50-year drought is over as Casey County football wins first district championship

Casey County players celebrate with coach Steve Stonebraker after beating Hart County Friday.

District championships can be taken for granted by many high school teams but not Casey County football.

The Rebels (6-2) beat rival Hart County 34-22 Friday to win the school’s first district football championship

“This will go down as the biggest night yet in the history of the Casey County football program. To be predicted to go 0-10 and picked by all prognosticators to be last in our district is almost surreal,” said coach Steve Stonebraker.

“But we learned last season how to fight against a tough schedule.  We had a tremendous off-season and the kids have bought into everything I’ve asked of them.”

Casey had not won a district title in the 50-year history of its program and it came in dramatic fashion. Casey beat rival Russell County 40-35 on a Hail Mary pass on the game’s final play. A week later the Rebels had the biggest come from behind win in school history to beat rival Adair County 22-21.

Now the Rebels have clinched their first district title with only the fifth win in program history against an Associated Press top 10 ranked team and it was the highest ranked team the Rebels have ever defeated in their classification or higher.

Casey quarterback Ethan Willoughby was sensational in the win. He was 17 of 20 passing for 212 yards and four touchdowns, including two to Luke Spangler. A 56-yard scoring toss to Spangler in the fourth quarter broke the game open and more than offset a late Hart score. Willoughby also ran 29 times for 131 yards.

“He made one bad decision (on an interception) but had a great game,” Stonebraker said. “Our offensive line controlled the trenches and Willoughby was masterful. He did a great job with his reads and was a great leader out there.”

“Luke Spangler and Benton Hayes probably played their best games ever. They led the whole team who competed their tails off.”

Casey’s defense held Hart, which was averaging almost 400 yards per game rushing, to 191 yards and forced three turnovers.

“The thing I’m the most proud of in the game is how focused we were to execute at a high level.  And, then our confidence level and competitiveness.  We were up for the moment,” Stonebraker said.

Casey is assured of a winning season for only the seventh time in school history — and Stonebraker has been the coach for five of them. He’s also the only coach in school history to have a winning record (53-38). The Rebels have averaged six wins per season in Stonebraker’s nine seasons compared to averaging only two wins per year in the other 41 seasons.

And here is a note to ponder — Stonebraker now has more winning seasons than any coach in the history of boys team sports at Casey. Coaches Bob Payne and Jack Stanford both had four in basketball.

This win also had to be a little sweeter for Stonebraker because his son, Solomon, caught a 6-yard scoring pass.

Casey closes the regular season with games at Glasgow and Estill County but now will host a first-round playoff game. If it wins, it will host a second game.

“It’s great to be the first team in school history to be called champions,” the Casey coach said. “We know there is more out there for us.  We have to stay hungry and keep our intensity and work ethic at a high level.”