Bracken County is already having a historic season and will try to continue making history on Friday.  They have never won a second-round playoff game. To do so, they must beat Somerset on the road. See how the Polar Bears and Briar Jumpers got their mascots at the end!

Watch the game here >> https://www.youtube.com/@somersetathletics3247

Bracken hosted their first playoff game in school history in 2016 under coach Mike Sizemore, now coach at Clay County.  They lost that game 34-22 to Fairview.  The following year, they would get back at Fairview, defeating them in the first round of the playoffs at home 36-6.  They fell to Paintsville in the second road 43-0. 

This year, Bracken County football is in its 22nd season. The Polar Bears won the school’s second postseason game in history by defeating Leslie County 51-27 last week. 

They will face Somerset, who has a rich football tradition. The 2019 Briar Jumpers won the 2A State Championship over Mayfield.  Somerset won their district championship by defeating Leslie County 55-13.  

Owen County was the other common opponent between the two. Bracken County won 48-7, while Somerset beat them 35-6.

The Polar Bears are led by junior Daulton Tarter, who holds the school record for most career rushing touchdowns.  He has 30 touchdowns this year and averages 172.6 rushing yards per game off an average of 17.5 carries.  On the defensive end, Tarter has 79 tackles and six interceptions.  

Junior quarterback Jackson Whitten has completed 51 of 73 passes for nine touchdowns.  His main target is Ashton Buchanan, who averages 25.8 yards per game.

Somerset is a dual-threat team with quarterback Josh Bruner and running back Kris Hughes.  

Bruner, a senior, throws for 116.5 yards per game and has completed 98 of 159 passes.  He also keeps the ball for 27.1 yards per game on the ground.

Hughes, a junior, averages 112.3 rushing yards per game and 22.7 receiving yards.  He has scored 20 touchdowns this season.

The main target in the air is sophomore Corban Cimala, who averages 59.8 yards per game receiving.  

Bracken County has a record of 9-2 with losses to Sayre 26-14 and Beechwood 38-7.  Somerset is 7-4 with losses to Knox Central 14-7, Garrard County 35-28, Campbellsville 34-21, and Glasgow 27-14.

Bracken County is averaging 41.8 points per game while giving up 11.4.  This is the largest margin of victory in school history.  However, their strength of schedule ranks 193 in difficulty compared to Somerset’s 127.  

The Massey Ratings gives Somerset a 77% win probability and predicts the score to be 35-18. The ratings have Somerset as the sixth best team in 2A with Bracken County at nine.

The game will be played Meece Middle School in Somerset and kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.

One storyline is the mascot matchup and how these two schools got their names.  

This Briar Jumpers story is told by Jumper_Dad on Bluegrass Preps:

The Somerset High School Team that took the field on that Saturday in October 1916, was optimistic, even though they had been greeted by 700 fans of the Louisville High School, with accompanying good nature jeers and shouted predictions of the gruesome fate they were going to encounter. The Louisville Boys High School had established an impressive record and was predicted to win the game by several touchdowns. Much to blue-clad Louisville’s surprise, that purple and gold Somerset team showed NO MERCY. When the last play had been played, and that last whistle sounded, the score board displayed the unbelievable score of SOMERSET 51, LOUISVILLE 6. The tale of that days events were fully described in Louisville papers for days to come. The story, told in simple terms, is that a certain young man by the name of “Gooch”, a sorrel topped mountaineer by the name of “Roberts”, and a fully mature Irishman by the name of “McMillan” created high school football history on the banks of the Ohio.

Louisville sportswriters were knocking themselves out trying to describe the drubbing that was perpetrated. One writer, Mr. Johnny Head, who had fully recovered from the shock, was frantically searching for some previous occurrence with which to compare the extraordinary athletic speed and skill used to evade Louisville tacklers. That is when he remembered the story of Uncle Remus, the briar patch, and the elusive ways the Somerset team had of getting around or evading, obstructions. He also remembered the expression “Bawn and bred in de briar patch”. Immediately he christened the Somerset team “Briar Jumpers” because they too were quick, swift-footed, masters of evading obstructions – and “Briar Jumpers” at home in their “Briar Patch” it has been ever since.

Of course home court and home fields are known as The Briar Patch. I’m not sure how Purple and Gold became our colors, maybe another Briar Jumper can help me out with that. It seems as if it started out Purple and White and changed later to Purple and Gold, but I could be mistaken.

And for the Polar Bears, written by the Kentucky Post in 1996:

At the time the county went out of the tobacco warehouse business, Mr. Garrett Jett purchased three or four of the warehouses which were located in the area where the high school and gym are located today.

One of the warehouses, which sits in the area where the industrial art building now stands, had two water tanks located on top which gravity fed to Mr. Jett’s house and business at the bottom of the hill. It was in this warehouse that Mr. Jett and Mr. Kern operated a raw fur business. A vault was built by Mr. Jett to retain the dressed furs. For a short period of time, movies were shown in the building also, having been moved from above the Downard-Norris drugstore where the Video-N-Tan now stands.

Meanwhile, outside of the warehouse, the Brooksville High School boys basketball teams were preparing for their upcoming season.

September that year wasn’t that much of a problem, but October proved to be too much for the team to continue practicing outside. At that point, Mr. Jett substituted his warehouse as a gymnasium, however, some changes needed to be made. The new “gym” had an elevated floor in the middle with driveways on both sides, allowing players and balls to fall off the edge of the floor. A fence was constructed around the perimeter of the floor, thus giving the feel of a “cage in ” effect.

Although the conditions weren’t the best, the players were grateful for what they had, for a while at least. The 1921-1922 annual was dedicated to M Garrett Jett “for his loyal support and for the use of his building. For without him it is doubtful whether there would be a place to play.”

On October 21st, 1920, Brooksville High School beat Germantown on its home floor. The visiting teams were not used to such adverse conditions when cold weather set in, but the boys of Brooksville High School became somewhat immune to the elements, beating team after team. All the teams from 1920 through 1926 had a winning record. Then, on March 10, 1924, Brooksville High School won the district for the first time at Flemingsburg.

Again, on March 6th, 1925, Brooksville High School traveled to Carlisle and brought home the trophy for the second time but with more reward. This win earned a berth in the state tournament. On March 13th, 1925, Brooksville High School was defeated by Winchester, ending dreams of being state champions.

At that point the boys of Brooksville High School voiced their opinions saying, “We need something better than a polar bear cage to play in!”

As a result of a need for a better facility, a new gymnasium was under construction the year of the big defeat. December 3rd, 1925, marked the date for the first game in the new gym with Robertson County High School. Many other teams came that year grateful they didn’t have to play a bunch of polar bears in a cage in bitter-cold surroundings. It was the 1922-23 season when the polar bear name was being tossed around, but it wasn’t until 1926 when the team entered the floor with a polar bear sewed to their warm-ups.