Photo courtesy of SERG Photography shows Tucker Foster back to pass
By Jonathan L. Smith
Somehow, we’ve entered week seven of the high school football season. For Lincoln County, it is also the beginning of district play. The remaining four games consist of three straight district games: Wayne County this week at home, then fall break and an open week, then at Boyle County, at Russell County, and back home for a non-district rivalry game with Garrard County.
Series Record
Lincoln County and Wayne County have played nine times with Wayne County winning seven of those. The programs played a two-year non-district series in 2011 and 2012 before being placed in the same 4A district since 2019.
Wayne County 7 wins (2011, 2012, 2019, 2019-playoff, 2020, 2022, 2024)
Lincoln County 2 wins (2021, 2023)
First Game: 2011 (Wayne won 21-14)
Last Game: 2024 (Wayne won 29-22)
Lincoln’s Largest Margin of Victory: 29 points (2021, 29-0)
Wayne’s Largest Margin of Victory: 34 points (2019, 55-21)
Matchup
Wayne County is coached by Tyler Guffey, who is in his fifth season as their head coach. Last season, they finished 8-4 and suffered a 56-3 second round playoff loss to Corbin. Last year in Monticello, Wayne County prevailed 29-22 in a down-to-the-wire game. The Cardinals were led in that game by Korbyn Edwards who ran for 174 yards and all four of Wayne’s touchdowns. He also passed for 120 yards as quarterback in that game.
Edwards, now a junior, was unfortunately injured in the first game of this season and has not played since then. The Cardinals have struggled getting wins in his absence.
Right now, they are 2-4 with wins over Dunbar and Madison Southern. They beat Madison Southern 17-7, which is a team Lincoln County beat 27-7. The other common opponent is West Jessamine. Lincoln County beat WJ 27-14 but they, in turn, beat Wayne County 37-20. Their other losses have come to Bell County (44-10), South Laurel (38-13), and Louisville Eastern (25-22 in OT).
The Cardinals are a run-heavy offense. The offensive play-calling balance is 79% run and 21% pass. Their cumulative yardage is 70% run and 30% pass.
Their freshman quarterback, Reese Garrett, who has been pressed into service with the injury to Korbyn Edwards, has completed 37 of 62 passes for 377 yards, 2 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. His top receiver is junior Ian Tucker with 16 catches for 154 yards, followed by Brice Lefevers (7/112), and Caleb Sargent (13/112).
In their rushing attack, junior Weston Hancock is the leading ball carrier. He has rushed 125 times for 532 yards and three touchdowns. Senior Nathaniel Wright as 64 carries for 267 yards and five scores. Wright is the leading scorer on the team with those five touchdowns. The Cardinals have been opportunistic on defense. They have nine takeaways, four fumble recoveries and five interceptions. Jadyn Pendleton and Nathaniel Wright are their ballhawks with two interceptions each.
On paper, this could be a favorable matchup for the Patriots. Their run defense has been lights-out this season, giving up an average of only 84 yards per game. If Wayne County needs to run the ball to be successful, they will likely have trouble against the Lincoln D.
Offensively, the Patriots’ ground attack has been cranking out an average of 235 yards per game, but Wayne County has been good against the run. Thee Cardinals are giving up an average of only 82 yards per game.
Neither team is particularly effective at passing, but the Patriots have thrown for almost double Wayne’s passing yards (711 yards for Lincoln versus 392 for Wayne).
This game may come down to a trench battle and be decided by the team that holds onto the ball and is able to exert its will on the other.
Lincoln County fought a war of attrition last week against Franklin County. Several starters were banged up and missed all or part of the game. The team’s depth, as pointed out by Coach Levi Rogers in his postgame comments, has been critical. Some players who have not seen much action stepped up big last week.
We expect to see Damon Spigle and Kash Smith return from injury to the running back position at some point in the regular season. In their absence, Reed Curlis has been playing ironman football. He is the team’s leading tackler at linebacker (61 tackles) and their leading rusher (616 yards on 111 carries). Quarterback Tucker Foster is 61/112 passing for 711 yards and 6 touchdowns. He is the teams second leading rusher, averaging 53 yards a game. When he throws the ball, his favorite receiver is Bob Floyd who has 27 catches for 373 yards and four touchdowns.
Tucker has been playing less defense in the last couple of games but is highly effective at free safety when in the game. Up front on defense, Justin Mounce, Sean Brown, and Grady Foster have been holding the line of scrimmage. Mounce is wreaking havoc on defensive backfields as he leads the team with five tackles behind the line of scrimmage.
The Patriot defense has also been opportunistic. They have 10 takeaways with 3 fumble recoveries and 7 interceptions. Bob Floyd leads Lincoln with two picks.
In the kicking game, Lincoln County’s Brody Baker is 23 of 25 on PAT kicks and 2 of 2 on Field Goals (30 and 31 yards). For Wayne County, Brice Lefevers is 12/15 on PATs and 2/5 on Field Goals.
This week is homecoming for Lincoln County and includes all the festivities and distractions that go along with that. How healthy and focused the Patriots are on Friday night will have a lot to do with their success against an opponent that has historically had the upper hand.
Kickoff is Friday night at 7:30 at Death Valley.
