Longtime Graves County head coach Lance Gregory resigned from his football position in December 2018 to become the ISD Coordinator and Athletic Director at Graves County Middle School. Gregory was the head man for Graves County for 10 seasons, accumulating 69 wins and 49 losses and a birth in the 2014 Class 5A state title game where the Eagles lost to Pulaski County 14-7 in a rain-soaked championship game. Gregory’s 69 wins were good for 2nd all-time in Graves County football history behind Jay Buckley who had 70 wins for the program in 12 seasons as head coach.
Losing one head coach of that caliber is hard enough for the offseason, but the Eagles lost their next head coach shortly thereafter when newly appointed head coach Morgan Cruce stepped down 12 weeks before the start of the season for personal reasons. In stepped Graves County’s defensive coordinator from 2018, Nick Kemp, to be the new head coach in 2019.
The Eagles do return quite a bit of their offense from 2018. The running game returns sophomore Clint McKee and senior Cody Goatley, the two leading rushers from 2018. Goatley rushed for 502 yards and nine rushing touchdowns as the starting running back for the Eagles. McKee rushed for 395 yards and two touchdowns in 2018. Goatley and McKee will have four returning offensive lineman to run behind in 2019; including senior Jacob Mills, as well as juniors Mitchell Cotton, Lincoln Harris, and Briar Buzzanis.
The big question mark for the offense will be attempting to replace quarterback Ryan Mathis. Mathis passed for 2,319 yards and 23 touchdowns last season. Mathis accounted for 304 of the 309 pass attempts Graves County had last season. The Eagles offense averaged just over 32 points per game last season.
Defensively, the Eagles return seven starters altogether. On the defensive line, Sam Thompson, Grant Womble and Alex Ramage all return for Graves County. Cody Goatley, Brady Nall, and Riley Thompson all return for the Eagles at linebacker, and Nelson Browning returns at cornerback for the Eagles.
The schedule won’t be easy for Graves County out of the gates. The Eagles open the season in Murray, followed by home matchups with McCracken County and Paducah Tilghman before their matchup with archrival Mayfield on the road at War Memorial Stadium. The Eagles conclude the season against border rival Marshall County in Draffenville.
2019 Graves County Schedule
August 23 – at Murray
September 6
– McCracken County
September 13 – Paducah Tilghman
September
20 – at Mayfield
September 27 – Breckenridge County
October
4 – Ohio County
October 11 – at Grayson County
October 18 –
Owensboro
October 25 – at Muhlenberg County
November 1 – at
Marshall County
