Published: October 09, 2008 09:00 pm            

County Showdown

Warriors, Maroons playing for possible playoff home field advantage

Somerset — Over the past several years, it’s blossomed into one of the best rivalries in this part of the state.

The one thing that can be said when the Pulaski County Maroons and Southwestern Warriors square off on the gridiron is that you can expect the unexpected.

Tonight at The Reservation, it’s Pulaski County verses Southwestern.

It doesn’t get any better than this.

And, oh by the way, tonight’s contest is not just for local bragging rights either.

The formula for both Southwestern and Pulaski County tonight is a pretty simple one.

You win, and you’re home for the first round of the playoffs.

If you lose, you start the post season with a long bus ride.

“I think some kind of craziness would have to happen for it not to work out that way,” stated PC head coach Johnny Hines. “We want to play at home in the playoffs, because home field advantage in the playoffs is a huge, huge advantage.”

“In that sense, it makes this a big game, but even bigger than that, as we’ve said before, you can throw out the records, because it’s PC and Southwestern,” said the PC coach. “We could go out here and line up in the parking lot and play, and it’s still going to be a big game whether anybody’s watching or not.”

Southwestern comes into tonight’s game still smarting over last week’s 29-27 loss to Lexington Dunbar, yet the Warriors are 2-1 in district play, with wins over Lincoln County and South Laurel.

The Warriors are 3-3 overall, but a win over PC tonight puts Dale Anderson and crew into the number two slot within the district standings, giving Southwestern at least one home game for the playoffs.

Anderson’s crew may be limping into the PC game after watching Dunbar pick up its first victory of the season last week at the Warriors expense, but the SWHS coach says that loss wasn’t due to anything Dunbar did necessarily. Instead, Anderson says that loss can be chalked up to some key injuries at the worst possible time.

“The loss at Dunbar was more about injuries and people not being out there than it was about our problems,” stated the Warrior coach. “We started the game with Adam (White) at quarterback and he went all the way into the middle of the fourth quarter and did a great job, but that’s not T.T. (Wooldridge). Jake (King) goes out after only eight plays, and he already had almost 100 yards in the game — not on eight carries, but on just eight plays into the game.”

“Our backup full back had a concussion, (John Floyd) so he was not playing, and our left offensive guard, who was a backup already, got hit in the head in the second quarter, and there we were trying to put things together back there,” said Anderson.

PC meanwhile, comes into tonight’s contest with a 3-2 mark, but after season-opening losses to Rockcastle County and Mercer County, Johnny Hines’ club has reeled off consecutive wins over Russell County, South Laurel, and North Laurel, and has looked very impressive in doing it.

The Maroons are 1-1 in district action, but a win tonight at Southwestern, coupled with a win two weeks down the road at home against Lincoln County, and it’s the Maroons that will be playing in front of the home folks when the playoffs begin.

Is tonight’s game important or what?

With this being a big-time rival game, did either one of these clubs need any added motivation at all for tonight?

Probably not, but they’ve got it just the same.

And, as far as Hines is concerned, he’s glad his club is getting Southwestern in week six, instead of earlier in the year.

“We are a work in progress, but we’re steadily getting better and the kids are playing hard,” stated the Maroon head coach. “Our offensive line play has improved tremendously, and offensively, we’re starting to click like we want to, and we’re beginning to put a lot of points on the board.”

“To take Southwestern on at this time, we feel much better about it than we would have after the Rock loss or the Mercer loss,” added Hines. “Defensively, we’re improving, and we did take a beating on the statistical page against South Laurel, but everybody does when they play them. I think our kids are getting a lot better fundamentally.”

As for Hines counterpart in this local affair, Anderson has been on the sidelines for every game of this rivalry, led by the Warriors by a count of 10-6 headed into tonight’s 17th meeting between the two schools.

The Warrior coach says that while tonight’s game is very important due to the post season implications, the one thing he does know is there will not be too many secrets when the Maroons and Warriors tee it up this evening.

“This game is a huge game, it’s a rivalry game, and it probably couldn’t come at a better time for us,” said Anderson. “Our kids should be fired up and ready to go, and their kids will be fired up and ready to go. It’s for a home playoff game and for second place in our district, which is great for both programs. I think we’ve got the toughest district in the state, and I guarantee you that we’ve got the toughest district in the state in 5 A, when you look at it from top to bottom.”

“There’s no secrets at all in this game,” continued the Warrior head coach. “We’ve always got a few little wrinkles in this game, and they’ve always got some wrinkles, but basically, we know each other really, really well. We know the players, and we know the coaching, because we’ve been coaching against each other for so long. We know what they’re good at, and they know what we’re good at. You just try to come up with the best game plan that you can. That’s why this game is so exciting for the fans that come out here and see it. I mean, we’ll have five to six thousand people over here on Friday night screaming their lungs out for their favorite team. It’s just a great atmosphere for a high school football game.”

