By CHRIS HOLLIS
Sports Reporter
STEARNS —
After a seemingly short month and a half on the practice field the McCreary Central Football team will step on the gridiron for real Friday evening as the season begins with the Raiders hosting Pineville.
A significant amount of change from the past four seasons will accompany the Raiders as they take to the field as incoming head coach Derek Smith leads a young and much inexperienced team into battle.
Gone from last season’s team which won a school record seven games and made a third consecutive playoff appearance is players who accounted for over 90% of the 2,633 rushing yard and all but three of the Raiders 34 touchdowns on the ground.
Smith will also be replacing a quarterback that threw for 471 yards and receivers that caught 326 of those yards. Junior Storm Stevens figures to take most of the snaps at the quarterback position but others will most likely get their opportunities as McCreary searches for the most productive combinations to fit the new offense brought in by Smith.
In the Raiders two preseason scrimmages much more emphasis seems to have been placed on the running game which will feature several runners sharing the work load with nearly all of them relying more on speed than power to gain their yards.
On the defensive side of the ball the Raiders will also be using a number of inexperienced players who are trying to adjust to a new defensive scheme. The young Raiders did an admirable job against Casey County after giving up three short field scores in the opening minutes but Friday night in the final preseason scrimmage against Russell County didn’t seem to have the same urgency to get to the ballcarrier and thus ended up seeing 42 points put up against them. To McCreary’s credit Russell County features one of the quickest and most shifty runners the Raiders will face all season.
The Raider coaching staff is attempting to accelerate the inevitable learning curve which this season was destined to be after the graduation losses from last year. They are encouraged so far that this year’s team will be able to gel together and gain some wins along the way before the season’s pivotal game on October 8 at Madison Southern. That game figures to be one that will decide the fourth and final playoff team from the districts five teams. Top ten ranked teams Bell County and Knox Central along with traditional powerhouse Rockcastle County are a prohibitive favorite to make it back to the playoff with Madison Southern and the Raiders seen as somewhat of a tossup for the final spot. Madison Southern opened thier season on Friday night with a 56-0 loss at home to West Jessamine.
