ASHLAND — The Raceland-Russell football rivalry is over ... for now.

The two schools separated by just three miles will end their series after this season.

“Me and (Raceland coach T.J. Maynard) have talked and that’s the conclusion we’ve come to,” Russell coach Ivan McGlone said. “That’s the only comment I have.”

Raceland coach T.J. Maynard is disappointed in the decision to end the series.

“It’s unfortunate because of the proximity of the game and the natural rivalry that it was,” Maynard said. “It was great preparation for the playoffs for the both of us. But we’ll just move on.”

After being played for 48 years, the series took a break in 1974. Then in 2007 the series returned, with Raceland winning four and Russell only once.

Russell leads the series overall with a record of 27-19-7, and the two teams do have a Week 11 meeting this season.

“We were hoping to continue the series because it’s been great,” Maynard said. “We’re going to miss it, we’re going to miss the atmosphere.

“I've been on both ends of (three) rivalries (Greenup County-Raceland, Russell-Raceland, Russell-Greenup). To me those three games are no-brainers.”

Maynard said there are already teams calling him about the open week next year, including Danville, Tates Creek and Clark County, but travel expenses could be an issue.

The Rams’ 2013 non-district schedule includes East Carter, West Carter, Boyd County, Greenup County, Lawrence County and Ashland.



Real Extra Points

Before the season started Ashland coach Leon Hart didn’t know what Ashland would do about the kicking game.

In the opening game against Lawrence County, the Tomcats scored four first-quarter touchdowns and attempted a two-point conversion on each score.

Then Hart turned the extra point duties over to Dylan Patrick. There has been no more going for two for the Tomcats this season.

Patrick went 3-for-3 in extra points against Lawrence County. This was followed by a 6-for-6 night against Raceland and a 3-for-3 night against George Washington.

The Tomcats kicker isn’t the only one who is perfect on extra points. Boyd County’s Zac Bruner has not missed one yet this season as well.

Bruner has gone 7-for-7 on the season with three against East Carter, two against Morgan County and two against Shelby Valley.

It’s good to see these two succeed in an aspect of the game that most high school teams in the area struggle with.



Game of the week

‰Russell at Ashland, kickoff at 7:30 p.m. It’s been five years since the Red Devils have defeated the Tomcats. Both teams are coming off tough matchups with Ashland defeating highly-ranked West Virginia team George Washington, and Russell losing a battle with always tough Ironton.

Ashland will look to its defense, led by Cade O’Bryan, to keep Russell off balance. On offense, look for the Tomcats to use Quinton Baker a lot against a Russell defense that gave up 493 yards on the ground last week.

Russell will look to attain an offensive identity, especially with running backs Bryant Cathey, Troy Huffine and Googie Hayes managing only 160 yards on 44 carries, just a 3.6 yards-per-carry average.

If Russell can get the run game in check, both on the offense and defensive side of the ball, Ashland could be in trouble.



Week 4 things to know

‰The Greenup County-Raceland rivalry is still on. Raceland is coming off a week in which it routed defending region champs Pikeville 54-14.

Greenup County is coming off an idle week, looking for revenge from last season’s 42-6 Rams beatdown.

Raceland has gotten big things from running back Daylin Beach, so look for him to get a lot work against the Musketeers. Greenup may be without No. 1 running back Jeffery Williams, who left Week 2’s matchup against Russell with a shoulder injury.

‰Fleming County is letting it fly. Panthers’ quarterback Desmond McAdams is not shy about putting the pigskin in the air.

Three games into the season he is 52-of-88 for 784 yards with nine touchdowns and five interceptions.

McAdams is looking to move to the next level, and the 6-foot-2 senior seems to have all the tools. But he will have to minimize the interceptions to get the scouts’ attention. McAdams leads the Panthers into Rowan County tonight.

‰Be wary of Lawrence County. After a blowout loss to Ashland in the first week of the season, Lawrence County picked up two impressive wins.

One win includes a 42-41 defeat of Prestonsburg last week. A lot of the success comes from quarterback A. J. Cyrus, who has nine touchdowns this year leading the Bulldogs’ option attack.

The other comes from Ricky Goble, or as Bulldogs coach Joe Cecil likes to call him a cannonball of a running back. Goble has 282 yards through the three games this year.

Goble and Cyrus will lead Lawrence County tonight as the Dawgs host Perry County Central.

 

Shameless plug

Follow The Independent’s Quarterback on Twitter, @DindependentQB. He will be tweeting scores and updates from area games tonight. He’ll also be tweeting pictures of himself “Eastwooding” the empty chair beside him.



For your ears only

Tonight’s radio coverage:

Russell at Ashland (WBVB 97.1-FM, WLGC 105.7-FM); Greenup County at Raceland (WZZZ 107.5-FM); West Carter at Magoffin County (WUGO 102.3-FM); Fleming County at Rowan County (WMOR 106.1-FM); Lewis County at Powell County (WKKS 104.9-FM); Gallia Academy at Ironton (WIRO 1230 AM); Perry Co. Central at Lawrence County (WZAQ 92.3-FM).

Final thoughts

This hasn’t exactly been a wild week if you’re in The Independent sports department.

Well, there is not a lot going on in preparation for tonight. Two regular schools we cover are off — Boyd County and Fairview.

A few teams are too far out of the area for us to cover, leaving us with only four games of coverage this week — Russell-Ashland, Greenup-Raceland, Perry Central-Lawrence County and Fleming County-Rowan County.

They say there are dog days of summer, but these have been the dog days of football season.

KYLE HOBSTETTER can be contacted at khobstetter@dailyindependent.com or at (606) 326-2658.