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3A Notebook: When the Music Stops


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Central Stomps Belfry, Marks End of an Era

 

From Week 3 to today Bluegrasspreps' rankings have shown the same five teams in the top five spots. It has been a foregone conclusion that the Class 3A champion would come from this handful of teams. However, with a playoff format that sends four teams to the state semifinals, it has long been known that one of the five would be left without a seat when the music quit playing. On Friday night, Belfry was the odd man out. And for a program that has won four straight championships, played in seven straight finals, and gone at least as far as the state semifinals in thirteen of the last fourteen years, that loss resonated across the entire commonwealth.

 

Belfry went to Central on Friday night to revive what has become one of the greatest rivalries in Kentucky. Pike County and Jefferson County had met six times previously, with Central having won the first four games and Belfry the last two. All six had been played in the state championship game. Due to the implementation of cross-bracketing this season the matchup would instead be played two rounds earlier in the regional final.

 

Central scored first on a 41-yard touchdown pass from Rico White to U'Kari Baker. On the next drive, Central's Luke Bowman picked up a mishandled exchange and ran the fumble 34 yards to make the score 14-0. Both teams traded licks for much the remaining second half before Central receiver Davon Hall caught a tipped ball and ran the remaining 47 yards to pay dirt to make the score 34-21 at the break. From that point on it was domination by Central, as the Yellowjackets hit the end zone three times in the third quarter on the way to a 60-21 victory in the Region III title game.

 

First year Central head coach Marvin Dantzler told the Courier-Journal, "They’ve got Corbin and E’town (ahead of us), and we’ve just been hanging around at No. 5. We’ve been waiting to get our hands on all of them that’s in front of us. Hopefully we got some people’s attention tonight." (Friday Night Rewind | White shows Central's passing game also solid)

 

Don't expect after having knocked off Belfry for the first time since 2012 that Central will rest on its laurels. Linebacker Luke Bowman, whose fumble recovery for a touchdown gave the Jackets a daunting early advantage, feels like there are two more wins waiting. In the same Courier-Journal article he said, "We know we’re going to get the state ring this year. It’s ours."

 

Region IV

 

Corbin scored five times in the first quarter, inducing a running clock, on the way to a 50-14 regional championship win over Powell County. Quarterback Cameron Sizemore was impressive for the Redhounds, completing 7-of-8 passes for 215 yards and four touchdowns, each to a different receiver. Sizemore was just as good on the ground, rushing for 59 yards on only three carries, while Chase Estep scored twice on the ground on the evening.

 

Corbin head coach Justin Haddix told the Corbin Times-Tribune, I thought we came ready to play. We were able to take care of business and get the win." (Corbin scores 36 points during first 12 minutes on its way to a 5

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All blowouts... I guess we need to just let 4 teams in the playoffs.

 

3A was always going to be a five-horse race in 2017. There was a clear divide to the second level of teams which I think was Lexington Catholic, Caldwell County, Larue County, Paducah Tilghman and maybe Western Hills. Then you get to the third rail of Casey County, Fleming County, Garrard County, Waggener, and some others. But the gap between the top five and everyone else was pretty wide.

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