Somerset — The Somerset Briar Jumpers came into Friday’s opening round playoff game as solid favorites against the Magoffin County Hornets. The biggest concern for many was the fact that, after not playing a football game for three weeks, they would be rusty at game time. Yeah, right.

Somerset played flawlessly out of the gate, outgaining Magoffin 304-16 in the first half, and leading 35-0 at the break, on their way to a 48-16 thumping of the high-scoring Hornets.

“I’m very happy with our performance early in the game, “said Somerset Head Football Coach Rob Lucas. “I was afraid we’d be sloppy coming out of the gate, but we came out and executed beautifully.”

Not only did they execute, they played tough, hard-hitting defense that held the state’s top 3A rusher to just 8 yards on 8 carries in the first half. The Hornets, as a team, went into the locker room at halftime with -6 yards on 14 carries.

It was total domination, until the garbage time stats brought the game closer in cosmetic terms. The dominance was evident from the start.

After forcing a three-and-out on defense to start the game, Somerset answered with an 8-play, 65-yard TD drive, capped off by an Erik Manning quarterback sneak into the end zone. Another quick defensive stop was followed by a 60-yard TD pass to Storm Wilson on the next play. Halfway through the first quarter Somerset already led 14-0.

“I’d like to take credit for making a great play call there,” said Lucas. “But the play wasn’t designed to go like that. Storm Wilson just made a great athletic play, taking it all the way in the opposite direction to find a running lane. It was a great run. That score was all thanks to Storm Wilson.”

It was the second quarter, however, when the Briar Jumpers really put this one out of reach. And it started with the return of an old friend—Hunter Nelson. In a true ‘I’m back!!’ kind of moment, Nelson sprinted down the left sideline and caught a perfectly lofted Erik manning pass, outsprinting his defender to the end zone for a 52-yard TD to make it 21-0. It was his first game back since breaking his collar bone against Pulaski County in the second game of the season.

“I feel fine and ready to go,” said Nelson after the game. “I took a few shots on it tonight but it doesn’t hurt any more than usual, after a typical game.”

“That was a great catch,” said teammate Taylor Sears, who caught his first pass of the season as well, (if you don’t count the four passes he’s caught from opposing quarterbacks this year). “But, we’re just happy to have Hunter back on the field with us.”

Then it was Josh Troxtle’s turn. After a 20-yard punt return set SHS at the Magoffin 34, Troxtle took it down to the 3 on a 15-yard run, and followed with the TD on the next play to make it 28-0. Troxtle seemed to be much more in the game plan than in previous weeks, stinging the Hornets for 81 total yards.

As for the match up with the highest scoring offense in 3A…well, this stat should tell the story. In the first half Magoffin got one first down. Their explosive rushing attack had 14 carries for -6 yards. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what you call a defensive ‘smack-down’. And not only were the Jumpers stopping the Hornet attack, they were doing so with incredible force. They were playing old-school knock-your-mouth-off defense, and they were knocking their mouths off to boot.

“I was pleased with how we controlled the field on defense,” said Lucas. “We let them get outside of us late and put a few scores up, but up to that point we did what we came to do.”

Erik Manning also had a huge first half. He already had 163 yards and two touchdowns passing before he scrambled out of danger, found a seam, and sprinted 70 yards for the fifth Jumper TD to make it 35-0. Manning amassed a sparkling 256 yards and 3 TDs of total offense in the first half alone.

But a pall came over the game on the ensuing kickoff. After a nice return brought it close to midfield for Magoffin County with just over a minute until half, all eyes quickly turned to the Jumper player, prone on the field behind the play. It was the Somerset junior lineman Joey Harris, writhing in pain and holding his leg. Play was stopped for nearly half an hour as they tended to Harris’ injury. The emergency medical technicians were summoned to the field to transport Harris to the hospital.

“I don’t usually like to say too much too soon about injuries,” said Lucas, “but by all indications Joey broke a bone in his lower leg. It wasn’t compound or anything, but it seems evident that it was broken. And he handled it very well, I thought. He wasn’t worries about himself as much as he was worried about having to leave his teammates at a time like this. He didn’t want to have to abandon them.”

Somerset struck again to start the second half when Thomas Boyle, who had a 53-yard TD run called back for holding in the 2nd quarter, got it back with a 12-yard reception to make it 42-0. After that, it was just an inevitable wind down to the final horn.

Magoffin QB Dylan Keeton got the Hornets on the board with a 5-yard TD pass to Casey Adams to make it 42-8. Somerset almost squeezed another TD into the third quarter as sure-handed tight end Clayton Stringer caught a pass and lumbered to the 1-yard line on the final play of the quarter. Boyle opened the fourth with a 1-yard plunge top finish off the SHS scoring. Jostan Helton tacked on a 12-yard TD run to finish off the scoring. Helton showed his brilliant elusiveness in the second half, going for 90 yards against the jayvees.

But the Somerset performance, except for garbage time, was great, and will need to continue to be great as they welcome Estill County onto Clark Field in the second round next Friday. They lost to Estill in the playoffs last year, and had a closer than expected 27-14 win over them this year at Irvine again. Friday night, however, the Jumpers will have the Engineers on Somerset soil.

“It felt so good to be playing a playoff game on our own field,” said Lucas. “And it feels good to know we’ll be at home again next week. It’s a position we’ve worked very hard to put ourselves in.”



MC 0 0 8 8 = 16

SHS 14 21 7 6 = 48



S < E. Manning 1 run (Bivens PAT)

S < E. Manning 60 pass to Wilson (Bivens PAT)

S < E. Manning 52 pass to Nelson (Bivens PAT)

S < Troxtle 3 run (Bivens PAT)

S < E. Manning 70 run (Bivens PAT)

S < E. Manning 12 pass to Boyle (Bivens PAT)

MC < Keeton 5 pass to Adams (Whitaker 2-pt run)

S < Boyle 1 run (PAT blocked)

MC < Helton 12 run (Whitaker 2-pt run)



1st Downs < MC, 5, SHS 14.

Total Offense < MC 147, SHS 469.

Rushing < MC 102, SHS 255

Passing < MC 33, SHS 237.

Turnovers < MC 0, SHS 2.

Penalties < MC 5-28, SHS 8-64

Punts < MC 8-31.3, SHS 2-27.0



Rushing < MC, Helton 18-98 TD, Whitaker 3-17, Holbrook 1-3, Keeton 2-2, Howard 1-1, Poe 1- -7; SHS, E.Manning 5-93 2 TD, O. Manning 4-55, Boyle 6-45 TD, Troxtle 7-38 TD, Bastin 4-18, Jor. Perdue 3-11, Tr. Slaughter 1- -1, Carr 1- -4.

Passing < MC, Keeton 9-17-1-0 33; SHS, E. Manning 10-21-3-1 237.

Receiving < MC, Hall 3-19, Poe 2-14, Adams 2-9 TD, Helton 1 -1, Whitaker 1 -2; SHS, Wilson 3-90 TD, Nelson 2-58 TD, Troxtle 2-43, Stringer 1-23, Boyle 1-12 TD, Sears 1-11.

Sacks < MC 0, SHS 1 (Tr. Slaughter)