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Jason Hence from Collins High is the @bigassfans Kentucky Comfort Creator of the Week @jasonhenc3, @Aspirationsgym, @MLCTitanCoach, @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball, @minguabeefjerky

June 13, 2025 Fletcher Long 0

Hence is a guy who is hard to pigeon-hole. Yes, he can play some QB. Yes, he can play WR. Yes, he can play DB. Where should he play? I don’t know, where do you need him? This guy is what all high school rosters would love to have. Hence is a 6’2,” 180-pounder who can be plugged in anywhere. He was called upon to throw a few passes in ’24 and he completed 90% of his passing attempts (9/10). He caught 38-passes for nearly 500-yards and six (6) scores and was third on the team in scoring. We hear he is a “lock-down,” backend defender too. Enjoy this feature and let’s keep it comfortable out there, Kentucky!

Friday Night Fletch

Storm Warning: Is there a leader emerging for Sylas Gunn? @HopkinsCentral, @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball, @minguabeefjerky, @bigassfans, @SylasGunn, @CoachSimmons_CC, @Coach_CotterLWC, @CoachManers, @washufootball

June 12, 2025 Fletcher Long 0

Recruiting is heating up for one of ’26’s more versatile and recruitable athletes. Gunn just got back from Centre College’s spring game and ring ceremony regarding its ’24 SAA title. Have the Colonels emerged from that event the clear leader? Is WashU, Georgetown, and Lindsey Wilson still firmly in the mix? We may not have all the answers in this article, but it is a fun game to get to contemplate. Enjoy this feature about a kid you might not have know about prior.
Friday Night Fletch

Jericho Butler, The ‘Sack Master’ of Henderson County @minguabeefjerky, @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball, @HCCols_Football, @bigassfans

June 10, 2025 Fletcher Long 0

Henderson County has a long storied football tradition. We all remember a time Coach Randy Reese had the Colonels ranked at the top of Kentucky in both 1987 and 1988. We all remember his winning five (5) consecutive districts before bolting for Warren East. Coach Boston had a few good years before stepping down at the end of the 2024 season. Coach John Elliott take the reins and this isn’t his first Henderson, Kentucky rodeo having twice been on the staff at the school prior to his being named the head coach. Elliott is an inductee into the Indiana High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame so no one will be taking it easy on any John Elliott coach time, if you catch my drift. Elliott will not find the cupboard barren, as he returns last year’s “Sack Master,” Jericho Butler. Enjoy the feature.

Friday Night Fletch

Slow Motion Replay: Jack Haskins rode off into history, like one tin soldier @McCrackenStangs, @pths_football, @TCEonSGPN, @KyHighFootball, @khsaafootball, @minguabeefjerky, @bigassfans

June 3, 2025 Fletcher Long 0

This may prove to be the longest article of the series. This is already the longest series in magazine history. It is something else too. It is the most important undertaking we have ever before attempted. It is critically important we remember this guys before they fade into the dustbin of our collective memories. Jack Haskins did something in WKY we thought we would see. In a sea of “ground and pound” offenses and steady, “crowd the run box” defenses, Haskins filled the Friday Night air with leather. Of course, when you have 1989’s “Mr. Football” at QB, Pookie Jones, you have to incorporate an offensive system which complements your personnel. That is what Haskins did at Calloway County and the landscape, out west, has never looked the same. Enjoy this installment of this series featuring a guy who was a revolutionary, offensively, to the KHSAA game.

Friday Night Fletch

Slow Motion Replay: Noel Rash built a tremendous legacy at Beechwood @BeechwoodFB, @beechwood_tiger, @PikevilleHSFB, @bigassfans, @minguabeefjerky, @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball, @CentreFootball

June 3, 2025 Fletcher Long 0

Noah from the Bible’s Ark isn’t the only famous “Noah.” He wouldn’t be the first famous “Noel” either, which is slightly more germane. The biblical “Noah” is just the most renown, “Noah.” Our “Noel,” not to be confused with “Noah,”the one with the surname “Rash,” who was pretty obviously NOT named for the original “Noah” is pretty famous too. Noel Rash helped construct the Ark of powerhouse football being captained around the Northern Kentucky area and the KHSAA. Rash won 200-games and eight (8) titles run 17-years before riding off into the sunset. Rash is missed, but they were winning championships at Beechwood before him and they will win titles after him, as they have in fact done. Still, we should take a moment to recognize and remember a coach who did it as well as anyone has before or since. Enjoy this installment of our “Slow Motion Replay” series as we look back at Noel Rash.

