article Inside the 6th Region (12/21/2016)

Week 3 is a bit late to press to capture the final games of some of the tournaments held recently. No 6th region team remains undefeated, but Fern Creek still remains on top after an impressive showing at the KOB. Valley moves up to the #2 ranking after continuing their winning ways.

1) Fern Creek (9-1)- The Tigers were the only team in the 6th yet to lose when the week started, but the Tigers went 4-1 with their lone loss to Trinity who avenged losing to Fern Creek a week earlier. After beating Male before the KOB, the Tigers went 3-1 with wins over highly ranked teams Christian County, Franklin-Simpson, and Ballard in addition to the 3 point loss to Trinity. Moore, Wales, and Price all led the team in scoring during different games this past week. It is hard to prepare for the Tigers when they have multiple weapons.

2) Valley (7-1)- The Vikings jumped ahead of Butler after wins over Holy Cross and Iroquois. The Iroquois game was much closer for the Vikings than what was expected as they won 80-77, but Iroquois is much better this season. The Vikings also get scoring from multiple sources including George, Wilson, & Lewis to name a few.

3) Butler (7-2)- Butler started out winning 5 in a row before losing two straight and now has turned it around with two additional wins over Bardstown and an AL team. Butler does have a 4 point loss to Doss that makes it hard to have them ranked higher than Doss, but their body of work is worthy. Marcus Montgomery leads the team in scoring.

4) Doss (5-4)- Despite 4 losses, the Doss team has only a single 6th region loss and that is to Fern Creek. They have wins over Butler, Southern, and Western. The other 3 losses were to good teams, Lexington Catholic, Bowling Green, and Christian County. Stephon Franklin and Jaylon Hall lead in scoring.

5) Bullitt East (7-3)- The BE team started slow, but they have quietly won 5 in a row starting with a win at PRP. The last three victories are over Waggener, Lafayette, and DeSales. The win over DeSales was 81-54 and with that convincing win the Chargers deserve to be back in the Top 5. Jared Osborne, Connor Green, and Luke Ezell lead in scoring for the Chargers.

6) DeSales (7-2)- DeSales was poised to be much higher ranked until they dropped their last game against Bullitt East by a score of 81-54. That loss and the margin is hard to overlook even though DeSales had won 6 games in a row before that loss. Jaxon Burgess and Austin Black lead the Colts in scoring.

7) PRP (4-3)- The Panthers started out 3-0 before losing 3 in a row to Butler, Bullitt East, and Central before winning against a GA team in a TN Holiday event. The Panthers have Gerald Gray back in action the last two games who should help the team get back on the winning track.

8) Jeffersontown (5-3)- The Chargers stay in the 8th spot after going 2-1 this past week. They lost to Spencer County and beat Newport in their most recent game.

9) Moore (5-3)- Moore started out slow losing their first 3 games, but have since won 5 games in a row. They have a 1-1 6th region record, so the Mustangs are not well tested so far. Antwan Hurt and Ramon Collins lead the Mustangs in scoring.

10) Western (3-4)- Western cannot rise after getting beat by 20 by DeSales. Those are the type games Western must win and they simply fail to do so often. They did beat Louisville Collegiate before losing to Rockcastle County.

11) Fairdale (4-5)- Fairdale could rise when they benefit from the tough teams they lost to this week at the KOB where they are the host school. They lost to Cooper, North Hardin, and Franklin-Simpson.

12) Holy Cross (5-3)- 3 wins in a row after losing to Valley. Valley game was 54-68 and they rebounded with win over North Bullitt.

13) Iroquois (3-6)- 2 wins in a row before dropping three but their games are so much more competitive than last season. They came within 3 of upsetting #2 Valley 77-80.

14) Southern (3-4)- After losing their first 4, Southern has won 3 straight including a win over Bullitt Central 106-67

15) North Bullitt (3-6)- 4 losses in a row after their victory over rival Bullitt Central 59-41.

16) Bullitt Central (4-5)- After 5 consecutive losses they have won 3 in a row against lesser competition, including a win over Beth Haven 70-57.

17) Beth Haven (6-3)- Only region win is against Evangel Christian.

18) Evangel Christian (3-5)- Looking for a 6th region win. January 12th is the game versus Whitefield Academy that may determine who stays out of last place.

19) Whitefield Academy (1-4)- Like Evangel, their only 6th region win may be when they play on January 12th.

The region is definitely getting interesting. Fern Creek is still the clear cut leader. After that, it could be anyone. Valley is coming into their own. Doss is still good. Butler can beat anyone. Bullitt East has been shorthanded, but they seem to be figuring it out.

I agree, Fern Creek is still the front runner by a good bit. They just have too many players that can be the leader on any given night, that it doesn't matter if somebody has an off night. Valley is interesting, and I think will be the number 2 team when all is said and done, they have some really good players and are very athletic. The surprise to me is Bullitt East. I really didn't expect them to be in the mix this year after losing so much last year. But they seem to do what BE teams do, which is play as a team and do what each player does best. All in all the 6th should produce some fun games to watch.

Forgot.............Great write-up as always:thumb:

Forgot.............Great write-up as always:thumb:

Appreciate that Rr....this was a tough week to actually rank the teams because of so many unique results which in some cases are contradicting. I feel it shows that the challenge coaching HS age kids is getting consistency from your team. The team that can do that with the most amount of talent should come out on top obviously. It is way too early to suggest Fern Creek can sustain the clear leader role for the entire season, but they passed the test so far. The first week in January they play both Butler and Bullitt East which are tough 6th region tests.

I agree with HoopJunkie on his comments about the Top 5, but #6 & #7 DeSales & PRP are very capable of putting a solid run together to challenge for the top. Even Jtown & Moore could surprise people and make a run. I believe those 9 are a cut above the rest and form a deep 6th region that may be the strongest in the state in terms of their best 7 teams. If PRP is indeed the 7th best team, not many regions can match their 7th best team with PRP.

Appreciate that Rr....this was a tough week to actually rank the teams because of so many unique results which in some cases are contradicting. I feel it shows that the challenge coaching HS age kids is getting consistency from your team. The team that can do that with the most amount of talent should come out on top obviously. It is way too early to suggest Fern Creek can sustain the clear leader role for the entire season, but they passed the test so far. The first week in January they play both Butler and Bullitt East which are tough 6th region tests.

 

I agree with HoopJunkie on his comments about the Top 5, but #6 & #7 DeSales & PRP are very capable of putting a solid run together to challenge for the top. Even Jtown & Moore could surprise people and make a run. I believe those 9 are a cut above the rest and form a deep 6th region that may be the strongest in the state in terms of their best 7 teams. If PRP is indeed the 7th best team, not many regions can match their 7th best team with PRP.

I think the 6th Region is the best region in the state this year. Very strong.