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It makes all the sense in the world too me. Letcher Central is one of the best jobs in Eastern KY. One of the nicest facilities in the state, support, great people in Whitesburg etc. Congrats on the move.

What do they return this coming year? What kind of Off+Def are they running now?

He is a nice athlete!

Shane Pack from Lawrence Co is set to have a great year. He's about 6'1 220 and getting looks from schools. If there are any college coaches on here then you should look into him. He has the potential to be a D1 punter too I think. Fugate is one of the best backs I've seen from this part of the state. I think Varney is back at Belfry and I thought he was in Lee's shadow pub wise but one heck of a back! I thought the Cross kid from Rowan Co flew under the radar too. He's good nice speed. Seems like Ashland has 2 good backs back too.

I've come real close to working with him and consider him a friend. He is one of the good guys in our sport. He cares about his kids and works hard for them!

Chandler Shepard broke the state record for consecutive scoreless innings. Not to shabby for a Soph that did it on a run that included the state championship, the regional championship etc. He broke it after having a runner on 3rd with one out then got back to back strikeouts! Congrats Chan you have once again made Lawrence Co proud! GREAT young man! There are a lot of them on this LC team! I left the game early but heard LC beat Greenup 2-0 on a Jordan Miller HR. I think Chan threw a one hit shutout with around 11 K's and 1 walk!

Lawrence County is primed to have the biggest turn around in the state this year. They have gone from starting 2 Sr's to starting a team full of experience. This is the most talent they have had in almost 10 years. Schedule has gone from having Belfry, Russell, Pburg, Breathitt, Letcher too Paintsville, Shelby Valley, East Ridge and Winfield out of confrence. East Carter moves in too. Coach Salmons has done a good job working on the youth, middle school etc. Ben Preston will be one of the strongest kids to ever graduate from LC and Tyler Combs has D1 potential as a Soph next year. They will anchor an experienced line. Shane Pack will probably come in around the 215 mark and is set to be one of the better suprises in Eastern KY. Shepard is as good of an athlete as there is around here. Mills (very underrated) and Bradely are as good of a duo at WR as there is in Eastern KY and Lucas Frazier around 6'4 at TE has 3 years of expereince. The RB position will probably be rounded out by M. Marcum who is solid as a rock and Hunter James who really came on strong at the end of the year. On defense the Dogs bring back almost everybody. J. Miller should anchor the middle. T Obrian (wish every kid played as hard as him) and T. Mullett bring a lot of speed on the corners. C. Kazzee + C. Cyrus should bring pressure up front. I think this is the year the dogs get back on track. The kids have worked theri tails off and Coach Salmons has worked hard on the overall program. I'm not saying they are Bell, Boyle or Lex Cath but I do think they are primed to be the biggest turnaround in the state. There is an awesome group of kids in there right now and I hope the folks in Louisa appreciate the work and dedication that has gone on behind the scenes with the coaches and players trying to get things on track!

He was the best middle school player I coached against when I did Middle School in Lex. I think his older brother is at Mich St. Congrats too Eric!

Congrats Spence. I bet mom and dad are fired up lol!

One of the great guys in the game. I'm happy to call Mike a friend and am proud of the job he is doing.

I got to coach him in middle school and he is the kind of kid you hope your son becomes! Congrats to Andrew and the N.O. program!

Shawn Walker is probably the best I have ever seen. Their summer league team in Morehead was amazing. He and a few other guys came home with one of my best friends and stayed at the house. Deion Newby+Brad Allison were also on that team from Harrison. Jaun Thomas probably hit the longest HR's I've seen from Ashland. Tucker Howard from Paintsville hit some bombs. Shawn Hill + Timmy Hayes were probably the two best from Lawrence Co.

Ben Preston at Lawrence County will end up being in the top 3 of strongest linemen to ever play at LC. Combs has a D1 frame, attitude and work ethic. Just be a Soph next year. Should be a good line with multiple kids having playing experience: Miller, Kazee, Landon, Montgomery etc. There are some other kids that will compete for spots there too. I'm excited about that group!

The dramatic hook and latterall was against Flemming Co in the Regional Semis in 92-93 season. Flemming was up and just had to take a knee. Biggest rivalry LC had at the time where Flemming was lead by Jr Marshall (stud!). The best defense LC ever had in school history was about to be beaten by Flemming after LC thumped them earlier in the year. Instead of taking a knee they ran the ball and Lee Abshire (the most underrated Bulldog ever and one of the most underrated players in the state) was able to throw Jr out of bounds forcing Flemming to punt. LC rushed 11 and the punter kicked the ball into his upback. LC got the ball at midfield and with about 9 seconds left took a snap. Roger Lyons threw the hitch out to Jason Wells and Lee Abshire wheeled out of the backfield to take the pitch down the sideline to lead LC to the Reional Semis. I have seen A LOT of games around the state. I have never seen a game of that magnitude change that fast in the last 25 seconds or so of a game. I've played and coached at LC for a whole lot of years. That is early 90's, late 90's and now. I would say the Regional Championship game against Mason Co was the biggest crowd in LC history. There were several schools there supporting LC from the area. The Mason Co crowd came and took the LC flag over to their side. Next thing we new Racelands team went and took it back and charged around in front of the LC student section leading the cheers. Great atmosphere. LC stopped Mason on the 3 yd line to win the Region in a GREAT game!

