Somerset — If the Estill County players and coaches doubted the strength of Somerset’s collective heart—the essence of their competitive character—their doubts should be well assuaged this morning after the merciless 63-14 beat down they suffered at the hands of the Briar Jumpers Friday night.

“It feels pretty to come out here and play this well on our home field in the playoffs,” said Somerset Head Coach Rob Lucas. “The bottom line is we’re just happy to survive and advance any way we can. But tonight I thought we came out and played well early and forced them to play from behind. That’s something that doesn’t fit well with their style.”

It wasn’t a perfect performance. The Jumper rushing defense which had been the best in Class 3A statistically, struggled more with the double wing attack of Estill County than they did earlier this season. In that first match up—a lackluster 27-14 Somerset win—they held the Engineers below 100 yards of total offense until the final meaningless drive of the game. But in the playoff rematch Estill County, who attempted only one pass in the game, managed to gash the Jumpers for over 300 yards rushing.

“I tell you what, Estill came out running the ball very well,” said Lucas. “They hurt us with some big plays on the ground, and if it hadn’t been for Taylor Sears back there running them down and erasing two or three TDs, it would’ve been a different game.”

Estill broke off runs of 48, 46, and 28 yards which would have produced touchdowns had the speedy Sears not taken the perfect pursuit angle to catch them on each occasion. But the Jumpers survived with a ‘bend but don’t break defense’ while the offense was lighting up the sky.

Somerset completed the game without a punt, as they put the ball in the end zone nine times, as well as turning it over twice. Seven different Briar Jumpers reached the end zone in this game, with Storm Wilson and Josh Troxtle each scoring twice.

But the game was not so lopsided early. After a defensive stop Somerset got on the scoreboard first with a 72-yard TD drive that culminated with a beautiful diving catch in the end zone by Storm Wilson. But Erik Manning threw an interception on the next drive after the pass squirted through the receiver’s hands. Estill then drove the ball down to the SHS 19-yard line. But a first down fumble was pounced on by linebacker Rob Stevenson to quell the threat.

Somerset then answered back with an 82-yard drive that ended with another TD pass, this one to the senior Hunter Nelson who, after missing most of the season with a broken collar bone, has reached the end zone in each playoff game since his return.

On Estill’s next possession, tailback Kenton Roberts took the opening handoff and sprinted 48 yards before Sears finally dragged him down. Roberts would end up with 117 yards on 19 carries in the game, without reaching the end zone. It was Randy Davidson who did that from six yards out to make it 14-6. Davidson picked up 83 yards of his own on 15 carries.

Somerset answered right back. After an audible at the line of scrimmage, Manning handed to Troxtle on a reverse. The fleet-footed senior raced around right end and down the sideline for a 52-yard TD to make it 21-6. After a quick defensive stop, the Jumpers got the ball back with a chance to score again before halftime. But when Erik Manning scrambled on 2nd and 10 an Engineer defender just reached in a stripped the ball away from Manning for the Estill fumble recovery. But the Engineers, still with time to score, began an unhealthy migration toward the wrong goal line. Three straight runs lost a total of eleven yards, and with 4th and 21 Estill went back to punt. But the punter fumbled the snap and was sacked at the five yard line before he could get the kick off. From there Otie Manning took it in untouched on the first play to make the score 28-6.

That was the start of a particularly potent stretch for Somerset. The Jumpers scored on the opening possession of the second half on a 17 yard pass from Manning to Troxtle, after a 41-yard completion to Wilson.

“I thought Josh played very well for us tonight,” said Lucas. “He’s a very talented player, but, more importantly, he’s a very unselfish teammate. Tonight he ran the ball hard, caught the ball well and really came through for us. He sees his senior season ticking down, I believe, and he’s not going to leave anything but his best effort out there on the field.”

The Jumpers were unstoppable. They followed with TD drives of 80, 84, and 51 yards to push the lead to 56-6. Estill did manage to break through with a 61-yard Michael Edmondson TD run against the JVs to close the gap to 56-14. But Somerset answered right back to close out the scoring, when Storm Wilson returned the following kickoff 90 yards for his second electrifying TD of the night.

“I feel good about the way this team is playing,” said Lucas. “I think Erik is doing a great job of leading this offense right now. Any time you have a quarterback who’s the kind of competitor Erik Manning is you have a guy in the huddle that those other guys can rally behind. And he’s executing well, making good decisions for the most part.

“But one of the key things that make this team so special is that they understand when it’s time to go to work, and they go to work. They don’t look for shortcuts.”

The win vaults SHS into the Regional finals against Breathitt County next Friday at Clark Field. From here on out, Somerset should run into some massive opposition each and every week. The weaklings have now been weeded out, leaving only the true contenders alive and kicking.



EC 0 6 0 8 — 14

SHS 7 21 14 21 — 63

S — Wilson 25 pass from Manning (Bivens PAT)

S — Hunter 30 pass from Manning (Bivens {PAT)

EC — Davidson 6 run (kick failed)

S — Troxtle 52 run (Bivens PAT)

S — O. Manning 5 run (Bivens PAT)

S — Troxtle 17 pass from E. Manning (Bivens PAT)

S — E. Manning 19 run (Bivens PAT)

S — Boyle 35 run (Bivens PAT)

S — Bastin 25 run (Bivens PAT)

EC — Edmondson 61 run (Berryman run)

S — Wilson 90 yd kickoff return (Bivens PAT)

Rushing — EC, Roberts 19-117, Davidson 15-83 TD, Cole 10-78, Edmondson 2-66 TD, Mize 3-12, Yeary 1-8, Berryman 1-3; SHS, Boyle 7-92 TD, O. Manning 9-80 TD, Troxtle 4-46 TD, E. Manning 5-46 TD, Bastin 2-34 TD, Te. Slaughter 2-17.

Passing — EC, Berryman 0-1 0, SHS, E. Manning 11-15-3-1 220.

Receiving — EC, none. SHS, Wilson 3-85 TD, Nelson 4-64 TD, Henderlight 2-38, Troxtle 1-17 TD, O. Manning 1-16.

Fumble recovery < EC, Seibeinecker, SHS, Stevenson.

Interceptions — EC, Logan Mize, SHS, none.



Ist Downs — EC 13, SHS 17.

Total offense — EC 285, SHS 429.

Rushing — EC 51-364, SHS 29-315.

Passing — EC 0, SHS 220.

Turnovers — EC 1, SHS 2.

Penalties — EC 1-5, SHS 1-1— EC 4-30.5, SHS 0-0.