Friday, November 4, 2016

Rockets host playoff game tonight

For the first time ever, Fort Knox and Crittenden County will meet tonight on the football field. They will open the Class A playoffs at 7 p.m., at Rocket Stadium.

The Eagles (2-8) are the Second District third-seed and visit Marion for the first time led by a 30-year military veteran, Sgt. Maj. Samuel Wilson, who describes his team as athletic but young and inexperienced.

Crittenden County finished the regular season the second seed in the Class A First District with a 2-1 league mark – its only loss was to second-ranked Russellville – and 4-6 overall.

Fort Knox was a major force in Class 2A for several seasons in 1980s and 1990s winning three state championships and finishing runnerup twice. However, over the past decade or so, military draw downs have adversely affected the football program because the school enrollment has dropped to around 300 students in the top four grades.

Coach Wilson says student-athletes tend to play for only a couple of years at Knox before their military families are transferred to another base.

Neither Fort Knox nor Crittenden has a whole lot to brag about with regard to their respective seasons. Although the Rockets have won four games, those defeated opponents have a combined 3-35 record. The Eagles have won two games against teams that haven’t won at all this year – Caverna and Shawnee. Two of the teams Crittenden beat – Todd Central and Fulton County – were winless, too.