By TIM HYDEN, CJ Correspondent
Somerset — Wow!
The Somerset Briar Jumpers played inspired football Friday night as they defended their home field against the invading Breathitt County Bobcats. The result was the most exciting football game of the season, as Somerset wore down Breathitt to score 21 unanswered points and win going away, 51-33.
“What you had tonight,” said Somerset Head Coach Rob Lucas, “Was kids making plays. Both teams came out and just made one big play after another.”
Breathitt County looked to roll up big numbers against the Jumpers on the backs of their two-headed monster—running back Channing Fugate and quarterback Jade Haddix. Fugate, of course, was the main focus for the Somerset defense. The future Tennessee Volunteer was a man-child on the gridiron and virtually unstoppable if you give him the slightest seam in your defensive front. Breathitt hoped to score on the first possession of the game and put the Jumpers in an early hole. But three plays later they punted the ball back to Somerset.
It would be the Jumpers who would draw first blood. Erik Manning went to the air on the first snap and completed a pass into the graceful hands of tight end Clayton Stringer for 14 yards. Just two plays later, Manning called his own number on a quarterback draw and raced 60 yards to the end zone on just their third play from scrimmage, giving SHS an early 6-0 lead. It would be the start of a monster first half for Erik.
“Erik is just a special athlete,” said Lucas. “The kid is unflappable, and he has matured so much. Every week he’s getting better and better at making his reads and getting us in the right alignment and the right play. I tell you, if you’d have told me three years ago that we could 13-0 with two Mannings in the backfield I would have laughed at you. But I look out there at the players and the young men that they’ve become and it’s just a testament to all the hard work that they’ve put in to improve themselves and their game. Now they are the ones that lead us into battle.”
When Breathitt got the ball again, Somerset discovered that defensive stops, like they had in the first drive, would be hard to come by in this game. After a Jumper penalty on the first play of the drive, the Bobcats had a 1st and 5 at Somerset’s 44-yard line. They then rode the broad shoulders of Channing Fugate as he led them on a methodical 11-play drive that ended with a Fugate score. A mishandled snap on the PAT forced the holder to scramble and fir to the end zone for a possible two-point conversion. But Taylor Sears was Johnny-on-the-spot again for the Jumpers, leaping high to bat the pass down, leaving the game knotted 6-6.
“I tell you what, the Fugate kid is an excellent player,” said Lucas. “I think Tennessee is getting a real steal with this kid. I saw him down on the field before the game and he is definitely a physical specimen. We had to really play our best defense to keep him from just exploding on us.”
With the Fugate TD tying the score, both teams then settled into a heavyweight slugfest for the ages, with each team taking turns landing huge blows only to take one right back on the chin.
Somerset took over on their own 21 and started right into carving up the field. Erik Manning had runs of 9 and 20 yards in the drive, just part of the 298 total yards he amassed individually in the first half. Then, Josh Troxtle joined the fray when he went in motion and took a flip from Manning around end, down the sideline and into the end zone from 26 yards out to put the Briar Jumpers up 13-6.
Fugate answered. The big horse took the first play of the second quarter 37 yards down to the Jumper 26. But Somerset stiffened, and when a fourth down Haddix pass fell incomplete, Somerset took over on downs with a golden opportunity to put two score between them and Breathitt.
But it didn’t work out that way. In a huge shift of momentum, Cory Shouse picked off a deflected Manning pass and returned it the Jumper 32. Four carries later Fugate ran to pay dirtfor his second touchdown of the half. However, a Jumper lineman got a fingertip on the PAT and it was no good, preserving the Jumpers’ one-point lead.
The points started coming in torrents. After hitting J. P. Henderlight with a 37-yard pass, Manning connected for his first TD pass of the night on one of the best plays of the season. Manning launched the pass just as a Bobcat defender was dragging him down for the sack. The pass was placed and timed perfectly as a speeding Josh Troxtle crossed the back of the end zone to make a fingertip catch near the sideline for a touchdown. For Troxtle, it was his second TD in just two offensive touches.
Now trailing 20-12, Breathitt started their next drive on the 40. After Somerset had just landed a beautiful left hook, the Bobcats immediately countered with an uppercut to the chin. Quarterback Jade Haddix carried it on first down, worked his way into the line, found a seam, and then popped free with nothing but green (okay, brown) grass ahead of him. He raced 60 yards on the first play to put Breathitt back in the end zone. Fugate rammed in the 2-point conversion run to tie the game 20-20.
Starting at the 36, it was Manning’s turn to go back to work. He hit Henderlight with an 8-yard completion. Then he hit Hunter Nelson for a first down. On the drive’s third play, Storm Wilson went in motion and crossed the width of the field before the snap. It must have crossed up the Breathitt secondary because Wilson found himself more alone than Tom Hanks in “Castaway”. H e was almost too alone, bobbling the pass but eventually pulling it in and tiptoeing to stay in bounds before racing 49 yards to the end zone to make it 27-20.
Erik Manning put up some incredible first half numbers. Not only did he pass for 185 yards in the opening stanza, he also rushed for 113, accounting for three of the four TDs.
But then it was Breathitt’s turn again. A 9- play drive ended in controversy as Fugate fumbled forward into the end zone where it was covered by the Bobcats Zach Epperson for the questionable TD with only eleven seconds left before the half. After some discussion the score was allowed to stand, but the PAT kick was again no good and Somerset clung to a laughably precarious one point halftime lead.
“I thought our defense played very hard tonight,” said Lucas. “We gave up too much in the first half, but I thought we came up with some huge stops when it counted the most. The second half our defense stopped them pretty well and finally slowed down Fugate some.”
