Class 6A
Associated Press No. 1 Louisville Male (2-0) at Louisville Fairdale--Male lost 24-16 to the eventual state champion, Scott County, in last year's state semifinals. Well, last week, they won at Louisville Butler, another 2013 state semifinalist, by 43-7.
No. 10 Louisville Pleasure Ridge Park at No. 2 Scott County (2-0, defending state champion)
Longest Winning Streaks in Kentucky:
(1)Bowling Green - 46
(2)Scott County - 17
(3)DeSales - 9
(4)Belfry - 6
— KY High Football (@KYHighFootball) August 31, 2014
No. 3 Louisville Saint Xavier (2-0) at Bowling Green--St. X lost to Louisville Male, 23-21, in last season's round of 16.
No. 5. McCracken County (2-0) at Dyer County (Tennessee)--I choose to believe that the Mustangs of western Paducah have improved by greater measure than has 2-0, No. 9 Elizabethtown Central Hardin, which beat McCracken County, 32-23, in the round of 16 last year.
Elizabethtown John Hardin at No. 7 Meade County (2-0)--Indeed, I choose to believe the Mustangs have improved by greater measure than has 2-0, No. 7 Meade County, which beate Central Hardin, 43-7, in the 2013 state quarterfinals and played Scott County to 21-14 in the state championship.
Hebron Conner at No. 8 Independence Simon Kenton (2-0)--Kenton was 12-0 when it lost, 29-14, to Butler in the state quarterfinals last season.
Class 5A
St. X at No. 1 Bowling Green (2-0, defending state champion)--This season looks like a walk for the Purples. In fact, I really shouldn't even list anyone else in this class for now, and maybe I won't next week if BG waxes the 6A Tigers tonight.
Somerset vs. No. 2 Pulaski County (1-0)--Pulaski lost, 49-14, to Bowling Green in the 2013 state final.
Richmond Madison Central at No. 4 Berea Madison Southern (2-0)--Madison Southern lost, 32-28, to Pulaski County in the state quarterfinals last season, and at least some of the recruiting services rate Eagles senior Damien Harris as the nation's best running back.
The Richmond Register's Tuesday, September 3, 2014 Sports Page pic.twitter.com/tlavwy6DUX
— Richmond Register (@RichmondRsports) September 2, 2014
Class 4A
No. 1 Fort Thomas Highlands (1-0) at Lexington Bryan Station--The Bluebirds lost, 37-34, to Shelbyville Martha Layne Collins in the state final.
Danville at No. 2 Boyle County (2-0)--Boyle lost, 31-30, to Mercer County in the 2013 round of 16.
Boyle County.. Danville.. The best rivalry in the state. Tomorrow night at Rebel Stadium! Kickoff is 7:30! Go #Rebels! #BeatAds
— Boyle iHigh (@BCiHigh) September 4, 2014
No. 3 Covington Catholic (2-0) at Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller--CovCath lost, 28-13, at Highlands in the state quarterfinals.
No. 4 Owensboro (2-0) at Owensboro Catholic--The Red Devils lost, 50-14, to Collins in the 2013 state semis.
No. 5 Lexington Catholic (1-1) at Lexington Lafayette--Lexington Catholic lost, 49-35, to Highlands in the 2013 state semis.
No. 8 Collins (0-2, defending state champion) at Louisville Ballard--The Titans have lost this season at 6A Kenton and at home to 5A Crestwood South Oldham.
Logan County vs. No. 9 Franklin-Simpson (1-0)--The Wildcats lost, 21-13, at Owensboro in the round of 16.
Central Hardin at No. 10 Madisonville-North Hopkins (1-0)--The Maroons lost, 21-16, at Franklin-Simpson in the round of 32.
Class 3A
Harlan County at No. 1 Belfry (1-0, defending state champion)--The Pirates beat Lexington Henry Clay, a 2013 state quarterfinalist in Class 6A, by 29-7 last week.
Come Friday the Cam will be electric when Belfry welcomes in Harlan County! pic.twitter.com/dA2F6pK4MS
— Lauren Cash (@LaurenWYMT) September 3, 2014
Garrard County at No. 2 Wayne County (1-1)--Wayne was 14-0 before losing, 3-0, in the 2013 state championship to Belfry.
