Part 3 of 5
THE UNFORGETTABLES: New frontier….THE FINAL 4
I’ve been around football for almost 40 years. I’ve still never seen a season of frustration turned to excitement then climax turned to rock bottom to cloud nine like the 1991-92 Regional Champs/Final 4 Lawrence County Bulldogs (1st time in Lawrence County High School history). It was a team that made history in multiple ways. Buckle up!!
The year was 1991. It was a Summer of fun.The “Seattle Grunge Scene” hit the airways with new bands like Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Alice n Chains. Hip Hop was also on the rise. A new concept called “Passing League Tournaments” would form. It was a concept where teams would brush up on their passing game and defense (without linemen). We would pile up in cars jamming to the new music, go roll everybody then come back to explore our new Yatesville Lake that was in its infant stages. It was a magical Summer.
On the field we were returning as talented as a team as Lawrence County has had can argue has ever had. It started up front with a nasty offensive like. At Center was James Moore (played at Morehead). A friend with the highest of character that would go on to be a Fire Chief in Lexington. The left side Shawn Hill and Donnie Bishop. Two stout guys that would go on and both make a career in the military (thank you for your service along with Joe Bevins, Josh Sexton, John Buckley and Foster Ferguson from these 3 teams). Shawn is as powerful of a left handed hitter as I’ve seen at Lawrence Co (along with Jason Sexton and Jeff Cyrus). The right side of the line had the nasty duo of Stuart Cook who had a barrel for a chest and would be dominant at Morehead and Chris Hamilton. Coach Goldsmith thinks Chris might be the best 2 way lineman he coached which reflected as 2nd team All State and the Kentucky/Tennessee All Star Game.
“Ham” was so agile for his size. As kids we would be in tears as he would do easy flips, one and a half’s, gainers, Cowboys, flying squirrel’s you name it off of the diving boards (still not sure how nobody died on our high dive). Ham likes to remind us that he is a member of his made up “Louisa City Pool Diving Board All Stars!” He’s not lying he was a freak! Thus front five was full of personality which made it fun.
At Quarterback we were returning possibly the past passer in LC history in Tracis Phelps. Travis is now a college professor and lead singer of a band in San Diego. You’re starting to see the fun dynamics with high character in this team. Trav was a competitor! Every game he was on the pitchers moujd we knew we were going for the win and same under center.
Trav didn’t lack weapons. In fact they were as elite as it gets. His favorite target out slot Webb Roberts. Webb Roberts. Webb had hands like Gerad Parker, speed like Mike West and he was benching well over 300lbs as a slot!! Webb could slide in the backfield put up a 100+ rushing game or slide out to the slot where he was a top 10 receiver in KY 2 straight seasons.
At TE was Lee Abshire. Lee Abshire….we’ll get to him a lot more this evening. Can make argument he’s as good as has played here. Violent hitter like Fred Dean. Hands like Webb and Parker. Only Soph starter on Final 4 team. Jr yr had to step in 1st time ever at QB and rushed for 300+ yds vs Mason Co!!
Other receiver rotated often Roger Lyons who would QB the next year.
At fullback leading the way was Morgan Cyrus (“Mo” to us). Mo was as good of a middle backer that has played here. We didn’t get him eligible until mid season and it changed the season! He was a load at fullback like a 20lb less Travis Hughes.
Mo was the MVP of the state baseball all star game his Sr year. We only lost one game ever with him on the mound.
Shane Cook rotated at fullback with Mo. Shane was the ultimate team player. Never complained and when his number was called he would be the one to come up with a massive long touchdown run in the Final Four!
Behind Mo was the demeanor of our team Eric Cantrell. He was an anvil tucked away amongst the violent trees blocking in front of him. You couldn’t find him and when you did it was to late he had already trucked you!
