11 honored from NEKY by KFCA

Nov. 25—Five northeastern Kentucky high school football players and six area coaches have garnered superlative honors in their respective districts from the Kentucky Football Coaches Association.

Raceland's Conner Hughes, Fleming County's Austin Trent, Greenup County's Tyson Sammons, Lawrence County's Dylan Ferguson and Rowan County's Byron May are each the Player of the Year in their districts.

Raceland's Michael Salmons, West Carter's Daniel Barker, Lewis County's Gene Peterson, Greenup County's Zack Moore, Lawrence County's Alan Short and Boyd County's Evan Ferguson took home Coach of the Year honors in their districts as well.

Hughes has caught 25 passes for 506 yards and eight touchdowns, rushed for four scores and made 37 tackles and two interceptions for Raceland. The Rams, skippered by Salmons, were to play in the state semifinals on Friday night for the sixth time in 10 seasons and at 12-1 entering that game had already tied the 2008 and 2021 Raceland clubs for the most wins in school history. The Rams swept those honors in Class A, District 6.

In Class 3A, District 7, Sammons rushed for 1,672 yards and 25 touchdowns, passed for 1,395 yards and nine scores, and made 46 tackles. He also had a pick-six.

Moore, in his final year leading the Musketeers, led Greenup County (8-5) to its first third-round playoff game since 2007 and its first eight-win season since 1998.

In Class 3A, District 8, Ferguson rushed for 1,160 yards and 19 touchdowns and returned a fumble for a score. Short's Bulldogs beat defending state champion Belfry for the first time in 20 years en route to the district title and won seven straight games headed for a 9-3 finish.

Trent ran for 1,788 yards and 19 TDs and made 111 tackles — eight for a loss — to lock up Player of the Year in Class 3A, District 6.

Peterson skippered Lewis County to its first winning season in nine years, at 6-5. The Lions made a four-win improvement over the previous year.

May made 62 tackles, a staggering 24 for a loss, and 17 sacks and returned two interceptions to the house to garner Class 4A, District 6 Player of the Year honors for the Vikings.

Ferguson presided over the Lions' first district championship since 2008 as part of an 8-4 campaign.

Barker's Comets went 2-9, but persevered through a difficult campaign that began with his own hospitalization and also included the death of a Comet, Brent King, in midseason. West Carter managed through all that to qualify for the playoffs as the No. 4 seed from Class 2A, District 8.

The Player of the Year in that district is East Ridge's Dylan Burdine. He threw for 2,079 yards and 20 touchdowns and ran for 756 yards and six scores.

Among other districts involving northeastern Kentucky teams, Middlesboro's Cayden Grigsby is Player of the Year and Breathitt County's Kyle Moore claimed Coach of the Year in Class 2A, District 7, and Letcher County Central swept the honors in Class 4A, District 8. Jonah Little and Junior Matthews are Player and Coach of the Year, respectively, there.

Grigsby passed for 1,475 yards and 17 TDs and ran for 1,089 yards and 17 scores.

Little tossed for 1,210 yards and 13 touchdowns and carried for 1,744 yards and 32 trips to pay dirt.