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Wlaf1450
By Clayton Carroll
BARBOURVILLE, KY (WLAF) – The Campbell Cougars traveled north to Barbourville, Kentucky, to battle the Knox Central Panthers in the Cougars’ second scrimmage of the preseason on Friday night. Campbell fell to Knox 48-14, but “progressed in the right direction,” according to second-year head coach Taylor Ownbey.
“I thought the offense improved with leaps and bounds from where we were last week,” said Coach O. “We still have a lot of young guys getting reps, but we are becoming more comfortable in our roles,” Ownbey added.
One key facet of the game Ownbey said after the Seymour scrimmage that needed fixing was tackling. “I thought we tackled much better in the box. We still gave up some big plays in the secondary though,” mentioned coach. “If you’re going to stop anybody, you have to tackle, and we must stop the big plays. We gave up multiple big plays on third down, even as long as third and 15,” Coach O declared.
“We did tackle better, so I am proud of our guys for that. The effort was there. We just need to make some adjustments to the scheme, and we will work on that this week.”
The Orange-and-Blue gets one more dress rehearsal before show time on August 21st versus Lenoir City on Reynolds Field. The Cougars are participating in the 5 Star Preps Jamboree at Carson-Newman University. Campbell will play two separate teams next Friday at 6 pm at Burke-Tarr Stadium. The Cougars will open with a quarter of play against Wartburg Central, then follow that performance up with another quarter against Morristown West. Campbell is the only school to play two separate opponents.
“When they asked us if we wanted to play twice because one team canceled, I thought a lot about it since it is so close to the season,” Ownbey said. “However, the biggest thing we need right now is game time reps, and this gives us two more opportunities. It is basically another full scrimmage, and we need that,” Ownbey added.
These game-time reps all culminate with the opening kick of the 2026 football season at John T. “Jack” Reynolds Field versus Lenoir City. Les Martin, Brent Allen, and Jake Miller will bring you coverage of the 52nd season over the ten media outlets that comprise the WLAF Doyle’s Tire Sports Network. Listen, stream, and watch the Cougars on AM 1450, FM 100.9, TV channel 1089, 1450wlaf.com, YouTube, Facebook, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Alexa, and Twitch. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED 8-10-2026 – PHOTOS COURTESY OF ROBERT KIRBY AND SHEENA CUPP)