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. 

As we all know, the school year ended pre-maturely because of the devastation of the tornado.  Prayers go out to those who were affected.  It was great to see our team get out there and be a helping hand to the community during this time.  The recovery will continue for some time with electricity out, and homes destroyed, but the spirit of the people is not destroyed.  God Bless the people of London.  They are a tough group.  

The biggest event for a football program during the off-season, is Spring Practice.  Spring Football Practice is essential to any program that is serious about success in the fall.

The “Off-Season” Program is in full swing.  We began that phase of the program back in January.  There are 68 prospective football players involved in our daily training sessions.  We hope to keep them all on the team when we hit the field in August.  One big step in the “Off-Season” Program is “TESTING.”

Many football games are won in  the ”Off-Season.” The start of football is many months away. We have many phases yet to go through. Spring practice, summer training, training camp, and finally the football season will eventually begin in late August. The “Off-Season” program is the first phase of the new season. 

 It’s the time when everyone has “New Year’s Resolutions.”  As we consider the things that 2025 will bring, I thought we’d take a poetic look at the year ahead. It’s the 56th Season of varsity football at South Laurel (formerly Laurel County) High, and “We’re Coming…..”

 It is a few depressing weeks after football season ends, until the start of Christmas Vacation.  Everyone is torn between talking about the season that just ended, and the thing constantly talked about by all teams, …..”next year.”