To put in perspective one tough practice Coach decided to lighten up and have some laughs with us. Coach said “who’s the man boys?” The whole team said “you’re the man!” We loved him!! One voice yelled “I’m the man!” It was E (Eric). Coach immediately put him down nose to nose with Stu. They crashed into each other and coach asked again. E repeated “I’m the man!” Coach put Ham down there with Stu to go against Eric. They collide and coach asks again. E repeats again “I’m the man”. Coach yells for Shawn to get down with Stu and Ham to go against E! This is our 3 beasts vs our stud tailback! They all fire off in a massive collision and the whistle blows. “Eric who’s the man?” E said “I told you I’m the man!!” Coach Goldsmith laughing said “he’s right boys he’s the man you all can go home no running!”
The defensive side of the ball was the same way. Everybody could run everybody played violent. Dalton Brooks and I played Free Safety and Strong Safety. There was a philosophy if we could intercept the ball we would. If not we’d try to knock it down. If we couldn’t do that then we’d legally try to knock you out…and tell you about it. It was a different game back then. You could be an enforcer over the middle. It was common to lay the hammer on somebody and tell them to go back to their offensive coordinator and ask him why he doesn’t like you. To stop hanging you out to dry throwing the ball over the middle! Sometimes there was friendly crossfire coming in hot if our front line held people up….sorry Shawn.
We all played with an edge. It was a direct reflection of our Head Coach. We cried every game running onto the field ready to unload on whoever was coming to challenge our community. It was personal in our minds and we played with that passion.
This run of teams could be a movie especially this season. It’s long but detailed. Going to let Coach Goldsmith and Offensive Coordinate tell the story from their seat on the roller coaster.
COACH GOLDSMITH:
It’s been 30 years since the 1991 Lawrence County team did what the 1973 Louisa High Team did under Coach Luke Varney. Both teams went to the State Semi-Finals. A lot has happened in the last 30 years. We’ve lost some GREAT BULLDOGS and some great Bulldog supporters.
We came into this season with Very High Expectations. Our boys worked there tails off all off-season and we were as strong and physical a team that I was ever a part of. Our coaches were all in and couldn’t wait to get started. Our fans were all geared up and ready for hopefully a historic season. We had 7 seniors and they all started. We had good junior and sophomore classes and we were ready to go. We had 7 starters on offense and defense returning. We had Travis Phelps back at QB and most of our skill back. We had a very large and strong offensive and defensive line. Morgan Cyrus moved back and he was a major piece for us, but he wasn’t eligible when the season started. Unfortunately, things don’t always go as planned. We started out with two wins and it took our undefeated streak to 14 games. We just came off a 27-6 win over Johnson Central. We had a crazy rash of injuries and lost 4 of our next 5 games. Our record at the time was 3 wins and 4 losses. One of those losses was a 37-8 beat down to Russell. Morgan Cyrus became eligible in week 7 and in week 8 we were finally as healthy as we could be and hungry. We finished the season with 3 wins, taking our record to 6-4. Our mind set was, we are healthy and playing really good football. We are right where we need to be.
Our kids never quit and they had more intensity than all the teams we played. We would try to find a reason to HATE our opponent and to win that match-up every play. We wanted to play every play, everyday. If you couldn’t find a reason to get fired up, I told them to do what I used to do. I would pretend my man kissed my girlfriend. What was crazy, I never had a girlfriend. Our first playoff game was at Inez and Sheldon Clark. They were 9-1 and had a very good team. We beat them 30-15. Eric Cantrell rushed for 144 yards and Webb Robert’s ran for 110 yards. Morgan Cyrus, Shane Cook and Travis Phelps combined for another 100 yards.
Morgan led us in tackles and caused a big fumble. Blake Preece and Dalton Brooks had big hits on 4th down stops. Chris Hamilton, Stuart Cook and Shawn Hill who played with a bad shoulder for most of the year had awesome games on both sides of the ball. Shawn Cordle probably weighed 140 pounds, but played nose guard and was as quick as a cat and twice as tough. James Moore, Donny Bishop and Mark Perry played great all night on our offensive line. That night it snowed and was very cold. We were mudders anyway. The dirtier the better for our little ban of red-necks. We then went to play Russell at Russell. You would think after losing 37-8 earlier in the year, they would be a little intimidated. This was one of Russell’s best teams ever.