Hines says tonight’s game is not only special for the players, but it’s special for the coaches as well.

The PC head coach has been a part of this rivalry going all the way back to the 1995 season, and he agrees with Anderson that anytime the Warriors and Maroons get together on the football field, it’s indeed a football fans delight.

“It’s always been a very exciting week leading up to the game,” said Hines. “In all the years that I’ve been here since ‘95, I think both teams play their best game of the year against one another.”

“You always see guys that you don’t expect to make the big play seemingly come up with a huge play in this game,” pointed out the Maroon coach. “The game in ‘96 immediately comes to mind over there, when we upset them and probably shouldn’t have won. A guy named Josh Roberts (PC assistant coach) blocked a punt late in the game and we recovered it for a touchdown and won the game 21-18. Coach (Edwin) Sellers remembers his ‘95 team that beat Southwestern here at home 9-0 in a huge upset, that we probably shouldn’t have won either.”

Tonight’s game will have plenty of stars on the field for both clubs, but as Hines pointed out, Anderson also agrees this is a series when the guy that no one really knows about always seems to come up with a big play to help his club win this game.

“That’s always been the case in this game,” said Anderson. “I can’t remember last year who made a big catch for Pulaski County early in the game, but I do know it wasn’t anyone that we expected to make that kind of play, and it was on a huge third and long play, and they guy made the big catch for them. Those are the kinds of things that always happens in a rivalry game, and that’s what you need. Who is going to step up, and who is going to make that big play?”

Of course there’s been other great games in this terrific rivalry.

In 1998, there was the Joe Griffis-Scott Blair game, when two local kids displayed on that night they were two of the better football players in the state of Kentucky.

Griffis, a senior quarterback for PC that season, scored on three touchdown runs, all of which went for over 80 yards, on his way to a 301-yard rushing night in a 60-34 PC win.

The very next year, the Scott Blair-led Warriors went over to PC and totally dismantled the Maroons by a count of 61-7, and followed that win up in 2000 with a 40-23 win over the Maroons.

In 2003, it was Cole Draughn’s turn to shine, as the Maroon QB led PC with over 300 yards passing in a 32-0 PC triumph over Southwestern.

Just two years ago, Southwestern led by the likes of Mike Jones, Ryan Smart, Wes Hampton and company, ended the regular season with an impressive 48-10 win over Pulaski County, and followed that up the very next week by defeating the Maroons in the opening round of the playoffs, 48-12.

Last year, it was PC avenging those two defeats with a 41-15 win over the Warriors.

What has been surprising however in this series, is that while these games between Southwestern and Pulaski County have been exciting from a fans standpoint, the final scores have seldom been close.

Since 1998, the Warriors, including that playoff victory over PC in ‘06, has won 7 of the last 11 meetings in this rivalry, with the only game during that span that’s been decided by single digits coming in the ‘02 season, when PC posted a 29-26 win over Southwestern.

So, who will come up big tonight in this series 17th contest? Who will be the next Cole Draughn or Scott Blair?

The Warriors and Maroons both have their fair share of stars in this encounter to possibly answer the above question.

Jake King leads Southwestern through the first six games of the year with 673 yards rushing and 7 touchdowns, while Adam White has ran for 378 yards and scored 5 TD’s on the ground.

T.T. Wooldridge has completed 36 of 77 through the air for 559 yards and 7 touchdowns, to go along with 3 interceptions.

PC meanwhile is led by junior quarterback Chris Muse, who in only five games this season, has already rushed for 504 yards on only 48 carries, for a 10.5 average per carry.

And, Muse has done that in only three and a half games, as he missed the entire second half against Rockcastle County in the season opener, and he was out the next week at Mercer County with a knee injury.

Through the air, the PC quarterback is hitting on a mind-boggling 72.4 percent of his passes, throwing for 650 yards, hitting on 42 of 58 pass attempts, to go along with 6 TD tosses.

PC also has had outstanding years from Winston Hines, who has rushed for 370 yards and 6 TD’s, while sophomore Alex Abner has been a beast in the PC backfield, rushing for 274 yards and 3 TD’s.

So, if you want stars to watch in this game, you’re going to have your opportunity to witness some great football talent tonight on both sides of the football.

Who will be the one guy to step up tonight and make the play to propel his team to a big-time victory?

The answer to that one will begin with tonight’s kickoff at 7:30 p.m. from The Reservation.

        

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