2008 was a great year in Logan County sports – especially for the LCHS volleyball team and the Russellville golf teams.

The Lady Cougar volleyball team made the biggest historic splash of the year, winning its first ever Fourth Region championship and winning a game in the state tournament in Louisville.

The previous four years, Logan County had made it to the finals of the Fourth Region Tournament, only to lose to Greenwood.

This year, it looked like it would be a similar situation, but the Lady Cougars pulled off an upset victory over Greenwood on Oct. 23 at Clinton County High School.

Greenwood had beaten the Lady Cougars three times in the regular season – including an embarrassing home loss – but the Lady Gators took LCHS lightly in the regional finals and had their streak of region championships snapped.

This was a huge win for the Lady Cougars, because it was the school’s first regional team title in over 20 years. Also, it showed how the team’s hard work paid off after years of disappointment.

The team was led by a strong group of seniors that included Jenna Wilson, Brooke Dowlen and Brooke Kelley among others.

The Lady Cougars will have some big shoes to fill now that those seniors are gone, but they also now know that they have what it takes to beat Greenwood in the regional tournament.

The Russellville boys’ golf team also won a regional championship in October while playing at its home course of Rolling Hills.

It was the team’s first region championship since 1976.

The Lady Panthers didn’t have enough players to compete for a team championship, but senior Owen Townsend shot a 6-over-par 77 to win the individual championship and Priscilla Page fired an 8-over 79 to also qualify for the state championships.

The Panthers finished ninth in the state tournament, which was held at Bowling Green Country Club. Russellville shot a combined 645 to finish one shot ahead of Taylor County. St. Xavier, a private school in Louisville, won the team championship with a 3-over 582.

Both Page and Townsend tied for 16th in the girls state championship.

The Russellville football team also enjoyed another successful season in 2008.

Despite losing some very talented seniors from 2007’s state quarterfinal squad, the Panthers finished this past year 9-3.

In the regular season, Russellville went undefeated in Class 3A, District 2 to win a second straight title in that district.

But the team’s playoff run came to an abrupt end in the second round when it lost 35-13 to Edmonson County on a cold night at Rhea Stadium.

The Logan County softball and baseball teams both made appearances in the Fourth Region Tournament after finishing as runners-up in their respective district tournaments.

The Lady Cougars even won a game in the region tournament, beating District 16 champ Russell County 13-3 in five innings at the Western Kentucky University Softball Complex.

The Russellville boys’ basketball team was the only one of our four teams to make the field for the Fourth Region tournament.

The Panthers lost in the first round to Bowling Green on a heartbreaking last-second shot. They also advanced to the finals of the Fourth Region All ‘A’ Classic before losing to Metcalfe County.

— OJ Stapleton is the editor of News-Democrat & Leader. Contact him at edit_ndl@bellsouth.net or 726-8394.