One of the great facets of this school year in athletics has been the rise of the historically downtrodden (at least recently) Todd Central sports teams. Last year, Todd suffered through a winless football season (including being on the very short end of The End of Logan County’s four-year losing streak), the boys basketball and baseball teams hadn’t won a district championship since 2003, and the girls basketball team hadn’t been to region since 2013.
Todd administrators have spent a decade and a half trying to replace coaches like Dennis Pardue and Fred Harper in boys basketball. They may have found their guy in Frank Johnson, who has directed the 2017-18 Rebels to 19 wins, a district championship, and a berth in the Fourth Region Final Four tonight.
The Lady Rebels also had a good year in basketball, reaching the district finals and the Fourth Region Tournament. Coach Travis Lovan’s team was, in fact, tied with Logan County for the first place in the district for the regular season, joining the Lady Cougars with 5-1 records.
Coach Katie Covington’s girls soccer team also won the district championship. The Lady Rebels had the sixth best record in the region at 10-6-2, including going 7-2 in the region and 5-0 in the district. Some of the girls who made that team a success—including Amy Brumfield, Alexi O’Daniel and Michaela Robertson—were also key basketball players.
Meanwhile the success of this year’s football team might have been the most remarkable in the state had it not been for Logan County’s undefeated season.
Instead of letting that winless season last year, including the 56-27 beat-down by the Cougars in that dramatic season finale get them down, Coach Les Broady’s Rebels bounced back dramatically. They won their first four games this year, finished with six wins and made the Class 2A playoffs.
It was Todd Central’s first winning football season since—well, it’s hard to say. The KHSAA publishes records for the last 20 seasons, and none of the first 19 produced a .500 season, let alone a winning record.
Meanwhile a Todd County native son who is a former Rebel player and coach, Calvin Head, coached his Bowling Green Lady Purples to a regional basketball championship Saturday and is headed to state.
When the Rebels play defending state champion Bowling Green Monday at 6 p.m. at Diddle Areha, this magical year continues.