Here is a look at how the last three weeks of the 3A football season played out last year. So now that we're just over 4 weeks away from the 2024 football season kicking off, what are you thinking in terms of preseason rankings for 3A?

Have any of these teams dropped out of the picture for the beginning of this season?

Are any of the quarterfinalists or semifinalists looking more like finalists this season? Or vice versa?

What about teams like Belfry, Franklin-Simpson, Mercer County, and Glasgow...do you see them making it any deeper of a playoff run than they did last year?

Here are this year's team threads that have been started from among the teams that made last year's 3A quarterfinalists:

2024 Christian Academy Louisville Centurions
2024 Bell County Bobcats
2024 Lexington Catholic Knights
2024 Hart County Raiders
2024 Union County Braves
2024 Rockcastle County Rockets
2024 Central Yellow Jackets

Now that we're just over 4 weeks away from the 2024 football season kicking off, what are you thinking in terms of preseason rankings for 6A? Have any of these teams dropped out of the picture for the beginning of this season? Are any of the quarterfinalists or semifinalists looking more like finalists this season? Or vice versa? What about teams like Manual, St. Xavier and Bullitt East...do you see them making it any deeper of a playoff run than they did last year? Is Simon Kenton the most logical favorite to win it all this year?

Here are this year's team threads that have been started from among the teams that made last year's 6A quarterfinalists:

2024 Trinity Shamrocks
2024 Bryan Station Defenders
2024 Frederick Douglass Broncos
2024 Ballard Bruins
2024 McCracken County Mustangs
2024 Male Bulldogs
2024 Central Hardin Bruins
2024 Ryle Raiders

Now that we're just over 4 weeks away from the 2024 football season kicking off, what are you thinking in terms of preseason rankings for 5A? Have any of these teams dropped out of the picture for the beginning of this season? Are any of the quarterfinalists or semifinalists looking more like finalists this season? Or vice versa? What about teams like Scott County, South Warren and Dixie Heights...do you see them making it any deeper of a playoff run than they did last year?

Here are this year's team threads that have been started from among the teams that made last year's 5A quarterfinalists:

2024 Bowling Green Purples
2024 Cooper Jaguars
2024 Highlands Bluebirds
2024 Owensboro Red Devils
2024 Southwestern Warriors
2024 Atherton Ravens

Now that we're just over 4 weeks away from the 2024 football season kicking off, what are you thinking in terms of preseason rankings for 4A? Have any of these teams dropped out of the picture for the beginning of this season? Are any of the quarterfinalists or semifinalists looking more like finalists this season? Or vice versa? What about teams like Ashland, and Logan County, and Taylor County...do you see them making it any deeper of a playoff run than they did last year?

Here are this year's team threads that have been started from among the teams that made last year's 4A quarterfinals:

2024 Boyle County Rebels
2024 Covington Catholic Colonels
2024 Paducah Tilghman Blue Tornado
2024 Franklin County Flyers
2024 Corbin Redhounds
2024 Bardstown Tigers
2024 Johnson Central Golden Eagles

🖥️ 🏈 | The Professor has tagged five defending State champs as preseason #1's. Beechwood opens up at the top of 2A with a razor thin margin over Mayfield (0.01). 

✔️ All speculative at this point of course, but a fun starting point nonetheless. Just a little taste to sustain us through the coming dog days of summer. 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... 😃

Top 25

1. Trinity, 2. St. Xavier, 3. Douglass, 4. Male, 5. Boyle Co. 

6. Bowling Green, 7. CAL, 8. Ballard, 9. Corbin, 10. Highlands 

11. Bryan Station, 12. Manual, 13. Cov Cath, 14. South Warren, 15. Scott Co. 

16. Ryle, 17. Tilghman, 18. Cooper, 19. Owensboro, 20. Franklin Co. 

21. Lex Cath, 22. Central, 23. Beechwood, 24. Mayfield, 25. Southwestern 

In A Battle Of Top 5 Teams, Mustangs Chasing Title #1, Panthers Prowling For #7 

Wins/Losses: McCracken County (34-9) | Pleasure Ridge Park (39-3)

