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South Laurel runs over Wayne County 38-14 SHANNON HUTCHINSON Sports Writer The Wayne County Cardinals met South Laurel last Friday night at South Laurel Stadium. Wayne County entered with a 2-1 record and was coming off a 42-14 win over Monroe County, while South Laurel was coming off an impressive 41-28 win at Corbin. The contest marked only the second ever meeting between the two schools, with South Laurel claiming a 17-6 win in 2003 at Jewell Field. South Laurel quarterback Chris Riley rushed 12 times for 216 yards and 3 touchdowns, plus completed 20 of 26 passes for 139 yards and another touchdown, as South Laurel rolled to a 38-14 win. Riley scored on runs of 1, 65, and 55 yards, as the winners improved to 3-1, while totaling 415 total yards of offense. “Riley’s the best quarterback we’ve faced this season and we just didn’t tackle him. As a unit we missed 23 tackles and you just can’t do that against a good team like South Laurel. Give South credit, I think they’re the best team we’ve faced this season. They run the no-huddle offense very effectively and we appeared to just run out of steam,” said Wayne County head coach Shawn Thompson. Wayne County dropped to 2-2, despite the 30-carry, 184 yard rushing effort of senior runningback Matt Goff. Goff scored both of Wayne County’s touchdowns on runs of 7 and 9 yards, while the offense finished with 15 first downs and 301 total yards of offense. “We moved the ball pretty well at times, but they physically whipped us in the second half. We had a couple of series early in the second half and couldn’t get a first down and they made us pay. Hopefully we’ll build on the positives and learn from our mistakes,” said Thompson. South Laurel scored on the first play of the game, on Davis LaBore’s 85 yard kickoff return. Matt Strojan added the extra point, as South claimed a 7-0 lead just 13 seconds into the game. “Certainly not the start we wanted and this was one of several big plays that we just missed tackles,” said Thompson. Wayne County responded with an impressive 13-play drive that marched 78 yards and ended on Matt Goff’s 7 yard touchdown run. Quarterback Ryan Steele completed all three pass attempts on the march for 34 yards and Joe Coffey added the point-after to knot the score at 7-7, with 6:22 left in the first period. The host Cardinals responded right back with a 72 yard scoring drive of their own. Chris Riley completed 5 of 5 passes and capped off the 11-play march with a 1-yard touchdown keeper. The extra-point pushed South to a 14-7 advantage with 3:00 left in the first quarter. The local Cards committed their only turnover of the night on their next series, on a fumble and South needed just one offensive play to push the lead to 21-7. Chris Riley torched the Wayne County defense for a 65 yard scoring run and the extra-point gave South the 21-7 lead with 1:50 still remaining in the period. “Going into the game we didn’t want to get into an offensive shootout, but we dug a hole from the game’s first play and had to play catch-up the rest of the way,” said Thompson. Wayne County used a 46-yard run by Matt Goff and a Ryan Steele 18-yard completion to Joe Coffey on 4th down to key their next drive. The Cards tallied 80 yards in 11 plays and scored on Goff’s 9 yard touchdown run. Coffey’s reception set-up the score, as the junior tightend finished with a season best 4 receptions for 53 yards and later added the extra-point. The score closed the gap to 21-14, with 10:08 left in the first half. South Laurel pushed the lead to 28-14, after the teams traded empty possessions. Chris Riley connected with Zack Marcum from 8 yards out to notch the score. The Matt Strojan extra-point left the score at 28-14, with just under four minutes left in the second quarter. Neither team would score the rest of the half, as the hosts enjoyed the 28-14 halftime edge. Wayne County opened the second half with the football, but misplayed the kickoff and started their offensive series on their own 5-yard line. Two plays produced negative yardage and quarterback Ryan Steele was forced to throw the ball out of the end zone, which resulted in a safety and pushed South to a 30-14 lead. South Laurel then returned the kickoff from the safety to their own 38 yard line. Chris Riley capped-off an efficient 5-play drive with a 55 yard touchdown run. South opted to pass the conversion attempt into the end zone, to push the lead to 38-14 with 9:40 left in the third quarter. “We just didn’t tackle well all night and South Laurel has too good a team to make so many mistakes. Their system just keeps the defense on the run all night and I think fatigue takes over. I did like the fact that we didn’t quit and our younger guys came in during the fourth quarter and gave effort,” said Thompson. Both teams had chances to score over the final 21:40 of play, but neither team could capitalize. Wayne County missed a 37 yard field goalattempt, while South missed from 42 yards out late in the fourth quarter. South Laurel improved to 3-1 with the 38-14 home win. Wayne County’s defensive unit did manage to force 3 turnovers in the loss. The Cards recovered 2 fumbles and Joe Coffey added his first interception of the season. The defense was led by the 11 total tackles of senior linebacker Josh Bell. Ryan Steele added 9 stops, while the duo of Matt Goff and Joe Coffey recorded 8 tackles each. J.T. Dodd tallied 7 tackles, while the trio of Jordan Bertram, Cody Neal, and Barry Cooper each contributed 6 tackles. Up next for Wayne County is a Friday night Homecoming match-up with Class 3A foe Knox Central. The Panthers also own a 2-2 record and are under the guidance of first year head coach Wayne Mills. Mills’ squad is coming off a 7-6 home loss to undefeated Harlan. “Knox Central is a much improved football team and Coach Mills really has their kids believing in their system. We must regain our focus and have a good week of practice. This is our last game before the district season starts, so we need to build some momentum and confidence,” said Thompson. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. Friday night at Wayne County’s Jewell Field. Reader Comments april colyer (9/18/2004) wayne county can beat any who comes around Add a comment |
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