Football

Last season, the Williamsburg Yellow Jackets went 8-2 winning the district and advancing to the second round of the playoffs before falling to Hazard. The Jackets lost nine seniors from last year’s team to graduation, including starting quarterback Nate Goodin, who was also their leading rusher and accounted for more than 2,000 yards of total offense and 124 points, which was about one-third of the team’s total in 2024. Despite the loss of some key players, Coach Jerry Herron said his team will be ready to compete this season. “Our saying at Williamsburg is tradition never graduates. Our tradition is developing these players to step in. Nate was a phenomenal player as...

After a 5-6 season in 2024 that ended with a one-score loss to Wayne County in the first round of the Class 4A state championship playoffs, Head Coach Matt Rhymer’s Whitley County Colonels are poised to take the next steps toward becoming a regional contender in 2025. “We have a lot of experience coming back,” Rhymer said recently. “This is year three for me and my staff, and the biggest thing that I’ve learned at this level is that it’s all about development. We have several guys this year who have been able to develop. Those guys, when I first met them, they were young and they weren’t ready. They’ve...

The Corbin Independent School District announced Wednesday that they have hired Luke Salmons to be the next head coach of the CHS varsity football program. “CISD has agreed in principle with Coach Luke Salmons from Cabell Midland High School (West Virginia) to be the next head coach of the Redhounds,” said a statement from the district. “More information will follow in the coming days, and a reception to welcome Coach Salmons and his family to Redhound Nation will take place next week.” Additional details regarding Salmons’ hire will be provided soon.

We have been experiencing some bitterly cold temperatures in recent days, with snowy and icy road conditions that have kept many people inside their homes. If you are a Corbin Redhound football fan, one good way to avoid cabin fever would be to check out the over 170 videos that have been uploaded so far to the new Redhound Archive YouTube page. Lance Freeman (CHS, Class of 2009) is the man behind Redhound Archive, which went live online last fall. A member of the school’s football team between 2005-2008, the project began about four years ago when he was trying to collect games that he himself had been involved in. “It...

The Corbin Redhounds are one win away from another Kentucky High School Athletic Association state championship berth, but standing in their way is a Paducah Tilghman Blue Tornado team that is trying to keep their impressive undefeated season alive. The Hounds improved to 12-1 on the season last week when they defeated visiting Ashland Blazer, 42-7. It was the very definition of a dominating performance, with Corbin tallying up about 400 yards of total offense while limiting the Tomcats to only about 200 yards and a single score on the night. Senior quarterback Kade Elam led the way for the Redhounds in their win over Ashland, rushing for four...

Brent Jackson has led the charge for the Corbin Middle School football program as head coach for the past 28 years. In what could have very well been his final game at the helm, the eighth grade Redhounds went out on top with a 14-8 state championship win over Paducah in the finals of this year’s Kentucky Middle School Football Association Division 2 tournament. “They are as resilient as any group that we’ve had,” Jackson said of his 2024 eighth grade squad. “I can’t say enough about how proud I am of them.” The state championship game was played this past Saturday at Lexington Christian Academy. Corbin defeated McCreary County and...

This week, the second round of the 2024 Kentucky High School Athletic Association State Championship football playoffs will be contested. The News Journal’s two remaining coverage area teams - the Corbin Redhounds and the Williamsburg Yellow Jackets - are both set to host opponents that they have a lot of history with. Redhounds facing former district rival Wayne County Cardinals The Corbin Redhounds and the Wayne County Cardinals know each other very well. They have battled it out in multiple big game situations, and have spent many years competing as rivals in the same district. Corbin made the jump from Class 2A to Class 3A in 2011. They defeated Wayne County...

Whitley County High School senior Chris Cureton is a true renaissance man. He is a baseball player, a bass fisherman, he’s the quarterback of the Colonel football team, and he is a trained welder. Another role of his that he takes great pride in is that of president of the school’s FFA Club. “Coming into high school, FFA wasn’t actually something that I was interested in,” Cureton explained. “I lived on a farm, but FFA just wasn’t an organization that I knew that much about.” It didn’t take long for Cureton to gravitate towards the club, however, joining as a sophomore at the urging of some classmates and finding himself serving...

The road to the Kentucky High School Athletic Association State Championships kicks off this week for high school football teams across the Commonwealth. In our coverage area, fans will be following along closely with the action in the Class A and Class 4A tournament brackets. Williamsburg, Lynn Camp to meet in special Thursday encounter Earlier this week, it was announced that the first round game between the Williamsburg Yellow Jackets and the Lynn Camp Wildcats will be played on Thursday, Nov. 7, at Williamsburg High School. The Jackets come into this contest with an overall record of 7-1, having won their last six games in a row. Senior quarterback Nate Goodin has...

Regular season district play wrapped up for coverage area teams in week 10. The Williamsburg Yellow Jackets completed an undefeated run against district opponents, winning their fifth straight game with a 38-0 shutout victory over the visiting Harlan Green Dragons. Meanwhile, the Corbin Redhounds improved to 8-1 overall, 3-0 in district play, with a 49-3 win on the road at Perry County Central. The Whitley County Colonels put up a fight at Letcher County Central, but ended up on the losing end of a 35-28 final decision. The loss drops the Colonels to 4-5, 1-2. Finally, the Lynn Camp Wildcats made the trip to Pineville and dropped their fourth game in a row,...