PBR Ranking: McCracken County (#3) | Pleasure Ridge Park (#5)

Gametime: 3:30pm on Saturday (6/15) at Kentucky Proud Park 

A decade of regional dominance has failed to translate to the state tournament for McCracken County. The Mustangs have stood at the doorstep twice before, only to be turned away in finals losses to Tates Creek (2019) and Trinity (2021). If they're asked for the password this time, the name Miller Green may do the trick. Mr. Baseball is staring at immortality, already having pocketed the state's highest individual honor and the team prize within reach. 

Before PRP became a brand name program, they walked a mile or two in McCracken's shoes. The Panthers struck out on three finals appearances before the flood gates opened. A three-peat of championships from '94-'96 made PRP the center of the baseball universe. The pace slacked off some, but the Panthers have displayed staying power, adding three more ships in the years since. A win on Saturday would give Pleasure Ridge Park sole possession of second place - behind Saint Xavier - for all-time state baseball championships.

I believe the Wing T is a very good offense to help get some teams some wins and for teams that may not have much overall talent, which can help that team wins some games. However, I think the Wing T also limits teams when they do have more talent and doesn’t allow them to reach their true ceiling. Which is why you may see some wing T teams win a good amount of games against average and below average teams. But then struggle to get those wins when they play more top 10 level type teams. - futurecoach

High School football is so much about the talent that you have....there are dominant teams that run single wing, wing t, and other old school offenses. The top tier teams separate from the lesser talented teams because of their roster, not the offense they run. Not only that, the wing can be pretty versatile and you see elements of it still at all levels. And it's great for small schools who may not have the talent at the QB position all the time to consistently run a more wide open offense. - rjs4470

I disagree with much of the sentiment here regarding the Wing-T.  The Wing-T allows you to punch way above your class so to speak.  It gives you more chances to win.  I also like the evolution into the Gun-T, but that's nothing new (Dale Mueller essentially ran Gun-T for decades at Highlands). - New Colonel

Covington Catholic hires Jake Thelen as new head basketball coach

Former Colonel standout, Division II All-American brings high school and college coaching experience

Park Hills, KY – Covington Catholic High School has named former Colonel standout Jake Thelen its new head basketball coach. A native of Edgewood, Kentucky, Thelen starred at Covington Catholic – where he was selected to play in both the Kentucky/Indiana and the Kentucky/Ohio All-Star games – before embarking on an All-American career at Bellarmine University and gaining coaching experience at three top Division I basketball programs.

Here are the first round KHSAA games at Legends Field in Lexington.

June 6th
Russell County vs. Simon Kenton 10:00 AM
Trinity vs. Pikeville 1:30 PM
LaRue County vs. Pleasure Ridge Park 5:00 PM
Mason County vs. Lexington Catholic 8:30 PM

June 7th
East Carter vs. Ryle 10:00 AM
McCracken County vs. West Jessamine 1:30 PM
Owensboro Catholic vs. Corbin 5:00 PM
Estill County vs. Hopkinsville 8:30 PM

• This is the final Prep Baseball Report Top 25 for Kentucky this season, as the postseason gets underway.

• The entire top ten is intact from last week.

• Trinity (☘) is the wire-to-wire regular season #1. Their only loss to an in-state opponent so far, was to #10 Frederick Douglass (🇨🇮) on 3/19. The Shamrocks are riding a 16 game win streak into postseason play. 

• One of last week's premier games pitted NKY's top two teams, #9 Covington Catholic (CC) and #17 Ryle (🏴‍☠️), in a pitcher's duel, with Ryle's #9 hitter ultimately deciding the outcome. The day belonged to Raiders pitcher Grant Ashcraft, until the game's final pitch. Ashcraft no-hit the Colonels through 5 ⅓ innings, but teammate Tate Cordrey stole the show with a walk-off, two run dinger to give Ryle the win. The Raiders were tied for the week's biggest mover, sliding up four slots from #21.

