One of the most significant games in Logan County High School football history awaits the Cougars Friday night at the Franklin-Simpson football field in the semifinals of Class 4A’s first region playoffs.
During a streak that has seen them with double-digit win totals the past two years, win a district championship during a perfect 10-0 regular season in 2017, earn state Coach of the Year and Team of the Year honors, and win 22 of their last 24 games, this week’s outing gives the Cougars an opportunity to take Coach Todd Adler’s program to a new level.
Arguably the most important game ever for LCHS football came on Oct. 28, 2016. Both teams were winless when the Cougars went to Elkton to play Todd Central. Even more burdensome was a state-leading losing streak. Logan had lost 42 consecutive games, dating back to Oct. 12, 2012. The streak had stretched out 1,477 days under three coaches—Dain Gregory, Steve Duncan and Adler, who was in his first year on the job.
The Cougars not only beat the Rebels, but they did it resoundingly by a 56-27 count. Among the players who made it happen were current Cougar stalwarts Caden McKinnis, Tyler Ezell, Gary Hardy, Dontavius Blann, Chandler Silvey, Nate Woodall, Collier Kempf, Ethan Steenberger, Damon Stephens, Tristan Blake, Carson Bradley, Dakota Cardwell and Anthony Dancer. Ezell completed 18 passes for 259 yards, Blann caught eight of them for 120 yards, Hardy rushed for 97 yards, and McKinnis, Collier, Silvey and Bradley led the defense with 13, 10, 9 and 7 tackles, respectively. They are all still putting up big numbers.
Had Logan lost the game, the streak not only would have grown that night, but Adler and his program wouldn’t have had the momentum all winter that accompanied the Cougars into last year’s magical season.
The next major step played out on Oct. 5, 2017, when the Cougars edged Hopkinsville 13-12. Up until then, the word around the area was that the Cougars were undefeated primarily because “they haven’t played anybody.” Hopkinsville is somebody. The school was winning state football championships two decades before a student in the Logan County School System ever played a football game. The Tigers’ coach, Craig Clayton, is highly experienced and has known great success coaching in both Kentucky and Tennessee after a standout career playing for WKU football. And, the Cougars won!
Now Adler’s team is back to the same stage it reached a year ago this weekend, the regional semifinals. This year’s opponent is better than last year’s. Franklin is the defending state 4A champion and has put together a much better regular season than it did before that great playoff run last season. Many of the key players are back from that title team.
The Cougars seemed to be satisfied to have gone 11-0 before last year’s semifinals. They lacked the confidence and gusto that had characterized that marvelous season up to that point. The same Hoptown team they had edged five weeks earlier ended the Cougars’ run by a 43-8 count.
This year Adler and his squad should come in with a newfound purpose to make a statement. Their 42-3 win over an Allen County-Scottsville team (which had been picked by some to pull the upset) shows they are playing very well right now. Logan’s injured standout quarterback, Tyler Ezell, appears healthy again and had the opportunity to scrape off the rust last week in the win over a good Patriot squad.
Coach Doug Preston’s Wildcats are powerful, quick and experienced. Ten Cats were named All-SKY. First teamers are offensive lineman Jack Randolph, who has committed to play for Louisville, running back Tre Bass, lineman Shawn Woods, and sophomore placekicker Cole Hollingsworth. On the second team were running back Carlos McKinney, lineman Dalton Hunter, and defensive leaders Collin Preston, Michael Punzahn, A.J. Burr and Leandre Stutsman. McKinney and Bass are one of the best running back combos of any team in the state.
F-S joins the Cougars with a 10-1 record. The Wildcats have gained an average of 412 yards per game and are scoring an average of 44.6 points an outing. Their only loss is to Class 5A state contender South Warren.
The Cougars have stars and stats of their own. They are averaging 41.5 points per game and lead the state in fewest points allowed at 8.6 points per game. Their only loss is to Madisonville-North Hopkins, which is 9-2, and the Cougars led in the fourth quarter of that game with Ezell limited somewhat by a foot injury.
Cougars named first-team All-SKY Large School were offensive lineman Damon Stephens, wide receiver Chandler Silvey, defensive lineman Caden McKinnis and defensive back Dontavius Blann. Anthony Dancer was chosen for the second team.
Allen County-Scottsville seniors Cayden Ross and Chase Ward said this week that the Cougars were a much better team than they had expected. They were especially impressed with Logan’s defense.
Franklin star lineman Randolph said the performance of the teams in Logan’s district can’t be overlooked by his Wildcats. The second district won three of four match-ups against Franklin’s district. In addition to Logan’s romp over AC-S, Hopkinsville shut out Warren East and Madisonville-North Hopkins had no trouble with Warren Central.
Playing for the Cougars in their 10th win of the season in that semifnals loss last week were the following:
Lucas Arevalo, Cole Baker, Braxton Baptiste, Third Bell, Thomas Bilyeu, Tristan Blake, Wyatt Blake, Dontravius Blann, Carson Bradley, Nolan Brady, Luke Brown, Sam Brown, Jesse Buchanan, Dakota Cardwell, Corbin Chick, Austin Costello, Anthony Dancer, David Demonbreun, Anthony Dunn, Tyler Ezell, Kaleb Ferguson, Logan Gibson, Maurice Gordon, Ethan Haley, Gary Hardy, Jacob Henderson, Aaron Hinton, Cade Johnson, Thomas Kash, Christian Kenner, Caden McKinnis, Jacob Moore, Jonah Oliver, Dylan Penick, Reggie Powell, Brandon Rimer, Jarrett Sears, Jaden Sells, Chandler Silvey, Hayden Sisk, Jacob Smock, Colin Sowell, Ethan Steenbergen, Damon Stephens, Homero Vazquez, Koby Wall, Harrison Wilson, Nate Woodall, Anthony Woodard and Zach Yates.
Game time at Franklin is 7 p.m. WRUS will air a replay of the game on all its platforms Saturday at 2 p.m. with Andy and Zack Woodall on the call.