Football in the spring!  Sounds a bit different.  However, it’s a longstanding football tradition.  It is more than tradition; it is a necessity.  We are allowed 10 practice sessions, (within a 3-week period of time) by the KHSAA.  We plan to utilize everyone.  

The 2026 “Off-Season Training Program” is progressing nicely. Attitudes are good, intensity is high, and all of the players are showing some tremendous improvements along the way. As we steamroll our way towards spring break, several things are happening. 

The 2026 football season is about to get underway.  We currently have 72 young men signed up to play football for the South Laurel Cardinals in 2026. We will get underway with these 72 young men, when school starts back on January 6. It is time for the “Off-Season Program.”

With the Awards Ceremony conclusion, on Sunday the 14^th of December, #Team56 has been officially retired.  A brand-new addition of the South Laurel Football “Cardinals” is set to take shape.

The South Laurel “Cardinals” season has come to an end. With the second round playoff loss, the Cardinals have finished the season with 9 Wins and 3 losses. It’s a bitter pill to swallow when the season comes to an abrupt end. 

Playoffs. We’re talking playoffs.  the playoffs are a magical time. It is quite simply, when or go home. 

8-2. The regular season is complete. The last game left an incredibly bad taste in all our mouths. Nobody wants to lose to the crosstown rival. Nobody wants to play as poorly as we did in the rival game. But for now, we have to put that aside and move onto what’s ahead.

Rivalries….Alabama vs. Auburn….. Ohio State vs. Michigan….. Florida vs. Florida State….. Kentucky vs Louisville…..Tennessee vs Vanderbilt….Notre Dame vs. Southern California….Texas vs. Oklahoma…. All of these are rivalry games….. All of them bring out the best of what the game of football is all about.

Comebacks. The world of sports is littered with them. Teams that were supposed to be down and out, after a big emotional loss, but pull themselves up and begin to play at a higher level.

The Cardinals are 7 - 0.  Ranked number 4 in class 5A in Kentucky.

It’s the first time since 2004 that South Laurel has won seven games in a season. All that is great, and wonderful, but it doesn’t mean a hill of beans to Pulaski County.

 Believing in each other is a key element in having a successful football team.

HOMECOMING. The Cardinals come home this week for a big game against Harlan County.  

Three amazing historical things came to light this past Friday night after the victory over Whitley County.

There’s something really special about starting the season 3 - 0. With each win, comes more and more confidence for the team. They begin to realize that they can play with the better teams in the mountains. It also is reinforcement, that the things we are trying to do, are being realized week by week. 

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by,…. And that has made all the difference.”

The 1 and O South Laurel ”Cardinals” will take on the O and 1 Clay County ”Tigers” this Friday night at Gilliam Stadium. This Friday is a very special night at South Laurel for two different occasions. First, it’s the “Kinetic Bowl”

Welcome to football 2025! All the preliminaries are over. The Off-Season is complete. Spring Practice is finished. Speed Training has concluded. Summer Workouts have been performed. And Training Camp is fast becoming a memory. It’s football time at South Laurel High!

When you buy a car, you always go test drive it first. The training camp phase of football is now complete. We are heading into the “Pre-Season.”

There is a TV reality show called “Hard Knocks.”  They go to an NFL Training Camp and show you behind-the-scenes stuff at football practice, and meetings, etc.  It’s always a special time when football season really kicks off. It’s a time of practice, and training, and meetings, that the fans never see. The fans are gonna show up on Friday night and see the finished product. But the steps taken from now until those Friday nights have a crucial impact on how successful your football season is gonna be.

The Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA) mandates that June 25 through July 9 is the “Dead Period.”  That means no practice, no workouts, no anything, for any school team.  It is a total shut-down period.  We agree that it is a time that kids need to be away from sports, coaches, and all the atmosphere of high school athletics.