DevilMayCare

With history like this, it's easy to fall in love with the rearview mirror, but this year's Rebels shouldn't have trouble keeping their fans focused, instead, on the horizon. Theres too much to look forward to.

One of the state's truly elite all-around football players is closing in on a college destination.

"Spur" is working on an all-time career in a Lions uniform. With two seasons still to go, he's poised to rewrite the Boyd County and 16th Region record books and potentially put some numbers out of reach.

Observations • The Top 8 remains completely intact from last week: 1. ☘️ | 2. 🦁 | 3. 🐴 | 4. 🇾🇪 | 5. 🛡 | 6. 🐻 | 7. 🦅 | 8. ♈️ • Corbin (C) jumps six spots from #15 to #9. The Hounds are in the midst of an eleven game win streak. Frederick Douglass (🇮🇪) swaps places with Corbin, falling from 9 to 15. • The X-Men's absence from the polls was short lived. The Tigers of St. Xavier (🐯) leap back in at #16 with seven wins in their last eight games. • An 11-0 start to the season propels Covington Catholic (CC) into the Top 25 at #23. They suffered their first setback of the season in a one run loss to Conner last Saturday. The Blue Colonels have been stellar from the mound, allowing 41 hits in 81 innings pitched and sporting a team ERA of 1.03. • Two weeks after reaching #5, Ryle (🏴‍☠️) spirals out of the Top 25 completely. The Raiders are 4-6 over their last ten, including a loss to aforementioned CovCath last Friday.

Already looking forward to that October 18th date. 🏴‍☠️

16th Region Off-Season Discusion Hub With the 2023-2024 season behind us, attention naturally shifts to what comes next. Questions swirl in anticipation of what lies ahead. • What's it going to take to pry Ashland's (🇱🇻) claws from the regional championship? • Can Boyd County (🦁) upend their rival when the stakes are highest? • Can any of last year's additional contenders - Fleming (🐾), Rowan (🇳🇬), Morgan (🇺🇦) - keep pace with the Tomcats and Lions again? • Are Russell's (🔱) young Devils ready to raise some hell? • Is West (☄️) primed to take back control from East (🇫🇷) in the Carter County ’Civil War’ ? • Will any players or coaches change allegiances before next season? From Ashland, to Vanceburg, to West Liberty, this is the place to ask questions and provide answers for any and all topics pertaining to the 16th Region. Notable Comings and Goings 🎓 Adam Hargett (Fleming County/Region POY) | Gatlin Griffith, Cameron Adams (Morgan County) | Jason Ellis (Boyd County) | Colby Wilburn, Brayden Mirus, Deshawn Watson (Rowan County) | Asher Adkins, Nate Frieze (Ashland) | Evan Goodman, Blake Hall (East Carter) | Eli Adkins (Greenup County) | Christian Large, Conner Sutton (Raceland) | Xavier Prater (Lewis County) | Steven Day, Tamel Smith (Fairview) | Taylan Sorrell (Bath County) 🔙 Zander Carter, Braxton Jennings, Tyson Lalonde (Ashland) | Jacob Spurlock, Cole Hicks, Rhett Holbrook (Boyd County) | Seth Hickerson, Lucas Jolly (Fleming County) | Caleb Rimmer, Elijah Neel (Russell) | Preston Hoskins (Morgan County) | Bryson Chandley, Kasey Gammon (Greenup County) | Drew Noble, Julian Puente (Lewis County) | Connor Thacker (Raceland) | Nathan Webb (West Carter) | Brevon Ricker (Menifee County) | Montana Brashear (Bath County) | Lake Adkins (Elliott County) At this time, there are no imminent coaching changes that I'm aware of.

Obcervations • Trinity (☘) rebounded from a run rule loss to Frederick Douglass by beating the #8 Broncos the following day and running off three straight mercy rule wins in the last four days. • Ballard (🐻) continues its rapid ascent up the rankings. The Bruins debuted at #19 last week, and climb eight spots in the latest poll. • Taylor County continues to quietly go about its business, silencing opposing bats with a 0.37 ERA through six games. The Cardinals sit at #4 this week. • Ryle (🏴‍☠️) cracks the top five, despite a one run setback to Great Crossing in their most recent game. The Raiders visit Ohio's reigning D1 champs and current top ranked team, Moeller, later this evening. • South Warren (⚔️) makes its rankings premiere by leaping all the way to #12 on the heels of victories over state ranked Somerset and Corbin. The Jumpers plummet eight spots, while the Hounds are only penalized three positions. • Joining the Spartans in making their 2024 PBR debut, are Great Crossing (#17), Rowan County (#19), Muhlenberg County (#21), PRP (#22), Scott County (#24), and Collins (#25).

The 16th Region's all-time wins leader is calling it a career. Pete Fraley won six regional championships in a near three decade long career leading the Lady Lions. He leaves behind very large shoes to fill in Cannonsburg.

It's been a minute since I last checked in on Javeon's recruitment. Needless to say, things are going well. Georgia, LSU, Auburn, Florida, Miami (FL), and Virginia Tech have thrown their names in the hat over the last month.

Unless something has changed recently, he's on Chris Wolfe's staff at Male.

✔️ State's all-time scoring king ✔️ UK commit ✔️ Mr. Basketball ✔️ State Champion Has there ever been a more complete career by a Kentucky high school basketball player than that of Travis Perry? At the risk of being a prisoner of the moment, I'm going to say no.

Been waiting for Perry to go off at Rupp. He's been relatively subdued through the first three games. The feeling is in the air.

Reddick isn't taking a back seat to the superstars tonight.

Harlan County is the first team from the 13th Region to compete for the state championship since 1988, when Richie Farmer hung 51 on Allan Houston and Ballard in defeat. Will we see another prolific scorer from the mountains put on a similar show tonight?