’25 RB may be Kentucky’s best in the HS game at any level
Cortez Stone is ranked a 3-star recruit by both Rivals and 247Sports. He has nine (9)-offers, right now, and he is 2/3rd’s the way through his junior season. Stone is 5’10,” 185-pounds, with a 4.4-second, 40 and a 38-inch vertical. He bench presses 245 and reps 185, the high school rep weight on the bench press, 8-times. He is on Central’s track team and runs the 100-meter in 10.8-seconds, fully-automated. Friday night, he was demonstrating to the fans in E-Town just what a Stone-cold, killa he really is in that backfield.
HB Lyon, Scouting Director, KPGFootball
Central rolled over Elizabethtown at Panther Stadium 60-7
I don’t know if any of you listen to Scott Fitzgerald on NewsRadio 840 WHAS or not. He has a Saturday show which contains a segment recapping the high school football action from around the commonwealth.
KPGFootball has been engaged to provide a Kentucky-wide, high school football expert for the show. I was selected from among the staff to do it. They almost picked HB Lyon, but I complained he’s been getting all the plumb assignments, so it fell to me.
Scott and I were discussing the game between Central High (Lou.) and Elizabethtown High. E-town, as they are commonly called, was coming off a win over Shelby Valley.
I cautioned Panther fans that this past Friday’s visitor wasn’t Shelby Valley. No sir, it was Marvin Dantzler’s “Yellow Jackets” on the docket.
Now Central was coming into the game with a 2-4 mark. That may not sound so foreboding. However, and you need to get this down if I am ploughing fertile ground here, not all two and four’s are similarly constituted.
Central High...has played a gauntlet of competition...
Central High, one of the most talented teams in 3A football, has played a gauntlet of competition thus far. They have played a top-10, 6A in duPont Manual. They have played a top-three, 6A in St. Xavier. They have played the defending 6A champion from ’22 in Bullitt East.
They beat a district contending 6A in Central Hardin. They beat a tough 5A challenger in Butler High (Lou.).
How many 3A’s Kentucky-wide can boast of a schedule like that? Not too many.
Anyway, Central came to Elizabethtown to play a 3A opponent and district foe and found it refreshing. Central put a 60-7 pasting on the Panthers.
Cortez Stone was brilliant for the Yellow Jacket ground game. The ’25, three-star, nationally rated RB gained 183-yards on the ground, in 17-carries, carrying three (3) across the goal line for scores. Stone led the team in scoring with 22-points comprised of his three rushing TD’s augmented by two, two-point conversions.
The truth is, Stone has been killing it all season. Stone on the year, against superior talent especially in light of Central being 3A, has already gained 1,067-yards in seven games on 169-rushing attempts with eight (8) rushing TD’s.
Cortez Stone…gained 183-yards…, in 17-carries, carrying three (3) across the goal line for scores
KHSAA statistical website
Stone is averaging 6.31-yards per rushing attempt. Stone is gaining an average of 152.43-yards per outing.
Now Stone, who is being recruited as both a RB and, potentially, a CB (cornerback) has nine (9) offers. He has been offered by EKU, Louisville, Kentucky, Cincinnati, Eastern Michigan, Ball State, Miami of Ohio, Purdue, and WKU.
However, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. There is still plenty yet to accomplish for his high school team.
Central stands at 3-4 presently. Like we said, or at least intimated, they are undefeated playing 3A’s and stand 1-0 in the district. So, the Yellow Jackets still hold the keys to its own playoff destiny.
Central has heavyweight CAL, on October 13, after taking off this coming week. The Centurions lone loss this season was to Lexington Christian and it was by only two-points (14-12) back on September 8.
Yellow Jackets still hold the keys to its own playoff destiny
The Centurions figure to be favored in the upcoming game. We have run the numbers and believe the Centurions are a 14-17-point favorite in the matchup.
That aside, the last two games are clock-runners. The Yellow Jackets finish with LaRue and WEB DuBois Academy and both of those figure to be big, big margins in the Yellow Jackets’ favor.
If the Jackets were to beat CAL, they will enter the playoffs with the third (3rd)-district’s top-seed and home for at least the first two rounds. Even should they lose to CAL, they will enter the playoffs a 5-5 team, with a first round home opener, and a reputation as one of those five-hundred ball clubs you don’t want to see on your playoff schedule.
They will also have one other thing, CAL or no CAL. They will have a Stone-cold Killa of a ground attack!
This is Fletcher W. Long, reporting for KPGFootball, reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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