A dominating defensive effort by Allen County-Scottsville coupled with a strong running game enabled the Patriots to shut out the Russell County Lakers 41-0 November 5 in the opening round of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association/UK Orthopedics State Football Championship playoffs. The win moves the Patriots into the second round this week while Russell County closes the 2021 campaign with a 2-9 record.
“Our offense line did well,” coach Brad Hood said. “Their play allowed us to run. We came out great but had to settle for some field goals. We fixed that after our offensive line anchored down. I’m proud of our defense. We were very physical. We have several guys that have stepped up their game.”
The Patriots relied on their ground game to secure their seventh win of the season---and their second over the Lakers in three weeks. Junior tailback Jace Jackson rushed for a career-high 106 yards on 13 carries to lead the AC-S ground game. Sophomore Levi Cooper added 84 yards on 12 carries while junior Payton Cope rushed for 76 yards on seven attempts.
Overall, the Patriots rushed for a season-best 284 yards while passing for 70 yards. The air numbers were the second lowest passing stats for the year. Cope had an off night, completing only seven of 17 passes for 70 yards. Still, the junior has passed for almost 1,700 yards this year.
Defensively, AC-S held Russell County to 70 total yards----43 on the ground and 27 in the air. In the first half, the defense kept Russell County pinned inside their 40-yard line the entire 24 minutes.
Senior Will Moore---a second-team all-conference selection last week---was in on six tackles according to preliminary stats following the game. Junior Karson Gens was also in on six tackles while Jake Gardiner was credited with five tackles. Moore and senior Nick Grissom recovered fumbles while Dillon Sloan and Tanner Stinson picked Laker passes in the game. Julyan McPeak tallied three sacks.
“Our guys have grown and matured,” Hood added.
The highlights of the night for Russell County was touchdown=preventing defensive stops on three-of-four early AC-S possessions. While the Lakers held the Patriots out of the end zone---and forced a fumble---early, their efforts could not keep the Patriots off the board thanks to a weapon AC-S hasn’t seen a lot of in their program history.
Senior Thorny Walker capped AC-S first scoring drive with a 28-yard field goal at the 5:21 mark of the first period. On the next Patriot possession, Walker booted a 26-yard field goal to lift AC-S to a 6-0 lead at the 2:02 mark. The pair of field goals may very well be the first time in 53 years of football in Allen County that a Patriot team had made two field goals in a game. In addition, Walker would attempt a third field goal in the second period---a kick that just missed the mark.
However, the Patriot offense would find the end zone twice in the first half. With 5:04 left in the half, Jax Cooper scored on an 11-yard pass from Cope. A two-point conversion run by McPeak increased the Patriot lead to 14-0. Jackson capped a late half drive with an eight-yard score at the 1:22 point of the second period.
In the second half, Cope kept the ball and scampered 24 yards to score at the 8:25 mark of the third, a touchdown that lifted the hosts to a 27-0 lead. Later in the frame, McPeak scored on a three-yard run to give the Patriots a 34-0 lead. Levi Cooper scored at the 11:27 mark of the fourth to push the Patriots to a 41-0 lead.
Russell County (2-9) was led in rushing by Gage Hicks with 21 yards on four carries. In the air, Gage Gossage passed for 27 yards on 3/9 passing in the game. The Lakers close the year with five consecutive losses.
“Russell County is a good team,” Hood noted. “They have had some injuries and some bad luck. I think a lot of their coaching staff. They came in and didn’t lay down.
AC-S (7-4) advances to the second playoff round for a third consecutive year and a match-up with Franklin-Simpson this Friday---the third straight year the neighbors have met in the postseason. The Wildcats survived a late charge by Warren East last Friday, holding on for a 27-26 win. The squads meet this week on the same field in which the Patriots downed the Wildcats 33-21 on September 24.
In the September game, Cope was 15/25 for 191 yards Walker recorded a career high 76 yards receiving and kicked 30-yard FG. Jax Cooper had seven receptions for 73 yards with Colton Costello making three three catches for 35 yards. Levi Cooper had 71 yards on 11 carries. Defensively, Moore finished with 12 total tackles. Gens recorded eight solo tackles while McPeak was in on 10 tackles. Sloan recorded nine tackles and had an interception. Overall, the Patriots held the Wildcats to 147 yards on the ground and 220 yards in the air.
However, Franklin-Simpson (5-6) has won four of five games since the setback to AC-S. The Wildcats have defeated Russell County (43-7), Warren Central (55-14), and Warren East twice (41-14, 27-26). Their only loss was a 21-14 defeat at Glasgow.
“We will work our butts off to be ready,” Hood noted. “The district championship is on the line. They have improved a lot since we played. We got to get stops on defense and make plays on offense.”
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Patriot Stadium. Tickets can be purchased online at GoFan. As was the case last week, no season passes or passes of any kind will be allowed per KHSAA playoff guidelines.