The Wayne County Cardinals opened their 2017 home schedule last
Friday night hosting Class 5A powerhouse Pulaski County. The Cards
ranked #3 in the preseason Class 4A Coach's Poll opened their season
with a 45-7 rout of Woodford County at Danville, in the Bob Allen
Pigskin Classic. Pulaski County rolled Jeffersonville (IN) 49-28 in
their opener and have advanced to the Class 5A state championship
game the past four seasons, claiming a title in 2014. The matchup
marked the 13th meeting all-time between the border rivals with the
Maroons owning a 9-3 series advantage, despite Wayne County claiming
a 34-28 overtime win in 2008, the last time the teams met.
Wayne County scored the go-ahead touchdown with just 43-seconds
left, on a Lorenzo Linsey 3 yard keeper up the middle, as the Cards
battled through three fumbles to claim a 29-27 win. The Cards used
61 plays to net 361 yards of offense and 18 first downs, led by the
play of their 6-2 205 lbs. quarterback. Linsey finished 19 of 33
passing for 241 yards with 2 TDs, plus rushed 10 times for 54 yards
and the winning score, as the Cardinals improved to 2-0 for the first
time since 2013.
"What a great effort, our kids certainly made some mistakes, but
what an effort to get down in the second half, battle through some
adversity and find a way to win. We left some points on the field
with turnovers and missed assignments, but we never quit battling.
This was a good hard-fought high school football game and we'll
hopefully build from this effort. We have all kinds of things to
work on, but this was a good win for our kids," said Cards head coach
Shawn Thompson.
Junior wide receiver Aubrey Weaver had another huge night in the
passing attack finishing with a career high 10 catches for 125 yards,
which included a 40 yard scoring connection. Stetson Simpson added a
solid night as well with 4 receptions for 78 yards and a score, plus
grabbed a crucial 33 yard catch on the game-winning drive. German
Ruiz contributed an 82 yard kickoff return touchdown with 52 rushing
yards, on 15 attempts.
"Our play on both offensive and defensive lines was pretty good.
Defensively our guys have been very aggressive and disruptive back to
back weeks, while I thought our offensive line play was much better
this week. We still have to improve and find ways to finish drives,
as we stalled out too much, but no question the effort was better,"
said Thompson.
Senior linebacker Clay Shelton led the defensive attack with 11
total stops, while junior D'Angelo Dixson recorded 1.5 sacks with 8
tackles. Kobe Brumley netted 2.5 sacks with 5 tackles and Bryce
Howard grabbed his third interception of the young season, as the
Cards limited Pulaski County to just 27 rushing yards on 27 attempts.
The Maroons totaled 67 plays for 408 yards with 16 first downs led
by 6-2 200 lbs. junior signal caller Wiley Cain. Cain completed 23
of 40 passes for 381 yards with 3 touchdowns against just one
interception, while favorite target sophomore Jake Sloan had 8
receptions for a game high 168 yards. Senior tight end Matt
Hendricks added 7 catches for 115 yards with 2 TDs, while freshman
running back Tristan Cox led the rushing attack with 19 carries for
56 yards and a score.
"Defensively our play in the box was very good and I thought we made
them have to play a bit one-dimensional, but we have to get better on
the backside. Pulaski County has so many weapons and Cain does a
nice job finding those guys, but we have to improve our pass
defense," said Thompson.
Wayne County scored on their opening drive of the night as the hosts
used 8-plays to march 76 yards and score on a Lorenzo Linsey 16 yard
strike to Stetson Simpson. The Riley Woods kick made the score 7-0
with 7:06 left in the first period.
The Maroons answered back on their second drive of the contest as
Wiley Cain completed 4 of 4 passes to net 82 yards and score on a 21
yard connection from Cain to Grant Oakes. The kick knotted the score
at 7-7 with 5:44 left in the quarter.
The Cards grabbed the lead on the ensuing kickoff as German Ruiz
raced 82 yards, almost untouched, as the kick was blocked leaving the
score 13-7 with 5:31 still left in the opening frame.
After that score both teams struggled a bit as Wayne County missed a
41 yard field goal attempt and fumbled away two possible scoring
opportunities at the Pulaski 20 yard line and again at the Maroons'
41 yard line late in the half. The Maroons traded punts, before
knotting the score at 13-13 with 1:45 left in the first half on a
Cain 49 yard touchdown completion to Matt Hendricks. The extra-point
was backed up, due to a 15 yard penalty and the conversion pass
failed leaving the score at 13-13, at the end of the first half.
Neither team managed a first down on their opening series of the
third quarter, but Wayne answered on their second drive, as senior
kicker Riley Woods booted a 31 yard field goal to cap-off a 7-play 44
yard drive, to push the score to 16-13 with 6:37 left in the third.
The Maroons grabbed their first lead of the night on their next
drive as Cain connected with Hendricks again, this time from 33 yards
out, to end an 8 play 81 yard march. The Jaxson McAlpin kick left
the score at 20-16 with 4:01 left in the third quarter.
Wayne County wasted little time answering right back as Lorenzo
Linsey needed just 2-plays to travel 47 yards in the air and score
on a Linsey 40 yard connection with Aubrey Weaver. The kick was good
and gave the Cards a 23-20 lead with still 2:58 remaining in the
third period.
After a Bryce Howard interception stopped a Pulaski drive at the
Wayne 8 yard line, the Cards could only muster a first down as the
Maroons received the ball back at their own 34 yard line. Pulaski
made the most of their next opportunity as a penalty and a 38 yard
completion to Jake Sloan setup a Tristan Cox 3 yard touchdown run.
The point after kick pushed the Maroons lead to 27-23 with 6:35 left
in the final quarter.
Wayne County appeared ready to retake the lead, but a fumble at the
Pulaski 6 yard line, forced the Cardinal defense to provide one more
stop to keep the Cards in the game. The defense allowed one first
down and that was it, giving Wayne the football back at their own 48
yard line with just over 2-minutes remaining in regulation.
The Cards made the most of their second chance as Lorenzo Linsey
completed passes of 2 yards to Weaver, 8 yards to Howard, which setup
a crucial 33 yard connection to Simpson, that setup a first and goal
at the Pulaski 5 yard line. Linsey rushed for 2 yards and finished
the drive off with a 3 yard scoring run, with just 42 seconds
remaining in regulation. The kick was blocked, which left the score
29-27 with Pulaski having one more series and three timeouts to
reclaim the lead.
The Cardinal defense was more than up to the task, chasing and
harassing Wiley Cain all over the field, as the Maroons would never
threaten and Wayne County claimed a 29-27 win.
"What an atmosphere for a high school game and our fans were
absolutely unbelievable. The place was packed with folks all over
both end zones and playing in a regular season game in this type of
setting, should only help moving forward. We made mistakes on both
sides of the ball, but that's why we have a ten game regular season
to keep working to improve, nobody needs to be peaking in week two.
Our effort and fight both were there all night, plus our fans
certainly bring so much energy as well," said Thompson.
Next up for Wayne County is a Friday night road trip to Bowling
Green and one of the most improved teams in Class 4A in Warren East.
The Raiders are coached by former Wayne County head coach Jeff
Griffith and are off to a fast start after shutting out Portland (TN)
21-0 in their opener and defeating Class 5A top 10 ranked Greenwood
37-31 Saturday night.
Kickoff at Warren East is set for 8 p.m. Friday night and for a
complete preview of the matchup see related story inside this edition
of The Outlook.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.