Posey’s play stood out, Rodgers and McNary came up equally big
There will be a day, and that day isn’t too far off, when the Storm will come across the finish line in one of these nail-biters and finish on the right end of the equation. The Storm had three to four definitive opportunities to put the game with McLean out of reach and just didn’t convert. Everyone in the program is crestfallen; but, the team is progressing, the program is becoming dangerous, and if we finish this regular season the right way, we could be riding a three game winning streak into the playoffs. Once you get to the “second season” anything can happen on any given night.
HB Lyon, KPGFootball, Scouting Division
Final Score: McLean 28, Hopkins County Central 27
The area from which a QB delivers the football is often called a “pocket” or “the pocket.” There was a nursery rhyme I learned, as a child, which came to mind as I watched Thursday’s ball game.
Ring around the rosies
Pocket full of [P]osies
Ashes, ashes,
We all fall down!
14th Century Nursery Rhyme
I have always been told this was about the Black Death. The Black Death was what they called bubonic plague in 14th-Century Europe.
The “posies” were the flowers doctors used to lessen the stench of death all around. We know the star lineman from Central is named James Posey, but the plural would naturally be “Posies.”
The way James played Thursday night, Zach Wagner, McLean’s head football coach, must have thought there were more than just one Posey chasing his players around the offensive backfield. Posey’s play, in true posey fashion, lessened the stench of what looked like a “bad call” on the two-point conversion, with 20 or so seconds remaining, which doomed Central to near certain death on that particular evening.
It fits. Think about it!
Central entered the game with McLean as nine (9)-point underdogs
Cal preps.com
Central entered the game with McLean as nine (9)-point underdogs. The computer said The Storm had a 23% chance of winning.
The team turned those odds around so sufficiently it appeared, with two minutes remaining in the game, and Central holding a seven-point lead, the Storm had successfully morphed into the betting favorite. It appeared destined for The Storm to pull out an improbably win.
However, McLean marched down the field into the end zone with its final drive. Thereafter, McLean went for two, ran it up the middle, and looked short of the goal line from where this reporter was viewing the events. The officials disagreed. Unfortunately, it wasn’t my call.
There were some fine performances from the usual cast of characters. Logan Rodgers made big, clutch catches (as did Isaac Manning) and played clutch defense in the secondary. “McNary on the carry,” as the PA calls him, got 20-opportunities he converted into 134-rushing yards and a pair of TD’s.
Isaac Earl’s play was steady. Earl threw for just enough yards to keep the 2nd and 3rd level of the Cougar defense “honest” and hit Isaac Manning on a 40-yard score on a beautifully timed pass and route to put the Storm on the board in the first half of the game.
We talked to Coach Manning after Thursday’s game. “I don’t know what to say. These guys work hard. These guys play hard. I see a big group of men who will do great things in their lives off the field.”
I see a big group of men who will do great things in their lives off the field
Chris Manning, HFC, Hopkins County Central
“We just have to keep hoping the boys will continue to put their faith in our staff and me and know our ‘doing the right things’ will eventually net us a benefit,” Manning told KPGFootball.
The Storm stand at 2-5 with a chance to ride a heat wave into the playoffs. Trigg, Hancock, and Fulton County stand between the Storm and a 5-5 mark.
Consulting the computer back at the magazine’s offices, Central will be favored by seven over Trigg County, will be a five-point underdog to Hancock, and will be a 45-point favorite over a struggling Fulton County program. Both the seven and five point margins are too close to call and could go either way.
As for the five point dog to Hancock, we would point out the same computer had McLean winning by nine (9). The final margin was much tighter than that and Central spent much of the fourth quarter looking like the Cougars were in big, big trouble.
Hancock lost to McLean at home 28-26 on September 8, 2023
McLean has already played Hancock this season. The Cougars won that game in Lewisport, 28-26. If we’re comparing scores, does that make the Storm one (1)-point favorites?
The thing about a football season is there are ups, there are downs. There are ebbs and there are flows. There is a saying about steady is the hand which steers the ship. It may not be as well known as ring around the rosie, but that doesn’t make it any less sound of advice.
This is Fletcher W. Long, reporting for KPGFootball, reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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