• The other +4 mover was Owensboro Catholic (♠️), who come in one spot ahead of the Bowling Green squad they defeated last Thursday in another game of the week candidate. O-Cath pitchers Barrett Evans and Luke Quinn combined to allow the Purples three hits and no runs over seven innings to help edge BG, 2-0.

• Last year's state champ is rounding into form as they officially begin their quest to repeat. Whitley County (🇾🇪) picked up a couple more wins to extend their run in the back half of the season to 17-2.

• Woodford County (🐝) and Central Hardin (🐻) sneak onto the tail end of the Top 25. The Bruins were last seen in the preseason rankings at #21. Wofo has drifted in and out all season. 

• Grayson Davis pitched a gem for #1 Trinity (☘️), allowing one hit and three total base runners across six innings against #18 Madison Central. Six different Shamrocks drove in at least one run to convincingly handle the Indians.

• Boyd County (🦁) further bolstered its #2 ranking with consecutive wins over R9 contenders #10 Covington Catholic and Dixie Heights, plus R16 power Rowan County. Boyd's depth of quality arms was apparent, as the Lions allowed eight total hits and three earned runs combined over those three games.

• McCracken County (🐎) used four pitchers to silence Marshall County bats, edging the Marshals 2-0. The win runs #3 McCracken's win streak against R1 competition to 51 games. The Mustangs lead the state with a 1.24 team ERA. 

• Muhlenberg County (🇧🇼) is right behind them with a 1.31 ERA. Their pitching prowess was on display in a trio of shutout wins over Hancock County, Franklin-Simpson, and Hopkinsville. The Mustangs subsequently move up three spots to #17.

• Ryle (🏴‍☠️) returns to the Top 25 following a quartet of wins over Campbell County, #10 Frederick Douglass, #18 Madison Central, and Highlands. The Raiders are 19-3 since taking some early season Ls against a challenging schedule. 

• Brady Atwell clubbed a solo home run, but PRP's Asious Kavich countered with 3 RBIs to help the 5th ranked Panthers (🐾) come from behind to beat #15 Owensboro Catholic (♠️) in one of last week's marquee games. Despite the result, PRP falls one slot in the rankings, while the Aces climb four.

• Reigning state champ Whitley County (🇸🇾) makes an appearance for the first time since the March 18th poll. The Colonels have won 15 of 17, including recent wins over #20 Great Crossing and previously ranked Woodford County. Whitley is hitting at a .394 clip in the month of May.

• The week's biggest mover was Saint Xavier (🐯), who continues to yo-yo up and down the Top 25. The Tigers check in at #15, up eight spots following an impressive run of consecutive wins over #3 McCracken County, #5 Ballard, and #7 Apollo last week. That's about as good a run as we've seen from anyone this season and demonstrates just how good the X-Men can be. They allowed just two runs during that stretch against top competition. 

• Covington Catholic (🇲🇶) reaches a season high #10 on the heels of a nine game win streak that includes a nine run shellacking of #21 Pikeville at Boyd County's Derby Classic last Friday. Jackson Reardon went yard as part of a 4 for 5 day at the plate.

• One of the week's marquee games featured West Jessamine (🐎) hosting Frederick Douglass (🇮🇪) in a match-up of top ten teams. The rankings suggested a game that never materialized, as the Broncos ran away with a five inning mercy rule victory. Forde Cruse no-hit the Colts, while Jaylen Edmonds drove in four to power Douglass in a dominating effort. 

• Bowling Green (🟪🟨) outdueled visiting Taylor County in another contest between ranked teams. The Purples eked out a 5-4 win with Jackson Idlett providing two perfect, efficient innings in relief to close the show. The loss didn't ding the Cardinals at all, as they hold steady at #6 this week, but it did boost BG five spots to #12. 

• Trinity, Boyd County, and McCracken County have taken up residence in slots 1-3. They've occupied the top three in every poll this season.

• The Shamrocks (☘️) have lived up to their #1 billing, running off twelve straight wins, including a shutout victory over #10 Manual today.

