Garrard County and Madison Central met Thursday night in a scrimmage in Lancaster. The scrimmage was played as three quarters varsity and the fourth quarter junior varsity. Everything was normal except special teams, which were played, but no returns or hitting. Basically special teams was about lining people up in the right spot.

 

Madison Central came away victorious in the varsity portion of the scrimmage, winning 16-13. The Indians took the opening kickoff and marched 80 yards in six minutes, scoring on a short run to take a 6-0 lead, but missed the PAT. (I'm sorry but I have no names for Central players; never saw a roster).

 

Garrard County then got the ball at their own 20 and after gaining two yards on the first play, scored on a 78-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Billy Abney to sophomore receiver Dillon Lane. The pass was one of several really nice throws by Abney, a returning starter. Garrard converted their PAT to make it 7-6.

 

After some back and forth, Central scored again on a short touchdown pass and the PAT made it 13-7. After their next drive stalled, Central kicked a 35 +/- field goal to make it 16-7. Garrard County followed that with an impressive drive, highlighted by a nice pass-catch from Abney to junior Markell Hayes. The Lions scored on a 10-15 yard run by junior Corey Wilson. Garrard would miss the PAT, settling the final varsity score at 16-13.

 

Madison Central dominated the junior varsity quarter, winning 21-0. Many of Garrard's key varsity players are sophomores, however, so much of what Garrard played the last quarter with was a freshman team. Regardless, the Lions were outmatched on JV by Central.

 

As for varsity, it was a pretty nice performance by Garrard. The Lions weren't as big up front as Central, but they held their own nicely in the trenches. What really hurt Garrard was Central's running back (#24) who was both a bull and fast; the Garrard kids had a hard time keeping him from tacking on 2-3 yards extra on every carry. The Garrard defense was also missing two key contributors in Garrett Caudill (held out to heal an ankle injury) and Austin Napier (sidelined after the first play with apparent knee injury).

 

Offensively, the Lions seemed to be a work in progress. Abney was impressive throwing the ball and the running game showed signs of progress. But there were the occasional collapses of the pocket and a few times it seemed like some players ran the wrong play. Garrard was also without their starting center on offense Dylon Worley, who was out with lingering effects of a concussion.

 

All in all a good night. I'm looking forward to the start of the season. Garrard is far from a state contender, but I was very happy with the showing tonight. They are a little farther along than I expected. Hopefully it will be even better next Friday at Anderson County.

Great update!

Great update!

 

Why thank you. You might be interested in something about Central. They played two quarterbacks (#10 and #18 - those may just be practice numbers, though). The first, #10, was Dan Marino-like slow. He seemed capable, but he ran straight up, took a long time to receiver and call out the signals, and was just slow. The second kid, #18, was almost a polar opposite. I was very impressed with him and I thought Central was a more impressive unit when he was in the game.

Did central air it out in shotgun or run the ball under center?? Saw on the news they'd go old school I, but I thought the new coach was a spread guy??

Very nice report GCHS...I wish Coach Scenters all the luck in the world this year. Hope those Garrard boys take it to 'em in their district this year!

Did central air it out in shotgun or run the ball under center?? Saw on the news they'd go old school I, but I thought the new coach was a spread guy??

 

The ran some spread, but a whole lot of just handing it off to the tailback. He was really impressive; good mix of speed and size. I'm not sure they attempted more than 1 or 2 passes the entire night.

Very nice report GCHS...I wish Coach Scenters all the luck in the world this year. Hope those Garrard boys take it to 'em in their district this year!

 

Thanks. Same here about the district. Somerset is the definite favorite, but I'd like to see us be the definite #2, with a shot at knocking off the Jumpers. At least we get them at home this season.