By DOUG EADS, CJ Correspondent
Somerset — The 8-3 Pulaski County Maroons have the 7-4 Whitley County Colonels right where they want them tonight — at PC Field.
Tonight, it’s round two of the 2009 Class 5A playoffs, as Johnny Hines and the Maroons get a shot at payback and redemption, a chance to extend their home winning streak to 17 games, and oh yeah, a little respect to boot.
Last year the Maroons season ended in very disappointing fashion in round two of the post season on Whitley County’s home turf, thanks to a come from behind, 44-35 victory by the Colonels.
In that post season matchup last year between these two familiar foes, it was an underdog Pulaski County team leading Whitley County 35-28 headed into the fourth quarter of play, only to see the Colonels outscore Hines and crew in that decisive final quarter by a 16-0 margin.
That game however was in Williamsburg. Tonight’s game is at a venue where the Maroons are very accustomed to winning, and that’s PC Field.
Pulaski County made it 16 wins in a row at home with last Friday’s 35-21 victory over Perry County Central in the opening round of the playoffs, in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score may have indicated.
PC hasn’t tasted defeat on its home field since the final game of the ‘06 season, when Marion County rolled out of Somerset with a 32-6 win over the Maroons.
Tonight’s opponent figures to give Pulaski County its biggest test of the season, as Whitley County comes into the game with a ton of momentum, after dismantling South Laurel last week by a 54-14 margin.
Hines says that while tonight’s contest is going to be a challenge for his club, the one good thing is going to be for Whitley County to end PC’s season for a second year in a row tonight, the Colonels will have to do it at PC Field.
“We hope playing this game at home is going to be an advantage for us — we really do,” stated the Maroon head coach.
“Home field advantage is a big advantage, especially in this region,” continued Hines. “I felt like home field advantage for Whitley County last year may have helped them out a little bit. It was a great game down there last year, and it was very frustrating that we came out on the losing end of that game. We felt like we were in position to win that game last year in the fourth quarter, after we had came all the way back from being down by 21 points to take a touchdown lead over them.”
Indeed, last year’s PC—Whitley County contest in Williamsburg was a classic.
The Colonels raced out to a big lead over the Maroons in that game, only to see PC come roaring back, behind the tandem of Chris Muse and Winston Hines.
In fact, it was a Winston Hines 15-yard touchdown run to end the third period that gave coach Hines and company a 35-28 lead to work with.
However in the fourth quarter, Whitley County put up two touchdowns — one very late — and converted two, two-point conversions to come away with the hard-fought 44-35 win, ending PC’s season with an 8-4 mark.
“We trailed early in that game last year by 21 points, and then we rallied and had some great plays by Chris Muse and company, and got back into the game,” said Hines.
“We came back to lead in that one in the fourth quarter, and we’ve got a lot of kids back this year that played in that game,” pointed out the PC head coach. “They all still remember what that was like, so hopefully that will be some motivation for them to have some revenge against Whitley this year at our place.”
While the rematch from last season’s second round classic in the ‘08 playoffs is on PC’s home turf tonight, and despite the fact the Maroons have a 16-game home winning streak on the line, to upend the Colonels this evening is going to be a monumental task for Pulaski County.
(Heck, as my good friend Mike Kerr from the ‘A’ team likes to say, it’s going to be a ‘Huge’ task indeed tonight for the maroon and white.)
Whitley County comes into tonight’s game with a 7-4 mark, but the Colonels have played a brutal schedule, losing to the likes of Lexington Catholic, Bell County, and Belfry along the way.
The Colonels are averaging 37.7 points per game this season, and have churned up huge chunks of yardage behind a very good offensive line.
In fact, Whitley County has rushed for a mind-boggling 3,748 yards this season in 11 games, and Jim Black’s club has five running backs that have rushed for over 500 yards each.
In last year’s game, the Colonels two big guns in the backfield, Cody Jones and Jason Powers, each scored the decisive touchdowns in the fourth stanza, but they departed due to graduation.
No problem for the Colonels — they just reloaded.
This year, that two-headed monster in the backfield of Powers and Jones has been replaced by five quality running backs.
Whitley County’s ground attack is led by Cody Bramlett, who has rushed for a team-high 865 yards and eight touchdowns, while Josh Wynn has gained 650 yards on the ground.
Quarterback Jamie Lebanion has ran for 583 yards and nine touchdowns, while Cody Bowlin leads the way with 11 TD’s rushing, to go along with his 532 yards.
And, oh yeah, Jordan Chute has scored eight touchdowns running, gaining 594 yards on the year.
So, you can easily see the Maroons defense is going to be facing its stiffest challenge of the season tonight.
So coach Hines, having said that, is Whitley County the best football team you’ve gone up against this season?
“Whitley is probably the best team we’ve played this year,” said Hines.
“They definitely have the best line of scrimmage we’ve seen this year — they are tremendous on the line of scrimmage,” continued the Maroon coach. “Not only do they have mobile and experienced lineman, but they’re big too.”
So, Whitley County has a deep and talented stable of running backs, not to mention the best line of scrimmage up front blocking for those backs that Hines says his club has seen all year.
So, is it any wonder the Maroons are anywhere from a two to four touchdown underdog tonight on their home turf, depending upon which Internet sight you may browse.
Hines says let the experts predict away, because his players and coaches don’t listen to the pregame hype one bit, and really don’t care what the media types might be saying about this game.
“We don’t listen to the elevator music as we like to call it, but instead, we try to focus on what we’re trying to do,” said Hines.
“We feel like we can play with Whitley County — we felt like we could play with them last year going into that game, and we did just that,” stated the PC coach. “We had a shot in that game, and several of our kids played in that game, and played key roles in that game that are back this year. So, we think we’ve got a shot against them on Friday night at our place. I promise you we’ll show up.”
As in all big games, turnovers as well as special teams play figure to be crucial in tonight’s matchup, but the PC head coach says that maybe even more important than that, is for his club to come out and take it to the Colonels from the opening kickoff, much like the Maroons did last week when they knocked Perry Central out with a 21-0 lead at halftime.
“We have to keep this game close early, and we’ve been in a lot of close games this year,” Hines pointed out.
“Our kids have played very, very well all year long in games that have came down to the last minute,” Hines stated. “Hopefully, that will be an advantage for us on Friday night, if we can get Whitley County into that kind of situation. Yes, it’s going to be a tough game for us, but we’ve got some mojo when it comes to our home field, and hopefully, we’ll have plenty of it going on Friday.”
Kickoff for tonight’s Pulaski County—Whitley County game is set to get underway from PC Field beginning at 7:30 p.m.