The Jumpers opened the scoring in the second half with a 28-yard Corey Mounce field goal to make it 30-26. But Breathitt came storming right back as Haddix hit Epperson with a 36-yard TD pass to put the Bobcats on top for the first time 33-30.
It seemed momentarily like the Jumper magic might be running out. The mighty Breathitt rushing game was in full force, and now Haddix was throwing TDs. But you can’t count these kids out.
The Jumpers responded with a haymaker. After Otie Manning carried it 14 yards into Bobcat territory, that man, Josh Troxtle, struck again, this time scoring from 41 yards out on a sweep around left end to put the Jumpers back on top. For Troxtle—three touches, three scores.
But this time when Breathitt threw their counter-punch, they missed. When Fugate ran it around right end on third and three, Thomas Boyle made a beautiful tackle to stop him a yard shy of the first down on their own 40. Breathitt decided to punt it away.
Somerset landed a devastating overhand right. They embarked on a 10-play drive that spanned the final two quarters. When the third quarter ended SHS had 1st and 10 at the Breathitt 30, and the Bobcats started showing their frustration as they started getting chippy as the time dwindled away on their season. At the start of the fourth quarter the Jumpers collectively held up four fingers as if to say ‘the fourth quarter is ours’.
They meant it.
Josh Troxtle touched the ball for the fourth time in the game, taking it 19 yards for his fourth TD of the game. Not a bad rate of production, is it? The lead swelled to 44-33.
Then Henderlight picked off a Haddix pass and got face masked in the process. Somerset started the drive on the Breathitt 8. They handed it to Troxtle and, boy, did he mess up. He only took it to the two instead of scoring. He left that to senior Thomas Boyle. Justin Bivens nailed the PAT, and it was 51-33.
After not punting in the 63-point outburst against Estill County, the Jumpers had thrown another 51 points on the board without a single punt. I mention that at this point because from this point onward, Somerset just looked to burn clock for the most part, and had to punt once while the waning moments ticked away.
Breathitt could not break anything open in the fourth, and their frustration bubbled over into some rough extracurricular activity, as Breathitt tried to goad the Jumpers into doing something stupid which could cost them. The Jumpers would not take the bait, refusing to retaliate.
“I think that’s a credit to the parents of these kids,” said Lucas. “They’ve raised them to be respectful and to do things the right way.”
And so it went…Channing Fugate’s career was now over. Enough fireworks were exploded to require a personal loan to pay for them. And we found out what the Briar Jumpers were made of.
“Wow!”
“These kids have each other’s backs,” said Lucas. “Even the kids on the sidelines were great tonight. When things weren’t going well I never heard a single negative word out of any of them. They had confidence that we were going to come through. It was reflected in every person on our team tonight and it was great.
“I’d also like to say that we had a great crowd tonight. I’m usually so focused on the field that I don’t notice the crowd…but I did tonight. I could hear them behind me going crazy when we’d make a good play, and it felt good. Next week we have one last home game and hope fully we’ll have another great crowd for that one. This is a really special group of kids—a group you’ll remember forever. There’s something special going on in Somerset, not just in athletics, but in academics, community presence, everything. And these kids are people you’ll want to come out and see next Friday night.”
The next opponent will be Sheldon Clark on the day after Thanksgiving. The winner will go to Bowling Green to compete for the 3A State Championship. Lucas has a special week of preparation planned for the Jumpers during this holiday.
“Well, they don’t have school on Wednesday,” said Lucas, “So we’ll try to work in a 10 or 12 hour practice to get ready.”
Then his straight face cracked a smile. “I’m just kidding.”
It wasn’t the only smile at Clark Field last night.
S — E. Manning 60 run (kick failed)
BC — Fugate 1 run (Pass failed)
S — Troxtle 26 run (Bivens PAT)
BC — Fugate 3 run (kick failed)
S — E. Manning 16 pass to Troxtle (Bivens PAT)
BC — Haddix 60 run (Fugate run)
S — E. Manning 49 pass to Wilson (Bivens PAT)
BC — Epperson fumble recovery in end zone (kick failed)
S — Mounce 28-yd FG
BC — Haddix 36 pass to Epperson (Davis PAT)
S — Troxtle 41 run (Bivens PAT)
S — Troxtle 19 run (Bivens PAT)
S — Boyle 2 run (Bivens PAT)
BC 6 20 7 0 — 33
SHS 13 14 10 14 — 51
Ist Downs — BC 15, SHS 17
Total Offense — BC 409, SHS 517
Punts — BC 2-26.5, SHS 1-34.0
Penalties — BC 9-62, SHS 2-23
Turnovers — BC 2, SHS 1.
Sacks — BC 2, SHS 1.
Rushing — BC, Fugate 30-157 2 TD, Haddix 14-98 TD, Trent 3-18, Epperson 1- -1; SHS, E. Manning 11-127 TD, Troxtle 7-100 3 TD, O. Manning 9-61, Boyle 3-10 TD, Te. Slaughter 1-1, Bastin 2- -10.
Passing — BC, Haddix 7-14-1-1 131; SHS, E. Manning 10-19-2-1 204.
Receiving — BC, Epperon 3-75 TD, Fletcher 3-28, Trent 2-28; SHS, Wilson 3-87 TD, Henderlight 3-64, Nelson 2-23, Troxtle 1-16 TD, Stringer 1-14.
Interceptions — BC, Shouse; SHS, Henderlight, E. Manning.
