H-S Athlete of the Week: KC Shook, Carmichaels
NAME: KC Shook
SCHOOL: Carmichaels
CLASS: Junior
SPORT: Football
KC’S WEEK: Shook ended the football regular season with perhaps the top three-week rushing performance in Carmichaels history as he helped the Mikes finish on a three-game winning streak. Shook’s extraordinary streak began in Week Eight when he scored all of his team’s points in a 22-14 victory at West Greene with touchdown runs of 9, 14 and 6 yards and a pair of two-point conversions. He had 26 carries for 157 yards against the Pioneers at Kennedy Field. In Week Nine, Shook exploded for 337 yards on 24 carries and had TD runs of 6, 28 and 54 yards during a 33-0 win at Jefferson-Morgan, which broke Bobby Hathaway’s single-game mark of 333. He closed the 2026 season with 32 carries for 223 yards and two touchdowns on runs of 18 and 39 yards in a 40-26 victory over visiting Mapletown at Coaches Field. That’s 82 carries for an amazing 717 yards and eight touchdowns in three games. Shook finished the season with 1,189 yards.
TEAM COMES FIRST: Shook, the 17-year-old son of Cammie Kovach, was happier that his team ended on a high note, after a six-game losing streak that followed a season-opening 20-13 win at Leechburg, than he was about his own performance. “Winning is the most important thing,” Shook said. “I’m glad I had those great games but what made them even better was they all came in wins.” Each was over a Greene County rival as well. “Yeah, I have to admit, that makes it even sweeter, beating those teams,” Shook said. “Jefferson is probably our biggest rival and I had my best run against them, a long touchdown where I started right and cut it all the way back to the left and into the end zone. That was my favorite run of the year.”
IN DISBELIEF: Shook knew he was racking up a lot of yards against the Rockets, but didn’t grasp the magnitude of his performance. “One of our players came up to me around the middle of the third quarter and said I had over 250,” Shook said. “I didn’t believe him. Even after the game, the stats said I had 337, I wasn’t sure that was right because I’ve never had nearly that many yards in a game. When I found out the number was accurate, I was in shock.”
STYLE CHANGE: First-year head coach Ken Perkins praised Shook. “KC has embraced what we’ve tried to teach and show him,” Perkins said. “It’s almost kind of a mindset change for us. We wanted to make sure we were a hard-nosed, old-school, blue-collar football team and that meant getting back to the run game. KC has definitely taken that to heart. He’s changed his running style to match that. He did a little more juking and cutting before but now he’s become more of a downhill, north-south runner until he gets into the open field.”
PAVING THE WAY: Shook gave kudos for his success to his blockers. “I have to give a lot of credit to my line because if it wasn’t for them I would’ve never done what I did,” Shook said. “And my fullback, Job Smith, he does a great job of blocking for me, too. Those guys all made it possible for me and the team.”
SWITCHING ROLES: Shook didn’t start out as a running back in his younger days. “I was always a receiver and a linebacker, and really I played a lot more on defense to be truthful,” Shook said. “Then in middle school, my eighth-grade year, I went to running back. I was like a wing when I was a freshman and sophomore. I got to run the ball a lot more this year.”
ODDS AND ENDS: Shook has five siblings, an older sister, Heather, an older brother, Cody, and a twin brother KJ, who just began playing football this year. … Shook would like to play at the next level. “I’m trying to work on HUDL, getting all my film together and trying to reach out to coaches,” he said. … Shook loves riding dirt bikes in his spare time. “I don’t race or anything, I just have fun riding trails that are around here in Carmichaels.”
– Compiled by Rob Burchianti