The McCracken County Mustangs football team returns many members from their 2018 squad, a squad that finished the season with an 8-4 record and winners of six straight games heading into the playoffs last season. The McCracken County offense returns 8 starters from the 2108 team, including last year’s quarterback, last year’s top statistical running back, and last year’s top statistical receiver.
Senior quarterback Elijah Wheat anchors the McCracken County offense once again. Wheat passed for 1,822 yards and 18 touchdowns on 126 pass completions last season. He has many of his top targets to work with again this season.
Senior Franklin Hayes headlines a strong receiving core for McCracken County this season. Hayes led every statistical category at receiver last season with 623 receiving yards and six touchdowns on 32 pass receptions. Hayes also rushed for 128 yards and six touchdowns last season. Alongside Hayes at receiver will be junior Zander Mayes, junior Ian McCune, and sophomore Jeremiah Hughes. Senior Pete Holmes and sophomore Nick Masek will play at the tight end position.
Junior Hunter Bradley anchors the running game this season for McCracken County. Bradley led the Mustangs in every rushing category last season, including 744 rushing yards on 143 attempts and ten rushing touchdowns. Bradley averaged just under 70 rushing yards per game last season. Bradley also had 13 pass receptions for 113 receiving yards. Backing up Bradley in the running game will be seniors Franklin Hayes and Elijah Holland, as well as junior Carter Roland.
The Mustangs offensive line will feature four names that received significant playing time last season. Junior Blakely Miller, senior Reagan Garner, senior Braden Glover, and junior Jameson Evers will all see a significant number of snaps this season with juniors Gavin Trueblood and Tayton Bedinger seeing snaps as well.
The defensive side of the football will feature a bit more youth than the offensive side of the football, but the Mustangs are quite optimistic with their defense overall. The Mustangs return five defensive starters from the 2018 squad; including seniors Trusdin Hildreth, Kolton Reeves, Ethan McKendree, junior Hunter Vlach, and sophomore LeAndre Bolen. Also seeing time on the defensive side of the football for the Mustangs will be senior Keaton Owsley, juniors Jackson Gruber, Isaiah Keys, Keyron Perez, sophomores Dalton Skinner, Isaiah Conner, Joe Casey, Nathan Helmich, Colton Crowell, Hayden Gower, and freshman Noah Adreon.
Junior kicker Ben Schofield will assume all place-kicking responsibilities this season for the Mustangs. Last season, Schofield connected on 30 extra point kicks and three field goals. The punter this season will be Zander Mayes.
One of the more impressive streaks in Kentucky high school football right now belongs to McCracken County. In six full seasons as a program, the Mustangs have won the Class 6A District 1 Championship all six seasons. In the regular season, the Mustangs are undefeated against Class 6A District 1 opponents, having 22 wins and zero losses thus far. With district realignment taking place across the state this season, the Mustangs district now includes Marshall County and Owensboro Apollo, along with usual district foes Daviess County and Henderson County.
Marquette Stadium will host several high quality matchups this season, including the annual matchup with Paducah Tilghman on Saturday August 24th, a matchup against state power Bowling Green on August 30th, district rival Daviess County on October 4th, Tennessee power Dyer County on October 18th, and the season finale against Christian County on November 1st.
2019 McCracken County Schedule
August 24 – Paducah Tilghman
August
30 – Bowling Green
September 6 – at Graves County
September
13 – at Mayfield
September 20 – at Marshall County
September
27 – at Apollo
October 4 – Daviess County
October 18 –
Dyer County (TN)
October 25 – at Henderson County
November 1
– Christian County
