Tough loss

Woodford County fell to Ashland Paul Blazer 54-44 tonight. It was a back and forth game featuring plenty of offensive fireworks.

The game kind of went how I expected, although a lot more points were put up than I anticipated.

Once again, the Yellow Jackets struggled to stop the run. Surprisingly,the Tomcats, who rarely threw the ball in previous games (averaging just 35 yards in the air), also found a passing game with their freshman QB. I'm not sure what the final stats were, but the Blazer QB was 6 for nine with about 70 yards in the first half and threw two TDs in the second.

Midway through the 4th, it looked like the Jackets would prevail. Holding a 7 point lead, the defense got the big play it was looking for when Austin Grubbs recovered a fumble and Woodford converted the good field position into a field goal to take a 10 point lead.

But Ashland drove down the field on their next possession and cut the lead to 4 (missed extra point).

On the Yellow Jacket's ensuing drive, Woodford quarterback Steven Duckworth ran the ball twice, and then on third and five, threw an interception. His receivers were well covered and he was trying to get the ball to his check-down receiver (the "safe" play), and the Ashland DB read his eyes jumped the route. He took the ball into the end zone, but an Ashland block in the back penalty temporarily spared the Jackets. A Tomcat TD pass moments later gave them the lead.

With Ashland up three, Duckworth had the Jackets driving, but threw another interception, which was run all the way back for another Tomcat score.

Duckworth ended the game with interception number three.

It would be easy to blame the Woodford quarterback, but he really played an exceptional game up to the last few minutes. As the Coach Chris Tracy said, you win as a team and you lose as a team. Duck was pretty upset after the game and put most of the blame on his own shoulders. If nothing else, he is a stand up kid.

Other than the last 3 minutes, Duck had a great game. At one point, he'd completed something like 17 straight passes. He orchestrated an outstanding drive at the end of the first half when he led the Jackets down the field for a TD in 39 seconds.

Ashland was running a delayed blitz late in the game and Woodford wasn't picking it up, forcing Duck to make hurried decisions. The defense made a lot of mistakes as well, chasing the ball instead of staying in their lanes and failing to finish tackles.

Injuries also plagued the Yellow Jackets. Jordan Carter was still dealing with an ankle sprain from last week. Bobby Neal went down with a leg injury in the third quarter and was in and out the rest of the game. Colin Smith also tweaked an ankle.

Next week the Jackets will try to bounce back when the travel to West Jessamine.