2018

2018: Corbin Returns to the State Championship and Falls One Point Short

The 2018 Corbin Redhounds entered the season carrying both expectation and unfinished business.

One year earlier, Corbin had gone 14 and 2 and reached the Class 3A state championship game before losing to Boyle County, 40 to 21. The Redhounds had proven they were capable of playing for a state title, but they had also walked away from Kroger Field knowing there was another step still to take. Most of the roster returned in 2018, and Justin Haddix entered the fall with a team experienced enough to understand exactly what was expected.

By the end of November, Corbin was back in Lexington.

The Redhounds finished 13 and 2, won their district, went through the first four rounds of the playoffs without a loss and defeated Boyle County, 21 to 0, in the state semifinal to avenge the championship defeat from a year earlier. Their season ended one week later with a 20 to 19 loss to Louisville Central in the Class 3A state championship game, a game Corbin led in the fourth quarter and had a chance to tie after scoring with less than four minutes remaining.

The season belonged to a senior class that had grown up inside a winning program. Chase Estep became the quarterback after playing a major role elsewhere on the offense in previous years. Grant Gibson was one of the most dependable players on both sides of the ball. Noah Taylor, Devyn Sams, Christian Gosselin, Zach Faulkner, Jacob Mitchell, Ross Mitchell, Jordan Fox, Frankie Boswell, Taylor Johnson and others gave Corbin a veteran core. Younger players such as Nick Yeager, Dylan Massengill, Cole Shelton, Jake Steely, Austin Lewis and Treyveon Longmire also became important pieces as the season progressed.

The largest preseason question surrounded the quarterback position. Corbin had graduated Camron Sizemore, who had thrown for nearly 2,700 yards and 32 touchdowns in 2017. Estep had been Corbin’s leading receiver the previous season and had only limited varsity passing experience, but Haddix trusted him to take over the offense. By the end of the year, Estep had done enough to earn honorable mention All State recognition at quarterback.

Corbin opened the season at home against Whitley County and immediately established control, winning 36 to 7. The opener gave Estep his first opportunity to settle into the quarterback position and gave a veteran Redhound defense an early chance to show that the program had not taken a step backward after the 2017 championship run.

The second game provided a much stronger test.

Danville came to Corbin for the Cumberland Falls Pigskin Classic. The Admirals were one of Kentucky’s established programs and had won the Class 2A state championship the previous season. Corbin beat them, 28 to 10.

Two games into the year, Corbin had already beaten a traditional rival and the defending Class 2A champion.

The Redhounds then went on the road to Pulaski County, where the offense produced its biggest performance of the young season. Corbin won, 47 to 20. The victory pushed the Redhounds to 3 and 0 and gave the offense confidence that Estep could handle the move to quarterback without sacrificing Corbin’s ability to attack through the air or on the ground.

Beechwood came to Corbin next.

That game carried its own championship pedigree. Beechwood was one of the best Class A programs in Kentucky and would go on to win another state championship in 2018. Corbin defeated the Tigers, 21 to 14.

The result became one of the most impressive wins on the schedule. Beechwood finished the season as the Class A state champion after shutting out Pikeville, 21 to 0, in the final. Corbin had beaten them in September.

The Redhounds were 4 and 0.

Then came Mayfield.

The Cardinals were one of the most successful programs in Kentucky high school football history and had been part of Corbin’s championship story dating back to the 1970s. The 2018 meeting was played at a neutral site, and Mayfield handed Corbin its first loss of the season, 45 to 21.

It was not close.

For the first time all year, Corbin had been decisively beaten.

The loss could have changed the direction of the season. Instead, it became the last time Corbin lost until the state championship game.

District play began with a trip to McCreary Central. Corbin handled the Raiders and then returned home to shut out Jackson County, 48 to 0. The Redhounds followed with a 33 to 14 victory over Bell County, one of the most important district games on the schedule.

Corbin then traveled to Casey County and dominated, 41 to 0.

The regular season concluded at Knox Central, where the Redhounds won, 28 to 14.

Corbin finished the regular season 8 and 1 after the Mayfield loss and entered the Class 3A playoffs as one of the teams expected to make a serious run.

The first round provided little resistance.

Morgan County came to Corbin and lost, 54 to 16.

The Redhounds advanced to face Powell County and were even more dominant, winning 53 to 0. Through two playoff games, Corbin had scored 107 points and allowed only 16.

Bell County was waiting in the regional championship.

The teams had already met once, with Corbin winning 33 to 14 during the regular season. The playoff rematch was more important and more difficult, but Corbin again had control.

The Redhounds won, 42 to 16.

Corbin was regional champion and headed to the state semifinal.

The opponent waiting there could not have been more meaningful.

Boyle County.

A year earlier, Boyle County had beaten Corbin, 40 to 21, in the Class 3A state championship game. That result had followed the Redhounds through the entire offseason. Corbin had been good enough to reach Lexington, but Boyle had been better when the championship was on the line.

Now the Rebels were coming to Corbin.

The rematch looked nothing like the 2017 final.

Corbin shut them out.

The Redhounds beat Boyle County, 21 to 0, in one of the most satisfying victories of the Haddix era. The defense that had carried Corbin through much of the season did not allow the defending state champions to score, and the Redhounds earned another trip to Kroger Field.

Corbin was going to the state championship game for the second consecutive season.

The opponent was Louisville Central.

Central entered the final 12 and 2 and was built around speed, defense and a physical running game. Marvin Dantzler’s Yellowjackets had their own championship tradition and presented a different challenge from Boyle County.

The game began exactly the way Corbin wanted.

