2013

 

For those who have never heard of McCracken County, there is a good reason, this is the inaugural season for McCracken County High School that formed by combining Lone Oak, Heath and Reidland High Schools. The job of combining, and organizing, the 3 schools into one football team came from within when the new school tabbed veteran Lone Oak High School Head Coach Jack Haskins for the task in what Haskins claims will be his final stop before retirement. Haskins brings a wealth of experience with him having been the head coach at Heath, Calloway County, Ballard Memorial, Graves County and Lone Oak. He also served as an assistant at Paducah Tilghman and has taken 2 different schools to state title games and coached two Kentucky Mr. Football’s. The job of starting up a new program has already proven to be a daunting one as the team has had to work around facilities that were just completed within the last month and still lack many of the basics as well as organizing everything from the ground up as it arrives.

 

The merger brings together 4A Lone Oak who went 8-4 last season with 3A Heath (3-8) and 2A Reidland (4-6). The returning talent from those teams will have a Lone Oak flavor but Heath and Reidland are expected to have a half dozen players that will likely have starting positions. As of the beginning of practices the Mustangs fielded 18 seniors with 50 on the varsity roster and have a separate freshman team that fielded a roster of 60 players.

 

On offense expect to see the same pass friendly system offense Haskins utilized the last 5 or 6 years at Lone Oak. The offense will be lead by sophomore QB Zyaire Hughes who is considered by some to be the best pure athlete in the state and was recently given attention in Cats Pause. Hughes was thrown into a starting role for Lone Oak last season after highly touted starter Cole Ousley was injured in the season opener and hasn’t fully recovered. Hughes is a threat by air and with his feet, while Ousley, the pure passer, has been seeing time at receiver and in the defensive backfield.

 

Hughes will be well protected by a veteran line that will feature several returning starters, mostly seniors. The most noted will be Evan Sayner, who has already received multiple college offers and Nathan King who is getting looks at center. Preston Womble and Wells Purdom, a former Mayfield kid who moved to McCracken County in middle school, look to join a relatively large line, averaging 261 pounds and all being over 6 foot tall.. The Mustangs goal is to utilize the experienced linemen on both sides of the ball, which should provide excellent depth and make for a good run toward the end of the season.

 

The backfield will feature a two back system. Jordan Troutman, a transfer from Massac County, Illinois, and Rasheed Jones, who was utilized a slot receiver and running back during the past two years at Lone Oak. Troutman was the star at Massac and is expected to be the primary back for the Mustangs. Troutman is a strong, fast, pounding back and has a awesome highlight video on You Tube that shows off the full range of his talents. Jones was a key back for Lone Oak last season providing explosive plays with his feet and hands. The other back that was expected to see a lot of snaps was Davarius Jones (Rasheed brother) but recently tore his ACL in practice and is expected to miss the season.

 

The receiving core appears to have depth and great height and could turn out to be as good a group as Haskins has ever had. They are expected to be headlined by junior Morgan Alexander, 6-2’ who was the primary “go to” guy at Lone Oak during the 2012 season. Others that could have immediate impact include Ousley (6-4’), Brandon Fatum (6-6’), and basketball player Billy Wadley (6-2’).

 

On defense the Mustangs line will include what Coach Haskins hopes is a 8 or 9 player rotation. Evan Sayner and Wells Purdom will both see limited action in certain situations but will primarily be used on offense. 6-3’, 255 pound Tyler Randolph and 6-0’, 220 Caleb Shaikh will be joined by sophomore Jack Moreland and Pritchett who started for Lone Oak last year. The defensive ends will be Tanner Fizer from Reidland and Jake Towells, who is the grandson of Coach Haskins.

Troutman and Jones, who are offensive stars, will join Bradley Harris, who is moving from defensive back at Lone Oak last year, to form the Mustang line backer core.

The defensive backs will have a Lone Oak flavor with former Flash senior starters Blake Crowell, Morgan Alexander and Cole Ousley joined by senior Landon Rice from Heath. Morgan and Ousley are also offensive starters.

 

The outlook is very good for the Mustangs in their first year of play, despite the tuff job of organization. The team should benefit greatly from having the majority of the starters and coach from Lone Oak in tact cutting down on a lot of the new program growing pains usually encountered. The word around the program is that they expect to win their district and should be in contention for the regional title.

 

Players to Watch

 

Zyaire Hughes – The duel threat sophomore QB who is widely considered one of the states best pure athletes.

Jordan Troutman - The senior back who transferred from Massac County, IL. Where he was considered a star is expecting to be a huge contributor on both sides of the ball.

Morgan Alexander – The primary “go to” receiver at Lone Oak during the 2012 season.

Evan Sayner – The big lineman already has already received multiple college offers

Wells Purdom – The youngster who is drawing a lot of attention

 

 

McCracken County Mustangs Schedule 2013 Football Schedule

 

8/24/2013 - vs. Paducah Tilghman High School

 

8/30/2013 - @ Mayfield High School

 

9/6/2013 - vs. Dyer County High School (TN)

 

9/13/2013 - OPEN WEEK

 

9/21/2013 - McCracken County Bowl

 

Game3: McCracken County vs. Bullitt Central 7:30 pm

 

9/27/2013 - @ Ft. Campbell High School

 

10/4/2013 - @ GravesCounty High School

 

10/11/2013 - vs. Marshall County High School

 

10/18/2013 - @ DaviessCounty High School

 

10/25/2013 - vs. Henderson County High School

 

11/1/2013 - vs. Christian County High School

Nice write up.

Agree. Super article, Toothpick!

 

Btw, on his Twitter account on Aug 6, Evan Sayner verbally committed to Western Kentucky University.

Glad to see that Heath and Reidland have players that will play a big role in the team. You always want each school to seem pivotal when you go through a consolidation.

Thanks

Great job Toothpick. Always nice to see WKY coverage.

First time poster. Just getting used to Bluegrass Preps and have really enjoyed it thus far! Really insightful and knowledgeable article, Toothpick. Very in-depth and on cue. Should be fun watching the inaugural Mustangs season!

FWIW......We played McCracken at the UK 7 on 7 tourney and I really liked the athleticism and size of the receivers that McCracken had. They look to have an opportunity to be an explosive group. The QB was a nice athlete and they had many good size, speed receivers. They didn't play particularly well against us, but you could see the talent was there. Looking forward to seeing how MC's season goes. Good luck.....

First time poster. Just getting used to Bluegrass Preps and have really enjoyed it thus far! Really insightful and knowledgeable article, Toothpick. Very in-depth and on cue. Should be fun watching the inaugural Mustangs season!

Very cool. Welcome aboard. You may be our first "Mustang" fan. Keep us update on info to pass along about the squad.

First time poster. Just getting used to Bluegrass Preps and have really enjoyed it thus far! Really insightful and knowledgeable article, Toothpick. Very in-depth and on cue. Should be fun watching the inaugural Mustangs season!

 

Welcome aboard! By all means, keep us updated. Let us know if you have any questions. We have a Private Message ("PM") feature too. Glad to see some of our Western Kentucky sports lovers joining up and adding to the mix.