Breathitt County vs. No. 3 Bourbon County (1-1)--Bourbon was 13-0 before losing, 21-13, to Belfry in the semis last year.
No. 6 Bowling Green South Warren (2-0) at Greenwood--South Warren was 11-1 before losing, 7-6, at Tilghman in the state quarters.
Class 2A
Bowling Green Warren Central at No. 1 Louisville DeSales (2-0, defending state champ)--DeSales won the state championship last season in what is again shaping up as Kentucky's most entertaining class of high-school football.
Ohio County at No. 2 Caldwell County (2-0)--The Tigers of northern Princeton were 12-0 when they lost to Murray, 27-14, in the state quarterfinals in 2013.
No. 3 Murray (2-0) at Graves County--These Tigers of the seat of Calloway County lost to DeSales by 38-0 in the state semifinals, and now they have a new head coach.
No. 4 Newport Central Catholic (0-1) vs. Campbell County at Simon Kenton--NewCath lost, 34-26, to DeSales in last season's state championship.
Barren County at No. 5 Glasgow (2-0)--The Scotties were 10-1 when the lost, 35-28, to DeSales in the 2013 round of 16.
No. 8 Danville (2-0) at Boyle County--The Admirals lost, 20-13, to Prestonsburg in the state quarterfinals last year.
No. 10 Somerset (0-2) at Pulaski County--The Briar Jumpers lost, 49-48, at NewCath in the 2013 semis.
Tomorrow Night. 6 o'clock PM. #HouseParty. #KeepThePromise. 🏈 pic.twitter.com/4Qmjtq8XZA
— Jake Johnson (@JakeJohnson2_) September 4, 2014
Prestonsburg (1-1) at Clay County--The Black Cats lost, 28-21, to Somerset in the quarters.
Middlesboro (0-0-1) at Pineville--The Yellowjackets were 9-2 when they lost, 19-13, to Somerset in the round of 16.
Betsy Layne (1-0) at Inez Sheldon Clark--The Bobcats were 9-1 when they lost, 27-20, to Somerset in the round of 32.
Class A
Paducah Tilghman at No. 1 Mayfield (1-1, defending state champ)--Here were the Cardinals last three playoff games last season: 17-0 win over 10-2 Russellville in the quarterfinals, 35-7 over 11-2 Frankfort in the semis and 42-0 over 11-2 Williamsburg in the championship. Frankfort is now 1-0 and ranked second in Class A by the AP; Williamsburg is 2-0 and third, and Russellville is 2-0 and fifth. But, for now, I'm going all in with Mayfield, whose only loss so far this year was in overtime at 6A-juggernaut McCracken County.
Here's the program cover from the 1972 game with Tilghman and Mayfield. That play for the 101st time tomorrow. #tbt pic.twitter.com/8FOqUNw1Pk
— Mike Stunson (@Mike_Stunson) September 5, 2014
Previous reports:
-- Go Heath's 2013 awards banquet
-- on the weekend ending Aug. 23 and more and Go Heath's Week 0 western-Kentucky wrap
-- on the weekend ending Aug. 30, Go Heath's doping of the Week 1 western-Kentucky games, Go Heath's western-Kentucky wrap
-- Go Heath's doping of the Week 2 western-Kentucky games
What happened to Louisville Trinity?
ReplyDeleteMustangs!
ReplyDeleteMcCracken County rallies from behind at half and again in third quarter to win at Dyer County (Tennessee), 42-20. AP No. 5 Mustangs improve to 3-0. Only teams in 6A Top 10 to lose were No. 3 St. X, in overtime, at home, 6-0, to Bowling Green and No. 10 Pleasure Ridge Park, 55-27, at No. 2/defending-champ Scott County. And Trinity wins: 30-6 over Imhotep Charter School (Pennsylvania) after losses to Ensworth (Tenn.) and Carmel (Ind.) to open the season.
ReplyDeleteIn Class 5A, No. 1 Bowling Green goes to overtime for its 47th-straight victory, at 6A St. X. But I'm going to keep No. 2 Pulaski County and No. 4 MadSouth as state-title contenders.