The Redhounds received the opening kickoff and put together a 12 play, 70 yard drive. Estep ran for 16 yards on the first snap, Nick Yeager converted a fourth down with a 16 yard run, Estep completed a 25 yard pass to Dylan Massengill, and Gibson finished the drive with a 1 yard touchdown run.

Corbin led 6 to 0.

The score remained 6 to 0 through halftime.

Corbin had controlled the first two quarters and had kept Central out of the end zone, but the game changed immediately after the break.

Central tied the game early in the third quarter on a 1 yard touchdown run by Malik Goodall. Corbin answered almost immediately when Estep found Longmire for a 59 yard touchdown pass. Will Childers made the extra point, and the Redhounds regained the lead, 13 to 6.

That lead did not last.

Central put together a 58 yard scoring drive and went ahead 14 to 13 after Goodall scored from three yards and added the two point conversion. Later in the quarter, Central capitalized on a Corbin turnover and drove 30 yards for another touchdown, pushing the lead to 20 to 13.

Corbin entered the fourth quarter behind by seven.

The Redhounds did not go away.

Estep, who had moved from receiver to quarterback only months earlier, led Corbin back down the field. With 3:54 remaining, he scored on a 3 yard run to cut Central’s lead to 20 to 19.

Corbin went for two.

The conversion failed.

That one point became the margin of the championship.

Corbin still had a chance late. The defense forced Central into a punting situation, and Justin Brummett blocked the punt with 11 seconds remaining, giving the Redhounds possession at the Central 27 yard line. Estep threw toward the end zone, but Corbin could not score before time expired.

Central won, 20 to 19.

The final statistics reflected just how close the game had been. Corbin finished with 349 yards of total offense compared with 215 for Central. The Redhounds rushed for 170 yards and threw for 179. They had 18 first downs to Central’s 11 and held the football for more than 25 minutes. Central, however, turned its opportunities into enough points to win.

Estep completed 10 of 25 passes for 179 yards and one touchdown and also scored the late rushing touchdown that brought Corbin within a point. Gibson scored the first touchdown. Longmire caught the 59 yard touchdown pass. Devyn Sams caught a 52 yard pass that helped set up another scoring opportunity. Yeager contributed as a runner, while players such as Noah Taylor, Zach Faulkner, Cole Shelton, Nate Smith, Cameron Maguet and Grant Gibson were heavily involved defensively.

The state championship also provided a good snapshot of the team Corbin had become by the end of the season. The Redhounds were not built around one player. Estep handled the quarterback position, but Gibson, Sams, Yeager, Longmire, Massengill and Gosselin all contributed offensively. Defensively, Corbin relied on a veteran group that had spent much of the season controlling games and had shut out Boyle County one week earlier.

The season statistics and postseason honors reinforced that balance. Estep earned All State recognition at quarterback, while Haddix was among the coaches honored after leading Corbin back to the final for a second consecutive year.

The loss to Central was painful because Corbin had been so close. The Redhounds had led 6 to 0 at halftime and regained the lead early in the third quarter. They had more total offense than Central and had one final possession after Brummett’s blocked punt. One successful conversion in the fourth quarter would have tied the game.

Instead, the season ended 20 to 19.

The result placed the 2018 team beside several other Corbin teams that reached the final game but came away just short. The Redhounds had finished runner up in 1962, 1977, 1990, 2002 and 2017. The 2018 team added another chapter to that history.

What made the season significant was not simply that Corbin returned to Lexington.

It was the road the Redhounds took to get there.

They opened by beating Whitley County, 36 to 7.

They beat defending Class 2A champion Danville, 28 to 10.

They went to Pulaski County and won, 47 to 20.

They beat eventual Class A champion Beechwood, 21 to 14.

They absorbed a 45 to 21 loss to Mayfield and did not lose again for more than two months.

They dominated district play.

They beat Morgan County, 54 to 16.

They shut out Powell County, 53 to 0.

They beat Bell County, 42 to 16.

Then they got the game they had wanted for a year.

Boyle County.

The defending state champions came to Corbin.

The Redhounds beat them 21 to 0.

That victory sent Corbin back to Kroger Field and gave the program a measure of redemption for what had happened in the 2017 championship.

The season ended differently than anyone in Corbin wanted, but the 2018 team had proven the previous year’s championship appearance was not an accident. Haddix had built a program capable of getting back to the final even after losing an all state quarterback and other important seniors.

Estep’s development was central to that success.

A year earlier, he had been one of the team’s leading receivers. In 2018, he became the quarterback, led Corbin to 13 victories and earned All State recognition at the position. His final game included a 59 yard touchdown pass and the 3 yard rushing touchdown that gave Corbin a chance to tie the championship.

Gibson became one of the most important two way players on the roster. His 1 yard touchdown run opened the scoring against Central, and his defensive work helped Corbin reach the final. Sams, Taylor, Gosselin, Faulkner and the rest of the senior class provided leadership for a team that had now played in back to back state championship games.

The younger players absorbed the experience as well.

Yeager, Massengill, Shelton, Steely, Lewis and others would become part of the next generation of Corbin football. The championship did not come home in 2018, but the standard surrounding the program remained high.

Corbin had gone 14 and 2 in 2017.

The Redhounds went 13 and 2 in 2018.

Twenty seven victories in two seasons.

Two state championship appearances.

A semifinal shutout of Boyle County.

Wins over Danville and Beechwood.

And one point separating Corbin from a championship at the end.

The final record was 13 and 2.

The final score was Central 20, Corbin 19.

The Redhounds had come about as close as a team can come without winning the trophy.