Friday, Sept. 22, 2017 is a date that has been marked in big, bold letters on Coach Todd Adler’s calendar since Friday, Sept. 23, 2016, and not just because it is officially the first day of fall.
It was a year ago that a victory that was agonizingly close to his Logan County Cougars’ grasp slipped through their collective fingers.
Tonight provides a chance for sweet revenge, although the sting—make that pain—from last year’s loss won’t ever completely subside.
The Cougars take their 5-0 record and a six-game winning streak to Hopkins County Central to face the Storm, which has lost four straight games after a season-opening win. Game time is 7 p.m.
This is what I wrote on The LoJo at halftime of that game at Cougar Field:
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Sep 23, 2016
Cougars build lead on Storm
When senior Lorenzo Garcia caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from freshman Tyler Ezell Friday night, it gave Coach Todd Adler's team a 19-6 lead over Hopkins County Central at the LCHS Homecoming. It was the second time Ezell and Garcia had connected for a TD pass in the first 19 minutes of the game. The Cougars had scored on drives of 72, 70 and 67 yards. The Storm came back to score on their next drive, going 65 yards, aided by consecutive 15-yard penalties on the Cougars. That made the Logan lead 19-13 with 3:13 left in the half. Ezell was injured late in the half. Nate Woodall came in to replace him and completed a pass to Chandler Silvey inside the Storm 10-yard line, but the Cougars couldn't add to their lead. Logan has lost 38 straight games, dating back to Oct. 12, 2012.
This, sadly, is what I wrote after the game:
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Sep 23, 2016
Cougars come close, lose in OT
Never trailing in regulation and leading by 14 points with 10 minutes remaining in the game, the Logan County Cougars let what was almost their first win in 1,422 days slip through their fingers Friday, literally. Too many dropped passes and a key fumble in the red zone played a big role in the Cougars falling 35-27 to visiting Hopkins County Central in overtime. The Cougars' last score came midway through the third quarter, as quarterback Tyler Ezell was not the same in the second half after suffering an arm injury late in the second quarter, connecting on just two passes following the injury. Freshman running back Gary Hardy was the bulk of the offense in the second half and finished with over 150 yards for the game.
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Coach Steven Wood’s Storm didn’t win another game the rest of the season, including losing 61-6 to eventual state finalist Franklin-Simpson is a playoff game that the Cougars thought should have been theirs. A win tonight would go a long way to LCHS returning to the playoffs for the first time in five seasons.
Logan ran that losing streak to 42 games last year before crushing Todd Central 56-27 on the road in the season finale. They haven’t lost since. In fact, Coach Les Broady’s Todd Central Rebels haven’t lost a game this season either and take a 4-0 record to Hancock County tonight.
The Cougars have the only 5-0 record in all of Class 4A, are one of three undefeated teams in the class, and are ranked eighth in the state by the Associated Press.
Still Adler, who is in his second season as head coach, and his team are eager not only to avenge that loss to HCC a year ago but also to record their first district win since beating Barren County 21-20 on that same Oct. 12, 2012 before the losing streak began. They were in Class 5A then.
Last week, Logan beat another group of Cougars, McLean County, 32-6 at the LCHS homecoming, out-gaining McLean 378 yards to 151 in total offense in the process.
Many of the names on offense are the same as last year. Against McLean, Ezell completed 11 of 21 passes for 209 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also rushed 8 times for 74 yards and another score. Hardy ran for 87 yards on 21 totes. Silvey caught a pair of passes for 65 yards. Woodall ran twice for 10 yards.
Also playing key roles were Dontavius Blann, who caught 5 passes for 102 yards and 2 touchdowns; Kelby Epley, who pulled in a couple of aerials for 29 yards; Caden McKinnis, who had 7 solo tackles; Zach Yates, whose 7 tackles include half a sack and another tackle for a loss; Alex Brown with 4 solos, the other half of that sack, and 2 more tackles for losses; Collier Kempf, who was credited with 1.5 tackles for losses; and Reggie Powell, who was in on a tackle for a loss.
The game will be carried live on WRUS. Andy & Zack Woodall start the WRUS Countdown to Kickoff at 6:30, on 610 WRUS, www.wrusam.com and the free WRUS Radio mobile app.