I've been looking forward to this rematch since the clock read 00:00 last year. Nussbaum and Jackson have had MVP careers and will forever be mentioned in the lore of these two storied programs. This is gonna be a slug fest! Beechwood makes more plays and earns another test next week. Beechwood 35 Mayfield 14

I've been looking forward to this rematch since the clock read 00:00 last year. Nussbaum and Jackson have had MVP careers and will forever be mentioned in the lore of these two storied programs. This is gonna be a slug fest! Beechwood makes more plays and earns another test next week. Beechwood 35 Mayfield 14

No one has beaten a healthy Mayfield by three touchdowns since Lexington Christian in the 2009 title game. Even Warren Central, a top-three team in 5A, only beat the Cardinals 42-28 and Jackson missed a chunk of that game with cramps.

 

If it's not a reasonably close game, I'll be surprised.

This game will be won or lost by the role players(not Nuss or Jackson) Beechwood has 6 or 7 skilled guys who are not great but can all hurt you at anytime and from anywhere on the field. Their confidence is high and they will be the difference. Especially on D. Comparing scores and opponents did not work in the 70's,80's or ever. Beechwood is a complete 180 of a team from then. I would also mention that they seem to be in a better place mentally and have put off the field issues behind them.

These close, competitive games almost always come down to turnovers and big plays.

Nussbaum left, Nussbaum right, Nussbaum up the gut. Once that doesn't work, I'm guessing we'll see the "special" Mayfield package that's been in the works for the last 3+ months since the scouting started. Mayfield just needs to come out a play hard from the 1st snap and everything will take care of itself. Let this game stay close into the 4th quarter and anything can and probably will happen. This is not an elite Tiger team, but there should be plenty of excitement next summer in Ft. Mitchell heading into the the 2013 campaign. This year belongs to Jackson and company, his record setting Mayfield career will end where it should, in Bowling Green for a 4th and final time. 28-14 Mayfield

Beechwood wins this by double digits. Beechwood was much better last year and squandered too many opportunity's. Just plain choked (on and off the field). I do not think that will happen again. I was impressed with BW defense last week against Frankfort. FF had 3 very good athletes that were essentially shut down when it really mattered. Beechwood has been their own worst enemy all year and are peaking at the right time. Low scoring for these two. BW 35 May 20.

 

Z5

 

From what I recall, Bwood didn't even have a 1st down in the 3rd qtr and went 3 and out on every series and had negative yardage on top of that.. Not exactly what I'd call choking, but, rather, great defense.. With exception to that late drive when Nuss was at QB, the Tiger offense was completely out of sync the entire 2nd half.. Mayfield O wasn't much better, but, again, give the Tiger D credit, as well.. If I recall, the stats favored the Cardinals in most categories, so, at least know what your talking about.. I'm trying to think of what opportunities they actually squandered, to be honest.. I know Mfd had a pick that killed a drive, so, it goes both ways..

Nussbaum left' date=' Nussbaum right, Nussbaum up the gut. Once that doesn't work, I'm guessing we'll see the "special" Mayfield package that's been in the works for the last 3+ months since the scouting started. Mayfield just needs to come out a play hard from the 1st snap and everything will take care of itself. Let this game stay close into the 4th quarter and anything can and probably will happen. This is not an elite Tiger team, but there should be plenty of excitement next summer in Ft. Mitchell heading into the the 2013 campaign. This year belongs to [b']Jackson and company, his record setting Mayfield career will end where it should, in Bowling Green for a 4th and final time. [/b] 28-14 Mayfield

 

If Mayfield doesn't win the title this year, will the Jackson era go down as one of disappointment? I think there is a lot of pressure on Mayfield to win this year. One title in the 4 years of Jackson domination if they don't win this year. How disappointing is that for Mayfield? How much pressure is on Mayfield this year?

