By Jonathan L. Smith
The 2025 Football Season gets underway Friday, August 22nd with the annual doubleheader games in the PBK Bank/WPBK-FM Death Valley Bowl. Game one at 6:00 PM features Garrard County against North Bullitt, then Lincoln County and Madison Southern play after that at about 8:15. Tickets are $10 and includes both games, with all ticket proceeds going to the Quarterback Club for the benefit of the team.
Lincoln County has a senior-led team that lost a few close games last year and second-year Head Coach Levi Rogers hopes that those close games will pay dividends this season. He said, “We lost some close games last season and now, hopefully, we know what it takes to come out on top of those games.”
The Patriots will be led by junior quarterback Tucker Foster (6’0, 185) who threw for 785 yards and five touchdowns as a sophomore last season, while also rushing for another seven TDs. The running-backs-by-committee will consist of seniors Reed Curlis (5”11, 180), Damon Spigle (5’7. 200), Kash Smith (5’10, 205), and Brycen Mullins (5’9, 140). The wide receivers are seniors Bob Floyd (5’11, 175) and Johnny Adkins (6’0, 155).
Upfront, the offensive line starters will be:
- Senior J.D. Westerfield (5’10, 265) at center
- Senior A.J. Morgan (5’10, 295) at right guard
- Senior Grady Foster (5’10, 260) at left guard
- Senior Matthew Sneed (6’1, 285) at right tackle
- Junior Michael Wilshire (6’1, 240) at left tackle
- Junior Clay Pendygraft (6’4, 210) at tight end
All kicking duties—punting, kickoffs, place-kicking—will be handled by junior Brody Baker (5’10, 160). The long snapper is Johnny Adkins and the holder is senior Brennin Hazlett (5’11, 230). Bob Floyd and Brycen Mullins are expected to return kicks and punts.
There will be a lot of experience on defense, too. The following are the expected defensive starters for Friday’s game:
- Senior Justin Mounce (5’11, 260) at defensive end
- Junior Clay Pendygraft at defensive end
- Senior Sean Brown (6’0, 240) at defensive tackle
- Senior Grady Foster at defensive tackle
- Senior Reed Curlis at linebacker
- Senior Tucker Julian (6’0, 170) at linebacker
- Junior Drake Willoughby (5’11, 180) at linebacker
- Senior Brycen Mullins at defensive back
- Senior Bob Floyd at defensive back
- Senior Johnny Adkins at free safety
- Junior Tucker Foster at strong safety
Assistant coaches this season are Chase Marcum, Dean Wilks, Daniel Foster, Bryson Yaden, Doug McQueen, Gary Spigle, John Thomas, and Kale Hagen.
The Patriots have seven straight games starting this week, then an OPEN week, followed by three more regular season. Next week’s game is against Estill County in the Garrard County Bowl in Lancaster.