Their only loss was to Ironton. They were 10-1 and ranked 7th. Travis Phelps got hurt in the Sheldon Clark game. Roger Lyons was the next man up and did he ever come through. He had played Running Back, Receiver and QB and could play them all. He played corner on defense and was tough as nails. We were losing 6-0 at half. We knew we were a second half team. At halftime we felt we were right where we wanted to be. Our physical play was going to start to pay dividends in the second half. We held them to 52 yards and 2 first downs. We had 201 yards in the second half. Roger Lyons threw for 151 yards. Webb Roberts caught 6 for 68 yards. We tied the game with a 14 play 74 yard drive with Morgan Cyrus on a 3 yard run. We later moved down the field to the two yard line and had a penalty. Then we missed a field goal. It was a muddy, muddy field. We then got the ball back and Roger Lyons threw a pass to Lee Abshire on the 5 yard line as time ran out in regulation, he actually tried to pitch it to someone for a score, but it went out of bounds. Russell got the ball first and scored on 4th down. We got the ball and scored in 3 plays with Morgan Cyrus running in from 1 yard out. We both missed conversion attempts. We went to the second O.T. 12-12. Russell didn’t gain a yard and had to kick a 27 yard FG.
Eric Cantrell looked at me and said give me the damn ball, this game is over. He ran for 5 yards and then ran it in. It was the best entire team effort we had the whole time I coached at LC. The next game we were to play Mason County at home, they had upset Fleming County. On Monday morning we lost our Friend, Coach and Teacher, P.Jack Daniels. He was a great fellow and everybody loved him. The funeral was Thursday and we knew he would want us to keep on and do our best. We dedicated the rest of our season to him. Travis Phelps came back and had a great game. Eric Cantrell ran for 124 yards and a 1 yard TD run set up by a 52 yard pass to Lee Abshire. Morgan Cyrus had a 1 yard TD run. Lee Abshire had 2 catches for 66 yards and a 14 yard TD from Travis Phelps. We won a very hard fought 20-14 game. Our Defensive backs really played good. Roger Lyons had two block passes late in the game. Blake Preece, Dalton Brooks and Michael woods were very big for us on the run and pass. I don’t know how many people were there, but we couldn’t hardly get back to the locker room. What a night to remember. Next week we were going to travel nearly 8 hours to Mayfield in Graves County. It might have been the furthest a Ky. School had ever traveled for a game. After that they changed the way the regions matched up after that game. The Lawrence County rule. Region 1 would play Region 2 and Region 3 would play Region 4. Basically East versus the West. The whole week was So Exciting.
We got to practice on Thanksgiving morning and then started our trip. We had a huge convoy following us. We stopped in E’town, my hometown for lunch. They had Welcome Lawrence County on the marquee. Then we stopped in Muhlenberg, Ky. to practice. It was awesome, most of our kids haven’t traveled this far from home before. It was a great experience for all of our kids. We played Mayfield and they were a regular in the state finals and had won several championships and were a very big favorite. Our kids were never intimidated and actually gave ourself an awesome chance to win. We played there tails off and lost 21-18 on a very windy night. It really hurt our ability to pass. We both had 3 TD’s, we just didn’t make our conversions. Got a late on-side kick and I thought we were headed in. They had the 100 and 200 meter track winner. We stopped him all night, except two plays. One being a punt return for a TD. I couldn’t of been prouder of a group of young men. Jim Bob, Gary Morris called our offense all year and did a great job. I believe we had as much love between our players and coaches as anywhere. As a coach your only as good as your last game. My last game in Lawrence County wasn’t very good, I am just so happy and grateful that Lawrence County treated this immature red headed crazy person and his family like your own. As far as my 1991 bunch goes, they gave it all and they will remember 1991 Forever. I’ll also love them forever and P. Jack, I know your proud of them too. Miss you brother.
