Mercer sits at 6-1, 1-0 in district, and firmly in the driver’s seat coming down the stretch
Mercer hired one of its greatest former players when it plucked Craig Yeast from the head coach’s office at Kentucky Wesleyan to come coach his alma mater. In year two, it looks to be going pretty well. The Titans are 6-1 with three games remaining in which they will be favored. If they slide into the postseason with a 9-1 mark and district 3’s top seed; look out!
HB Lyon, Scouting Director, KPGFootball
Harrodsburg, KY: Mercer County had the week off last week. That is probably why the Titans, from Harrodsburg, Kentucky didn’t come up in the witty repertoire in which WHAS News Radio 840’s, Scott Fitzgerald, and I weekly engage over the air in our highly acclaimed, “Friday Night Kentucky,” syndicated radio show.
Make no mistake, Coach Yeast’s Titans are exceedingly relevant this year in the 3A title chase. Matter of fact, the Titans are 6th in the KHSAA’s RPI, stand at 6-1, have three games left in which they will be heavily favored, and poised to enter the second season staked to a 9-1 mark.
This is year two for Coach Yeast at his alma mater. Yeast looks to be getting it done.
Mercer has Casey County (4-3) this coming Friday night, followed by a Garrard County team, and, finally, Lincoln County and Coach Josh Jaggers’ 4A, 4-3, 7th-district club. We have run the teams through the cal preps.com computer algorithm. It tells us the Titans have a 97% chance of beating Casey County, a 99% chance of beating Garrard County, and a 90% chance of beating Lincoln.
Mercer has done some fine work to date…
“Friday Night Fletch”
Mercer has done some fine work to date. The Titans have beaten 2A, Danville (0-7), 3A’s Marion County (4-3), and owns wins over 4A’s Taylor County (5-2) and Shelby County (4-3). The Titans have beaten 5A, Madison Southern (4-4), while losing its only game of the year to an always tough, Southwestern team (4-3). Mercer also beat “the death out of” Paul Laurence Dunbar (1-6), which is a 6A football team.
Mercer has Kentucky’s sixth-highest RPI in the 3A classification. This becomes very important in deciding where playoff games will be played in the first 4-rounds. This RPI “score” is something we are sure scheduling a 6A team, 2-5A teams, and 4-4A teams has greatly enhanced and why it occurred.
Looking at the Titans’ personnel, Thaddeus Mays is having himself a year. The ’24 QB/WR/DB is the team’s leading passer, leading rusher, and has 2-picks on defense returned for 70-yards. Mays also has recovered a fumble. Like a lot of star players, Mays just seems to be around the football.
Place-kicker is often overlooked but can be the difference in a football game, particularly the further down the path toward Kroger Field one travels. Liam Potts, a ’24 PK, has been anywhere from “steady” to “darn good.”
Place-kicker is often overlooked but can be the difference
“Friday Night Fletch”
Potts has converted 95.8% of his PAT’s. Potts has only aligned to kick one FG, but he nailed it!
Aiden McKinney went down to a season-ending, knee injury in the Southwestern game, the club’s only loss. It is really a shame, because the ’24 OL/DL was having himself an “All-State” type season. McKinney, in limited run (five-games), had 44-tackles, 9-TFL’s (team lead), and five (5) QB-sacks (team lead).
Cameron Bottoms (’25 WR/LB) is still on hand to lead the defense. Bottoms is the team leader in tackles, ranking in TFL’s and QB-sacks, to go along with a forced fumble and a reception in limited offensive play-time.
So, we are coming down the stretch drive. A very good Mercer County program which has “been there before” is getting ready to put on its paces for season two, a.k.a. the playoffs.
Mercer County has a 97% chance of beating Casey County, this Friday, a 99% chance of beating Garard County the following week, and a 90% chance of beating Lincoln County in the season finale, if these percentage hold, the Titans will be 9-1
It looks to us like Mercer will be heard from before this journey ends. This is a program on the rise and one to watch as the regular season progresses to its ultimate conclusion.
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