FOOTBALL DAWGS READY TO SHINE, SEASON OPENER AT HOME FRIDAY VERSUS HARRISON CO.

Louisa, Ky. — After a COVID-19 shortened season last year the Lawrence Co. football team is ready to go and will be led by Alan Short who will be going into his sixth season as Head Coach of the Bulldogs.

2021 Bulldog Football Roster

Seniors: #9 Dougie Hall, #11 Alex Strickland, #13 Blue Fletcher, #25 Austin Hall, #27 Nick Collinsworth, #61 Levi Gauze, #64 Tyler Bowens

Juniors: #1 Dawson Bellomy, #2 Kaden Gillispie, #4 Ryan Marcum, #5 Abner Collinsworth, #8 Dylan Ferguson, #14 Ethan Horn, #15 Logan Southers, #20 Lawson Baisden, #30 Gabe Barker, #40 Caden Ball, #55 Trace Longstreth, #58 Derek Holland, #65 Dylan Whitt, #66 Trey Daniels, #71 Makai Strickland, #73 Blake Fitchgerald

Sophomores: #6 Luis Chicko, #12 Dalton Runyons, #21 Hunter Hatfield, #22 Jake Derifield, #31 Brayden Thompson, #34 Gage Cox, #35 Cody Crum, #42 Coleston Copeland, #43 Dustin Marcum, #44 Will McDavid, #51 Blake Prater, #52 Aiden Handley, #56 Chase Fitch, #69 Dakota Daniels

Freshman: #7 Talon Pollock, #26 Josh Spillman, #54 Derek Rakes, #68 Harlon Perkins, #75 Peyton Lowe, #77 Devon Moore

Coaches: HC Alan Short

DC/DB Zack Botkins

LB Brad Derifield

DL Ben Preston

OL Jason Rollins

WR Mike Woods

RB John Caudill

Lawrence Co. will open the season at Luke Varney Jr. Memorial Stadium against Class 4A Harrison Co. the two teams haven’t met since the 1980’s.

The Dawgs went 4-2 last season with both losses coming to District champion Belfry one in the regular season 36-0 at home and one in the second round of the playoffs on a COVID-19 Forfeit.

Lawrence Co. finished second in Class 3A District 8 with wins coming over Magoffin Co. 39-0 in Salyersville, Pike Co. Central at Home 29-28, on the road at Floyd Central 40-24 and in the first round of the playoffs 22-20 over Pike Co. Central.

Bulldog Senior Alex Strickland will once again lead the offense after stepping into the role for the first time ever last season. He rushed for 6 touchdowns, 210 rushing yards and threw for 167 yards and 1 touchdown.

Junior Dylan Ferguson was the teams leading rusher with 500 yards and 6 touchdowns.

Senior Dougie Hall scored 3 touchdowns and Senior Blue Fletcher scored twice.

On Defense the Dawgs will be led by Junior Caden Ball who had a great year in 2020, Junior Abner Collinsworth and Alex Strickland will be key components along with Kaden Gillispie, Dylan Ferguson, Nick Collinsworth and Blue Fletcher. The defense was much improved from 2019 and expect to turn it up another notch this season.

Junior Logan Southers will handle the kicking duties once again after making 2 PATs last season including the game winner against Pike Co. Central.

Lawrence Co. will join the Eastern Kentucky Conference this season and will play five games including Russell, Greenup Co. Raceland, East Carter and Boyd Co.

The Bulldogs will be in Class 3A District 8 once again and will play Magoffin Co. and Floyd Central at home, they will travel to Belfry and Pike Co. Central this season.

Bulldog Head Coach Alan Short

COACH’S COMMENTS

“… You know, these kids picked right up on July 15th where we left off last November. We can’t say enough good things about our senior leadership and the work ethic that these kids have brought every day. You know, we just try to get a little bit better each and every day. I think we’ve done that up until this point. You gotta use a challenge, obviously this Friday against Harrison Co. will be a huge challenge, they will be very well coached, very athletic and very big. We’ll figure out one way or another you know and see where we stand this Friday night.”

“… Like we were talking earlier it’s a lot more fun when you come out of a scrimmage feeling good about yourself but we were far from perfect. I feel like this is a very talented team. One of the most talented teams we’ve had in the last decade or so. It’s a lot more fun to go down to a scrimmage and do well.”

“… Obviously it starts with Alex Strickland on offense, I think last year was the first time in his entire football career he’d ever lined up under center and you know he kind of blossomed in that role. He’s our team leader and our team feeds off of him, the energy that he brings each and every day. Also don’t be surprised if we line another couple of kids under center at different points Friday night, the Freshman Talon Pollack has a lot of talent and we think he’s the guy of the future for sure.