• Boyd County (🦁) is doing its best to keep pace with T, winning 13 of its last 14. The Lions topped reigning R16 champion Raceland earlier this week in a matchup of EKY powers.

• PRP (🐾) took another step forward in the rankings, climbing four more spots to #4. The Panthers have won ten straight, outscoring the opposition 113-11. They rank #2 in the state for team batting average (.378) and runs per game (10.1)

• Apollo (🦅) has claimed victories over #2 McCracken County, #9 Frederick Douglass, and #18 Owensboro Catholic in the month of April. Noah Cook and Carter Kimmel have combined to allow 4 earned runs in 75 ⅔ innings of work.

• Speaking of O-Cath (♠️), they make their Top 25 debut on the strength of winning the All "A" championship. The Aces live up to their nickname, with four pitchers sporting sub 2.00 ERAs with 20+ innings pitched each.

• Continuing the theme of dominance from the mound, Muhlenberg County (🐎) pitchers haven't allowed an earned run in four games. The Mustangs own a staff ERA of 1.38 for the season.

• The week's biggest mover is heading in the wrong direction. Saint Xavier (🐯) plummeted thirteen spots to #23 after losing four straight to, admittedly, very strong competition.

• After a rugged schedule left them below .500 and unranked three weeks ago, Ryle (🏴‍☠️) has re-emerged after winning 12 of 13. AJ Curry is raking at a state leading clip of .671 for the Raiders.

🥇 St. Xavier (3A), Covington Catholic (2A), and Louisville Collegiate (1A) are the statewide Class leaders with Regional meets just three weeks away. 

🧐 Several recent quality Invitationals have had a major impact on the rankings since the season's opening look; among them - Tyson and Trinity Gay in Lexington, Eastern Relays in Louisville, Arcadia (CA), and the Lake Cumberland Classic in Somerset. 

🏆 + 🏆 ?  St. X and CovCath are looking for follow-ups to their KHSAA Indoor Championships - the Tigers shared first place with Trinity in 3A; the Colonels won the 2A title outright. 1A Indoor champ Green County is ranked fifth this week.

Top 20 Rankings are based on a "Virtual State Meet" format from this season's best performances using link below* ~

• Trinity (☘) tightened its grip on #1 with a 5-0 week that saw the Rocks bat nearly .400 and pitch three shutouts.

• After I touted their mastery from the mound last week, Taylor County (🇾🇪) got roughed up for a season worst nine runs in a loss to Powell County in the 2A Championship Tournament. The Cardinals subsequently fall a couple of spots to #6.

• PRP (🐾) moves from #8 to #4 after a 4-0 week that was capped off with a mercy rule beatdown of previous #4 Lexington Catholic. The Panthers held the Knights to two base hits.

• West Jessamine (🐎) continues its ascent up the rankings with another leap this week after moving five spots last week. The Colts one upped themselves by sliding up six positions to #9.

• Frederick Douglass (🇨🇮) got 4 RBIs from Jeremiah Lowe to run rule previously ranked Sayre. The win concluded a 3-0 week for the Broncos, who move up four places to #13. Douglass also rocked #14 Madison Central earlier in the week.

• The week's biggest mover was Woodford County (🐝), who shot eight spots to #17 after a pair of high quality wins on Saturday over #10 St. Xavier and Central Hardin.

I have some random thoughts:

1. Dump our current RPI for Calpreps.  Calpreps is clearly superior and comprehensive.

2. Reduce the number of classifications.  We are seeing more and more there are a few good teams at the top of each class and then teams that have no chance.

3. Reduce the amount of teams that get in the playoffs by 50%.  Way too many teams get in the playoffs.

4. Allow one transfer with no restrictions.

5. Move the State Championships back to Thanksgiving weekend. 

Would you choose any of those?  Something else?

OBSERVATIONS

• The Top 6 holds firm from a week ago. In fact, this has been the order at the top for three weeks running: 1. ☘️ | 2. 🦁 | 3. 🐴  | 4. 🇾🇪 | 5. 🛡 | 6. 🐻 

• Taylor County (#4) is 6-0 in one run games this season. The Cardinals have balance throughout the line-up and a pitching rotation sporting a 1.35 ERA.

