Storm Warning, ’24 season recapped!

There are signs the program is headed in the right direction…

Last year’s team sort of underperformed considering the talent it had at its disposal. You had the school’s all time rusher and rushing TD scorer in the backfield, one of the better two-way linemen the school has ever produced, and one of the better WRs and return specialists the school has ever produced. To go 4-6 a year ago, and miss the playoffs, was disappointing. That team should have gone 8-2, 7-3. I can’t help but feel like this team over performed in light of last year’s defections via the graduation stage.

HB Lyon, Scouting Director, KPGFootball

Morton’s Gap, KY: It is basketball season around Morton’s Gap. We are sure the basketball coach is grateful to get some of these footballers out for round ball as many of them are very good players on the hardwood.

We believe the Central coaching staff did a particularly good job this season. If you had asked us prior to the season what we thought the team would do, record wise, our guess wouldn’t have been either popular nor favorable.

The Storm lost a ton of playing talent from off last year’s roster to the graduation stage. Several of those guys now play in college, which is a testament to their ability in light of the team’s 4-6 finish in ’23 and it’s missing the playoffs.

The Storm lost its coordinators entering the season, on top of having to deploy unproven talent, so the picture was NOT altogether rosy. The season opened up kind of rough.

The Storm opened on the road in Princeton, KY. We weren’t received well, losing that game 42-6.

Isaac Earl (’26) set a new mark in a single game for thrown interceptions. We are sure he would have preferred not setting that particular record. We know the last record holder was happy to hand that title to his successor.

The Storm beat Fort Campbell the next week, got hammered by North, then watched Fort Campbell beat North in the most unlikely of upsets in KHSAA history. Manning redeployed some personnel, mid-season, and the team performed much better in the second half than it had performed in the first.

Had the Storm managed to beat the Cougars from McLean, on October 3rd, instead of losing to them on the road, 48-46; there is literally no telling where this season may have finished. Regardless, Central’s play over the last half of the season was “other worldly” from its first half.

We learned what an all-around football player Sylas Gunn (’26) really is. In our humble opinion, he is among the very best, multi-phase threats playing football below 4A across Kentucky.

Gunn registered 113-tackles, 8-TFLs, a QB Sack, three (3) picks, housed a pair of kicks, and completed 57 of 95-passes (60% completion rate) for 668-yards and nine (9) TDs against six thrown INTs. Gunn was the third leading rusher on the team with 263-yards and a TD rushing.

Gunn tied the school record for tackles in a season. We call that three phase contribution and players who can do it are a rarity.

We learned Zayden Parker could muster a fair Calil McNary impression, size wise and in rushing production. Zayden Parker (’25) gained 961-yards in 161-carries (nearly six yards a carry) with 10-TDs rushing. 

We learned if Sylas Gunn isn’t the team’s most versatile athlete, it might well be Isaac Earl (’26). Earl threw for 690-yards, rushed for 460-yards, led the team in scoring with 92-points (7-TDs rushing, 7-TDs receiving, 4-two-pointers). Earl registered 52-tackles, one (1) TFL, 2.5 sacks, and one FR.

We learned we will absolutely miss Isaac Manning next year. Manning (’25) caught 17-balls for 360-yards (21.18-yards per catch) and 4-TDs, was third on the team in scoring with 26-points, registered 39-tackles, four (4) TFLs, a sack, a FF, and two FRs. Manning did so much for this team which doesn’t show up in the statistics.

We were listening to Stacey Darnell on the radio who has called high school football for 30 or so years. He has been calling Central games since the program started.

Darnell said, “Isaac Manning is the best blocking WR Central has ever had. Matter of fact, he may be the best (at stalk blocking from the WR post) I have ever seen;” Emphasis supplied. That is mighty high praise.

Like Sylas Gunn, Manning looks to have turned in a “Small-School” All-State worthy performance as a “athlete,” if not his play at a specific position. Doing all the “little things” the right way and zealously still counts for quite a lot in the football world.

We learned a dominating front line guy, like Carlos Mason, certainly improves any team. Mason (’25) had 62-tackles, six (6) TFLs, three (3) sacks, a FR, and helped anchor the OL.

The Storm finished ’24 with an overall 4-7 record while finishing 2-3 in district play. Central, unlike a year ago, made the playoffs but drew, in the first round, a team which maybe 3As best team if not in Kentucky then certainly on the western end. Central opened up with Hart County (11-0) in Munfordville; a tall, tall order.

While the Storm lost the first round game, and lost it soundly, the individual performances turned in this year, by players who will be returning together with the coaching moves we saw out of Manning’s staff mid-season, give us every reason to look forward to ’25. The future is still bright on Morton’s Gap.

Time to get in the weight room, hit the combine trail, and GET BETTER! Football is one of those sports where you can be as good at the high school level as you are willing to work to be.

Put in the work! Now begins our offseason coverage.

This is Friday Night Fletch, reporting for KPGFootball, reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!

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