When the Logan County Cougars journey to Russellville Friday for what could be the second of four Cat Clashes this season, Coach Harold Tackett’s team will be facing its first big test of 2011. Beating the Panthers for the first time in nine seasons is not the ultimate exam. Instead the test will be to show that they are different from the last 12 LCHS boys teams which have gone before them.
This year’s Cougars got off to a super start, winning their first eight games and going 11-2 so far, which is the region’s best record. Cougar fans have been given hope that this year is going to be different from the past dozen. Logan has averaged just seven wins per season since the Cougars got their last postseason victory in 1998. This year’s Cougars were 9-1 when Christmas arrived. In five of the previous years, the win total didn’t reach nine the entire season, let alone before Christmas.
Three other season totals were this same nine.
Then last Wednesday, a dose of reality struck when Russellville dominated Logan for three quarters. The final 15-point margin doesn’t reflect how one-sided the game was in its entirety.
I’ve been around Logan County High School every since that day in the late seventies when board members Lynn Dawson, Jim Moore and Sonny Rogers told me they would vote to accept the grant to consolidate the five high schools in the county into one. I’ve seen every Cat Clash but one these past 29 seasons, known every coach and understood why the first nine boys’ coaches either resigned or were fired, relished the state championship and the four regional finals, and suffered through the Dirty Dozen seasons that followed. I’ve reported on hundreds of the games either in print, on the air, or online.
Having had two sons play in the program, I’ve been even more closely involved. Hopes have been high before, only to be dashed as season after season disintegrated. Let’s look at some recent history;
That last win over Russellville came on Dec. 20, 2001 in the RC/Houchens Classic at Ohio County High School. I recall young Ethan Holloway giving a lot of help to veterans Aaron Davenport, Kyle Morrison and Kelley Jordan among others. Fifteen days later Russellville beat the Cougars 74-59. Coach Mike Haynes’ team finished the season with a 9-17 record.
On Dec. 14, 2004, Jon-Matthew Thomason forced a turnover and Robbie Osborne hit a 3-pointer as Logan won at Franklin-Simpson 63-60. Cameron Mason scored 15 points and P.J. Gibbs 13 for Coach Greg Howard’s team. Franklin won by 12 points the next time they played as that team finished 9-18.
The last time Logan had beaten Franklin before this season came on Dec. 13, 2005. Trey Turner scored 20 and P.J. Gibbs had 15. The next two times they played that year, the Wildcats won by 21 and 16 points. Coach Jeff Rogers’ Cougars finished with a dismal 5-21 record.
The most painful year was the next. The Cougars were loaded with talent. In the first round of the FSNB/Roy’s Classic, Logan beat a super Dyer County team 89-83 with Turner scoring 32 and Andrew Bunton 18. The next two nights, they knocked off Community Christian Academy and Union County to run their record to 7-2. But in the finals, despite Trey having a triple double and Jeff Sydnor, Blake Meacham and Bunton joining him in double figures, Logan lost 64-52 to a Butler County team that had also upset the Panthers the night before. A season that had begun with such promise ended with Rogers’ team winning only 3 of its final 18 games.
Last year at this juncture, Tackett’s team had won seven games. The Cougars had Russellville on the ropes, only to lose on a 3-point dagger off the finger tips of Panther Trevor Clark. The Cougars, however, lost by 23 the next time they played RHS and won only four more games the rest of the season.
In short, Logan teams have gotten worse as their seasons have continued, or at least haven’t improved as much as have their opponents, especially Russellville and Franklin.
Will this season be different? Time will tell. And the clock starts ticking Friday.

