Published: November 21, 2009 01:28 am      

Pulaski wins 1st Regional title

Maroons advance to semi-state after downing Letcher Central 31-14

Somerset — Before the 2009 high school football season ever kicked off, several media observers as well as a rabid fan base called the ‘09 Pulaski County Maroons the greatest football team in school history — on paper at least.

And, despite an Earth-shattering 0-2 start to the season, as things turned out, the ‘09 Maroons were indeed the best team in PC’s history.

For the first time ever, the Pulaski County Maroons hoisted a regional championship trophy high above their heads last night in front of hundreds of delirious fans at PC Field.

Zach Eastham, who had just been named the District Player of the Year earlier in the week, had another monster night for the maroon and white, completing 16 of 20 pass attempts for 240 yards and a touchdown, while junior tailback Alex Abner scored two touchdowns on a pair of one-yard runs.

Mikey Shepherd got in on the act by scoring on the final play of the first half on a fumble return, and in the end, it was Pulaski County claiming that first ever regional football title by a county school, with an impressive 31-17 win over visiting Letcher County Central.

As he attempted to talk to his team on the field immediately after it was given the Class 5 A, Region 4 championship trophy last night, Maroon head coach Johnny Hines couldn’t hold back the tears, as a handful of emotions were racing through his head.

Hines remembers vividly the 2-8 season in ‘99 — his first year as PC’s head coach.

During that ‘99 campaign, the Maroons were outscored in their first four games of the year by a combined 108-0, lost to McCreary Central at home 38-35, and lost to Southwestern 61-7.

My how things have changed.

“I remember that loss to McCreary very well,” stated Hines immediately following last night’s game. “We won two games in 1999, and both teams fired their coaching staffs at the end of the year, so I guess that tells you what kind of respect we had way back then.”

The Maroon head man also well remembers three months ago, when his team was 0-2 two weeks into the season, and on top of that, had learned that All-State quarterback Chris Muse had been lost for the year with a torn ACL in his knee.

My oh my, how those days seem like an eternity ago.

So coach, are the 2009 Maroons the best team in PC school history?

“Well it is, because it’s the only team to ever win a region championship, and that officially makes it the best,” stated a very jubilant Hines, after watching his club improve to 10-3 on the season with last night’s win.

“We talked down on the field tonight after the game, and I hope that all the guys that ever wore the Maroon jersey over the 26 years of this program feel like they’re a part of this, because this team couldn’t have accomplished what we did tonight without those guys doing what they did,” Hines remarked.

What the guys that are currently on the PC roster did last night was line up and take it right at Letcher County Central, even though early on the Maroons weren’t clicking on all cylinders.

After the Cougars fumbled the opening kickoff, PC inherited the ball first and 10 at the Letcher County Central 28-yard line.

A few plays later, facing a fourth and one from the Cougar 5-yard line, Eastham’s pass to Mikey Shepherd fell incomplete, and PC had lost a golden opportunity to jump out in front of Hillard Howard’s club in the early minutes.

After forcing a Cougar punt however, the Maroons took their next possession and once again got down inside the red zone.

However, once again PC was denied, and was forced to settle for a 22-yard field goal off the foot of Tyler Lester after the drive bogged down.

Then, with 2:51 left in the opening period of play, Eastham and the PC offense finally got going.

The PC quarterback hooked up with R.C. White for a 55-yard touchdown pass, giving the Maroons a 10-0 lead after one period of play.

After Letcher’s Steven Johnson called his own number to whittle the deficit to 10-6 with 6:24 left in the opening half of play, Pulaski threw and landed the knockout punch inside the half’s final 30 seconds.

With only :16 left in the first half, Abner scored on the first of his two, 1-yard TD runs in the contest, easing the lead out to 17-6 in favor of the Maroons.

After the PC kickoff, the Cougars attempted to get cute, as Johnson handed a reverse off to Nathan Maggard, who attempted to lateral the ball back to the Letcher quarterback.

However, on Maggard’s toss back to Johnson, the ball hit the ground, Shepherd scooped it up, and raced into the end zone from 17 yards out giving Hines and crew a 24-6 cushion at the intermission.

