With autumn on its way, comes cooler weather, leaves changing, and the best coffee menus out. It also comes with FNL, a popular term for small towns. FNL or ‘Friday Night Lights’ refers to every Friday nights football game, where highschool teams are highlighted. Students come up with themes such as “White Lies”, “Western”, and “Neon”. A favorite among students was our Green-out honoring Mrs. Betty White, who passed away during the school year in 2021. For Bourbon County students, FNL may be fun, but gets our hopes up every time.The Colonels have been known for their losing streaks for at least the past five years, losing more than half their games every season. It seems that with every year comes more losses, most likely because of the best players graduating. Bourbon started off strong last year thanks to seniors, Clay Estes, Josh Moody, and Cam Goodwin. But after losing all of them, do the Colonels even have a chance this year?
The first game of the season took place at home, bringing a large crowd. As the game went on however, the large crowd quickly vanished as we saw the Colonels losing 25-0 in the 3rd quarter. By that time, the game was pretty much over with Western Hills bringing home the victory. The final score was 32-0, another L for Bourbon. This Friday, the team will face Montgomery County at home. The Indians are not a huge matchup for us, though we will have to be on our feet if we want the district win later this year. According to MaxPreps, Montgomery has a .500% of winning, while Bourbon stands at .000%. The reason for the percentages being so small is because of how few games each team has played. Important games to be paying attention to are Harrison (9/15, A.), and Lex. Cath (10/6, H.). Last year, the Colonels barely pulled through at Harrison, winning 70-53. In the past 4 years Bourbon has played the Lex. Cath Knights, we have not won a single game. Last year, the Colonels were completely blown out, with a score of 49-0. The same loss is expected for this year, although with the amount of training Bourbon’s new coaches have been putting their players through, we’re ready to come back strong.
Ending the 2022-2023 season with 3-9 was something nobody wanted to talk about. Around the 10th district, Bourbon is known for being an easy win. Something had to change, especially with the best players leaving. Bret Baierlein was introduced as the new head coach, previously coaching at Garrard County. He brought new tactics, new skills, and the determination to turn Bourbon around. Unlike many teams who sit their freshmen out, Bairelein wants to put his younger kids out on the field to get the experience they need to play these next four years. Yes, the juniors and seniors will be an important factor, but it’s the younger players who need to get out there because of how much they have ahead of them. The team has willingly accepted this new coach, and they’re ready for a big comeback. It’s just how far they have to go for that comeback that will be difficult.