From what I recall, Bwood didn't even have a 1st down in the 3rd qtr and went 3 and out on every series and had negative yardage on top of that.. Not exactly what I'd call choking, but, rather, great defense.. With exception to that late drive when Nuss was at QB, the Tiger offense was completely out of sync the entire 2nd half.. Mayfield O wasn't much better, but, again, give the Tiger D credit, as well.. If I recall, the stats favored the Cardinals in most categories, so, at least know what your talking about.. I'm trying to think of what opportunities they actually squandered, to be honest.. I know Mfd had a pick that killed a drive, so, it goes both ways..

 

I am with you on this subject. The only opportunity I consider squandered by Beechwood was the pick at the end of the first half that Beechwood got zero points out of. They didn't even get a field goal try on that possession despite great field position. Beyond that, last year's game was defense dominated. Davis going out took away any threat of the pass for Beechwood. That last drive was a great player (Nussbaum) doing what great players do - making plays where nothing was there.

If Mayfield doesn't win the title this year, will the Jackson era go down as one of disappointment? I think there is a lot of pressure on Mayfield to win this year. One title in the 4 years of Jackson domination if they don't win this year. How disappointing is that for Mayfield? How much pressure is on Mayfield this year?

 

Not really.. There's always pressure to win it, but, with exception to Jackson, who played as a freshman, the majority of the team were in middle school or didn't dress varsity when LCA beat us in 2009, so, as far as most of them are concerned, they've won one and lost one. Overall, I think Mayfield is 8-7 or 8-8 in title games, so, they understand you're going to be playing a really good team when you get there and sometimes things go your way and other times they don't.. I think Mayfield goes into every season with a state championship as there goal, nothing less, so, that so-called pressure is more self-driven than anything else.. As far as Jackson is concerned, one person doesn't win or lose a championship.. He's personally and team-wise, accomplished so much in his 4 years that there isn't anything he could do now to make it a disappointment.. If anything, he's elevated an already tradition rich program to even higher levels..

I agree with all you said here MHS, with one addition. I never would have said one person wins or loses a championship until last year. I honestly believe without Jackson, Beechwood beats Mayfield by 2 TD's last year. If you want to take away Jackson and Nussbaum from last year's game to even it up, Beechwood wins IMO. Beechwood had a better team than Mayfield last year with one big exception, Jonathon Jackson. Mayfield played in the title game with a clearly injured Jackson, and they lost the game. Obviously everyone has to do their job, but I am growing to believe more and more that you need your star players to make plays to win the big games. Take Jackson away from Mayfield Friday and Beechwood wins. Take Nussbaum away from this Beechwood team Friday, and Mayfield wins.

I think the edge goes to Mayfield here. Facing an opponent that has a run oriented offense plays right into their defensive strength. Both defenses are very sound, but Mayfield will (presumably) have more success throwing the ball. I honestly don't expect anything less than a nailbiter. On a side note, a great program like Beechwood can't be beaten EVERY year. They are due against Mayfield in the worst way and are playing at home so this could be their year. If you are Mayfield, you remind yourself about last years title game. Nothing is a given and it doesn't matter what has happened throughout the season, its about what happens right now. If Mayfield comes READY to play, its theirs to lose. Just my two cents.......

I agree with all you said here MHS, with one addition. I never would have said one person wins or loses a championship until last year. I honestly believe without Jackson, Beechwood beats Mayfield by 2 TD's last year. If you want to take away Jackson and Nussbaum from last year's game to even it up, Beechwood wins IMO. Beechwood had a better team than Mayfield last year with one big exception, Jonathon Jackson. Mayfield played in the title game with a clearly injured Jackson, and they lost the game. Obviously everyone has to do their job, but I am growing to believe more and more that you need your star players to make plays to win the big games. Take Jackson away from Mayfield Friday and Beechwood wins. Take Nussbaum away from this Beechwood team Friday, and Mayfield wins.

