Wayne County Outlook

Wayne County to host McCreary Central this Friday night in regular season finale

The Wayne County Cardinals, 5-4 on the season and coming off a 51-14

loss to Corbin, host McCreary Central this Friday night at Jewell Field. The

Cards enter the regular season finale assured of the dis-trict¹s #3 seed,

while the Raiders own a 1-8 record. The game is slated as ³Senior Night² for

the nine seniors on the Wayne County roster.

The matchup marks the 12th meeting between the non-district rivals, with

the Cards winning the previous 11, including a 53-22 decision in 2003.

³This is a special week for all of our seniors. We want to send those

guys that have given so much, out the right way at home. Our number one

priority is to win the game, after that we hope to play well and avoid the

injury bug. We certainly have a lot to work on and take McCreary Central

very seriously,² said Cards head coach Shawn Thompson.

Wayne County has already clinched a trip to the state playoffs and a

road trip to Louisville. The Cards will travel to the winner of this week¹s

DeSales versus Western contest, next week in the opening round.

³I guess it¹s nice to know where we¹re going in the playoffs, but that¹s

still a week away. We have to go back to work and prepare for a McCreary

Central team that has nothing to lose,² said Thompson.

McCreary Central, 1-8 on the season and coming off a disappointing 54-8

home loss to Casey County, enters with their third head coach in three

seasons. Jack Arthur, a former assistant coach at Cumberland College,

replaced George Hatcher and is in his first year at the helm.

The Raiders¹ lone win of the season was a 14-12 overtime thriller at

Berea. Since the win the squad has lost to Clay County, Marion County,

Harlan, Whitley County and Casey County by a combined score of 229-15.

³McCreary has played some teams in Clay, Whitley and Harlan with very

good records. The thing that stands out in several of their games is they

are very close at halftime, but for whatever reason they¹ve struggled in the

second half. We have to come out early focused and ready to play,² said

Thompson.

McCreary averages just under 8 punts per game offensively and will look

to move the football on a Wayne County defensive unit that has allowed 27

points per contest. The Cards must improve after giving up 49, 42 and 51

points the past three weeks.

³We have to do a better job of tackling. Last week we missed so many

tackles on the initial contact. As a team we don¹t have the type of speed to

miss tackles,² said Thompson.

Wayne County averages 31.5 points per game, which is on pace to set a

new school record. Last week the Cards were led by the 186 rushing yards on

25 attempts of senior Matt Goff. The Cards face a Raider unit that allows

just over 43 points per game.

³We need to reduce our mental mistakes. We have to clean-up our

penalties, I thought we shot ourselves in the foot against Corbin with

penalties and turnovers,² said Thompson.

Wayne County finished with 16 first downs and 317 total yards last week,

but scored just two touchdowns. The Cards yielded three turnovers and

struggled to cover kicks against Corbin, something not lost on the head

coach.

³Our special teams play was disappointing and that¹s something that has

to improve. We have to cover punts and kicks better and that will be an area

of emphasis this week in practice,² said Thompson.

Kickoff for ³Senior Night 2004² will be Friday night at 7:30 p.m. at

Jewell Field.

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