article 2A Notebook: All The Pretty Horses

Mayfield Can't Tame The Mustangs

For the 2nd consecutive year the Mayfield Cardinals went to overtime with 6A McCracken County, and for the 2nd consecutive year when the dust settled it was the Mustangs who came out on top.

The biggest cause for alarm for the Cardinals was their inability in the passing game. Mayfield completed a mere 7/23 for 55 yards and squandered Trajon Bright's 233 yard rushing performance. The Cardinal secondary was abused for 281 passing yards and another 165 on the ground.

Though this would not remotely resemble a "bad" loss, it does bring into question ultimately how Mayfield stacks up to DeSales who has defeated 6A teams seemingly on an equal level to the Mustangs.

Colts Are Mudders

Speaking of DeSales, Friday night wasn't pretty in the annual clash with rival Louisville Holy Cross. Mother nature created a quagmire and between a valiant effort by Holy Cross and a sloppy DeSales effort they "struggled" in winning 32-0.

Though the game was never truly in question, the Colts left numerous points off the board and failed to capitalize on primo real estate in the field position game. The win is good enough to move DeSales to the #1 spot in Class 2A, but with a very good Fern Creek team coming up next the Colts fans have to be hoping Friday was not an indicator of a bit of a slump.

Thoroughbreds' Training Progressing Nicely

The Defending 2A Runner-Up Newport Central Catholic is renowned for playing an almost impossible Non-District schedule to prepare them for a deep playoff push. Having already played ranked teams in 4A and 6A, NewCath raced down the Mountain Parkway to challenge defending 3A Champs Belfry.

Newport Central Catholic finally had the full services of standout RB Jacob Smith. Smith missed the first two games of the year with injury and only played roughly half the Offensive snaps in their win against 6A Campbell County, hampered with cramps the entire night.Smith is a dynamic back and arguably the best Running Back in 2A. A vaunted Belfry defense contained him to only 55 yards on 19 carries, but it was evident the NewCath offense looked completely different with him toting the rock.

NewCath hung tough for a Half and led 10-7 at Intermission before Belfry was ultimately able to put them away behind an advantage in the trenches. The scoreboard turned off with a 28-10 win for the Pirates.

The Breds though showed great promise on both sides of the ball and continue to look better each week. Though Danville may sport a higher ranking, I would still expect NewCath to be the favorite to once again represent the East in Bowling Green.

Meanwhile In the Horse Capital of the World...

Lexington Christian Academy keeps rolling. The Eagles eclipsed the 50 point mark for the third time this season in their 62-33 throttling of 3A Estill County. LCA has now scored 189 points through just four games and are off to a 4-0 start.

The critique with the Eagles though is the quality of the teams they are defeating. Calpreps gives LCA a Strength of Schedule thusfar of -4.4 When comparing to the other Top 15 teams in 2A this is the 14th weakest schedule.

The Eagles take on a reeling Walton-Verona next and follow it up with Fairview and Middlesboro. Anything less than a 7-0 start will be suprising.

Other Notes:

- Entering this week 9 different teams are yet to break their maiden and remain winless. Betsy Layne hosts Knott County Central and may have the best shot at getting in the win column.

- If one were to ask Corbin fans, they would say that Danville's impressive 20-0 win over their Hounds would have scored very high on the Beyer Speed Rating scale. The Ads defense flew to the ball and the Hounds were never able to get the corner as Danville had a big bounce back and probably the best statement win of the week.

- In the home of the Murray State Racers the Prep Murray Tigers put up a valiant fight against a highly ranked 4-0 4A Hopkinsville team but just could not finish the drill losing 21-13. After laying an egg the previous week against graves County, the silver lining for the Tigers was that their Defense looked truer to form.

STAT OF THE WEEK

Keep your eye on Shelby Valley. Like a hard charging closer in Horse Racing the Wildcats fell to the back of the pack coming out of the gates when they were demolished by Franklin County and with that they fell off most people's radars. Franklin County now sits 4-0 and have ran roughshod through their schedule on their way to the #4 Ranking in Class 4A. Shelby Valley has gotten healthy and this past week had three different backs eclipse the century mark in their 36-12 win against Hurley, VA.

Desales is certainly not in a slump. The holy cross game is always tricky for us with tempers and emotions flaring, throw in the bad weather and we are not ourselves. The past two seasons we have defeated holy cross by similar scores. 2014 was a 31-0 affair that lasted three days because of inclement weather and 2013 was a 45-0 game.

Holy Cross game is always tough....will take 32-zip all day.

Not sure I agree with NCC being favored over Danville to come out of the east. They've both played good schedules and Danville's played at a higher and more consistent level, in my opinion. Not even sure I'd favor NCC over LCA. They've played a better schedule, but, a team that can score like LCA can is a dangerous team, at any time.