High School Football

By Nancy Leedy With Cody Wills not coming out for football until his senior year at Lincoln, Chase Marcum got only one year to play side-by-side with Wills on the gridiron. Make that only one year to play high school football together. Last Thursday, with their Patriot football teammates looking on, the Lincoln duo signed on to be teammates for another four years by inking letters of intent with Campbellsville University. Marcum is a 6-2, 245 pound center and Wills is a 6-1 receiver who had 20 catches for 283 yards in his one season at LCHS.

High school football teams no longer will be allowed to have 7-on-7 passing games against outside competition in June - and two veteran area coaches don't like the mandate. A new Kentucky High School Athletic Association rule allows football teams to still hold workouts in June, but the popular 7-on-7 passing leagues and tournaments are not permitted until after the dead period (June 25-July 9) for any high school sports activity ends. "I don't think it is a good thing," said Boyle County coach Larry French, who guided the Rebels to a 13-1 mark last year in his first season at Boyle.

The Danville High School football team awards program will be Dec. 17 at 6:30 p.m. in the high school cafeteria. Season highlights will be shown and cake and punch served.

The high school football playoffs start next week, but don't look for a lot of compelling storylines in the first round. The switch to the six-class alignment put way too many bad teams into the playoffs. Don't believe me. Then just look at the first-round matchups for Boyle County and Danville. The unbeaten Rebels get to host winless Pendleton County. Yes, that's the same team that trailed Garrard County 42-0 at halftime last week and now the Boyle faithful are supposed to get excited over that playoff matchup.

Five former Danville athletes will be added to the Danville Schools/Captain D's Athletic Hall of Fame. They will be inducted at halftime of Danville's football game in the Bob Allen Pigskin Classic on Aug. 30. The inductees: Jack FarmerClass of 1953 Farmer was named a high school football All-American at the close of a six-year career in which he played offensive and defensive tackle, offensive end and punter. He was named honorable mention all-state in 1951 and second team all-state in 1953.

The inaugural Focus High School Football Combine will be held Saturday, June 14, at Prestonsburg High School. The combine, which is open to all high school football players, will give athletes in Kentucky and surrounding states the opportunity to showcase their skills and talents. All coaches from NCAA Division I, II and III, NAIA and junior college football programs receive full results from the event. In addition to full results, video will also be distributed to all college football programs.

People and things. Bob Allen Pigskin Classic The start of the high school football season is a week later than normal this year. Not only does that mean the state title games won't be played until Dec. 12-13 in Louisville, but it also means the opening weekend of high school play Aug. 29-30 is the same weekend most colleges start their seasons. That's why Danville coach Sam Harp is already considering moving the Bob Allen Pigskin Classic games matching Russell County against Danville and Madison Central against Mercer County from Aug. 30 to Aug. 29. "If the Kentucky-Louisville game stays on Saturday and isn't moved to Sunday (Aug.

Now that the state high school football championships have been decided and the high school football season is officially over, area coaches can start to think about their plans for next year. Coaches Larry French of Lincoln County, Sam Harp of Danville, Marty Jaggers of Mercer County, Chris Pardue of Boyle County, Andy Stephens of Casey County and Steve Stonebraker of Garrard County each answered questions about their coaching futures as well as what lies ahead for their teams.

The East Jessamine High Jaguars couldn't find an answer for Montgomery County quarterback Caleb Curtis Friday night. And despite outgaining Montgomery (2-0), the Jaguars (0-2) struggled with their scoring opportunities in their 28-0 loss. East rushed for 293 yards and threw for 41 on its to way to topping Montgomery's total offensive output of 286 yards. But Montgomery picked them up when it counted, scoring a touchdown in each quarter and frustrating the Jaguar offense whenever it reached the red zone.

Clearing out a couple of interesting e-mails from this week as we get set for another high school football weekend and the first weekend of college games. Reader Jerry Bodner took offense that I used a letter from Gene Bluder, a Boyle County fan, last week indicating that he felt Boyle's "unrealistic schedule" could result in the Rebels only winning three games and writing that a 5-5 season would be "great" for Boyle. "I am so sick of your biased approach to football between Boyle County and Danville.