• Perennial power PRP (🐾) sits at #8 with a line-up raking at a clip of .380 and a staff ERA of 2.11.

•  St. Xavier (🐯) climbs back into the Top 10 after enduring a challenging slate of games last week, including quality wins over #12 Eastern, DeSales, and St. Ignatius (OH), plus a pair of losses to top ranked Trinity and St. Edward's (OH).

• Bowling Green (🟪🟨) is off to its best start since the 2012 team ran off 18 straight wins to open their season. Drew Isenberg's 0.49 ERA leads a deep rotation of arms for the Purples.

• West Jessamine (🐎) is up five spots to #15 after outscoring its last five opponents 51-6, including wins over #16 Corbin and #21 Sayre.

PBR Kentucky/KHSBCA Power 25

• 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.

• 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. 

Lyon County (35-3) lead by Mr. Basketball and University of Kentucky signee Travis Perry will be playing in their first ever Sweet 16 Championship game against the Black Bears of Harlan County (34-4) lead by South Carolina signee Trent Noah.

Lyon County made it to the finals with wins over Ashland, Adair Co., and Great Crossing. Harlan County defeated last season's champs Warren Central, Campbell Co. and Evangel Christian.

These two have a several very good quality opponents in Frederick Douglass, Ashland and Bowling Green. Lyon Co. defeated all 3 of these teams by scores of 86-66, 45-43, and 90-89. Harlan Co. were 1-2 vs. these 3 programs losing 70-60 to Douglass and 73-62 to Bowling Green and the Black Bears defeated Ashland 80-70.

Well said it all year. This team was a team that very easily could make a run, but also very easily could lose first game. Which unfortunately that is what happened. Our freshman played like freshman, while Oakland had a guy that shot unbelievable early. Then the rest of the team got confidence and started making shots at the end when it mattered too.

Now I know our usuals will blame Cal for this. However, no coaching could have helped this team miss the easy around the rim shots they missed today, and our two probably top 10 lottery picks playing horrible games. With that said though, sometimes it is just time for a change. Probably be a good thing for both UK and for Cal to go in different directions. Right now I think the program and Cal need a jump start and doesn’t look like it will happen together.

This should be a great game. These two have been the top 2 teams in the 11th all-season. They are also the #1 and #2 teams in the state currently. It is sad that one of the top teams in the state will not make it to Rupp. These two teams met about 6 weeks ago on a neutral court and the game was won by Great Crossing 58-50. Great Crossing goes into the game at 33-1 and Lexington Catholic enters the game at 32-2. Great Crossing has not lost to a KY team this season. Catholic's 2 losses came to Great Crossing and Lyon Co. I am looking forward to watching this one. It can be seen for free on Glicod Sports. It is Tuesday, March 12th at 7:00pm from Dunbar HS.

Hearing rumblings... multiple football programs are talking about dropping out of district play for the coming cycle.

When it is a good decision to drop out of district play?

What happens to a program when you have virtually no chance to be competitive?

Or, even if you have no chance to win the district, just working hard and finding satisfaction in a bunch of dudes coming together to work as hard as they can would be better. What are we teaching people by running from superior competition. Figure it out!!

A few things to know about these lists. Number 1: you have to have averaged 10 points per game to be considered. I know this rules out really important players like Miyah Wimzie, Maya Lawrie, and Maleah Alexander, but the rationale here is simple: high-motor, high-intangible, high-basketball IQ, "glue players" on teams that we all watch a lot get plenty of love (like the three I mentioned), but those same types of players from lower profile teams don't get seen as often by neutrals, so it is unfair to include those attributes from some but not others. No one loves those types of players more than I do, I've sung Maya Lawrie's praises for years, but those that were included in selecting these just don't see the bottom half of teams often enough to have a good feel for those important types of players from those teams.