ReplyDeleteSomerset is only 2A; still, though, that's a solid team and a cross-town rival, and tonight Pulaski whipped the Briar Jumpers by 56-0.
Madison Southern, at won, also won its big rivalry game, 42-11, against Madison Central. UK coach Mark Stoops flew in via helicopter to Berea to watch MadSouth and its heavily recruited running back, Damien Harris. Reports on Twitter were that Harris had been sick all week, but he ended up carrying the sledgehammer around before the game (I don't know if that's some sort of tradition or just to look tough) and then lugging the football during it for 318 yards and four touchdowns as Stoops reportedly stayed the whole game.
Jeff Drummond @JDrumUK
Madison Southen coach Jon Clark on Stoops & Scott staying the entire game: "There's no way Damien doesn't feel that love."
9:15 PM - 5 Sep 2014
Even UK basketball player Dominique Hawkins, start of Madison Central's 2013 KHSAA hoops championship, swooned.
The 5A poll should change a good deal next week: No. 3 Warren Central (37-12 against 2A DeSales), No. 5 Anderson County (52-43 to unranked South Oldham), No. 7 John Hardin (27-25 to 6A Meade County) and No. 10 Harlan County (38-20 at 3A Belfry) all lost.
ReplyDeleteThe 4A state champs are 0-3, all by double-digit point margins. No. 8 Collins lost, 38-10, to 6A Ballard tonight. Its previous losses were to 6A Simon Kenton and 5A South Oldham.
ReplyDeleteNo. 1 Highlands won at 6A Bryan Station, 47-41. And No. 2 Boyle County (24-7 over 2A Danville) and No. 4 Owensboro (50-34 at 2A Owensboro Catholic) claimed solid victories over key local rivals.
Lots of losses elsewhere in the 4A Top 10, though, usually against out-of-state or bigger schools: No. 3 CovCath was walloped by Archbishop Moeller (Ohio), 39-0; No. 5 Lexington Catholic fell, 34-24, to 6A Lafayette; No. 7 Ashland Blazer lost to George Washington (West Virginia), 27-26, and No. 10 Madisonville-North Hopkins was swamped at 6A Central Hardin, 35-7.
In Class 3A, the top five in the AP poll each won handily.
ReplyDeleteNo. 6 Wayne County, the 2013 state runnerup, is now 1-2. Its 13-game win streak on its home Jewell Field in Monticello was ended by another 3A team, unranked Garrard County. The Cardinals had just played Monday (losing to North Laurel in a postponed game), and Wayne was threatening at the end against Garrard (they were at the 10 when time ran out). But, for now, I'm going to assume Wayne is not on the short list of state-title contenders.
Tilghman, too. The No. 7 Blue Tornado fell to 0-3. In the teams' 101st meeting, Tilghman lost, 47-21, to Mayfield. That made it nine straight in the series for Mayfield. There is, however, hope, Tornado fans.
For the state's 2A powers, it was a night of Friday night of testing against bigger teams. No. 1 DeSales, No. 2 Caldwell County, No. 6 Christian Academy-Lousiville and No. 9 Bardstown passed; No. 3 Murray, No. 4 NewCath, No. 5 Glasgow, No. 7 Owensboro Catholic, No. 8 Danville and No. 10 Somerset did not:
ReplyDelete-- No one in the state other than maybe Bowling Green had a more impressive win Friday night than did the defending 2A champs: DeSales whipped visiting Warren Central, previously unbeaten and ranked third in Class 5A, 37-12.
-- Winless Ohio County is not on anyone's radar as a 5A title contender, but it is a team that beat Caldwell County as recently as three years ago. This time, the Tigers won at home, 72-27, and Caldwell's quarterback Elijah Sindelar had six touchdown completions on 13 passing attempts in the first half. I have got to get myself over to Princeton to go see this guy before this season slips away. (Note to self: vs. Trigg Sept. 12, at Fort Campbell Sept. 19, at Ballard Memorial Sept. 26, vs. Green County Oct. 3, at Murray Oct. 17, vs. Crittenden Oct. 24 and at Mayfield Oct. 31.)
