article Class 2A Notebook 10/3- Moving and Shaking Imminent

Are You Not Entertained?

With District competition now fully upon us it would be appropriate to take stock of what Class 2A has accomplished in the Non-District slate. Here is a breakdown of how the Top 15 teams in Bluegrasspreps.com's Class 2A Rankings fared against other classes:

Class 1A: 11-4, 8-4 vs. Class 1A Top 15

Class 3A: 13-4, 3-4 vs. Class 3A Top 15

Class 4A: 11-2, 1-2 vs. Class 4A Top 15

Class 5A: 12-2, 4-1 vs. Class 5A Top 15

Class 6A: 6-6, 1-4 vs. Class 6A Top 15

Overall: 53- 18 vs. Teams From Other Classifications

Wins of Note: 1A #7 Hazard, 1A #8 Lou. Holy Cross, 1A # 9 Fairview, 1A #10 Kentucky Country Day, 3A #2 Corbin, 3A #5 Boyle County, 3A #6 Central, 5A #5 Owensboro, 5A #7 Southwestern, 5A #9 Fern Creek, 6A McCracken County, 6A North Hardin

Pretty Impressive!

Time to Rumble

Now that we have settled how the top teams have fared against other classes, we will have no better weekend in the regular season to settle how they fare against one another. Three different match-ups featuring Top 10 teams highlight this week's slate, including possibly the single best regular season rivalry to be played.

Let's start in District 7 where Danville will renew one of the State's most under appreciated rivalries when they host Somerset. The Ads have been sensational with their only loss coming to an excellent 3A Corbin squad while racking up a couple of the key wins listed above. Somerset has been a team that was seemingly planted at the #11 spot until Lloyd Memorial's loss opened a small crack. Somerset has a nice win over Hazard, and their two losses seemingly look better each week.

Newport Stadium will be the location for the first of a series of three highly anticipated games to decide District 6. Newport Catholic, as they always do, has played an insane Non-District schedule littered with 6A teams and other larger class foes. Covington Holy Cross has been impressive, but have yet to secure a signature win. The two teams do share a common opponent in Scott High. Holy Cross defeated the Eagles 27-0 on 9/16, the Breds also defeated Scott to open the season, but they won by a 26 point margin.

The game that has everyone's eye and that will keep smart phones refreshing the update thread Friday night will take place on DeSales beautiful new playing field. Both CAL and DeSales have seemingly found their form. Early on I think most viewed CAL as the slight favorite, but the Colts have really hit their stride (pun fully intended) in recent weeks as they have secured back to back dominating wins over teams who entered among the Top 15 schools in Class 5A and 6A respectively.

Though both teams enter with Offenses that are humming along, The Notebook is going to make a bold prediction and say this will be a fairly low scoring game where Defense carries the day. With the exception of last year's playoff meeting (which was even aided by a Pick 6) the last four games have seen Defense rule the day in tight, low scoring affairs. DeSales secondary has been spectacular and CAL is very stout in their Defensive Front 7 led by All-State Jacob Paulson. With this being an even numbered year it means that the winner secures home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Walton-Verona Stands Out Up North

Last week the Notebook left Walton-Verona off the list of dark horses and fans of the Bearcats took exception. On Friday their team backed their disdain by crushing Owen County 35-0 making the Bearcats the heavy front runner to win District 5.

Garet Talbott carried the ball 10 times for 157 yards to lead the way while Dub-Vee held Owen to a paltry 153 total yards.

This sets up a battle with Gallatin County (5-2) this week in Bearcat Country to essentially settle the District Champion. Gallatin has won four of their past five including defeating fellow District foes Trimble and Carroll County by a combined 89-0 the past two weeks. With District 6 loaded with three of 2A's Top 11 teams the top seed will be significant, Newport is very winnable as a First Round game and the top seed would ensure the Second Round game would at the minimum provide the advantage of playing in front of a home crowd. Walton-Verona is already familiar with District 6 having played both Lloyd Memorial and Covington Holy Cross away from home to open the season. The Bearcats were outscored 82-0, so any edge to close the gap would be a welcome relief.

Meanwhile in The Mountains...

Leslie County took a huge step in the direction of locking down a District 8 Title by defeating previously undefeated Allen Central on the road 26-8. The Rebels entered averaging over 50 points per game in their four previous wins but could only muster one score despite gaining over 300 yards.

Leslie leaned on Lucas Vance to do the heavy lifting. Vance went over the 200 yard mark on the ground but failed to find the end zone. The Eagles also got a solid effort from the latest edition of the Whitaker Quarterback lineage in Darron Whitaker. The Sophomore signal caller went 12/18 for 185 yards and 2 TD's.

Leslie has a chance to all but engrave their District Championship trophy if they can defeat Prestonsburg this week. The Blackcats have been a somewhat pleasant surprise despite bleak predictions as they have fought to a 4-2 record. Prestonsburg has relied heavily on QB Wesley Hager who has been proficient on the ground this season.

Murray Went South In a Hurry

The Murray Tigers have been a fixture as a Top 10 program and a tough out for years. The 2015 season when Murray fell in the Second Round was the first time since 2008 that the Tigers did not advance to the Regional Finals. Most expected Murray to take some lumps this year after losing a very talented Senior Class, but I am not sure anyone expected a 1-6 start. With a game Ballard Memorial and athletic Paducah Tilghman left, it is very possible that Murray may finish 2-8. Though not confirmed, this could potentially be the worst regular season in the program's illustrious history. A loss to Ballard Memorial would also set the Tigers up for a road trip to Butler County or McLean County in Round 1. It's is almost hard to fathom a 2-9 overall finish and seeing Murray sitting home after the First Round.

I don't disagree at all with your low scoring assessment. In fact, if it's a shootout, I think that is to CAL's advantage. DeSales has a LOT of young players playing vital roles, so one of the keys to the game will be how those guys handle the situation. They have played in front of a massive crowd at the opening game, and a REALLY loud crowd for the Fern Creek game. They will see both Friday.

Meanwhile in The Mountains...

Leslie County took a huge step in the direction of locking down a District 8 Title by defeating previously undefeated Allen Central on the road 26-8. The Rebels entered averaging over 50 points per game in their four previous wins but could only muster one score despite gaining over 300 yards.

 

Leslie leaned on Lucas Vance to do the heavy lifting. Vance went over the 200 yard mark on the ground but failed to find the end zone. The Eagles also got a solid effort from the latest edition of the Whitaker Quarterback lineage in Darron Whitaker. The Sophomore signal caller went 12/18 for 185 yards and 2 TD's.

 

Leslie has a chance to all but engrave their District Championship trophy if they can defeat Prestonsburg this week. The Blackcats have been a somewhat pleasant surprise despite bleak predictions as they have fought to a 4-2 record. Prestonsburg has relied heavily on QB Wesley Hager who has been proficient on the ground this season.

I was in the mountains for this game and was very impressed with Lucas Vance. He isn't real big and I'm not sure if he's fast, but he has good quickness and can change speeds well. He's a very solid high school running back.

Allen Central had a nice team but were behind the eight-ball much of the night due to penalties, many of them self-inflicted personal foul-types.