1991-92 Head Coach Billy Goldsmith
COACH MORRIS:
1991- After the 90 season, hopes were sky high as LC entered AA Region 4 District 1 after a 4 year span of ineligibility for the KY State Football Playoffs. Battling thru injuries and some tough losses(12-0 at Fleming, 35-34 loss to Raceland, 37-8 to Russell, and a soul searching defeat across the river to Tolsia, this team needed to win out in the last 3 games of the season just to qualify for the playoffs. The Dawgs did just that, finishing with a 6-4 regular season record and 5-2 in the district, good for a 3 seed but meaning we would be on the road for the opening round and most likely for the duration of the playoffs. First game was in Inez taking on the Cardinals of Sheldon Clark who were 9-1 on the season. Using a vaunted rushing attack of 346 yards on 56 attempts lead by Eric Cantrell’s 138, Webb Robert’s 104 both aided by an outstanding performance from the offensive line, and a few well timed passes by QB Travis Phelps, the offense scored 30 points and held the Cardinals to 15 limiting them to less than 200 yards total offense. The win was the first for a Bulldog squad since 1973 in the playoffs. Next up, Russell. This was a rematch of an earlier district game in Louisa in which Lawrence took an 8-0 lead, was held out of the end zone on 2 possessions that went inside the 5 in the first half and still trailed just 16-8 when we turned the ball over on downs again inside the 20 late in the 3rd quarter. Russell countered on the very next play on an 80 yard bomb that took the score to 24-8. Russell added two late scores to set the final. This second round playoff game would take place on a murky Friday night at Russell in which the injury bug would take hold of the Dawgs again. This time starting QB Travis Phelps would be unable to take snaps because of a cracked bone in his hand suffered in the Sheldon Clark game. He would be relegated to punting duties. Junior Roger Lyons would be pressed into action under center and oh what a night it would be for “Smiley”. In a steady game long rainfall, Lyons accounted for 184 yards of total offense with 151 through the air, completing 6 of his 8 passes to Webb Roberts mostly keeping clock chewing drives alive in the low scoring affair. After giving up an early 2nd qt. touchdown, the Dawgs Defense would more than settle in and gave up only 52 yards and 2 first downs in the 2nd half. The offense would gain over 200 in the final half taking the 3rd qt. kickoff and driving 74 yards in 14 plays to knot the score at 6,but could not crack the goal line again in regulation including a drive inside the five ending in a missed FG. This struggle would go into OT. LC would win the coin toss and elected to go on defense to start the overtime period. It would take Russell all 4 of it’s downs to score, barely getting in the end zone to take a 12-6 lead. They elected to go for two but was stopped short. The Dawgs would score on the 3rd play of our possession with Morgan Cyrus punching it in from the 1. We elected to try the extra point kick but it was blocked. This would go to a 2nd OT period. In a moment of controversy which ended up playing in the Dawgs favor, the officials ruled their would be no changing of who got to decide on who went on defense first in the 2nd extra period leaving it the way the initial coin toss decided it. We would get to play Defense first again much to the objection of the Russell coaching staff. After 3 plays Russell still had a 4th and goal from the 10. They decided to kick a field goal and the attempt was good, taking a 15-12 lead. The offense would take over with a chance to end this contest. On first down, Eric Cantrell would gain 5 yards off the left side behind the blocking of Stuart Cook and Chris Hamilton. On 2nd down Cantrell would follow the blocking of this duo again this time over the right side on 44 Blast and crossed the goal line to set off a celebration heard clear to Louisa which was mostly vacant because of the large contingent of fans to travel 23 to Russell. Final in Double OT LC 18 Russell 15. “Never had a feeling like this since I had my first baby, we’re ready to rock and we ain’t going to stop, you see what I’m saying. Let’s get it on, Let’s get it on”, is how Coach Goldsmith addressed the media immediately following. Vintage. I recall the bus heading back to Louisa after our McDonald’s meal dropping me off at my Jeep on 23 and Billy dancing in the middle of the road in front of the headlights. Again, vintage. On a little side note. The ruling of the officials for the 2nd OT was botched. Russell should have been given their option and would have most certainly went on D first. Who knows if it changes the outcome. Definitely did not subdue our excitement or take away from a win WE earned. But I started a respect for a man I would go on to Coach with for 17 years that night and the next morning. Coach Ivan McGlone was on the wrong end of that decision and on the losing end of that game and though he alluded to the obviously mishandled OT procedure to the media, he did not blame the loss on the officials. He gave credit to a bunch of kids from Louisa who did what they had to do to win that rainy night in Flatwoods. Class act.