Friday Night Fletch

Slow Motion Replay: Paul Rains; Lord he was born a rambling man @coachpaulrains, @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball, @minguabeefjerky, @bigassfans, @GCwarhawksfball, @LCAKYEagles, @LCAEAGLESFB

June 1, 2025 Fletcher Long 3

Paul Rains won a title at LCA over Mayfield in 2009, two years after coming up just three points short to Beechwood. Rains had these guys yearly in discussion. Rains, over 29-years, won 209-games and a title while journeying all over Kentucky and competing at various classifications. No doubt in our mind Paul Rains is among the greatest of all-time football coaches across this great commonwealth. Rains was the consummate “Rambin’ Man.” Enjoy this feature and remember, in the end, we’re all just trying to make a living doing the best that we can.

Friday Night Fletch

Slow Motion Replay: Mark Dixon from Perry County Central is Integrity Personified @PCCHSFootball, @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball, @minguabeefjerky, @bigassfans

May 30, 2025 Fletcher Long 0

Mark Dixon is among the best coaches still coaching today in the KHSAA. He is only two wins from 200 and has a title with three other trips to the title game under his belt already. He is entering his 23rd season at the helm of a football team and has won 71% of the games he has coached. Of course, what would you expect from Bill Dixon’s nephew and a former SEC college baseball player for the Ole Miss Rebels. Enjoy him while you can because his kind doesn’t come around too often.

Friday Night Fletch

Slow Motion Replay: (Article No. 3,000) Lynn Ray, paved the way for success today! @CovCathFootball, @EddieEviston, @CovCathColonels, @bigassfans, @minguabeefjerky, @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball

May 27, 2025 Fletcher Long 0

You will notice we pictured Lynn Ray with his wife of many years as the “featured photograph” to this piece. There is a reason for that. Football wives suffer everything their husband’s endure and they do it without the least bit of fanfare nor credit. Well, we should say “outside credit.” Coaches know how valuable and faithful and supportive wife is to a lifetime of coaching and how quickly a poor choice, in the wife department, can derail a career. Today we detail the career of a guy who was a fine player for Roy Kidd at EKU and constructed the machine we now know as Covington Catholic. Lynn Ray was 5-0 in title games and won approximately 64% of his games at a place which had no practice field, no football stadium, and 34 wins in its 8 year history prior to Ray’s retention. Enjoy the feature.

Friday Night Fletch

Slow Motion Replay: Bob Beatty from Trinity, coaching champions, not friends @TrinityHSFB, @trinitysports, @LarryInMissouri, @MoSportsHall, @bigassfans, @minguabeefjerky, @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball

May 26, 2025 Fletcher Long 0

Bob Beatty didn’t have 17-year old friends. Beatty coached 17-year old champions. Over a 21-year period at the KHSAA’s most revered, respected, and successful football programs (largely owing to him), the former OC at William Jewell College in Missouri wracked up 15-titles in 17-trips to the finals of the KHSAA’s largest classification. In 21-years, Beatty won nearly 86% of the games he coached (255-wins in 298 games played) and finished the year in the title game 81% of the time, winning the title approximately 72% of the time. That is a run of success to which no other coach in the history of the KHSAA can lay claim. This guy here may have been “The Best.”

Friday Night Fletch

Slow Motion Replay: Parlez-vous français? Oui, nous parlons parfaitement français à Middlesboro Kentucky; Larry French has Middlesboro speaking his language perfectly well @MboroFootball, @SizemoreBraylon, @BoysGirls13th, @bigassfans, @minguabeefjerky, @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball

May 25, 2025 Fletcher Long 0

Larry French has one of the better “coaching trees” among the all-time greats across Kentucky. French’s tree includes Jean Rollins, Larry Mofield, Chuck Smith, Clay Clevenger, Brad Hood, David Buchanan, and Jack Robertson. Several of these guys have been featured in this magazine. At least two of them have been featured in our “Slow Motion Replay” which was designed to highlight the all-time guys. David Buchanan’s dad, John, hired Ed Rall at Boyle and Larry French at Mercer…. both guys right out of college, so French was even mentored by and all-timer and coached with several others. Enjoy this look at KY’s third winningest coach, all-time, and a guy likely to join the 400+ wins club before too much longer.

Friday Night Fletch