Louisa is home to one of the most tradition rich football programs in the coverage area, the Lawrence County Bulldogs. The Dawgs have a new head coach this upcoming season in Joey Cecil and expectations are high, as Lawrence drops down to AAA and will be in the same district as Belfry, East Ridge, Pike Co. Central and Sheldon Clark. The new realignment has made this arguably the toughest district in class AAA. The Bulldogs return many starters from last season and key players, however replacing Hunter James will be no easy feat, but Lawrence always has plenty of talented up-and-coming players on their roster and Caleb Bentley looks to fill-in for James. Bentley will get to run behind BIG Tyler Combs who is committed to play at Marshall next season. Jacob Marcum will also return with Bentley in the backfield, along with quarterback Hayden Kiser. Kiser did lose his #1 target through the air to graduation in Kyle Crum. Defensively Lawrence lost Turner O'Brian, but the Bulldogs returned leading tackler Jordan Wellman and Blake Shaeffer. Kyle Crum won't only be missed on offense, as he lead the Bulldogs with 4 interceptions last season on defense.Outlook:
Aug. 19 - Ashland - The Tomcats return a lot of talent and this should be a very tough game for the Bulldogs and new coach Joey Cecil. (Ashland wins, 27-18)
Aug. 26 - Jackson County - Bit of a unfamiliar opponent for Lawrence, however tradition & talent will be on Lawrence's side in this game. (LC wins, 50-12)
Sep. 2 - @ Prestonsburg - Traveling down 23 to Prestonsburg isn't easy for anyone and the Bulldogs have struggled over the past few years against teams that were capable of passing the ball. (Prestonsburg wins, 34-21)
Sep. 9 - @ Perry Co. Central - Another tough matchup for Lawrence, but this should be a good game with a lot of total yards put up by both teams. (Perry wins, 36-28)
Sep. 16 - @ Letcher Co. Central - Just a flat-out brutal non-district schedule for Lawrence continues against Letcher Central, but I do think that Lawrence makes this a good low scoring game. (Toss-up)
Sep. 23 - Raceland - The Rams have athleticism and like to throw the ball, however I think Lawrence will just be too big and will wear the Rams down late. (LC wins, 28-14)
Sep. 30 - *Sheldon Clark - District finally starts for Lawrence against a hated rival, Sheldon Clark. The Cardinals graduated a lot last season and I don't think Skyles can carry his whole team on his back in this one. (LC wins, 20-6)
Oct. 7 - @ *Pike Co. Central - The Hawks return just about every skill player from a team that was very explosive. However they graduated just about their entire offensive line. Should be a good game, but I like Pike Central in this one. (PCC wins, 30-21)
Oct. 14 - @ *Belfry - CAM Stadium will be rocking for this one and this should be a hard hitting, low scoring game. It's hard to pick against Belfry at the CAM. (Belfry wins, 24-13)
Oct. 21 - *East Ridge - The Warriors lost their best player to graduation and ER is still a few years from really getting on the same level as the rest of the teams in the their district. (LC wins, 48-14)
Oct. 28 - OPEN
I can see up to 7 wins, which should be considered a successful season, even if Lawrence only won 5 or 6, that would be a successful season because they had probably one of the toughest schedules I've ever seen from a team out of the coverage area. If some cards can fall their way in the playoffs, then this could be a team that has the talent to compete for a AAA state championship.
Best of luck Bulldogs!
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