The LoJo
Despite a season to forget for the Logan County Cougars as a team, senior quarterback John Logan Dockins completed a career that is filled with impressive statistics. He started in the first varsity football game of his freshman year, was a full-time starter his last three seasons, either rushed or passed on over 1,000 plays, passed for over three miles in yardage, and either rushed or passed for over 60 touchdowns.
In 37 regular season games, Dockins completed 374 of 752 passes for 5,102 yards and 44 touchdowns while being intercepted 38 times. He ran the ball 242 times for 392 yards and 14 TDs. He also ran for 7 two-point conversions and passed for 5 more. He was sacked 38 times along the way.
Additionally, he quarterbacked two playoff games as a junior, leading the Cougars to their first playoff win (at Union County) in a decade. He threw three touchdown passes in that playoff win at Hopkins County Central (two to Reuben Rawlings-Watson and one to Jonathan Barbee). In an impressive performance in a 41-33 second-round loss at undefeated Allen County-Scottsville he completed 28 of 47 passes for 322 yards and touchdown passes to Rawlings-Watson and Twin Lancaster for over 50 yards each.
He completed 49 touchdown passes during his career for 5.568 yards. Divide that by 1,760 yards in a mile, and he threw for 3.15 miles, about the distance between LCHS and Russellville High School. His career totals included 412 completions on 822 passes (almost exactly 50 percent) with 41 interceptions and 42 sacks. This year he threw 27.5 passes in each of the 10 games, 9 of which were losses, and carried the ball 10.7 times per game, which means he either ran or passed on 38.2 snaps per game as a senior. For his career, he passed or ran on 1,077 downs, an average of 27 per game.
Dockins also accounted for 378 points either passing or rushing while averaging 21 passes in each of his 39 games. He threw 14 touchdown passes his sophomore and senior years and 20 as a junior.
Among schools which have expressed interest in his services are the University of the Cumberlands, Campbellsville University and Lindsey Wilson College. Right now he’s working on his senior baseball season at LCHS. A highlight of his December was attending the Maui Invitational in Hawaii with his uncle and aunt, Dave and Paige Dockins.

The LoJo
This summer I interviewed two excellent athletes as well as good guys who were announcing their plans for playing college baseball. They and their families allowed me to be a part of their signing ceremonies, and then I did them a disservice by delaying writing those stories in detail until it was too late to be timely.
I apologize to Brett Sowell and Darrin Murphy and their families.
Sowell, who was a standout in both basketball and baseball for the Logan County Cougars, is playing baseball for Campbellsville University, which has enjoyed a long relationship with LCHS and RHS athletes. In fact, Cougar coaches Ethan Meguiar and Kyle Wall played at CU for Coach Buford Sanders, who was at LCHS for the occasion.
Everything was good about the signing, Sanders said.“We’re getting a good athlete, a good competitor and a good studentfrom a good high school program who has had good coaching. Better days are ahead for him. If he will stick with it and keep pushing his opportunities, good things are going to happen for him.”
The veteran coach said Sowell, who is an outfielder and a pitcher, reminds him of Russellville graduate Gary Gettings, who played first base for the Tigers every game in the early 90’s when he wasn’t pitching. Sanders also thinks Sowell could develop into a dependable pitcher like Bryan Fuller, an LCHS alum who made national news for his string of scoreless innings while pitching CU to the NAIA World Series.
Like Gettings and Fuller, Sowell doesn’t throw a blazing fastball, but he throws strikes. Being a lefthander gives him an advantage, Sanders said.
Sowell was a three-year starter in basketball, making all-district first as a sophomore. He was the Cougars’ Cy Young winner as the Cougars’ top pitcher as a junior. “He was probably our MVP this year. He was our leading pitcher and had the top batting average,” Meguiar said of Sowell’s senior season. “He’s also a good fielder both on the mound and in the outfield. He even played some first base for us.”
The player’s dad, Phillip Sowell, was present for the signing ceremony. After the death of Brett’s mother while the Sowell children were at Auburn Elementary School, Dr. Jon and Alissa Todd have treated Brett like one of their own children, and he expressed his gratitude to them.
His grandmother, Shirley Sowell, was also present and said, “Brett’s mom Kathy would have been proud. She got him started in sports and he’s followed through with it.”

