[Coach Howard]

I think that LCC will have a fine freshmen group out next year. I don't think the numbers will be high because of the small group of 8th graders we had in the county this year (probably around 12 or 13 will come out) but I do think that the talent will be really good and something to build on for the future. I can't pin-point one and will not pin-point as to which I think will be the best of them because they all played really great for me this year and played as a team, no selfish players in this group for sure. Sure Hunter had a boat load of TD's but he wouldn't have gotten them without the help of his fullback (Tyler Hall) and his offensive line and he will tell you that and he has already told them that. When I get a chance I'll post all of the 8th graders names but not now because I don't have my roster with me and I'd feel like a dog if I left one of them out because they were all so valuable to our team this year. Don't worry though, the future is looking good for the high school team and the middle school team will be young next year starting a bunch of 7th graders and I still think they can get a bunch of wins but after that our team can be as good as anyone in the mountains for several years in a row with the talent coming up from our youth programs in the county and the talent on the 5th/6th grade teams moving up to the 7th/8th next year. Real good coaches in the youth programs helps and we have some good ones at Cowan, WMS, MJP, Neon and Letcher right now feeding us good players every year. We are planning on having a big banquet for our 5-8th grade in the next few weeks at the high school to show our appreciation to the parents and players and all of the coaches are really looking forward to it.