I don’t know when we got the word from Flemingsburg that Mason County had made the short trip from Maysville and came away with an upset victory over #2 seed Fleming County. The Royals played spoiler in week 1 also traveling to # 1 seed in District 2 Prestonsburg, and leaving with a 4 seed over 1 seed win. The aforementioned likely road playoff path for Lawrence County would now take a detour thru Louisa. # 4 seed in D1 Mason County would visit Luke Varney Jr Memorial Stadium for the second time this season to take on the # 3 seed in D1 for the AA Region 4 Championship and a berth in the State Final 4. The seemingly misfortune that had the Dawgs at 3-4 and staring at possibly not making the playoffs had turned tide. What was going to happen favorably next.
Couldn’t wait to get back to school on Monday morning and take in all the buzz of Friday night’s win. Got to the cafeteria a little earlier that morning where a congregation of faculty would stand behind or along the serving line and eat a little breakfast and help police students before home room took up. Missing that morning from the usual group was Coach Goldsmith and Coach John Daniels, affectionately named “P Jack”. I knew why Billy was not there. He was still on Cloud 9 and it was deer season. He took the morning off to hunt on the Ratliff’s property. Could not figure out why P Jack was not there. He was a very talkative and opinionated guy. He would see black to your white just to have a little conversation. I could not wait to get his take on our victory. At 7:55 AM on this 18th day of November word came to HIS gathering spot that he had suffered a heart attack while preparing for work. The Homeroom bell rang and the cafeteria started to empty. Midway through Channel 1, Coach Jim Bob Michael came to my door. I can still remember the look on his face. Word had come to the office that P Jack had not survived. The next moments are still a blur. We were devastated. When our wits came back around, Jim Bob said “we need to tell Billy”. I got in my Jeep and drove to where Billy was hunting. He was already coming out of the woods. My best recollection is that Brian Ratliff had been notified and went into the woods to tell Coach. When I saw him, he was visibly upset. He could not believe that he was gone. The first words out of his mouth was, “we have to meet with the team”. From that point on the whole week was a whirlwind. EVERYONE had been brought back to reality from Friday. Football seemed unimportant. Life had smacked all of us in the face. The whole week was spent consoling students, consoling players, consoling each other, and mostly just remembering and honoring P Jack. Oh, and finding a way to prepare for a very hot Mason County football team. There was never a thought in making the game an afterthought. P Jack would not want that, and there was constant talk about not making this an excuse, he definitely would not want that either. I believe we buried Coach Daniels( God how he loved that title, and he loved just as much being Mr. Daniels or maybe even P Jack to HIS students) on Thursday afternoon. What an extremely hard week this was. Rest In Peace, my friend.
