Thursday, October 31, 2019

2019 Season Week 10 Update: vs Hazard - Senior Night!


October 31, 2019




Greetings Colonel nation on a rainy Halloween!

It seems like only a few days ago when we put our game cloth on for the first time to kickoff the season at Corbin.  However, we have reached the last week of the 2019 regular season and Senior Week.  Congrats to our Senior Class on a job well done (so far).

Our 2019 Senior Players (WCHS Class of 2020):
LB/WR Barrett Hollis
DE/TE Ben Hollis
DB/WR Bobby Trent Downs

OT/DE Brandon Hinkle

WR/LB Caleb Irwin

WR/DB Cameron Gibbs

WR/QB Cole Brown

WR/DB Colt Asher

G/DT Colten Bargo

PK/DB Jayden Watson

TE/LB/LS Ethan Ingram

LB/TE/DE Jacob Prewitt

RT Kyle McKiney


I want to say personally how much I have enjoyed coaching this group of 13 senior players and working with our two senior student trainers as well, Mirna Hernandez and Kaleigh Roberts.  I know that the rest of the staff feels the same.  It has been a pleasure to come to work everyday and get to coach these young men and women.  I could not have hoped for a smoother transition as a new head coach. Coaching changes can be difficult, particularly for rising seniors, but this group welcomed me and my family and embraced the changes a new coaching staff brought.

This group is especially memorable for me because my son Caleb (#85) is a part of this class and has become very close with them and thoroughly enjoyed his senior season so far.  This class has led the program to a winning record and regular season co-district champs with a 3-1 record.  We are excited to see how far they can lead the team in the playoffs.  It is very rare to have a senior class in which every single player is able to play a vital role for the team and stay (relatively) health for the season.  It certainly makes my job easier.  But we aren't done - the best is yet to come!

On Tuesday evening the seniors and their families enjoyed a dinner out together at JonEvan Jack's to celebrate a successful regular season:

2019 Senior Players and Trainers (w/ hats)

w/o hats

The weather is atrocious today but the rain will be gone for the game Friday vs Hazard.  Luckily our grounds crew planned ahead and once again did a fantastic job on the field and honored the seniors with their numbers painted in the end zones.  This video shows the field decorations and the senior banners on the perimeter fence:


Thank you to our student filmer Barrean Llewellyn for capturing this footage.  Barrean has been unable to play on the team this season due to a medical condition but has been vital for us as a filmer/drone pilot.

SOUTH LAUREL GAME NOTES
Last week we were able to overcome a slow start and an 18-3 deficit to win on the road at South Laurel.  Once again we answered the challenge of falling behind on the road as we did at Bourbon County earlier in the season.  Very proud of how our defense pitched a shutout and our offense was able to dominate the line of scrimmage in the second half as we pulled away for a 32-18 victory. Here are some links from the South Laurel game:
THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT:  HAZARD BULLDOGS

Our opponent to finish of the regular season slate is a very good one in the Hazard Bulldogs.  Hazard is a perennial Class A power in the state and is again a quality team this season.  Hazard is a similar team to our first round opponent North Laurel and ourselves quite a bit.  They can throw and run the ball well and play sound defense.  They have played a tough schedule with non-district opponents like Harlan County, Paintsville, and Somerset.  Even though the game does not have playoff implications immediately, a win will help our RPI ranking should we advance to the third round of the Class 5A playoffs.  But forgetting all that, it's a football game and senior night so of course we want to #EARNTHEW!
Have a safe and dry Halloween and we will see you at Colonel Stadium tomorrow night - be sure to bundle up as it will be cool (but dry) tomorrow evening!

GO COLONELS!!!


Thursday, October 24, 2019

2019 Season Update: Week 9 vs South Laurel

Thursday October 24, 2019

Greetings Colonel Nation,

What a tremendous ending to our game vs North Laurel last Thursday night - thank you to all the supporters who stayed with us until end as we took advantage of one more chance to pull out a victory.  We did not play our best most of the game (i.e. 4 turnovers) but we did show fight and grit until the end to EARN the winning score.  Here are some links from the North Laurel game to get your fired up all over again:

This week we complete regular season district play with a road game at South Laurel.  A win tomorrow night would ensure us the #2 seed in district standings and we would play a Round 1 playoff game at home on November 8th, probably against North Laurel (rematch!). Here are some links to get you ready for the game tomorrow night:

Next week is Senior Week for the football program.  We will recognize our senior players and student trainers before the game at 7:00 p.m. in Colonel Stadium.

