MIDWEEK MIDLINE: Greenup way up

Nov. 16—Zack Moore raised his voice to be heard over the din.

A couple of Greenup County players celebrated a 28-7 victory over Lawrence County on Friday night by making like bobsledders for a muddy spot on Luke Varney Jr. Memorial Stadium's field.

The Musketeers coach, spotting this and hoping to prevent their teammates from following suit, put a stop to it.

"Act like you've done it before!" Moore called out.

While that's a normal sentiment for coaches, thing is, Greenup County hadn't done it before — "it" meaning winning second-round playoff games or compiling eight victories in the same year.

At least, this particular group of Musketeers hasn't, nor had it come close. The defeat of the Bulldogs sent Greenup County to the third round of the postseason for the first time since 2007. It also boosted the Musketeers to eight wins, which hadn't happened since 1998.

Greenup County's joy, in that context, made perfect sense.

And the Musketeers have earned it, climbing from a winless-on-the-field season in 2021 to within one victory of their first state semifinal trip in 45 years.

"It's just been fun," Moore said. "This is a great group of kids to do it with."

Greenup County continued its season-long trend of making big plays in big moments. On Friday, the Musketeers forced a pair of Lawrence County fumbles and turned them into two touchdowns in a span of 14 seconds.

That created separation from a one-score game with less than three minutes remaining into a comfortable victory.

Greenup County's physicality played a role, too, in limiting Lawrence County's prolific ground offense — admittedly slowed with Dylan Ferguson limited and Kaden Gillispie out due to injury — nearly 100 rushing yards and four touchdowns under the Bulldogs' per-game averages.

That was indicative, Moore said, of the Musketeers' mindset.

"I think a lot of times, being physical is being confident," he said, "being confident that physically you're able to withstand the bang, and also, if 'I know what I'm doing, I know where I'm going,' then it's easy to be physical.

"When you're confused, you play slow and you will not play physical. Our kids do a good job at what we do, and they play physical."

Like the current crop of Musketeers — none of whom were born the last time the program won eight games, and who would've still been in diapers or pull-ups when Greenup County last played in the region final — Moore is competing in his first third-round game.

It will also be his last. Moore has announced intent to step down following his 24th season as a coach, in keeping with school district policy because he is an administrator.

Moore has shied away from any sort of "last ride" talk, but has had plenty to relish during his last go-around.

"I'm like the kids," he said. "I'm just trying to enjoy this all I possibly can and really not bring too much into it."

Even if Moore discouraged the Musketeers from scuffing up Lawrence County's field Friday any more than they already had by pounding the ground game through a steady rain, Greenup County was sure to still have its opportunity to unwind, he said.

"Believe me, they don't lack for having fun," Moore said. "I don't want to say I dread this bus trip back, but usually I like to relax on the bus trip back. That bus is gonna be rocking, so I hope our bus driver, she's got ear plugs or thick skin, because it gets a little rowdy on there after a win, especially a big one like this."

Three-and-Out

—A reporter wondered aloud to Chad Tackett how many Ashland players had competed in both of the Tomcats' most recent playoff victories over Belfry, on Friday and in the 2020 state semifinals.

"None," Ashland's coach said, chuckling.

That was a slight exaggeration — a few players are listed in game statistics on the KHSAA website as having played in both games — but none of them recorded any other stat in the 2020 encounter. and no Tomcats who got on the field Friday did so in Ashland's loss at Belfry in the 2019 region final.

The Tomcats and Pirates only went one season between high-stakes playoff matchups at Putnam Stadium, but the general lack of personnel overlap between them for Ashland was a nod to typical roster turnover at the high school level.

The same was true for Belfry, which fielded this year what coach Philip Haywood called a few weeks ago the youngest team he can remember in 48 seasons as a head coach.

Within that context, Tackett was impressed with the Tomcats' response to the physicality needed to be successful against the Pirates, for whom that has long been a calling card.

"I think that's the mantra we've had since July 11, just trying to be a program that's known as being physical and tough," Tackett said. "We're not where we want to be, but we're trending in that direction."

That was on display as Ashland forced six turnovers. The Tomcats also picked up 348 yards of offense and did it in nearly balanced fashion — 179 through the air, 169 on the ground — despite weather conditions not conducive to throwing the ball.

"I think we surprised ourselves a little bit with how well we blocked and how efficient we were running the ball," Tackett said.

It was an important week to be able to move the ball multiple ways, which the Tomcats have done effectively over the course of the year. They've rushed for 2,205 yards and passed for 1,976.

"We feel like, if you want to take away our run, then we'll throw it 50 times," Tackett said. "If you want to take away the passing game, kinda like Friday night when the weather took the passing game away from us, we can go to the ground, too. That's the way we want to be built offensively."

—Five northeastern Kentucky teams will compete in the third round of the playoffs this week.

That has become so normal it's easy to forget not long ago it wasn't.

Ashland, Greenup County, Johnson Central, Paintsville and Raceland comprise this year's area delegation to what used to be called the region finals (colloquially it still is, although the distinction of "region" no longer truly exists as RPI sets matchups for the third and fourth rounds of the playoffs now).

That makes 2022 the eighth time in the last nine years that at least four northeastern Kentucky teams qualified for this round. That didn't happen once from 1989-2013.

Another indication of the continuing growth of quality football in this area is that nine northeastern Kentucky programs have made a trip to the third round within the last three seasons. East Carter, Fleming County, Rowan County and West Carter join the aforementioned five in having accomplished that at least once since 2020.

Russell and Lawrence County have also each made at least two region finals during that stretch dating back to 2014.

This isn't the first "golden era" of widespread area representation in meaningful rounds of the playoffs. Notably, northeastern Kentucky produced four or more teams in region finals nine times in a 12-year span, from 1977-88.

We will avoid comparisons between the two eras, primarily because the playoff structure is so different. The KHSAA's realignment from four classes to six in 2007 likely made it easier for more area teams to make the postseason. and the playoff format has since 1987 gone from accepting one team per district, to two, to four.

But it's more difficult once the playoffs actually commence to reach the region final, which is now the third round of the postseason. Until 1987, it was the first.

Either way, it's undeniable area programs have resumed an outsized role in determining who lifts the big golden football-shaped trophy at the end of the year.

—A handful of Ironton personnel were honored among tops in Division V Southeast District football last week, including three superlative mentions.

Fighting Tigers receiver Ty Perkins was selected the district's Offensive Player of the Year by the Ohio Prep Sports Writers Association, while Ironton's Lincoln Barnes claimed Defensive Player of the Year recognition.

Tigers coach Trevon Pendleton is one of three sideline bosses sharing Coach of the Year honors. He split them with Portsmouth West's Todd Gilliland and Heath Hinton of Zane Trace.

Eight Ironton players cracked the first-team offense or defense. Perkins got on as a receiver, Noah Patterson made the offensive line, Tayden Carpenter stepped in at quarterback, Jaquez Keyes was honored as a receiver and Landen Wilson picked up an all-purpose nod.

Defensively, Barnes and Trevor Carter were recognized as first-team linebackers and Amari Felder made the list at defensive back.

Aiden Young and CJ Martin were tabbed special mention.

Reach ZACK KLEMME at zklemme@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2658. Follow @zklemmeADI on Twitter.