-- CAL, which lost to DeSales, 34-0, in the state quarterfinals last season, moved to 3-0 by outlasting North Oldham, 24-21, which received votes for the 4A poll last week. And Bardstown, which lost to CAL, 26-18, in the round of 16 last year, moved to 2-0 with a 45-18 win at 4A Marion County.
-- Glasgow (14-11 to 5A Barren County), OweCath (50-34 to 4A Owensboro), Danville (24-7 to 4A Boyle) and Somerset (56-0 to 5A Pulaski) each suffered heartbreak in going up against the bigger boys across town.
-- That Murray lost 26-17 at 5A Graves County (1-1, lost close to Franklin-Simpson) and NewCath lost 30-17 against 6A Campbell County (2-1, lost close to Highlands) says to me a little more about the winners than it does about the losers' legitimacy as 2A-championship contenders downstream.
-- I'm still keeping an eye on Middlesboro, which won, 43-0, at typically pretty good Class A Pineville. (Next week, good and big Bell County comes to town.) And Prestonsburg plays today, at 4A Clay County.
It's ridiculous to isolate Mayfield as the only contender in Class A. I think I just got lazy at the end of writing this post yesterday. Of course, the Cardinals could lose to someone in the Class A playoffs; Hazard beat them in the final just two years ago.
ReplyDeleteNo. 2 Frankfort, which lost at Mayfield, 35-7, in the semifinals last year, is a candidate. The Panthers are 2-0 after wins at 5A Lincoln County and, last night, 5A Shelby County. Next up is another road game and the toughest yet: Franklin County, which is 2-0 and ranked sixth in 5A.
No. 3 Williamsburg, which lost, 42-0, to Mayfield in the state championship last season, would have to be another candidate to come out of the bottom half of the playoff bracket and win the title. The Yellow Jackets are 3-0 after beating 3A Pike County Central last night, 42-14. Williamsburg plays at Wayne County next week.
-- No. 5 Russellville, which lost 17-0 at Mayfield in the quarterfinals last year, is also unbeaten, after beating 2A Butler County, 35-6, last night. Mayfield plays in Rhea Stadium on Oct. 24.
-- I'm interested, too, in Raceland, which plays at Boyd County today. The Rams lost, 34-7, at Williamsburg in the state semifinals last year. Raceland is 1-1, having lost at 4A No. 7 Ashland Blazer last week, 41-35.
Finally, it's a little early in the season to be looking for intra-class tells, but here were a couple of interesting A results last night: No. 9 Paintsville 8 at No. 6 Pikeville 62 and Paris 20 at Ludlow 7 (both teams received votes for the AP poll this past week). If you look at the state bracket top to bottom, you have the quadrant from which Mayfield advanced to the semifinals last year at the top, the Frankfort quadrant next down, the Williamsburg quadrant next and the Raceland quadrant at the bottom. Well, Paris and Ludlow are both in the second, Frankfort quadrant; Pikeville and Paintsvile, the bottom, Raceland quadrant.
The Highlands quarterback is the son of Merrill Hoge, the ESPN analyst and ex-Pittsburgh Steeler. A few years ago, they had the son of Cris Collinsworth, the NBC analyst and ex-Cincinnati Bengal (and Austin Collinsworth is now one of the team captains at Notre Dame). Highlands should now be attempting to recruit the sons of Warren Moon and Ozzie Newsome to cover the whole, old AFC Central.
ReplyDeleteBreaking: Tom T. Hall is playing on Mayfield's WYMC.
ReplyDeleteMore on Middlesboro, from Jay Compton's preseason preview in the Middlesboro Daily News:
ReplyDeleteLast season the Middlesboro Yellow Jackets returned to prominence. They put together a 9-3 season that included their first district championship since 2006 and defeated arch rival Bell County for the first time since 1997.
But the year ended with a disappointing 19-13 overtime loss to Somerset in the second round of the playoffs.
Middlesboro returns all but six players who saw time in that final playoff game. And with a talented group of 16 seniors leading the way, they are hoping to take care of unfinished business and bring home at least a regional championship this year.