Darrin Murphy played three major sports for Russellville High School and was a star in two of them, football and baseball. In basketball, he was a dependable reserve on the front line who could rebound and play rugged defense, which was his football specialty.
He took a big step by signing with Lackawanna College in Scranton, Penn. The Falcons play in a competitive junior college league. One pitcher was drafted by the Braves last summer and all six sophomore team members have moved on to Division I programs this year. A plus is that the Falcons play their home games on the field used by the New York Yankees’ AAA farm team.
Murphy, who pitched the Panthers to their first district championship in 19 years this spring and then shut out the powerful Glasgow Scotties in the regional tournament, set seven season or career pitching records for Coach Lou Kendall's team. According to Kendall, his season records include 12 wins, 9 complete games, 80.2 innings and 14 starts. Career marks are 228 innings, 24 complete games and 37 starts.
He went 12-3 this year, breaking Tommy Blackford’s 1989 win total of 11. His 24 career wins trail only Blackford’s 27 and John Markham’s 25, just ahead of Gary Gettings’ 23. He was the Panthers number one pitcher three consecutive years.
Highlights of his 2010 season include a nine-inning shutout of Middlesboro in the Class A state, nine shutout innings against Monroe County and Cumberland County in one day in the Class A region, a win over Owensboro Catholic in the Class A substate (Kendall says it’s the Panthers’ biggest home win ever), and beating Glasgow, which had won 25 games, in the first round of the regional tournament.
Murphy gave credit to teammates Seth Washington and Andra Edmonds during his signing ceremony. “I could throw difficult pitches with Seth catching and know there was a good chance he would catch them. He helped me have only five wild pitches all season,” Murphy said. “Andra was my teammate throughout high school. He covered a lot of ground in the infield.” He also praised Kendall and his summer ball coach, Jose Fernandez.
Darrin is the son of Darrell and Julia Murphy, who have been very supportive throughout his career, as well as that of his brother Adam, also a former baseballer.

The LoJo
All of the Russellville School community is grieving with Coach Kendall over the December death of his wife Brenda Kendall. Brenda, a retired Stevenson Elementary School teacher, was an ardent support of Panther baseball and her husband. And he stood by her through years of gallant battles with cancer. She will be missed.

Also, we lost a wealth of sports knowledge with the recent deaths of James Drake and Roger Morgan. Roger was an owner of Roy’s Bar-B-Q and James was retired from Carpenter Co. I always enjoyed talking with both of them about sports history.
Roger knew about a lot of sports programs, but he’s one of the few I knew who could be a Kentucky fan but also talk knowledgably about Western Kentucky University’s sports history. He was so humble that he would never come to our table unless we invited him. When we did, however, he delighted my son Clay and me with his memories and his insight.
Roger’s death was another tragedy to strike one of Logan County’s leading business families. Roy’s may be the best-known Logan business to people who live outside the county. Roy’s founder Ralph Morgan died of cancer as did another of his sons, former RHS standout athlete Billy Morgan. Matriarch Jolene Morgan also was discovered to have cancer in 2010. She’s handling treatments well. One of her daughters, Mary Winn, is currently staying with her during this recuperation
Roy’s Bar-B-Q is so popular than the remaining owner siblings, Kathy Howard, Lee Ann Harris and Roy Morgan and Roger’s son Lee have been even busier during Roger’s prolonged illness and now his death. One of the results is that Roy, who is one of the most ardent and visible local sports patrons, has hardly been able to attend any sports events this year, including the successful holiday tournament Roy’s helps sponsor.
A graduate of Auburn High School, James Drake could talk about anything that ever had to do with that school’s teams. He was also a faithful supporter of teams with which his family members were associated, including nephews Tim Riley (state champion Warren Central and Kentucky All-Stars coach), Steve Riley (former Barren County basketball coach and a member of the KHSAA Board of Controls), and Monroe Joyner (Bowling Green High Athletic Director). His niece, Lisa Chasteen Proctor, is married to one of Bowling Green’s greatest-ever golfers, Kevin Proctor. His brother-in-law, Johnny Meguiar, was a standout at Auburn. Nephew Eric Meguiar had an outstanding baseball career at Auburn and LCHS. Great niece Erica Meguiar is a softball catcher for Murray State University. Great nephews Matt and Drake Riley have played well in big games for their dads. And the list goes on.
James also was a supporter of Russellville basketball, especially after Auburn alum Dennis Pardue became coach. James covered the Panthers for me while I was editor of the N-D&L.
During a season that could end in the state tournament for his Dragons, Tim Riley took time out to speak at James’ funeral and is now serving as executor of his estate. He’s getting support from Judge Sue Carol Browning, who was James’ close friend and by his side most of the time during his final days.
James is survived by his well-known son Garland Drake.