 

IMO, Beechwoods team last year was closer in talent to Mayfield than the previous 2 years, but, I think Mayfield was still the better team and I feel the 2nd half of that ballgame proved that. Although Mayfield didn't set the world on fire offensively, they completely shut down the Tigers with exception of the 1 drive late that got them close and the majority of that drive was a big run by Nussbaum that kept an otherwise dead drive alive.. The long pass play in the 1st half that BWood scored on was over half there total offense in the 1st half.. Even though Mayfield didn't set the world on fire in the 2nd half, they did mount a great drive for the winning score and were at least picking up a couple of 1st downs even when they didn't put points up.. Also, after taking the lead, they controlled another 4-5 minutes of the clock in the 4th, forcing BWood to have to not only fight the Card D, but, also the clock.. I'm sorry, but, I don't see it that way at all.. Mayfield had the superior speed, a better passing game, even b4 your QB got hurt, better receivers and a better D.. I do think the Tigers OLine was a bit better..Other than that, didn't see it.. Also, DE Labront Scott was playing at about 50%, as was Jackson, in the 2nd half.. We can agree to disagree, though..I'm okay with that, just don't think the Tigers were better, especially not 2 TDs better and without Nussbaum, Beechwood would have been hurting worse than what Mayfield would have been without Jackson, because he was the only semblence of an offense the Tigers had in that game..

Here's a recap of last years game...

 

Beechwood had 39 rushes for 95 yds in the game.. 2.4 yds per carry average..

Mayfield had 33 rushes for 177 yds in the game.. 5.4 yds per carry average..

 

Beechwood was 5 for 17 for 100 yds passing..

Mayfield was 11-21 for 95 yds passing..

 

Beechwood fumbled once and recovered it and had 1 int for the game..

Mayfield didn't fumble any, but, did throw 3 ints for the game..

 

Prior to the last drive in the 4th qtr where Bwood moved the ball from it's own 38 yd line to the Cardinal 19(43 yd total drive), Beechwood had a total of 13 yds total offense and 0 1st downs in 5 2nd half possessions..

 

Beechwood had a total of 4 1st downs for the game compared to 11 for Mayfield.. Of the 191 total Tiger yards, 69 of those came on 1 pass play where the Cardinal DB fell down, while 42 came on 2 Nussbaum scrambles late in the game.. With exception to those 3 plays, BWood had a total of 80 yds..

Last year Mayfield was it's own worst enemy with the 3 int's. Granted Bw deserves credit for great game planning to shut down somthing that had worked all year. To me the difference last year was Bw being to 1 dimensional with or without Davis who was not getting it done prior to exiting the game. I think Bw still suffers from this despite their last ditch efforts to bring in the Frosh qb who is getting ready to experience somthing he has not been exposed to yet. THe first 2 games he started were agaisnt weak teams but a great spot to enter to get use to his own team and the speed of the HS game. Frankfort he had the advantage of the early lead short fields and a soft Frankfort defense against the run which we all knew from watching their video. This was still great experiece in a big game and I would have let him throw a little more in the second half after Bw had a commanding lead but Rash thought otherwise so be it

If Mayfield doesn't win the title this year, will the Jackson era go down as one of disappointment? I think there is a lot of pressure on Mayfield to win this year. One title in the 4 years of Jackson domination if they don't win this year. How disappointing is that for Mayfield? How much pressure is on Mayfield this year?

 

 

This is the first time I have even heard it being brought up. The goal every year is a state title and that is a achievable goal ever year. Next year will be no different and with the line and Guhy back they will have a great chance at being there again. The talk about the great Bw youngsters could be had here as well. The groups moving up are outstanding. THe 8th grade this year lost in the playoffs to Butler County who went undefeated and was only challenged 1 time and that was in the playoffs where they beat Mayfield 8-0 after a snap to our punter sailed over the punters head. Butler had running clocks on ever other team they faced in the playoffs including the semi finals and state title game. Point is the expectations never change so I don't see it as oh no Johnny Jack is gone now we are done. Oh the 7th grade is likely to be state champs, we dont compete in the state playoffs until 8th but they would of been the favorite in my opinion. The youngsters are likely to have a state title or 2 when they grow up