Russellville historically has been the best football team in the 1A classification west of Louisville, Kentucky. It would appear the demise of Panther football has curiously corresponded neatly with the rise of the Logan County Cougars. Coincidence? Probably not!
Russellville, even in a down-turn program-wise over the 2018 and 2019 seasons, still managed both years to get out of the first round of the KHSAA playoffs. Prior to that, and prior to Todd Adler being hired at Logan County and stealing talent like Anthony “Rooster” Woodard away from the Panthers, Russellville owned the town, county, and region.
We are talking about a football program which was 7-5 as recently as 2017, 12-2 and a semi-finalist in 2016, 11-3 and a semi-finalist in 2015, and 9-4 while losing in the regional finals in 2014. They know a thing or two about playing at a very high level in the 1A classification in Russellville, Kentucky, let me assure you.
So they were 4-8 this year, beating a very good Fulton County team twice, including in the first round, and also closing the regular season, in Bowling Green, beating a Class 4A football team in Warren Central. This begs the question, are the Panthers on the “come-up?” Are they a team which should be projected to make tremendous strides over the course of the 2020 season? KPGFootball’s answer is “yes” and Lennon Ries will be submitted as “Exhibit A” in our argument.
Ries is a kid of whom this publication had the utmost respect when he was a middle school football phenom. The 6-1, 185-pound, Class of 2022 prospect is a bit thicker than he was in those days but he is also faster, more explosive, and still plays with the same hard edge as back then. The kid is a winner.
As a sophomore in 2019, Ries was called upon to play QB for the Panthers and acquitted himself reasonably well. He passed for just 14-yards shy of 1,000 on the season and threw for 13 TDs to lead the team in that category. On the ground, Ries was only 14-yards shy of 600 and registered another 5 TDs rushing. Defensively, at his OLB post, the sophomore registered 57-tackles on the year.
Now Russellville beat Fulton County twice in 2019, once in the regular season and once in the playoffs. KPGFootball picked Fulton County to win both times, largely owing to their having Caleb Kimble in the backfield.
Kimble is the best RB in the western end of Kentucky in our estimation regardless of classification and gained 1,7770 yards from scrimmage on 207 carries and scored 24 rushing TDs on the year. We know Jeriah Hightower had better numbers but he also played behind a vastly superior offensive line at Madisonville North-Hopkins, a Class 4A semi-finalist.
There’s another reason we believe Russellville will be on the come-up in 2020. Logan County shouldn’t be nearly as good as it has been. Who knows, some of the talent which went over to Logan to get to play with Tyler Ezell and Gary Hardy might slide back across town to play with Ries. Coach Becton can use the fact his Panthers went further in the playoffs with vastly inferior talent in 2019 as a selling point.
If there is one thing history has taught us in the western end of the commonwealth it is Russellville is an elite program. It has been through two tough years, by its standards, and still made it out of the first round both times.
There are good players on the roster for Russellville and they have many key components coming back in 2020, including a bone fide, football star in Ries. Hope you enjoyed kicking a little sand in the Panther’s face the past few years, Cougars, because it appears that will be turning around here really soon.
Reporting forKPGFootball, this is HB Lyon, reminding all of you ballers out there that #WeGotUCovered and we’re JUST CALLING IT LIKE WE SEE IT!
If you enjoyed this article and wish to gain full-access to the site, then subscribe monthly to Kentucky Prep Gridiron by following the prompts!
Leave a Reply