Caldwell County first-year head coach Will Barnes has been named the Class 2A 1st District Coach of the Year while Tiger quarterback Russ Beshear has been named District Player of the Year.
The awards were announced Wednesday by the Kentucky Football Coaches Association.
Barnes is a former District Player of the Year.
Caldwell went 3-4 this season, but three of those losses went down to the final play. That includes a 35-28 setback at Murray last week in the first round of the playoffs.
Beshear passed for 1,346 yads and 14 touchdowns this season. He completed 89 of 148 attempts while being picked off just five times.
Beshear also ran for 193 yards and four scores.
A Caldwell player has now been named the District Player of the Year in seven of the last nine seasons.
Oliver Parker earned that honor in 2018 while Shane Burns received the award in 2016, Dee Cain in 2015, Elijah Sindelar in both 2014 and 2013 and Jaylen Boyd in 2012. In addition, Brandon Sigler was named District Player of the Year in 2010, Barnes in 2008 and Cameron Williams in 2006.
Cain, Sindelar (twice) and Sigler went on to win State Player of the Year honors.
The Coach award is the first for Barnes, but not the first for his family. His father, the late David Barnes, was named District Coach of the Year nine times. He earned the award in both 2006 and 2007 and then every year from 2012-2018.
Last year, Mayfield swept the Class 2A 1st District awards with coach Joe Morris and quarterback Jayden Stinson.
The Kentucky Football Coaches Association began honoring Player of the Year and Coach of the Year in each district in 2003.