The LoJo
Former LCHS player Lance Gregory coached Graves County to the second round of the Class 6A football playoffs this fall. The Eagles beat Louisville Southern 44-13 in the first round before losing 42-20 to powerful Louisville Male, which went on to the state finals against Louisville Trinity.
After starting slowly at 1-4, the Eagles won five of their next six games, including four in a row. Gregory’s first Graves County team in 2009 went 7-3 before losing to Nelson County.
The win over Southern was the first playoff victory in four years for Graves County, which has former LCHS assistant basketball and baseball coach R.B. Mays as its principal.

Another former Cougar quarterback, Brian Holloman, won his first 11 games as the Anderson County Middle School head coach, capturing the conference championship along the way. His daughter Haley was a cheerleader for the team as a seventh grader.

A Tennessee high school quarterback with Russellville ties is making a name for himself. Matt Kuivinen, threw for 388 yards this fall in a 31-28 losing effort against Brentwood. He was 10 for 12 in the first half and 20 for 27 for the game. His longest pass was 80 yards for a touchdown. He was also Franklin's leading rusher with 31 yards. His 388 yards is a record for a Franklin High School QB. A junior, he is being highly recruited, including by Notre Dame
Matt, who is coached by retired Hopkinsville coach Craig Clayton, is the grandson of Julie Wilson Hall of Auburn. That makes him the great nephew of Bobby, Mike and George Wilson.

Two former local coaches who have changed jobs: Justin Stinson, who has previously been head boys basketball coach at his alma mater, Monroe County, is the new head girls basketball coach at Glasgow. The Lady Scotties currently have an 8-3 record. Last year Stinson, who is married to the former Heather White of Auburn, was assistant coach for the Scottie boys under Coach Jeff Hall. He learned much of his coaching technique while serving as an assistant to Coach Mike Haynes at LCHS.

Franklin-Simpson boys basketball coach David Clark has high praise for his new assistant, Nelson Cundiff. A former successful head girls coach at Nelson County and head boys basketball coach at Mercer County (see a feature story about him inThe LoJo archives last April), Nelson and his wife (the former Cassie Shemwell of Todd County) wanted to return closer to home.

The only Panther ever named Region 4 MVP, Cundiff is one of the greatest RHS basketball players ever. He has also coached at Auburn Middle School and Todd Central.

The LoJo
Brad Huskisson , who played on Logan County’s 1989 state quarterfinalist baseball team and coached at LCHS and Russellville Middle School, has received an honor in his current job. He is head softball coach at Columbus State University in Georgia. His field was judged the best-maintained in NCAA Division II by NFCA & Stabilizer Solutions Field Maintenance Award for the Division II level. Five total winners were selected which included the University of Alabama (Division I), Columbus State, Wellesley College (Division III), Bakersfield College (Junior College) and Alexander Central High School (High School).
"I am absolutely ecstatic about winning this award," Huskisson said. "My players, staff and I have taken great pride in our facility and we put in a lot of hours to help make Cougar Field one of the best playing surfaces in the country. I am very thankful that the Athletic Department along with the University Administration allows us the opportunity to put that much effort into Cougar Field. Columbus State University prides itself on having one of the most beautiful campuses in the entire southeast. This award adds to that distinction."
The fields were judged on their infield and outfield playing surface as well as the preparation work done to the field before and after games. Cougar Field features a state-of-the-art Matrix scoreboard in right centerfield, professional lighting, spacious walk-in dugouts featuring restroom facilities, three full length batting cages and a tee area and four pitching mounds.
Winners were recognized at the general business meeting of the 2010 NFCA Convention on December 8 at the San Diego Marriott & Marina in San Diego, Calif. “The NFCA ran the article with our picture instead of Alabama’s, and I thought that was pretty cool,” says Brad, whose team had a 9-1 record this fall.