The Mountains are blessed to have so many amazing football players, we felt it would be important to look at these athletes that are heading up the state leaders from our Mountain coverage area. So lets get started.
When you think of mountain football, you think of the ground and pound style that has made us famous. These athletes exemplify the ground and pound attack. Leading the way is Betsy Layne’s Reese Music. Music leads class “A” in rushing and is currently ranked second in the state. Through 5 games,, Music has carried the football 53 times for 947 yards for an average of 17.9 yards per carry. Music is averaging 189 yards per game while scoring 12 TDs on the season.
Second in rushing is East Carter’s Isaac Boggs. Boggs continues to push Music week after week for the D&D Sports top spot. Boggs ranks third in the state averaging 185 yards per game. In third place is Pike Central’s Matt Anderson. Anderson through 5 games has carried the football 99 times for 902 yards and 13 TD’s. Anderson currently ranks in the Top 5 in the state for rushing.
In 4th place is Prestonsburg’s Ethan Jarvis, Jarvis currently ranks 5th in the state in rushing with a 178 yard per game average. Jarvis currently leads Class “2A” in rushing and is the 1st D&D Sports running back to break the coveted 1,000 yard mark on the season. Jarvis has 1,066 yards on 128 carries. When the ball gets close to the goal line, Jarvis knows what to do. He leads the state in scoring with 20 TD’s and 3 two point conversions. Jarvis is averaging 21 points per game alone! Finally rounding out the Top 5 is Pikeville Blake Birchfield. Birchfield through 5 games is averaging 163 yards per game. He already has 817 yards on the season while scoring 14 TDs.
If the mountains exemplifies the ground and pound style, Shelby Valleys Russ Osborne is breaking that persona. Osborne is 2nd in the state in passing averaging over 292 yards per game. Osborne is 84-123 for a completion percentage of 68.3%. He has thrown for 1,458 yards with 11 TDs. Coming in second on the D&D rankings is Montgomery County’s Alex Hatton. Hatton has thrown for 1,013 yards and 12 TDs through the first 5 games for the Tribe. Hatton is averaging 203 yards per game.
The next three passers come from the 16th Region coverage area. Third place belongs to Ashland’s LaBryant Strader. Strader is averaging 174 yards per game. Through 6 games Strader has thrown for 1,042 and 7 TDs. In 4th place is Fairview’s Austin Miller. Miller has completed nearly 62% of his passes on his way to 1,027. Through 6 games Miller is averaging 171 yards per contest. Rounding out the TOP 5 is Raceland Ram Logan Lundy. Lundy, who has thrown for more TD’s than anyone else on the list (14), has completed 59% of his passes for 1,022 yards. Lundy continues to turn heads with his performances this season.
When you have the 2nd ranked passer in the state it is obvious you have great receivers and Shelby Valley is no different. Leading the D&D coverage area in receiving is Shelby Valley’s Brady Bentley. Bentley currently ranks 4th in the state with his 116 yard per game average. Bentley has caught 26 passes for 582 yards and 5 TDs. Bentley is averaging 22.4 yards per catch. In second place is Fleming County’s Landon Johnson’s 95 yards per game average. Johnson has caught 24 passes for 476 yards and 5 TDs.
In third place is Carson Patrick of Russell. Patrick has caught 29 passes for 549 yards for a per game average of 92 yards. In 4th place, Devin Taul of Montgomery County is off to a great start. Taul has 18 catches for 410 yards and 6 TDs. Finally, the 5th spot belongs to another Shelby Valley Wildcat Johns Fields. Through the first 5 games of the season, Fields has caught 15 catches for 347 yards and 4 TDs.
We have all heard the saying offense wins games and defense wins championships. Now let’s look at those defensive superstars.
Leading the way in tackles is East Ridge Warrior Steven Layne. Layne has 53 solo tackles, 23 assisted tackles, 8 of which were loss. Stevens currently ranks 2nd in the state with his amazing 15.2 tackle per game average.. Next is the first in a trio of Pikeville Panthers making our Top 5. In second place, is Carson Wright. Through 5 games, Wright has 64 total tackles, 32 Solo and 32 assisted, for a 12.8 tackle per game average. His performance currently lands him 8th in the state.
In the third spot is Lewis County’s Austin Howard and his 12.6 tackle per game average. Through the first 6 games he has 63 total tackles with 33 being solo and 30 assisted. In the final two spots we head back to Pikeville for Devin Derossett and Brenden Anthony. In the 4th spot Derosett has 60 tackles, 19 solo and 41 assisted. The 12 tackles per game places him 14th in the state. In the 5th spot for the D&D Sports ranking, is Pikeville’s Brenden Anthony and his 11.2 tackle per game average. Anthony has made 56 tackles through 5 games, 24 solo and 32 assisted.
When you talk about pass coverage you start in Louisa with the Lawrence County Bulldog’s Lawson Baisden. The Lawrence County defense is one of the main reasons the Bulldogs continue to impress people in the D&D Coverage area. One of their leaders is Lawson Baisden as he has 4 interceptions on the season, 1 which was returned for a touchdown. The next four players on the list all have 3 INTs on the season. The list includes Belfry’s Aidan Burke, Raceland’s Jules Fasrrow, Rowan County’s Johsua Drake and East Carter’s Michael Hall.
Photos submitted
