The Lady Cougars’ domination of three opponents on the way to the championship of the First Southern National Bank Christmas Classic last week put a tasty topping on one of the better calendar years in Logan County High School sports history.
It’s been quite a year for the school which began 30 years ago this fall. Consider these accomplishments:
1) Since Kentucky is officially a basketball state, the most memorable moments must have been provided by the boys basketball program. The Cougars won 21 games, went 6-0 in the district regular season, beat Russellville for the first time in almost a decade and did it again a month later, and reached the regional tournament for the first time in 14 years. Additionally, senior forward Twin Lancaster was named Fourth Region Player of the Year and was selected for the Kentucky All-Star team which played Indiana.
There were some downsides at the end. The Cougars lost to RHS in the 13th District Tournament, Coach Harold Tackett waited until mid-summer to decide to take a job elsewhere and none of the seniors went on to play college basketball.
A positive result of Tackett’s departure, however, is the selection of assistant coach Lonnie Mason as the program’s 11th head coach in 31 seasons. He holds two distinctions as not only being the first LCHS alumnus to become the school’s head basketball coach but also the first African American to become LCHS head coach of one of the “revenue sports”—basketball, football, baseball, volleyball and softball. (It’s probable that the school has had one other African American head coach, Dennis Custard in track.) Mason is getting a lot out of his first team, which began the season with only one player who has extensive experience.
2) The baseball Cougars won 24 games and repeated as 13th District champion, beating Russellville 5-0 in the district finals with Thomas Miller pitching a one-hit shutout. Coach Ethan Meguiar’s team went 8-0 in district play. Seniors Ryan Harper and Dustin Nash signed to play collegiate baseball. Many key players return for the 2013 season.
This was Logan's sixth district championship in 13 years. Meguiar has coached the Cougars to a berth in the regional tournament in 12 of those 13 years.
3) Coach Michael Crawford started a new era with a very young team. The Lady Cougars won only eight games, but one of them was big. They knocked off Todd Central 9-2 in the opening round of the district, earning a berth in the finals and at region.
Seniors Lindsey Ezell and Alecia Croft were named all-district as was sophomore Madison Abbott. The battery was young with sophomore Victoria Cates catching the pitching of either classmate Shelby Milam or eighth grader Megan Ferguson.
4) Coach Greg Howard’s boys track team recorded its highest finish in history, placing second in their Class AA regional meet. Avrey Collier & Colton Spencer qualified for state in four events each with Sye Head & Michael Sydnor making it in three each. Among the Lady Cougars, Claire Hopkins & Hayley Mayher each won a regional championship.
Collier and Aaron Johnson, who also qualified for state, signed to be part of collegiate track teams with Johnson also playing football.
5) In only their second season of varsity soccer, the Lady Cougars not only had a winning record (9-6) but they also won the district championship, beating Franklin-Simpson 3-0 in the opening round and then Todd Central 2-1 in the finals. And not only was the district tournament held at LCHS, but since the Lady Cougars were district champs, and it was the 13th District’s turn to host the region. So Logan got to play its regional debut at home, which the team won 6-0 over Monroe County, thus earning a second regional game at home. This one was a reversal, with the Lady Cougars falling 6-0 to a Bowling Green team which went on to the state finals.
The Logan County JV team also had another good season. Coaches Daniel McCarley and Jonathan White don’t report individual statistics or awards. Claire Hopkins, Hayley Mayher &Kelsey Markham were the seniors during this landmark season.
6) As always, the volleyball team was super. Coach Steven Lyne’s squad had the region’s best record at 29-8, including handing multi-year regional champion Greenwood its only regional loss. They went 10-0 in the district to run their district winning streak to 72-0, and won their 10th straight district championship. The downer was that for only the second time in 10 seasons the Lady Cougars didn’t reach the regional finals. Logan’s only two regional losses were to Bowling Green, the second time in the region.
Senior Rebecca Dezarn, juniors Rachyl Miller &Megan Griggs, and freshman Chanler Steenbergen made the All-District team, and Miller was named all-region.
7) Senior Sye Head won the regional cross country championship and finished second in the state. He and fellow seniors Noah Thomas, Colton Spencer & Austin Rouse led Coach Greg Howard’s team to their second straight regional championship on their home course. Sophomores Cory Ford & Levi Crossley and junior Kaleb O’Dell contributed to the championship.
