Small-town charm, state-of-the-art facilities contribute to building people
By John Herndon, 110forChrist
OWENTON, Ky. – To the casual observer, there might not be anything unusual about Owen County, Kentucky.
The county seat is like thousands of other small towns across America. Entering town on Highway 127 from the south, one is greeted by a regional convenience store/McDonald’s combo. Driving north through town you’ll see a modern bank and a family-run funeral home that has been a community fixture for decades. You’ll see some churches of different denominations sitting so close to each other that one could park in one lot and walk to the other.
There’s enough nostalgia to think you are in a Kentucky Mayberry but enough modern twists to know you are in the 21st Century.
But on Game Day, the sleepy little town rallies around the Owen County Rebels. On fall Friday nights, the stands are usually packed with maroon-clad fans. During the winter, the Rebels are rowdy whether at home or away.
And with that, Owenton is not like just any other town. There’s an unmistakable bond drawing fans and residents closer together. It’s a special bond that some develop, but many do not.
“One of the reasons we have great crowds is there is not much to do in Owen County,” Rebel head football coach and athletic director T.J. Wesselman said with a laugh. “Jesting aside, there is some truth to that. I tell people we are the best show in town.”
Indeed the Rebels are. And on October 23, I was able to experience Friday Night Lights in Owenton for the first time. I already knew how Owen fans followed their basketball teams through thick and thin from nearly four decades of writing about the Eighth Region. I knew that despite having an enrollment of under 500 students, Owen was in that select group of fan bases that will always pad the bottom line at any tournament.
But football is different. It’s a once a week proposition. Weather can make a huge difference – it was a beautiful night when Owen County hosted Gallatin County – and it’s been a while since Owen has turned heads statewide. After Gallatin rallied from a two touchdown deficit to defeat the hosts, 15-14, Owen stood at 2-7 after going 2-8 last season. In 2024, Owen went 6-5 but the Rebels have not won a playoff game since 2019.
And it’s been 15 years since the Rebels won their first 11 games before falling in the second round of the Class 2A playoffs.
Yet, Owen County fans show up. Every Friday night they are there. And in 2026, they are showing up at the brand new Dunavent Athletic Complex. Patterson Field now sports synthetic turf and new bleachers to seat approximately 1,000 fans. A state-of-the-art track circles the football field and is a huge upgrade over old Patterson Field, which had served the program in the same location since 1972.
The complex is also home to new turfed baseball and softball fields which opened in the spring. The facility is named for Ronnie Dunavent, a longtime Owen County baseball coach who is in both the Owen County Hall of Fame and the Kentucky High School Baseball Coaches’ Hall of Fame.
“Turf is such a benefit to us,” Wesselman said a few days before the Gallatin game. “We are not worried about overuse. This facility is being used for high school soccer, high school football, JV football, middle school football, middle school soccer and our county parks and recreation football. We have an agreement to let them play. They are our future.”
A new press box with separate rooms for each team’s coaches, the clock operator and announcer and a media room, had yet to be installed as of October 23. It’s all part of a program that has been recognized nationally with the Quality Program Award of the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, a designation given to less than one percent of all schools in the nation. In a Facebook post, Wesselman, who has been the Owen athletic director for 17 years, says his school is the only one in Kentucky to receive the award this year.
Such facilities in a small town – Owenton’s population is estimated at just under 1,700 and Owen County’s at approximately 11,600 – are not possible without enormous community support.
“I think it really is special,” says Wesselman’s wife, Amy, who has served as head coach of the Lady Rebels’ basketball program since the 2017-2018 season and was an assistant coach for a decade before that. “It’s the people in the community. Some have a kid or a grandkid on one of the teams. People come out to the games. They go on the road. If you are a business owner, they do what they can to help us out.”
Kelsey Williams-Gognat, a former Owen County girls’ soccer and basketball player, now serves as the school library media specialist and is a fixture at whatever game she can attend. “It’s always been like that,” she says of the community support. “I love going to see my students and I go to every game I can.”
The amazing thing is that Owen has never been a statewide powerhouse in any sport. The girls’ basketball team has won 11 consecutive 31st District championships and won the state All-A Classic in 2022 but has never made it to the Sweet 16.
On the boys’ side, Owen advanced to the regional championship game in 1996 and have multiple All-A Classic berths, but their best chance at the Sweet 16 came in 2016. Owen entered regional tournament play as a slight favorite but got the toughest possible draw and was upset by South Oldham in the quarterfinal round to finish at 29-4.
“We were devastated,” said Williams-Gognat, whose younger brother, Carson Williams, was named the state’s Mr. Basketball that year.