Now, there was a game to be played. Coaching legend Ben Pumphrey brought his red hot Royals to town to take on Coach Billy Goldsmith’s equally hot Bulldogs. In a jam packed “Luke” including many players from other schools wearing their jerseys and toting flags in support of Lawrence County, the Dawgs struck first when Morgan Cyrus crossed the goal line to finish our initial drive of the game. The try after touchdowns are foggy for me . I have no press clippings from this game. I know Eric Cantrell scored our 2nd TD from 5 yards or so that was set up from a Phelps to Lee Abshire reception. I believe we got our 2 pt conversion giving us 14 for the game. Mason scored twice also before the 4th quarter and was stopped deep in Dawg territory by a forced fumble and midway thru the 4th on a pass breakup/ tip by Roger Lyons that was intercepted by Bobby Roark I do believe. With somewhere around the 5-6 minute mark after driving to around the 20, mostly on runs off the left side by Eric Cantrell, Phelps found Abshire again on 45 Blast Bootleg Pass making a diving catch in the right corner of the end zone. The Bulldogs lead 20-14. This game was not over, however. Far from it. Mason would drive deep into Dawg territory and on the last play of the game a Royal was tackled on the very last play of the game inside the 5 yard line on a reverse. What followed was a celebration on a gridiron in Louisa not seen since 1973. A celebration of exuberance soon to be handed the Region 4 Championship trophy. A celebration culminating a long, hard path to get to the Final Four of the State. A celebration of relief to get to the point we knew we could get to even after the ups and downs of the first seven games of the season. And finally, a celebration for P Jack. This game HAD to end in victory no matter what it took.
And that it did.
Now the vision at the end of the 90 season thru winter weights and preseason practice had come true. We all knew this was possible but could never have fathomed the pitfalls or the mountaintops we all encountered along the way. What now? A trek across the length of the state to take on tradition rich and state power Mayfield for the right to play at Cardinal Stadium in Louisville for the AA State Championship. Early lines had us as a 30 point “dawg”. Video on the Cardinals showed a very talented team with a ton of speed. We were facing another legendary coach in Jack Morris who had numerous Region and State Championships. This was going to be a huge task. I can recall practice that week being very smoky. Forest fires were popping up all over Eastern KY and you could smell them and see the haze they created. Then Thursday morning arrived. For high school teams in Ky, practicing on Thanksgiving morning was something all dreamed about. It meant you were a Champion and were going to play another Champion for a chance to play on the biggest of stages. After practice we all went home to our families to celebrate the holiday. That evening, however, we all came back to the Board Office/Field House to board buses for our journey to Mayfield. Elizabethtown would be our destination that night, halfway between Louisa and Mayfield. On a light note, I remember us stopping at a restaurant before we made it to E Town. Our manager, Larry Henson was observed to look as if he had been in a street fight. Scratches all over his face, neck, and arms. He had went hunting that afternoon and had lost a battle with some briars and thicket chasing a deer. His story was hilarious as we set listening in the eatery. This trip would be the farthest some of our kids had ever been away from home. Funny the things you remember when you take yourself back to important occasions of your life.
The next morning after breakfast we continued on to Mayfield. About halfway there we stopped in Muhlenberg County where Dan Gooch, a Morehead State teammate and close friend of Billy, coached high school football. He graciously allowed us to have a walk through on his field and some time just to break up the trip a little. Billy had a photo of Dan in his office flat back tackling Herschel Walker when both played in the USFL. He will appear later on in this writing. Now on to the game.
We pulled into the parking lot above War Memorial Stadium and looked down onto the field. I remember saying to myself, we are going to play on dirt. As we walked down to field level and walked out on the game surface it felt like plush carpet. Light brown carpet. We were going to play on Bermuda Grass that had went dormant after a few frosts. Not a bare spot on the field. Sweet surface.
We didn’t know what to expect as far as crowd support. After all we were 6 hours from home on a holiday weekend. To our amazement we had a great turnout. Some fans even flew in for the game on private planes. That was so cool! Watching warmups we soon realized that our scout video had not lied. They were talented and fast. We will soon find out if we could hold up against this bunch. On this night, we would more than accomplish that.