The team also won the Warren East Raider Run and the home Cougar Run with Head finishing first in both.
8) The Lady Cougars won the aforementioned FSNB Christmas Classic last week. Coach Scot MacAllister’s team is very young with no seniors and three sophomore starters. Those three sophomores, Kapreshia Powell, Meagann Hardison & Abby Hinton, were members of the state champion AAU 9th Grade Kentucky Blast team coached by MacAllister.
2011-12 standout Jaylin Jones is starting for the Mid-Continent University basketball team as a freshman, and former Lady Cougar basketball and track standout Markita Pheal is also on that college basketball team.
*Additionally, although the football Cougars didn’t win as many games as they had hoped in 2012, one of their victories was especially meaningful. Coach Dain Gregory’s gridders beat Barren County for their first-ever Class 5A victory, which translated to their initial playoff game in the state’s second largest class.
Even the playoff loss had significance, since opponent Graves County is coached by a former Cougar, Lance Gregory, who is assisted by former LCHS head coach Les May. Gregory was runner-up for state coach of the year overall.
*Also another former Cougar standout, Doug Binkley, who is on the LCHS coaching staff, was named to the Cumberland University Hall of Fame. Binkley is one of only two three-time All-Americans in Cumberland University Athletics history. Binkley was a Second Team NAIA All-America selection in 1992 and was named First Team in 1993 and 1994.
He intercepted 32 career passes, eight in each of his four seasons, returning three for touchdowns. He averaged more than 100 tackles per year from his defensive back position and was a member of the program’s only team that appeared in the NAIA Playoffs in 1993, recording a 9-1 regular season record before falling to Pacific Lutheran in the first round of the postseason.
*The boys soccer team also knew success, finishing with a 9-8 record. Landon Stratton was named Offensive Player of the Year, Aaron Foster was Defensive Player of the Year, E.J. Offutt was the Most Improved Player, and Logan Johnson won the Cougar Award. Coach Eric Evans explains, “The Cougar Award represents someone who is willing to help out anywhere they are needed, shows good leadership, good sportsmanship and has a good attitude. There were several other players that made it difficult to make these decisions.”
Evans adds, “I want to thank assistant coaches Dan Duncan and Chris Phillips, and I would also like to thank Laura Jaynes and Susan Evans for all the work they did in organizing the Pink Out game, which we do every year for the American Cancer Society. This year we raised over $3,000 from that game and it was donated to the American Cancer Society.”
*Twin sisters Brenna and Meg Brown were one of the top doubles tennis teams in the region. Dan Duncan, who is also an assistant coach in boys soccer and basketball, coaches both teams. Meg Brown, who also played basketball, is on the tennis team at Campbellsville University.
*Both the boys and girls golf teams were young and inexperienced. In his 15th year as golf coach, Ethan Meguiar (yes, he of baseball fame) didn’t have a senior on either the boys or girls team, which is far removed from his first team when Katherine Neely won the state championship.
Meguiar’s nephew, junior Carson Zibart, had the lowest scoring average for the Cougars for the second straight year, taking home Medalist honors both seasons. Freshman Kenton Howard was named Most Improved, sophomore Wesley Estes received the Coaches’ Award, and sophomore Ben Wright earned the Academic Award. Other team members were junior Brennan Summers, freshman Matthew Hughes and eighth grader Jack Wright.
For the girls, junior Grace Harris was Medalist and also earned the Academic Award, seventh grader Merideth Johnson was Most Improved, and freshman Maeson Hayes took the Coaches’ Award. The other Lady Cougar was seventh grader Kattie Brooks. Assistant Coach was Tate Hancock.
*A highlight of the LCHS year was the school’s relationship with Magoffin County High School. When most of the Lady Hornets’ fans couldn’t make it to Bowling Green for the girls state basketball tournament in March because a tornado has destroyed most of the buildings in Saylersville, Logan County High School adopted Magoffin County as their team and went to Diddle Arena to cheer for the Lady Hornets.
In early December, a delegation from Magoffin came to Logan County to cheer for the Lady Cougars in a regular season game. The mutual respect the schools have for each other made national news.
Congratulations to Principal Casey Haynes, Athletic Director Hugh McReynolds, the coaches, players, parents and fans for a year to cherish in Logan County High School sports.