The tears flowed freely as special seasons like that are rare in small schools like Owen County.
Despite the recent struggles, Owen also has a solid, yet unusual football history.
Guy Patterson, for whom the current field is named, came to Owen County in 1957 and became the school’s first football coach after he petitioned the school board for the opportunity. According to the Owenton News-Herald, that came to fruition in time for the 1963 season. The problem, however, was finding a suitable place to play.
“They played at the Owen County Fairgrounds,” T.J. Wesselman said. “But the field was only 80 yards long, so when you crossed the 50, they moved the ball back 10 yards to make the correct yardage.”
Wesselman says that in 1972, the school finally got its own field on the same site as the newly built Patterson Field. That field served the school until construction on the new field began last fall. In addition to the great 2011 team, the Rebels had a strong run in the late 1970s and early 1980s when the Cochran brothers, Mickey and Curt, suited up and then went on to play at the University of Kentucky.
“Mickey Cochran (a lineman) was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons and by the USFL,” Wesselman said. “We talk a lot to the kids about them and about the other people who came before us to appreciate them.”
It’s part of the charm of small-town sports at the high school level. Williams-Gognat expressed amazement at how the community travels. Amy Wesselman, who is originally from Lexington, recalled taking her team to play in her hometown and having far more fans than the hosts.
“We are very fortunate,” T.J. Wesselman said.
He should know since he’s a graduate of Owen County High School and came home after graduating from Union College, in Barbourville, in May of 2006. He’d already interviewed for a job in eastern Kentucky when, he says, “One of my very best friends, Devin Duvall, called me and said, ‘I just got the head coaching job for the boys’ program (at Owen) and I want you to be an assistant.’ It was hard to pass up. That’s how I ended up at my alma mater.”
Since then, Wesselman has coached football as an assistant and, now in his 11th year as head coach, basketball assistant and four years as head volleyball coach. “A lot of people don’t know that I coached volleyball,” he said. “The coach got a new job a week before the season. I said I was going to coach for a year and ended up coaching four. It was fun.”
Wesselman called upon a college friend who had played volleyball to give him a weeklong crash course in the sport. But he says the most important part of coaching is people, not strategy.
“I think coaching is more about building relationships and motivation, putting people in the right place to be successful and making them believe that what they are doing matters,” Wesselman said.
And that’s why last Friday’s 15-14 loss to Owen’s biggest rival hurt so much. It was the Rebels’ first homecoming contest at the new facility and the stands were packed with fans from both schools. With just under nine minutes to play, Owen held a 14-0 lead but had stopped itself earlier with a fumble inside the Gallatin 20 and an interception at the goal line.
Gallatin rallied behind elusive running back Nathan Hammond, who totaled 155 yards. Owen still appeared to be in good shape after forcing Gallatin to punt with 2:29 left, but a mishandled snap on first down set up second and 18. Gallatin got pressure on quarterback Ralph Lewis, then David Martinez picked off his pass for a seven-yard touchdown 14 seconds later. The Wildcats’ Wade Hall made a spectacular catch of Cash O’Connor’s pass for the conversion with just over two minutes to play.
“They were bringing a lot of pressure and we felt we could set up a screen pass,” Wesselman explained. “They were really penetrating. I had told the kids if we get a first down, the game is over. There is no coaching manual when you have moments like that. You have seniors in there that are hurting. They were in the huddle crying because they had lost their last homecoming game.”
It’s high school football. When Owen and Gallatin get together, it’s called the Battle for Eagle Creek with the winner keeping the trophy for a year. As Gallatin celebrated, T.J. Wesselman reflected on what he’d told his team.
“There will be times in life, not just football, but in life, when you have hit rock bottom and bad things are going to happen. You and the people around you have got to get through this together. I promise you that something in life will be more difficult than this loss will happen to you. You have to get back up and fight through adversity. No matter what happens, stick together and love each other.”
Owen will close its season by hosting Eminence on October 30. The Rebels did not qualify for this year’s playoffs, but look forward to the future as 27 of the 39 players who dressed for the Gallatin game were freshmen or sophomores.
And you can be assured that Owen County, the community, will be right there with the Rebels in 2027.
“High school football and high school athletics are something we take pride in because we know the importance of providing our kids with opportunities,” Wesselman said. “A very small percentage will go on to play at the next level, so the question is why do you spend so much time and put so much emphasis on athletics at the high school level when so many of these kids are not going to go on to college to play.
“It’s about character development. It’s about building relationships. It’s about having great coaches who give their very best and push the kids and hold them accountable, not only as players, but push them as people.”
