05/13/2025
I did a little peek at week One's opponent.. the Corbin, (KY) Redhounds. yes,, that is the nickname. Red and White. Again, a very powerful respected program. They a classified as 4A District 8 and are a frequent tourney finalist in Kentucky,,,, 59-7 record in that 5 years. Whitley County n Southeastern Kentucky, it is a public school...
For LInton folks it will be a haul. South east of Louisville. No easy way to get there--catching 37 South around Bedford, peeling off at Mitchell on Ind 60 E... which hits I 65 South of Sellersburg into Louisville's madness... catching I 64 E which rolls around Lexington where you hop on I-75 South past Richmond, past London..and eventually I assume there's an exit to Corbin at US-25 W. Says Corbin in 2.5 miles once on 25. Total time says 4 hours 47 minutes.... Course once on interstates you can prolly put the pedal down a bit more than the curvy roads of Ind 54 and 60.
THey have moved up in classications... starting in 2A , moving to 3A in 2011, and 4A in 2019, Consitantly a 10+ win per season team, and have been to numerous title games, but I don't see they won the biggest prize yet...at least dating back to 2000. double checking I see they've been the bridemaid 7 times. 4A (1X) 3A (2x) 2A (4X) Enrollment as of 2024 was 9-12 832 students. 429 boys. Their School website says 9-12 enrollment is 950. That puts them 103rd of 289 schools in KY enrollment.
LAst year 12-2 losing to Paducah Tilghman---who won the 4A title going undefeated. 12-1 in 2023 with a loss to Boyle COunty 21-14 ending their season. Boyle County also beat Corbin in 2022's state title game 32-26.. the only Redhound loss that year (15-1). IN 2021 and 2020 it was Johnson Central that ended Corbin's years... 12-1 in '21 and 8-2 in 2020. 2024 was Joshua Salmons initial season as head coach. Tom Greer had been there 2019 to 2023, will Justin Haddix from 2013-2018, Greer had been D Coordinator for many of those years.
This is a quality program. Team was 2nd in 4A in passing with 3500 yards in the air. 250 per game. Their QB was Kade Elam...a remarkable 200-268 passing (74.6 %) and 40 TDs and only 3 picks. Fortunately he was a senior and will be hard to replace. Their 2024 roster had 3 other listed QB, 2 freshman and a sophomore. Obviously a lot of great receivers too... 3 listed in the top 11 of 4A: Cam Estep (63-1027-9) Noah Cima (38-967-13) and Colton Creekmore (48-852-13). Only Estep, who was a junior, returns in 2025 with CIma (who was 6'4) and Creekmore graduated. There are a couple 6'4 kids listed at WR on last year's roster... one with be a senior another a junior...
Looks like Passing is their main offense.. but they can run... 23th in 4A... 137 per game. Cole Stevens led the tame with 929 yards and 10 TDs on 161 carries....14th in 4A.. and he'll be back as a senior this year. The offense was 5th in 4A in total scoring at 40.9 ppg.
The Defense was super solid. #5 in Def Scoring at 16.9 with a +23.p winning margin. 5th in 4A in Interceptions with Estep (5), Nashawn Brooks (4) was tied for 6th in 4A--Brooks graduated. The Redhounds were led by Jonah Mahan (30th in 4A in tackles with 109, 8 TFL). The Teams was 3rd in 4A in sacks with 31, led by Malachin Brown at DT with 8, Jace Hatfield, Luke Hatfield and Eli Pietrowski each with 4. Mahan and Jace Hatfield have graduated, but bad news is Brown was just a sophomore at 6'4, as was Luke Hatfield at 6'3, Pietrowski a junior at 6'4. The defense allwed just 132 per game on the ground (13th in 4A) and only 95 in the air (14th).
CIma was also the kicker and drilled 76 of 77 PATs...but he also graduated.
I counted 72 kids on their 2024 roster... 12 of those seniors... and a whopping 31 listed as Freshmen...!!!
in '24 Corbin reached the Semi final in 4A with 3 blowout wins before a 31-14 loss to Paducah Tilghman. Tilghman would complete the perfect season beating Franklin County 27-20.
2023 again saw Corbin blast wins in the first 2 tourney games before a 21-14 loss to Boyle County. Boyle County went on to win the semi and then State title in 4A. 3rd in a Row
'22 was perhaps the Redhounds biggest season. The won 4 tourney games including a 35-21 win over Johnson Central, then 49-35 shootout over Franklin County only to lose a heartbreaker to Boyle County 32-26. Corbin's lone loss in a 15-1 season.
2021 Corbin ran off 12 wins to start the season, but lost 34-13 to Johnson CEntral in 3rd round. Johnson Central would loss to Boyle COunty 30-13 in state game
2020 was affected by Covid, but still Corbin was 8-1 until Johnson Central elimated the Redhounds in 3rd round 28-14. Again Boyle County with the title (over Franklin County)
just for info purposes... Johnson Central won 2019 state over Boyle County! For whatever reasons the Redhounds were 6-6
Other high point years:
2018 reached state final, lost to Central 20-19! finised 13-2
2017 13-2 state final loss to Boyle County 40-21
2016 12-2 Lose to belfry in Semi Final
last losing season was 5-6 in 2012