That pounding sound was the pounding ground game of the Boyd County Lions who utilized a wishbone attack to rush for 250 yards en route to a 31-0 season-opening win over the Coal Grove Hornets Saturday night.

Saturday, August 28, 1999

That pounding sound was the pounding ground game of the Boyd County Lions who utilized a wishbone attack to rush for 250 yards en route to a 31-0 season-opening win over the Coal Grove Hornets Saturday night.

Coal Grove was unable to choke off the Lions big plays the first half as it fell behind 24-0.

"The defense struggled. We used 6-2 and 6-3 fronts and we still weren’t able to stop them," said Hornets first-year coach Nick Miller. "Coach (Dave) Owens called defenses that put eight and nine men in the box and we used a lot of people, and they continued to run the ball."

Zach Fugeman ran 14 times for 167 yards and scored two touchdowns to lead the Lions, 1-1.

"Fugeman is a good back. They had some good players. Hey, they just beat us," said Miller.

Coal Grove got a strong performance from Jason Adams who ran 21 times for 104 yards. Dean Mader added 36 runs on 10 carries while Josh Fields ran four times for 29 yards.

"Adams is a good back and I think our fullback is a good back. Offensively, we moved the ball at points that mattered. But we always seemed to get a penalty or a turnover every time we got something going," said Miller.

The Lions used a 54-yard pass from Jeff Whitson to Jacoby Evans on the first play of the game and the ball was at the Hornets 29. Five plays later Fugeman scored from 24 yards out and it was 6-0.

A pass interception by Doug Shelton set up the Lions next score. Boyd Co. went 46 yards in five plays aided by a pass interference to score on Whitson’s 1-yard run for a 12-0 lead.

Fugeman broke free on a 58-yard run the Lions next possession to get the ball to the Hornets 21. Moments later Derrick Fitzpatrick ran in from 4 yards out and it was 18-0.

Kenny Groves interception return and a penalty on the play gave the Lions the ball at the Hornets 6-yard line with 58 seconds to go in the half. Whitson passed to Evans on the next play and it was 24-0 at the half.

"I shouldn’t have made that call (to pass) before the half. But I was hoping that maybe we could generate something," said Miller. "But we did play hard and moved the ball the second half. We just couldn’t sustain anything."

Coal Grove fumbled the ball away on the first play of the second half to set up the Lions final score. Boyd County went 45 yards in seven plays capped by Fugeman’s 1-yard run. Fugeman added the conversion kick with 8:38 on the clock.