Led by their defense, the Logan County Cougars built a 14-6 lead at Calloway County Friday and held on for three more quarters to win by that score in a crucial district game.
In a win in this strange season plagued by a pandemic, the Cougars (3-2 overall, 2-0 district) are believed to have sealed home field advantage for the first two weeks of the Class 4A playoffs.
Appropriately, it was the defense who scored first. Freshman Davin Yates picked off a Laker pass at his team’s 42-yard line and returned it 58 yards for a touchdown three minutes into the game.
The game-winning point came on a conversion kick by junior Addie Corder, who was an all-district performer on the Lady Cougars’ district champion soccer team. She also kicked the extra point on the Cougars’ second touchdown. Ryland Nichols is the long snapper and Harper Butler the holder for place kicks.
That second touchdown also came in the first quarter. Quarterback Wyatt Blake set it up with a 51-yard pass to senior receiver Jaden Sells. A face mask penalty against Calloway aided the cause. Blake kept the ball all three straight plays after a first and goal from the 2-yard line, taking it into the end zone on third down.
Corder’s kick made it 14-6 with 2:47 remaining in the quarter.
The Cougar offense was slowed by an early injury to Anthony Woodard and by the absence of center Thomas Kash, who was on COVID quarantine. Blake generally runs quarterback from the Wildcat position, and he had to deal with snaps in positions he wasn’t expecting.
The defense didn’t care. They had the game and the win in hand.
Cade Johnson and Zach Yates each had 8 tackles to lead the defense. All of Yates’ tackles were solos and two of them were for losses. Johnson had 6 solos and a sack. Logan Gipson was credited with 7 tackles, a pair of them for losses. Jesse Buchanan had 6 tackles, including half a sack.
Three guys—Blake, Clifton Faughn and Davin Yates—each had 5 tackles. All but one of Blake’s were solos. Also getting tackles were Zane Batten, Aaron Hinton, Woodard, Jacob Moore, Maurice Gordon and Cameron Matthews.
The defense held the Lakers to 45 yards rushing and 145 yards total offense.
On offense, Blake completed all six of his passes, and Davin Yates his only pass to make the Cougar aerial game perfect on the night. In his brief time on the field, Woodard caught 3 passes for 27 yards. Sells’ 2 catches went for 78 yards. Gordon and Zach Yates also caught passes.
Blake called his own number frequently, rushing 26 times for 62 yards and a touchdown. Woodard, Gordon and the Yates brothers combined for 9 carries and 25 yards.
The Cougars go to Hopkins County Central for a Saturday noon game on Halloween.
Logan County Jr. Pro football teams pulled off a clean sweep over Franklin-Simpson Saturday. All four teams won by shutouts.
“Didn’t give up a touchdown all day long!! #thefutureisbright,” Coach Adler wrote.