Mine too.

Fugatte from Breathitt is as good of a back as I've seen in the area in some time. He's about 6'2 230 and can move.

They are returning a lot of talent. Cross is one of the most underrated backs in the state IMO. His dad "DRock" played at Morehead.Coach Chin's son is also a nice player.

That is awesome news! Best of luck to both of them!

Chuke gave me my first chance to coach and he was the offensive coordinator my Sr. year. This breaks my heart. If any of you know how to contact him please send me a PM.

Stats I don't have.. coaches involved: I've been at North Oldham, Lexington Catholic (won a state championship there) and Lawrence Co now. Phill Ratcliff as you mentioned won a National Championship playing at Marshall (2 time All American) won a National Championship coaching at James Madison and is now coaching at Marshall. Chuke Williams won over 200 games in High School I think. Brian Brown assistant at West Carter Players from that team that have coached: Jason Michael went to Army then transferred to Western where he QBed the Hilltoppers to a National Championship. Grad Assistant at UTenn. Left there and was quality control for the Oakland Raiders. Took a job doing the same thing with the NY Jets then got the TE's job there. Coached last year as the TE's coach at the University of Tenn. Not sure what he's doing next year yet but he is big time! Gerad Parker played at UK. GA at UK. Coached a year at Raceland and is now the RB's coach at Tenn Martin. He will be big time too before it is over with. Spencer Harris either played that year or the year before but he started shortstop 4 years and was captain at Virginia Tech. He is going to be a Doctor in 2 more years. John Caudill played TE and coached at Lawrence Co. Alan Short played at Cumberland and is the offensive coordinator I think at Adair Co. Mike Copley was there the year before and coached at Pikeville + now is the new head coach at Greenup Co. Nick Meadow went to Georgetown but was cut short due to a car wreck I think. I'm not sure if Dontae Wright and Mike West were freshmen then or not. Mike went to Marshall and Dontae QBed LC but started Outside LBer at Miami of Ohio. He just finished up being a Graduate Assistanat at UK. He is going to be big time too! That is just off the top of my head. Everyone of those guys coaching are GREAT guys and all successful coaches. They are all just going to keep doing bigger things IMO. There is a strong bond between all the guys at LC from that group. We all still keep in touch pretty good!

I was an assistant under Chuke at the time. He had the kids beleiving in themselves that night and honestly the stars were aligned. Breathitt had an amazing offesnse that was somewhat grounded by the terrible weather that night. The field was covered in mud around the 50. As you mentioned Lawrence was led by Jason Michael who was one of the best leaders to ever play the game in KY. He was gritty, physical and could beat you running+throwing. Even more important was his decision making in the option game. LC had a great line led by guys like Brandon Coldiron. Nick Meadows had a GREAT game from the tailback position and I think he had a couple of 60 or so yard TD's. One of them was one of the better runs I've seen in high school as he broke some ridiculous (I want to say 10) tackles on one TD run. His low center of gravity and break away speed ultimatly won the game for LC. Gerad Parker who was a top 5 WR in state history was a major problem too as there were times he would draw triple teams. If not the top win it was definatly in the top 3 (I would probably say 1) for LC. Yeh they actually broke the goal posts down:) LC turned around and lost to the biggest cinderella in the state that next week (Dudley Hilton and Bourbon Co who went on and won the state). GREAT group of talent at LC at that time. Multiple Divsion 1 players and a lot of kids that went on to play college ball. LC has never had that much talent on one team since. They had a great duo in West/Wright and a solid group in the Barnette, Short + younger Parker group but the team that beat Breathitt was loaded.

Congrats to Mike I was an assistant when he played and he is a hard working guy! I hope he gets support this time around. He will work his tail off there!

Glad to see J. Miller on there. Chandlers Sheppard should be close to the top. He's only a Soph but was District player of the year in 8th grade and pitched in the Regional Championship. He was the Regional player of the year this year winning the Regional Championship. All he did was go to Applebee's and throw a shutout the first game of the state championship helping to lead Lawrence County to the Championship game. He's got schools like UK and Pac 10 schools looking at him going into his Soph year. He has a streak going right now going into the season. I want to say it's the state's consecutive scoreless inning record maybe.

I think you could make an argument that it has to be up there as one of the best in national history!

I'll never forget the magical moment of being bundled up standing side by side with my dad just saying to each other over and over "we are watching history!" I'll never forget being able to share that awesome game together. THE BEST IN STATE HISTORY!