Final

I will give a brief game report. As expected, with Bracken County playing mostly sophomores and juniors, this game was very lopsided. Beechwood's first five plays of the game were all touchdowns on very short field possessions. The JV was on the field in the second quarter and the second half was played by Beechwood's freshmen team. I do want to recognize the players who scored for Beechwood:

 

QB Kyle Fieger 12 yard TD pass to Jonathon Stokes

Fieger 30 yard TD pass and a 35 yard TD pass to Brett Slusher

Ethan Stringer had TD runs of 2 yards and 5 yards

Riley McKown 4 yard TD run

Casey Erdman 16 yard TD run

Aiden Justice 20 yard TD run

Eddie Erdman 36 yard TD run

According to the alignment numbers, Bracken County has 190 boys compared to Beechwoods 196. Honest question, why can't they get more than 17 boys to come out and play football? They have more than three times as many boys as Eminence (65), twice as many as Paris (96) and 50% more than Frankfort (128). They have a good district to compete in.

According to the alignment numbers, Bracken County has 190 boys compared to Beechwoods 196. Honest question, why can't they get more than 17 boys to come out and play football? They have more than three times as many boys as Eminence (65), twice as many as Paris (96) and 50% more than Frankfort (128). They have a good district to compete in.

There middle school team has been in the championship game the past two years and seemed to have good numbers. Hope they can figure it out.

According to the alignment numbers, Bracken County has 190 boys compared to Beechwoods 196. Honest question, why can't they get more than 17 boys to come out and play football? They have more than three times as many boys as Eminence (65), twice as many as Paris (96) and 50% more than Frankfort (128). They have a good district to compete in.

 

Stay tuned

According to the alignment numbers, Bracken County has 190 boys compared to Beechwoods 196. Honest question, why can't they get more than 17 boys to come out and play football? They have more than three times as many boys as Eminence (65), twice as many as Paris (96) and 50% more than Frankfort (128). They have a good district to compete in.

 

This is a topic that has been discussed on BGP a few times. Bracken County is a small, rural school. Small rural schools have traditionally struggled to get kids out to play. A school like Beechwood is similar in size, but their kids are all located very close to school. The same can be said for Eminence, Paris, and Frankfort - all independent city districts. Bracken County has a similar enrollment, but over a much larger area. Without much tradition and no history of football being played in the county before the last decade, it has been a hard climb for their program. Jobs like these are some of the most difficult in the state, but if you have success, they can be some of the most rewarding.

I think that pretty much sums it up for small rural county schools. Kids in these counties are sometimes commuting 20+ miles to school from practice, if mom and dad are working jobs that's a tough commute. Also, many kids in these small rural counties that are generally lower on the socioeconomic scale have to start working jobs and struggle to find time for football. In communities such as Bracken there is a struggle to find knowledgeable coaches because there is no tradition of playing football locally, the head coach will usually have a job in the district but the only way you can bring in assistant coaches is with teaching positions. If I am not mistaken the coach at Bracken is the only coach in the building and has had limited help running the program. These are common problems in counties like Bracken, guys in these positions have my respect.

How many kids come out for baseball and basketball?

How many kids come out for baseball and basketball?

 

Bracken typically has pretty good basketball teams, but there is a long history of the sport in the county (including a state title in the '30s). Plus the roster doesn't have to be nearly as large in basketball.

Bracken County?s season ends in a shutout

The basketball team has about twice as many kids 9-12 as football. That is the problem. They would rather be in the gym than on the field and they haven't been competitive there either in years.

I give props to the 14 kids that at least showed up. I wonder how long it is before the AD at Bracken posts some coaching positions on Monster.com. Some schools rebuild, Bracken needs to start over, top to bottom. There is talent at Bracken and they have a good fan base too.

I give props to the 14 kids that at least showed up. I wonder how long it is before the AD at Bracken posts some coaching positions on Monster.com. Some schools rebuild, Bracken needs to start over, top to bottom. There is talent at Bracken and they have a good fan base too.

 

The coach there took over a team was 13-79 from 2003-2012, six of those thirteen wins came in 2011 when BC had several kids transfer in from out of state. He's won over half that amount of games in three years and he virtually keeps that program running by himself up there. His teams have been the most successful at the school and broken every statistical school record, I doubt he's going anywhere, I have coached with and against the coach at Bracken, he is a class act.

The basketball team has about twice as many kids 9-12 as football. That is the problem. They would rather be in the gym than on the field and they haven't been competitive there either in years.

 

Basketball and baseball are staples in Bracken Co. Always will be. We are Competitive in both sports. We will be at or around .500 most seasons. We will have our good wins and our bad losses. Was All A region champs in 98 and been district runner up last two seasons. In baseball last season we was 12-9 and all A runner up. I know some don't believe the all A counts for anything but when you are a school our size it's a big thing and you are marking those dates on your calendar. For whatever reason the football program is taking longer to "take off" than most antisapated. But like others have mentioned the middle school has seen success lately. So maybe as these kids get to high school along with the young team we currently have it's possible that we may be on the up swing. Time will tell.

Sounds like it was a "great" experience for Bracken County and hopefully Voice of Reason got to take it in and enjoy this format he defends and supports.