We will also have a senior player/trainer and parent dinner at JonEvan Jack's on Tuesday the 29th at 6:30 p.m.  The booster club will purchase dinner for the player/trainer and one parent. Dress is casual and there is nothing anyone has to bring except and appetite.

Speaking of meals, thank you to the families of our players for feeding the team on Thursday nights after practice the past few weeks.  We are undefeated since we started the football family pregame meals this season, so hopefully we can keep it up!

That is all for now - see you tomorrow night at South Laurel!

Go Colonels!!!!!!


Monday, October 14, 2019

2019 Season Week 8 Update: vs North Laurel

Monday, October 14th, 2019

Greetings Colonel Nation!

We are back and better than ever after a one-week hiatus with the blog.  Last week was an emotional one for our community as we mourned the loss of WCHS student Fisher Barton who died tragically so we gave the blog a break. 

Our team however, did not get a break and we #EARNED two hard-fought road victories the last two weeks at Bourbon County 35-13 on October 4th and at SW Pulaski last Friday 14-0.  I cannot express how proud we are of the team and how they handled a very difficult and stressful week with Colonel P.R.I.D.E, toughness, and commitment to one another on the road last Friday at SW Pulaski.  We were all emotionally spent, had several players sick or injured, and we were not able to get as much practice in last week (for good reason).  The team overcame all of that and won a district contest on the road when we were clearly not at our best.  The sweetest victories always involve overcoming difficult circumstances.

Huge shout out to our defensive players and coaches!  We #EARNED our first shutout of the season, forced 2 turnovers, blocked a punt, and allowed less than 200 total yards.

The growth of our team as mentally tough competitors this season has been tremendous.  Adversity reveals character and once again our young men rose to the challenge.  We certainly need to play better in some areas, but toughness and determination can take a person/team a long way.

Bourbon County Game Links:

SW Pulaski Game Links:


This week's game: North Laurel

We are back at home this week vs a very good North Laurel team that is 5-3 on the season and has a 2-1 district record as well with wins over S. Laurel and SW Pulaski.  We expect a tough, physical game from the Jaguars as they pride themselves on running the football between the tackles.  Last week North suffered their first district loss vs Pulaski County.

Both teams need a win to improve their chances of a home playoff game in Round 1.  Please note that our game is this THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17th due to Fall Break on Thursday and Friday of this week for both school districts.

A couple of other notes for the game:

We sure hope to see a big crowd in Colonel Stadium Thursday night at 7:30 to cheer the boys on.

Go Colonels!!

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

2019 Season Update Week 6: at Bourbon County



Greetings Colonel Nation,

Happy Wednesday on a very hot October 2nd.  I hope you have recovered from our marathon game Friday night.  We didn't finish until about 1 a.m. (as far as I can recollect) with the two weather delays we encountered.  We truly appreciate the fans who hung in there with us until the end as we came very close to winning the game in the 4th quarter.  We were very proud of our team's effort, toughness, and the improvement we showed against a very good Pulaski County team.  Congrats to Chloe Gibbs on being named 2019 Football Homecoming Queen (thanks to Scott Powell Photography for the photo):



WCHS Sophomore Katherine Brynat was our honorary captain Friday night:


Health Sciences Teacher Dee Dee Bishop was nominated by Sophomore QB Seth Mills to be our Teacher of the Week:



Here are some links and other info from the PC Homecoming game -  

The coaching staff selected the players below as Players of the Week for Pulaski County:







This week the varsity will be back on the road at Bourbon County in a non-district contest against another Colonels team.  The weather finally looks to be turning to fall-kike conditions for the game:



We hope to have a good number of Whitley Colonels in the stands to cheer the players on.

The JV team traveled to Pulaski COunty on monday and came up short. The next JV game on Monday October 7th wil be their last road game vs Clay County at 6 p.m.

That's all for this week, GO COLONELS!!