Ah, Footbah

No one monitoring Heath football from afar in 1985 would've suspected at midseason that the Pirates had a pulse, and I actually think that team might've challenged deep into the Class A playoffs under the current system. Heath got off to a 1-5 start, eliminated itself from post-season eligibility and closed with four straight wins to finish .500--one season before winning the Class A state championship.

And so I'm trying to keep all of this in mind with 0-4 Heath headed to the east side of McCracken County tonight to face 3-1 Reidland. Things seem bleak to us expatriate Pirates, but who knows? Maybe the dispatches that Heath seems to be playing an unconventional offense and that the Pirates rallied with three fourth-quarter touchdowns only to lose, 35-28, last week against Calloway County add up to the burgeoning of a Buc buzzsaw. Maybe it finally comes together tonight against the media-darling Greyhounds.

Maybe.

Here are the other of tonight's games that interest me:

-- Crittenden County at Caldwell County. The Rocket Football blog is simply outstanding.

-- Fulton County at Class A Associated Press No. 1 Mayfield

-- Covington Catholic at 2A AP No. 1 Newport Central Catholic

-- Casey County at 3A No. 1 Somerset. The visiting Rebels are off to their best start in eight years, reports Josh Robinson in The Casey County News, and they have a plan for upsetting the Briar Jumpers. "They are quick and athletic, but they are not real big up front," assistant coach Shannon Cain told Robinson. "... (W)e just have to play smash-mouth football."

-- Paducah Tilghman at Calloway County

-- Ballard Memorial at Fulton City. Visiting quarterback Alex Mallory is a Bomber, indeed, leading Class A with 235 passing yards a game.

-- Trigg County at Murray

-- Hopkinsville at Russellville. Tonight's best fan-bus route. Tiger fans should stop at the Mexican restaurant in downtown Elkton on their way to the game. It's outstanding.

-- Danville at 4A No. 1 Boyle County

-- Madisonville-North Hopkins at Christian County

-- Bell County at Rockcastle County. The wife of Rachel's godbrother went to Rockcastle County, who reports that one of the traditional cheers at the school's football games is, "ROCK IS HARD!"

-- Graves County at Lone Oak

-- 5A No. 1. Fort Thomas Highlands at Louisville Eastern. The home team in the Saturday game is ranked in Class 6A, so this would seem to be a legitimate threat to Highlands' long winning streak against in-state competition.

-- Bowling Green at 6A No. 1 Louisville Trinity. The Purps are ranked second in Class 5A.

-- Warren Central at Fort Campbell. No wonder Fort Campbell is 1-3. It's the Sports Illustrated jinx.