2026 Football Frenzy Preview: Hart County Raiders
HART COUNTY, Ky. – The next 2026 Football Frenzy preview, presented by Bowling Green Fireplace and Grill, focuses on the Hart County Raiders.
The squad put up back-to-back undefeated regular seasons in 2023 and 2024, but the streak of those regular season wins came to a close in 2025.
The Raiders still finished with a 9-3 overall record, which this program is incredibly proud of.
“If you could tell me 10 years ago that what everybody said was a down year for us was nine (wins), I’ll take it,” head coach Chad Griffin said.
Going into 2026, the Raiders lose a large and talented senior class and now the majority of their roster consists of underclassmen.
“As a coach, what you do with a young team is you make them feel uncomfortable until they become comfortable,’ Griffin said. “Then you make them feel uncomfortable again until they become comfortable and that’s just how you make them grow.”
Not only will fans see some new young faces on the team, but also some new upperclassmen faces.
Hart County welcome in a few transfers this season, including running back Darius Anderson from Green County, who shared what excited him about playing for the Raiders.
“What drew me to the school was the way they ran the offense, how all of them came downhill, just 11 hats to the ball every time on defense and offense,” Anderson said. “I looked at the film, I looked at how we play and how they play. (They are) just a more physical team.”
But in order to stay a physical team, this is what the squad will have to do.
“As long as your attitude’s right, you’re coachable, you want be out here on the field and want to participate with the team, then that’s what brings the physicality,” Anderson said.
“If we just have confidence in what we do behind the scenes and put it on the field, then we’ll be fine,” offensive tackle Daylan Wheeler said.
Coach Griffin anticipates his young team to still have many areas of improvement in its opening game of the season this Friday against Russellville, but he hopes fans still see this.
“If they do the little things, it’ll take care of itself,” Griffin said. “That’s what I hope people see. I hope when they see us walk off the field after we play Russellville, I hope we got a W, and I hope they say, ‘Man, that looks like Raider football.'”
