Mason County Royals 3-0, extend win streak over Fleming to four

The Mason County Royals faced off against longtime rivals the Fleming County Panthers on the football field this past weekend.

On Friday night, the two teams patiently waited out the storm that struck Flemingsburg right at kickoff, with the game’s start time being pushed further and further into the evening as rain continued to fall. Eventually, the game was moved to 11:30 a.m. Saturday morning, with both teams heading home to regroup, and prepare for a tough game the next morning.

In the first quarter, Mason County was able to build up a lead over the Panthers, picking up a touchdown with a successful PAT attempt, to lead 7-2 heading into the second quarter of play. Their lead wouldn’t last long, however, with the Panthers working their way back to tie the contest 14-14 by halftime.

“We gave them two short fields, our kickoff team was not very good there so we had to adjust that, we did at halftime. We gotta be better at special teams and that killed us in the first half. Teegin had two picks and when you give them a short field and turn the ball over too much that’s not gonna work for us. That second half I felt like we settled down really well there and just played football, whatever it may have been.” said Royals head coach, Joe Wynn.

Another touchdown scored by the Royals early in the third quarter would allow Mason County to regain the lead, now up 20-14 over Fleming County. Another long drive down the field would allow the Royals to score once again, this time attempting a two-point conversion. Unfortunately for the Royals, they would be unable to make it back into the end-zone, leading 26-14 over the Panthers.

Neither team would be able to score again in the third quarter, with Mason County’s defense successfully holding off Fleming County heading into the fourth quarter of play.

The fourth quarter was the biggest offensively for Mason County this game, allowing the Royals to cement their lead over Fleming County. A fumble by the Panthers in the end-zone recovered by Mason County would give the Royals their first touchdown of the quarter, with a successful PAT attempt furthering Mason County’s lead to 33-14. Soon after, Mason County would score again, with another successful extra point kick allowing the Royals to build up a 40-14 lead over the Panthers.

Fleming County was finally able to make a successful push into the end-zone late in the quarter, fighting their way past the Mason County defense to score, but would be unable to make the PAT attempt, now down 40-20.

“The first half we just didn’t play our fundamentals, honestly. We let them get downhill, the Johnson kid when he get’s downhill it’s not good for us, we need to make him run east to west. We gave up the 20 there and that was my fault, with some rotational stuff there but we were okay with that. You live and you learn but I think we got a lot of good tape to watch on Monday and figure out from a defensive perspective where we were weak.” said coach Wynn, “I thought we had a good week with trap, so we’ve seen that play and they did a good job of adjusting it and kinda watching and trapping. We played a couple different games there in the second half that I felt kept them behind the change a little bit too.”

Two more touchdowns from Mason County with one scored off of a pick six and two more successful extra point kicks would finish out the Royals’ scoring this game, ending the contest up 54-20 over the Panthers.

This win marks Mason County’s fourth straight victory over Fleming County, and are now 4-1 over the Panthers since coach Wynn took over the program in 2021. Their first win over the Panthers came on November 12, 2021 in the second round of the Class 3A state football tournament, in an 8-0 shutout. That game put an end to Fleming County’s nine-game win streak over Mason County, with the Royals picking up steam as they build up their own long-time victory streak.

“We gotta get better, that second half was great football for us. Just had to make adjustments for ourselves. There’s no excuses for Saturday morning, Sunday morning, Monday night whatever it may be, playing these guys we’ve gotta come out and play football. In the first half we gave them every opportunity just to be that and give them energy and I thought the second half we settled down, made some adjustments and I called a better game I think and I settled down and told the guys we’ll play football don’t worry about anything else, the fans, the officials and just play football.” said coach Wynn, “3-0, here, what else do you ask for. Our first goal every year is obviously to win every game, but from a benchmark we want to beat the Panthers, beat Cov-Cath, win region and go on to compete for a state title, so, one step down.”

Mason County now sits with a 3-0 record on the season, and gear up to take on the Boyd County Lions on the road this Friday, in their last of three straight away games, before returning home to Maysville to host the Rowan County Vikings next week.