Another long night for North Laurel

Jaguars fall 54-21 to Whitley County

By Tim Branstetter

The North Laurel Jaguars stumbled out of the gate and suffered a tough loss to the hands of Whitley County, 54-21 at home on Friday night.

“You can’t turn the ball over like we did,” North Laurel coach David Abbott said. “We gave them a jump on us and you can’t do that, Whitley County is a good team. They smelled blood in the water and kept pounding away.”

The Jaguars (1-3, 0-2) spotted the Colonels (3-1, 1-0) an 8-0 advantage after opening the game with a fumble. Cody Jones recovered the fumble on the Jaguars’ 33 yard line and ran it in for the score. Justin Goins ran in the two point conversion for the 8-0 Colonel lead with 11:12 remaining in the first quarter.

The Jaguars continued to be overly hospitable on the their next possession, as Johnny Fugate was picked off by Brandon Inman and the Colonels took over on the Jaguars’ 30 yard line with 9:15 remaining in the first quarter.

Two plays later Jason Powers scored from 11 yards out and Jamie Lebanion added the point after for the 15-0 Whitley County lead with 8:34 remaining.

The Jaguars answered with an 80 yard, grind it out ground attack in 12 plays, capped off by a one yard quarterback keeper by Adrian Wardrup to close the gap at 15-6, but that was as close as it would get.

The Colonels’ Jones and Powers added another touchdown apiece to give the Colonels a 29-6 advantage.

“The full back had a heck of night,” Abbott said. “They were more physical than us and that’s the way it is. The more physical team is going to win in this sport.”

The Jaguars went to the air as Wardrup connected with Raymond Shears for a 28 yard pass and a first down on the Colonels one yard line. Wardrup slide in for the touchdown with 3:40 remaining in the second quarter. Wardrup also scored on the two point conversion for the 29-14 deficit.

“Adrian did a really good job,” Abbott said. “The offensive line opened up some really big holes and they ran hard all night long. Offensively we moved the ball all night and they are a very good defensive team.”

The Jaguars trailed 39-14 at the half and were outscored 15-7 during the second half of play. Wardrup scored all three Jaguar touchdowns, all on one yard carries. Wardrup was moved over to tailback and Fugate was in at quarterback for most of the gave with Steven White sidelined.

“Kevin Baer had some good catches, Raymond Shears had some big catches,” Abbott said. “Adrian put the ball were it needed to be. Fugate ran the ball well. Offensively we had some guys move the ball well.”

The Jaguars also had their share of injuries on the night.

“Josh Miller went out on the first couple of plays,” Abbott said. “Gus Sulfridge hurt his thumb and of course we lost Steven White. We just need to look at the film and figure out were the break down were tonight. We got to be able to take away the full back from a running team.”

North Laurel will host Letcher Co. Central this Friday night.



Whitley County 54, North Laurel 21

Whitley County 15 24 8 7—54

North Laurel 6 8 7 0—21

WC—Jones 33 fumble return, (Goins run); WC—Powers 11 run, (Lebanion kick); NL–Wardrup 1 run, (Kick failed); WC—Jones 33 run, (Lebanion kick); WC—Powers 10 run, (Lebanion kick;) NL—Wardrup 1 run, (Wardrup run); WC—Jones 19 run, (Lebanion kick); WC—Lebanion 32 FG; NL—Wardrup 1 run, (Armstrong kick); WC—Jones 9 run, (Jones run); WC—Powers 30 run, (Lebanion kick).

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