To help take that next step the Jackets have brought in Zach Massengill to coach the team. Massengill was a running back and defensive back on Middlesboro’s 1998 state championship team and served as an assistant on two state title-winning teams at Boyle County. He’s not shying away from big expectations entering his first season as a head coach. ...
Hey, cool! Jason Frakes is on WYMC!
ReplyDeleteUndefeateds ...
ReplyDelete-- A: Frankfort, Pikeville, Russellville and Williamsburg
-- 2A: Ballard Memorial, Bardstown, CAL, Caldwell County, Crittenden County, DeSales, Leslie County, Lloyd Memorial, Middlesboro (1-0-1), Shawnee and Shelby Valley
-- 3A: Adair County, Belfry, Bell County, Elizabethtown, Fleming County, Henry County, Lawrence County, Mason County, South Warren and West Carter
-- 4A: Boyle County, Highlands, Johnson Central, Knox Central and Owensboro
-- 5A: Bowling Green, Bullitt Central, Cooper, Iroquois, Madison Southern, North Laurel and Pulaski County
-- 6A: Central Hardin, duPont Manual, Male, McCracken County, Meade County, Muhlenberg County, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Scott County, Seneca and Simon Kenton
Bell County ran for 523 yards in its 57-13 win over Whitley County.
ReplyDeleteHere's Jay Compton in the Middlesboro Daily News on Bell County, back before the season started:
ReplyDeleteThere’s no two ways about it, last season was a rare rebuilding year for the Bell County Bobcats. They lost five games for the first time since the year 2000, fell to rival Middlesboro for the first time since 1997 and had their impressive streak of district wins snapped at 31 with 41-6 loss at Wayne County.
But folks who think that 7-5 finish was the start of a trend need to think again. Bell County had graduated an especially large senior class and returned very little in the way of varsity experience. ...
The story is different heading into 2014. The Bobcats return eight starters on both sides of the ball and welcome in Middlesboro transfer Cole Frazier. The pieces are in place for Bell County to shoot for their seventh district title in eight years, and if that happens they would host the regional championship game and state semifinals as they advance. ...
OK, Jay Compton has me totally fired up for the 3-0, 3A Bell County Bobcats at the 1-0-1, 2A Middlesboro Yellow Jackets next Friday night. LIFE! MORE LIFE!
ReplyDeleteAaron Snyder reports in Ashland's Daily Independent that 3A Lawrence County got to 3-0 by holding Fairview out of the end zone and then running off a couple of first downs late for a 29-25 victory.
ReplyDeleteI love the brown DeSales uniforms.
ReplyDeleteThe radio commentator for Trinity is on the "Catholic Sports Radio" show on WGTK 970 AM, and he says, "People who follow this football team knows that this is a really good football team with a really good upside and a defense with more potential than we've seen the last few years."
ReplyDeleteI can only assume he is mad that I snubbed Trinity in guessing at contenders for the 6A title.
The two victims are a combined 1-5, and Adair County was 2-0 after beating these same two teams last year and finished 4-7. But let's be positive about the "Carnage at Harned ... on the beautiful Adair County School Campus."
ReplyDeleteThe next two Highlands opponents are winless, and both are making their first trip to Fort Thomas.
ReplyDeleteCalloway County coach Brad Lawson, as quoted by Ryan Richardson in Murray's Ledger & Times after a 75-14 loss to Hopkinsville: "In 21 years of coaching, it’s the most disappointing loss I’ve ever had. I just don’t know what the answer is, but I’ll take responsibility for it. I’ve got to do a better job."
ReplyDeleteMurray drove over to Graves County for a 26-17 loss last night, and next week Mayfield drives over to Murray for the Tigers' first home game of the season. The WPA guide has me fired up for that one!
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, Graves County little-league football is going strong today. Per the @GCFootballGC Twitter feed, Wingo waylaid Fancy Farm, 19-0, this morning. Now Central and Symsonia are headed to overtime, tied at 6.
ReplyDeleteSymsonia takes it in double overtime.
DeleteAnd Sedelia beat Farmington, 13-7.
DeleteManual's Michael Nero, who Jason Frakes thought could conceivably challenge for Mr. Football, is out for the season.
ReplyDelete