MIDWEEK MIDLINE: Memorable, emotional week for Estepps

Oct. 12—Like any good big brother, Harlee Estepp remembers the first touchdown pass Eli Estepp threw.

Having been the offensive coordinator for East Carter's seventh-grade team at the time, Harlee can recite the exact play call, the receiver and the opponent — Flex Left Motion Flood, Isaac Boggs and Mason County. In fact, he even kept the call sheet.

Five years later, Harlee is at Ashland, and with Eli's high school career in its home stretch at East Carter, he suspects Friday might have been the last time he will watch his brother play live, at least at this level.

That and other events of the week in Carter County created a cavalcade of emotion for Harlee Estepp on Friday — when his Tomcats held off Eli's Raiders, 35-21.

"Every time he throws a passing touchdown — I don't know how many he's thrown in his career — I've teared up," Harlee Estepp said Friday. "Now, this game, if he throws a passing touchdown, I'm a defensive backs coach."

Estepp then gestured toward his gut as if to suggest inner turmoil at that duality.

"At one point, he threw a ball over here, and I started yelling at a defensive back, but at the same time, it was weird, because I was like, well, that's my brother," he said.

Both brothers knew that day was coming. They were at West Carter together the last two seasons, but departed Olive Hill in the offseason when Harlee took an assistant gig on the Tomcats staff and Eli returned to East Carter, where he had begun his high school career.

"Ever since we both made the move, it's been marked down on the calendar and we've been excited for it," Harlee said. "(Eli) was more excited than me, because little brothers like to win."

It was Harlee's job to try to help prevent that, even as it ran counter to what he had done ever since Eli was in seventh grade, when he became the middle school Raiders' quarterback "out of necessity," as Harlee put it.

That experience added another layer to Ashland's preparation.

"I've watched him grow, and I know his strengths and his weaknesses," Harlee said of Eli. "We'd be (game-planning), and I'm like, 'Well, I know he can make that throw,' and they're like, 'Well, how do you know?' I said, 'Because I've seen him do it.'"

The brothers, who have different mothers and are separated by nine years, didn't spend much time around each other until Harlee could drive, he said.

Their relationship was forged by a mutual interest in sports, especially football. After all, Eli's namesake is Eli Manning.

They lost their father in 2010 when Harlee was 13 and Eli was 4. Ernest Ray Estepp was just 34.

Eli's mother, Courtney Brooke Prather, died at age 43 in April 2021. He lives with his grandmother, but with both Ashland and Carter County schools both out Friday, Eli stayed over with Harlee the night before.

"The opposing quarterback doesn't ordinarily spend the night with you and go out to eat for breakfast," Harlee said. "It was different."

That wasn't an unwelcome different, though, because of what had happened two nights earlier. Two West Carter seniors, Brent King and Garrett Belcher, died in a car accident on Oct. 4.

The Estepps knew King, a Comets football player, well. They routinely hung out together after games last year, Harlee said.

Eli wore East Carter's No. 9 jersey — King's number — instead of his usual No. 18 on Friday night. He also sported a maroon T-shirt honoring King's memory under his uniform. Harlee wore a hooded sweatshirt with the same design incorporating King's name, a heart and a football with the number 9 inside it.

Eli was more emotional about King's death than playing against his brother, he said.

"It helped me out, just knowing that I'll always have somebody watching over me," Eli said.

Eli passed for 149 yards and a touchdown on Friday. Most of them came after halftime as the Raiders shook off a tough first half offensively, riding the efforts of Estepp, Evan Goodman and Isaac Boggs.

"I'm not sure there's a tougher 17-year-old kid than him," Harlee said of his brother.

All of this kicked Harlee's emotions into overdrive in the postgame handshake line on Friday. He emerged from the locker room with a tear still trailing his cheek.

"I just thought about the first time I held him," he said of his brother. "I was in the fourth grade, and my dad brought him out onto the JFL football field, and that was where I held him.

"His playing career ending, me seeing it end, it's sad. I'm hoping he'll go play college somewhere so I can go watch him, but as far as high school ball, it was just overwhelming thinking about all the memories we had."

Harlee knows in all likelihood Friday was the last time he'll see Eli play. There remains, however, one potential interaction.

"I was like, hypothetically, we could play at the state championship against each other," Harlee said. "We go to the state championship every year anyway, and that'll save me $200 or more."

Three-and-Out

—Mike DeWine wasn't in Ironton on Friday specifically to take in the Fighting Tigers' game against Coal Grove.

Tanks Memorial Stadium, however, proved too strong a draw for Ohio's governor to resist.

DeWine was in Lawrence County, Ohio, on Friday as part of a Manufacturing Day tour of the Buckeye State. He visited AmSty (Americas Styrenics), a chemical plant in Hanging Rock. DeWine's Twitter account mentioned his recognition of the plant in making and recycling plastic.

"When he finished, he wanted to stop by the football stadium," wrote campaign spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin, "because he knew a little bit about the history, but wanted to learn more and see the stadium."

