No current Fairdale High School student had ever felt the kind of buzz they were enjoying last year, thanks to its football team. Riding an 11-game winning streak, the Bulldogs finished the 2019 season with an 11-2 record, the first winning season since 2015.
Last year’s seniors would have been in middle school then.
“It really helps when you’re successful football-wise. It kicks the whole year for the whole building,” Fairdale football coach Louis Dover said. “We’re going into winter sports with expectations raised. Everybody’s in the believe corner. The teachers are happy for the kids. It does change the whole building.”
Averaging nearly 43 points per game, the second highest in Class 5A last year, the Bulldogs electrified the school and the community. Defense allowed just over two touchdowns per contest. It just seemed like the stars were aligning, finishing the season with the best record this century.
“Once we caught fire, we got on that roll and things were just clicking — lot of seniors and older kids and juniors that have been around the program for three years,” Dover said. “New guys that came into the system brought our level up. Light bulbs were coming on. It was a fun year to watch that group grow together.”
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Heading into 2020, as Dover said, “the standard is the standard,” meaning there’s no raised or lowered expectations. He expects the players, many of whom saw last year how the upperclassmen clicked together, to buy into the standard and perform their best.
Still, some firepower will be gone. An 11-game winning streak might be a reach just based on the number of last season’s contributors that are not longer on the team.
“We know we’re going to take a step back athletically,” Dover said. “You can’t graduate your top four receivers, top three running backs and starting quarterback and stay at the same level.”
Quarterback Trey McCoy, who threw for 2,373 yards and 34 touchdowns, will be replaced by Logan Coleman, whose transfer from North Hardin was recently finalized. Deshawn Hamilton, who was not eligible to play last year after transferring from Doss, will lead the running back group that also includes Jordan Eskridge and Devon Stratton, who transferred from Male.
Wide receivers Daymont Tandy and Josh Kennebrew will play even bigger roles to replace all the production lost.
Defensively, with much of the linebacker corps gone and the secondary still in development, Dover expects lineman Jaybereon Travis to anchor the front in replacing last year’s leaders Ezekiel Kennebrew and Demondtae Wilson.
“He’s a bit undersized compared to others but he’s got a motor, he’s tough and physical,” the coach said. “Travis stole the show a lot of times on film last year.”
During last year’s win streak, there were naysayers of the Bulldogs who thought because of their relatively weak schedule, their record wasn’t comparable to some of the other top teams in Class 5A. Fairdale had the 14th highest RPI while the other six teams with double-digit wins in the class all had the highest RPIs.
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But entering his fifth year as the Fairdale coach, Dover said he understands and respects the RPI system and that he can only control what he can control. Considering the already abbreviated season and offseason filled with questions, he just wants to have a season for his players.
“It’s a little frustrating at this point because we wanted to have been farther along in preparation for the season,” he said. “We would’ve already been in the season by now. As we’re installing stuff, we got to be quick and understand our team and personnel.”
David J. Kim: DKim@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @_DavidJKim. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: https://ift.tt/2Z9C9oV.
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Can Fairdale football repeat last year's magical season? - Courier Journal
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