“Our defense played great all night long, and I feel like this was probably the best performance by our defense all season,” pointed out Hines. “We had a great game plan tonight, and coach (Josh) Roberts, our defensive coordinator, did a great job putting that together, and coach Stephen Godby handles the defensive line, and coach Stan Andrews and coach Edwin Sellers really do a great job with that defense.”

“The kids played great,” added Hines. “Tyler Stone was simply phenomenal tonight, Justin Cornett really caused them a lot of problems inside on our defensive line, Chad Wimmer and Logan Joseph played great, and our secondary has really gotten better. Steven McQueen made several big plays, and it was good to see Brian Barnett get back in there, Brannen Wheeldon made some big plays tonight, and I’m just proud of them. It was just a great effort by everybody on our defense.”

All was not well in the land of PC at halftime however, despite the 24-6 lead.

In the first half, the Maroons fumbled the ball away two times to Letcher County Central, failed to convert on the fourth and one from the Cougar 5-yard line, had a 46-yard touchdown pass wiped out due to a holding call, and were penalized seven times for 55 yards.

“We were frustrated beyond belief,” said Hines, in talking about how he felt going in at the half.

“We had the ball twice in scoring range early on and only got a field goal, because we thought we should have had two touchdowns,” added the PC coach. “We had the touchdown called back that was obviously frustrating, but we were frustrated more than anything, because they hadn’t been able to stop us. We were stopping ourselves.”

The Cougars attempted one final comeback early in the third period, once again taking advantage of a Pulaski fumble.

Johnson scored on a 1-yard run with 8:02 left in the third quarter, and with Drew Bentley’s two-point conversion run, the Cougars were somewhat back in this one, trailing the Maroons at 24-14 with a lot of football left to be played.

However, on the ensuing kickoff, White had a nice return inside Cougar territory, and PC took advantage.

The Maroons methodically marched the ball downfield, with Abner closing out the scoring on the night with his second TD of the night — a 1-yard run with 2:55 left on the clock in the third stanza.

That score made it 31-14 in favor of Pulaski County, and the Maroons were well on their way to making a little history on Friday night.

With the win, Pulaski County advances to next week’s Class 5 A semi state round.

After extending their home winning streak to 18 games with last night’s victory, to win a Class 5 A state championship, from here on out the Maroons are going to have to do it on the road.

Thanks to Highlands 42-21 victory over Johnson Central last night, the Maroons face the unenviable task of having to play the 13-0, and two-time defending champion Bluebirds on their home field next Friday evening.

Counting this year, Highlands is 42-1 over its past 43 games, as the Bluebirds have claimed the Class 5 A state championship in 2007 and again in ‘08.

For now though, coach Hines says that doesn’t matter to him one bit.

Next week’s game will take place one day after Thanksgiving ‘09, and Hines is quick to point out there are only four teams in Class 5 A still standing, and the Pulaski County Maroons, Region 4 champions are one of them.

“It’s pretty exciting and it’s a lot of fun,” Hines pointed out.

“It’s a thrill and it’s an honor,” added the Maroon head coach. “To be honest, it was an honor to be on the field tonight with the great Hillard Howard, who has been such a tremendous coach for so many years. I understand he may retire at the end of this year, and if he does, high school football in the state of Kentucky is losing a great head coach.”

As for Pulaski’s own head coach, Hines and crew have a week to reflect on the history that was made at PC Field last night.



LCC 0 6 8 0 — 14

PC 10 14 7 0 — 31

FIRST QUARTER

PC—FG Lester 22

PC—White 55 pass from Eastham (Lester kick)

SECOND QUARTER

LCC—Johnson 7 run (Conv. run failed)

PC—Abner 1 run (Lester kick)

PC—Shepherd 17 fumble return (Lester kick)

THIRD QUARTER

LCC—Johnson 1 run (Bentley conv. run)

PC—Abner 1 run (Lester kick)



RUSHING—PC, Eastham 16-114, Abner 15-42 2 TD. LCC, Johnson 14-89 2 TD, Brown 6-27.

PASSING—PC, Eastham 16-20 240 TD INT. LCC, Johnson 15-27 149.

RECEIVING—PC, White 5-114 TD, McQueen 6-71, Abner 3-32. LCC, Huff 6-65, Adams 4-30.