After spotting would be EKU standout William Murrell and the Mayfield Cardinals a 14-0 lead, everyone in the stadium probably thought that the game would end up exactly as prognosticators predicted. However, this pack of Dawgs never went away all season and it wasn’t going to happen on this night either. We put together an 11 play, 79 yard scoring drive with Lee Abshire finishing it off with a 20 yd. TD reception from Travis Phelps with a minute left in the half. A couple of plays before the TD, Webb Roberts was moved to tailback and Eric Cantrell to Flanker with the play call 90 Slant Swing sent in to Phelps. When Webb ran the swing route, their play side inside backer sprinted out with him opening the slant for Abshire. Travis hit him in stride to the 20. Remember Dan Gooch? He’s on the sideline and says to me can you get a Post/ Corner ran. I say Yep, but we’ll have to use a Time Out to do it. Lee was instructed to run the same slant route then plant and take the route to the back left pylon. His route was spot on and Travis delivered the ball on time as soon as he came out of his break beating the previously mentioned Murrell, who also played cornerback for them. The two point conversion failed but WE were back into game with a whole half to play. The 3rd quarter began with trading punts. Our 2nd possession of the half would get us within 2 points. Shane Cook burst up the middle for a 36 yard touchdown on 31 Fold on 4th and 1. The whole defense thought the ball would be handed to Cantrell especially from our unbalanced set. Center James Moore and Guards Stuart Cook and Mark Perry executed the Fold block to perfection and Shane found pay dirt(Bermuda). Shane was a consummate team player. With Morgan transferring back to where he belonged, this caused the FB position to be split between the two of them. Never recall a negative comment from either. This was a special bunch. A common theme on this night followed, another missed conversion attempt. Midway thru the 3rd, Mayfield 14 LC 12.
The 4th quarter would see the Cardinals using 3 big plays with Murrell scoring again to make the score 21-12 but this thing was far from over. The Dawgs would take possession and the dynamic duo of Phelps to Roberts would hook up again as they had done so many times over the last two seasons. This time it was a 60 yard TD completion on Slot Right 80 Banana(Post/Wheel). Travis delivered an absolute seed and Lee peeled back and blocked a defender allowing Webb to go the distance. Yet another 2pt. conversion failed and the score stood at 21-18 with just over 5 minutes to play. Coach Goldsmith elected to on-side kick and Kicker Shane Preece not only executed the kick perfectly but also recovered to ball. We were in business. I can remember Jim Bob yelling over our headsets, “We’ve got it Garry, we’ve got it. Plenty of time. Plenty of time”. At this point, I’m going to stop recalling what happened. We all know that it didn’t end the way it should have. This story deserved THE ending. I’ve thought about that 3-4 minutes often, playing the could’ve, would’ve, should’ve game. Outcome never changes. Another thing that has never changed is the pride I have being involved with a group of young men and coaches over this MAGICAL two year span. It was a HELL of a ride. It was truly an honor to have coached each and everyone of the ‘90 and ‘91 Lawrence County Bulldogs.
91-92 LC Offensive Coordinator Gary Morris
This season changed everything! To put in perspective the Bulldogs were 30-40 pt underdogs in a game that could have been at the beach it was so far!
To put into perspective William Murriell’s skill at Mayfield (who had been to 24 of the past 26 Final Four’s), he is the biological Dad of Damian Harris. Yes the same stud running back who was the starting tailback at Alabama and IS the starting tailback for THE New England Patriots!!
Sometimes you catch a bad break in life like that lol! Our guys dominated all but 3 plays and earned statewide respect on a new level.
Coach Goldsmith shared this with me a couple of nights ago had never heard it:
“When our game was over I took our tape over to two Danville coaches. They said coach, we were rooting for you, but we are so glad we don’t have to play you. Your kids play so hard and are so physical. You all were the better team. That really meant a lot to me to hear that, because that is exactly what I thought.”
Coach Goldsmith
Thanks for hanging in! We’ll be back tonight with the next season where we won and won and won. Then made history again!