Number 2: you have to have played 20 games to be included, so that excludes, among others, Riley Boyd at Beechwood. Lastly, only the stats that are tracked on KHSAA are considered, so assists, steals, blocks, etc aren't factored in. First of all, I think most schools that track those do just an okay job of it, but most don't track them at all, and in almost no instances is there access to them. So when one coach says he'd include XYZ player on a higher team because she averages 5 assists and 4 steals, it isn't factored in.

Great Crossing remains a unanimous number 1. As they won their last regular season game earlier this week to finish 29-1 (and undefeated against Kentucky competition, suffering their only loss in the final of the prestigious Beach Ball Classic in double overtime), it's safe to say they'll remain so for any polls that might be released. Also, if they manage to run the table at state and finish with 38 wins, I believe that will be the most in the state since Marion County also posted 38 wins in 1993. Something to watch out for.

*We were back up to four consensus top 5 teams this week, with Great Crossing, Lexington Catholic, Newport, and Lyon County all rated in the top five of each. Covington Catholic, Bowling Green, and St. X were not only consensus top 10, they were also all consensus top 7, so the polls agree - those are your seven best teams. Up to five of that group could make it to the Sweet 16.

I waited in vain for the media poll. If they announced they weren't releasing it this week, I sure missed that news. Given the whole reason for that poll in the first place was because of the historic lack of reliability from the old AP poll, just failing to release one the last week of the regular season (and therefore the last one they'd likely release) seems to be a slightly dark omen. A shame, too, because it has been much better than its predecessor.

But for those who actually did release this week....

Massey's Top 25

1. Sacred Heart (2-0) W #25 S Kenton 69-46, W #4 Pikeville 68-50.
2. GR Clark (1-0) W PL Dunbar 69-22.
3. Cooper (1-0) W at New Cath 68-34.
4. Pikeville (1-1) W at Morgan Co 70-51, L at #1 Sacred Heart 50-68.
5. Ashland (2-1) L at #13 Russell 47-57, W WV #2 G Washington 53-34, W at Knott Cent 60-43.
6. Cov Holy Cross (2-0) W at Brossart 73-29, W #25 S Kenton 75-68.
7. O'boro Cath (2-0) W #31 Bowling Green 64-53, W Muhlenberg Co 88-44.
8. Anderson Co (2-0) W at Great Crossing 43-33, W Grant Co 65-28.
9. Ryle (1-1) W at #15 Notre Dame 51-36, L at #14 Franklin Co 46-66.
10. McCracken Co (2-1) W a Murray 52-23, W Marshall Co 65-34, L at #31 Bowling Green 50-53.
11. N Laurel (3-0) W #19 Pulaski Co 59-43, W at #26 SWestern 75-46, W at Mercer Co 62-44.
12. Franklin-Simpson (1-0) W Glasgow 58-32.
13. Russell (2-0) W #5 Ashland 57-47, W at OH #45 Portsmouth 52-48.
14. Franklin Co (2-0) W at #27 Montgomery Co 67-63, W #9 Ryle 66-46.
15. Notre Dame (0-1) L #9 Ryle.
16. Boyd Co (1-0) W Morgan Co 61-43.
17. Corbin (2-0) W at Whitley Co 70-27, W at Bell Co 84-50.
18. Butler (1-1) L at #22 Manual 56-75, W Oldham Co 79-48.
19. Central (2-0) W at Fern Creek, W at PRP 42-40.
20. Pulaski Co (1-1) L at #11 N Laurel 47-57, W #23 Meade Co 78-56.
21. F Douglass (2-0) W #45 Madison Cent 63-43, W at #33 CAL 65-55.
22. Manual (2-0) W #18 Butler, W Male 64-48.
23. Meade Co (0-2) L #28 Bethlehem 60-79, L at #19 Pulaski Co 56-78.
24. Henderson Co (2-0) W McLean Co 66-29, W at #37 Breckenridge Co 68-53.
25. S Kenton (0-2) L at #6 Cov Holy Cross 68-75, L at #1 Sacred Heart 46-69.