 points at Pineville.
The Cards need a win this week to secure a shot at next month's state
playoffs. Somerset and Garrard County appear to be the front runners for the
top two seeds, while Wayne, Taylor, Casey and Jackson all have work to do to
lockup a playoff berth.
"The main thing is a lot of football is left to be played, we just have
to continue to work hard. We need to be focused and practice and play with
intensity. This week is another great opportunity for our team to improve
and get better, plus after this game we'll get to return home for three
straight games," said Thompson.
Kickoff is set for 7:0 p.m. Friday night at Jackson County's General
Field. For complete details on the match up check out next week's edition of
the Outlook.