DeWine did that — reading the history of the stadium and its tenants posted on signs in Tiger Alley — and met some players and coaches before Friday's game. He also explored the inside of Tanks and "was really impressed with the long line of fans who were waiting to enter the stadium," McLaughlin reported.

DeWine and his grandson ate dinner from the concession stand, McLaughlin said, and stayed for the beginning of the game. In doing so, they saw what qualifies as another historical rarity — an Ironton deficit to an Ohio Valley Conference opponent. The Hornets took a 6-0 lead on Chase Hall's 65-yard scoring run just 63 seconds into the game.

It didn't last, as the Fighting Tigers scored 55 unanswered points to win by that margin. The victory was Ironton's 25th in a row against OVC competition. The Tigers need only to beat Gallia Academy and Portsmouth to complete their fourth consecutive undefeated regular-season run through league play.

DeWine's athletic background is in cross country, McLaughlin said. He is a Yellow Springs alumnus.

Even outside the context of campaigning, DeWine's visit to Tanks fits well within his interests, according to a 2019 profile in The Canton Repository.

"The perennial candidate — to the head-shaking disbelief of others — still retains his love of the glad-handing and chicken dinners comprising retail politics," the newspaper reported.

The Republican incumbent is running for reelection in November against Democratic challenger Nan Whaley. Friday's visit to Lawrence County was the fifth of his term, by McLaughlin's count.

DeWine was not available for comment. Attempts to reach Ironton coach Trevon Pendleton for comment were unsuccessful.

—Greenup County's 28-27 win at Russell on Friday is a microcosm of the Musketeers' season to date, in the same way that a 34-7 setback to the Red Devils last year encapsulated 2021 in Lloyd.

Last year's Musketeers were competitive deep into a handful of games, but let them slip away late, which is what happened against Russell. That particular game was 14-7 in the fourth quarter, with the Red Devils lined up to kick a field goal, when Greenup County jumped offsides on fourth down.

Russell got a free first down at the Musketeers 3-yard line and scored the first of three touchdowns in a span of six minutes to pull away.

This season has been 180 degrees different from that winless-on-the-field campaign, with Greenup County coming up clutch more often than not in late-game situations. The latest was Friday, when the Musketeers held on a Russell two-point conversion attempt with 1:19 to play to secure victory.

"Now, we are giving ourselves a chance at the end of the game, and luckily for us, or thankfully, it's worked out so far," Greenup County coach Zack Moore said. "I predicted before the season started there weren't gonna be any easy games. There is no such thing. Winning is very hard, and nobody knows that better than us.

"We go into every game just saying that we don't want anybody to play harder than us, we don't want anybody to be more physical than us, and we don't want anybody to have more fun playing than we do. and if we do those things, then we're gonna have a chance to win in the end."

Four of Greenup County's seven games so far have come down to the final moments. The Musketeers have won three of them. They topped Fleming County, 34-33, in their opener by converting a gutsy fake punt, and used goal-line stands to edge Lawrence County, 17-14, and Russell.

Greenup County won the biggest play of the game on each of those nights — and won the contest with it.

"It's a perfect example of, sometimes it works out for you and sometimes it doesn't," Moore said. "I think when you're aggressive and you try to make things happen by applying pressure to the other team, (most of the time) you're gonna be able to make the plays."

—In that way that family permeates many aspects of high school sports, as Boyd County's Cole Thompson lined up for what would be a record-setting extra point on Friday, his holder was the grandson of the person whose mark Thompson was trying to top.

"We definitely joked that Trey might mess up the hold on purpose, just to take care of his family," Lions coach Evan Ferguson cracked.

Trey Holbrook, of course, didn't. His hold was true on Thompson's second extra point of five on Friday night as Thompson surpassed the record for most PATs in a career previously held by Tom Holbrook.

Holbrook, the father of Boyd County principal Tommy Holbrook and the grandfather of current Lions Trey and Rhett Holbrook, booted 53 extra points from 1966-68. Thompson's total stands at 57 and counting after he had plenty of opportunities in a 43-8 victory over Holmes on Friday.

Thompson posed for a photo with the elder Holbrook afterward.

"It's really cool," Ferguson said. "I got to talk to Big Tom Holbrook about it, and he was really happy to see it broken. and Cole and Trey are really close. It's really good to see that come full-circle."

Thompson tied another Lions kicking record on Friday and nearly equaled another. He hit two field goals, giving him seven in his career. That matched the output of Mark Hensley, who did it in 1983.

One of those field goals was a 44-yarder, which is one yard shy of the longest in Boyd County history, set by Eric Smith in 1991.

Thompson's ascent up the records list has come in about two seasons' worth of games. He came on board for Boyd County in its final three outings in 2020 as a replacement for the Lions' injured kicker.

Kicking that many extra points also means Boyd County's offense has found a rhythm.

"The whole team is improving and getting better each week," Ferguson said. "Hope he gets to kick a few more and make that record a little bit harder to reach."

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