When the Logan County Cougars edged a good Madisonville-North Hopkins team 23-21 on the last play of the game Friday, the win secured Logan County’s first district football championship in 28 years.
Coach Stumpy Baker’s Cougars won their first Class 2A district championship in 1988 and repeated again in ’89.
Only two teams from a district qualified for the playoffs in those days. Each of those two years, the Cougars played District 1 runner-up Fort Campbell (Mayfield was in their district) and the Falcons ended Logan’s season each time.
The Cougars scored only three total points in those two games, with those coming on a field goal in ’88 by Mark Thompson, who went on to pitch for the University of Kentucky and the Colorado Rockies and St. Louis Cardinals.
Fort Campbell won those playoff games 34-3 and 18-0 in what might be called either the fifth and sixth, sixth and seventh, or seventh and eight seasons of Cougar Football. Coach Steve Eans had taught his rookies football in the classroom during the first fall of LCHS in 1983, and they played junior varsity ball in 1983. Beginning in the fall of 1985, LCHS played varsity football, although it wasn’t until late in Eans’ turn at the helm that they played a district schedule.
Although Logan County was technically the ‘home’ team in those two playoff games, the school didn’t have a field of its own. During that first decade, the Cougars played their home games at Russellville’s Rhea Stadium. That’s where the two playoff games in the 80s were staged.
So when Coach Todd Adler’s 2017 Cougars entertain the number four team from Class 4A Region I, District 2, it will be the first true playoff game at Cougar Field for Logan County High School.
That Nov. 3 opponent is expected to be Warren Central, which has dropped from one of the best teams in Class 5A not many years ago to one of the least productive in Class 4A the past couple of years. Coach Joel Taylor’s Dragons are not only winless in eight starts, but have also been outscored 314-50, including being on the wrong end of four running clocks. In fact, Central is currently on a 21-game losing streak of its own.
If the Cougars win that first home playoff game, they will also play at Cougar Field in the regional semifinals on Nov. 10.
Back in 1989, it seemed that Logan County Football was going to continue to be a contender. Coach Baker had been state Class A Coach of the Year in 1966 at Russellville and had also coached college football at Western and Morehead for many years.
And then the unthinkable happened. Stumpy Baker died unexpectedly.
It took almost a decade for the program to get back on its feet. Coach Les May’s teams in the late 90s won a lot of games and qualified for the playoffs, but they were never champions and they didn’t get to host a home playoff game, even with Joseph Jefferson, De Wilson and Charles ‘Punky’ Atkins in the backfield.
Then Les May left to coach elsewhere.
The Cougars fielded some competitive seasons in the middle of the first decade of this century, but again Coach Lee Proctor’s teams couldn’t become district champions or host a postseason contest.
The bottom dropped out when the Cougars lost 42 straight games before ending it in a big way at Todd Central late last October. They haven’t lost since.
Not only have they clinched the top seed in their district, but if ToddAdler is not named state Coach of the Year, Congress should appoint a special prosecutor to find out why not.
Back to that 1989 team, which was the school’s last district champion:
Most of the players on that squad had also played key roles on the 1988 titlist team, and several of them were starters on Coach David Billingsley’s regional championship baseball team the previous spring.
The backfield included a trio of talented, highly intelligent players. Grayson Wells, Doug Binkley and Alan Marksberry not only became teachers but also school administrators.
A pair of huge tackles—Alan Marksberry and Kenneth Stratton—anchored the defense while future college lineman Doug Gloyd played a big role on the offensive line.
Tyrone Halcomb was one of the best runners in LCHS history. Jeff ‘Luther’ Taylor may have been the best tight end ever for Logan unless you consider a guy named Todd Adler (“Mr. Good Hands”) a tight end instead of a wide receiver.
Playing big roles, too, were Chris Holloman, John Ryan, Lamont Cross, Jody Hardesty, Nathan Hulse, Travis Chick, Brian Humble, Brian Chambers and Robert Piper.
The 1989 team finished with a 7-4 record, following a 5-5 worksheet the year before. Baker’s tenure at LCHS ended with a 12-9 total record and two district championships.
Bob Birdwhistell was principal, Bob Nylin athletic director, and the late Tom Kirkpatrick advance scout.