“…We also have Kaden Gillispie who may wind up getting into some wildcat type looks we are certainly glad to have him back as well. We have other ones that will tote the rock like Blue Fletcher, who had a good year and Dylan Farguson who was really solid last year as well. Fletcher is a senior who has played and started for two years and really expecting a breakout year from him as well. And then there’s some young kids on the roster like Cody Crum who has been very dominant in the scrimmages as well he is just a sophomore, very excited about having him in the future, along with Ryan Marcom, Ethan Horn and Will McDavid. So there’s a lot of talent on this roster. We say to our team all the time that we feel like the only thing that can really hurt us would be ourselves, you know, letting the jealousy creep in, some games other kids are going to carry the ball more than others and we gotta be happy for our teammates.”

“… On the offensive line Levi Gauze and Tyler Bowens are both seniors with a lot of starts under their belt, Junior Dylan Whitt will start at center, Trace Longstreth has probably been our most impressive lineman up to this point, Makai Strickland will be the right tackle and don’t be surprised if you see sophomore Blake Prater in the starting lineup too. We think that kid’s got a great motor and wants to do well he has really been impressive this preseason.

“… Zach Botkins will be back for his second year as the offensive coordinator, John Caudill will coach the running backs and help as needed on the defensive side of the ball he has helped a lot on the side. Mike Woods will coach the receivers. Jason Rollins will coach the offensive line and Brad Deerfield will coach the linebackers.”

“… On defense a lot of guys have stood out, our secondary play has been solid so far and that starts with Nick Collinsworth and Kaden Gillispie excited to have both of those guys out there with some length. Alex, Strickland, Talon Pollock, Dougie Hall, Blue Fletcher and Ryan Marcum will all see time in the secondary. Our linebacker core will be Abner Collinsworth, Cody Crum, Kaden Ball who had a monster year last year, Dylan Ferguson, Will McDavid all pretty solid kids. Everyone that I just mentioned is a very good football player. On the defensive line will probably be by committee so to speak. We won’t just play three down linemen we will get a nice rotation going through there with the likes of Tyler Bowens, Will McDavid, Chase Fitch, Abner Collinsworth as well and several different guys will roll out there from time to time.”

“… We feel like depth is a strong suit as always and injuries play a factor in the game. Hopefully we can avoid those because like I said, I think we’ve got some very, very special football players and young men in our program right now.”

“… Logan Southers will be back to handle place. Kicking duties won a game against Pike Central in the last year last few seconds with a PAT kick, so he has kinda been in the heat and we are excited to have him back this year. Something we didn’t mention is our wide receivers, we feel like we got four guys that can go get the football at any time. We are forcing ourselves to throw the ball because we want to take advantage of that talent outside with the likes of Kaden Gillispie, Nick Collinsworth, Jake Derifield and Dawson Bellomy. We have four guys that we feel like we could throw the ball to at any moment in time.”

“… It’s just nice to be a part of a conference, you know, in football, you get so few opportunities, every game is meaningful, but now that we’re going to have the opportunity to compete with some of these other schools of similar size and stature to ourselves and, and have a meaningful, uh, everything is meaningful, every game counts. The recognition, the championships that come along with that, we’re excited to compete in that conference.”

“… We feel like if we can win a district championship, then we can win our state championship. You know, it’s no secret that Belfry has been a very dominant, not only in our district, but also on a statewide level. Until somebody knocks them off it’s their district to lose. We feel like we can, if we can continue to progressively get better through the course of the season and stay healthy. We feel like we’ve also developed a very strong rivalry with the likes of Pike Central who is under the direction of a new head coach along with Magoffin Co. and you know Coach Hagar is always going to have Floyd Central ready to play. So there are no easy games in a football season. Everybody’s so well coached. Everybody’s so well prepared, you gotta go out and play the game and hope that you make more plays than the other team, take care of the ball and do the things that you’ve been coached and taught your whole football career. So we’re very excited about our schedule. We’re excited to compete, hopefully it’s a little bit different than last year with the COVID cancellations and such. We are going to keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best, these kids have worked very hard and they deserve the opportunity to play.”

“… Honestly, just kind of how it fell, scheduling football games is not an easy task you know. The people that you want to play don’t necessarily want to play you and the people that want to play you, you don’t necessarily want to play them. We are looking for teams that will test us week in and week out and we feel like we’ve done that. We wound up having a bye week early which is not ideal but It’s just kinda the way that it worked out. Not really a science to it, scheduling football games is a very difficult.”

“… I’m very proud and it’s a blessing, it’s humbling for me to get to sit here and talk to you as the head football coach at Lawrence Co. high school and represent these young men. They are just quality individuals. They do the right thing. They treat others the way they want to be treated and it’s evident everyday that you are around them. You can see it with the way they interact with these youth league after practice, just very very proud and feel like we certainly have the makings of something special this year, just because we do have such good people involved in our football program.”