Coming into the year, Somerset was getting a lot of hype, only to see them starting out at 0-2, granted to 2 good teams. NCC looked strong last week only to take it on the chin this week in an upset loss to a pretty decent Cooper team. Danville got out of the gate strong to come back this week and lose a surprising game to Mercer this week. Prestonsburg bounced back this week after a disappointing loss last week to 1a power Pikeville. Bardstown looked strong last week against Green Co.. Caldwell Co certainly made a statement last week against an always tough 5a power Christian Co.. CAL looked impressive last week against LCA, but, even moreso this week, with a huge win over an always tough 6a Eastern. Desales may have shocked the Ky HS football world the most, with an impressive win over 5a power John Hardin. What about OB Catholic? They've certainly looked strong against bigger area schools, albeit, not the best bigger schools. Next weeks Owensboro game should tell us a lot more. Maybe Murray? After a competitive loss to 6a Bryan station on the road, they bounced back nicely this week. Or maybe Glasgow? They've certainly looked solid. Middlesboro could be a real sleeper this year as well. What about W.Verona? You can't really sleep on these guys. Can LCA and Green Co bounce back after a slow start? Ballard Memorial looks to be better than people are giving them credit for. Is Washington Co a contender or pretender? Is that outstanding middle school class from a the last couple of years at Butler Co going to give them enough to surprise some folks. I'm hearing Union Co is much improved. Is Lloyd memorial ready to challenge NCC? What about Holy Cross? They started out very similar to this year, 2 years ago and then got hot and took it all the way to BGreen.

 

There's a lot of really good teams in 2a this year capable of getting hot and making a solid playoff run. Would love to hear everyone's thoughts on these teams or possibly others not mentioned that may surprise some people.

 

Here's my take thus far and how I'd rank them thus far into the season:

 

1) Caldwell Co. - Last years 2a runner-ups, return almost everyone from that team, including All-Everything QB, E.Sindelar, who's getting offers from all the bigtime D1 schools. But, don't be fooled. This team has talent galore and in all positions and there defense is better than they get credit for.

 

2) Desales - Any 2a team that can knock off 5A power John Hardin, gets my respect. This is a team that's been on the verge of breaking thru for several years now and thus far, every indication tells me this years version may be there best shot.

 

3) CAL - After dismantling a pretty good LCA team in week one, these guys turned it up another couple of notches this week by dismantling a very good 6A team in Eastern. Is this too high? Maybe, but, who else has performed better? See 1 and 2 only, imo.

 

4) NCC - An impressive week 1 showing against Ashland for the defending champs would typically have them a little higher this early in the season, but, this weeks performance makes you wonder. Granted, this was a good 5A Cooper team, so, certainly no disgrace, but, I still think 1,2 and 3 deserve a little more love thus far, but, typically with this team, they'll learn from these early tough games and get better and better as the year wears on.

 

5) OB Catholic - Impressive early wins by the Aces, but, we'll know more after next week, when the competition level takes a couple of notches up. One thing you can always count on though, is that they'll spread you out and score a lot of points, but, is the defensive a championship caliber D. Only time will tell.

 

6) Glasgow - The Scotties are like Rodney Dangerfield, they don't get any respect, despite being a solid team, year in, year out and this years team looks like they may have the horses to make a run similar to a couple of years ago. That Garrard Co win will look much better later in the season.

 

7) Bardstown - Hard to believe a team this good may be the 3rd best team in there district. Always blessed with speed and athleticism, this year appears no different. The difference is this year they have experience to go along with it and this could make for a dangerous combination.

 

8) Danville - Always a talented group. They just need to learn to be more consistent. The always tough schedule should pay dividends come district and playoff time, however.

 

9) Murray - Forget that this team lost to Bryan Station. That's a talented 6a team after a 5 hr bus ride and although the score didn't reflect it, the Tigers were very much in that game till the 4th quarter and actually led a big portion of it. They also bounced back nicely with a huge cross town win over Calloway Co.. I wouldn't sleep on this team, by any means.

 

10) Somerset - Yes, I know, they're 0-2 and have looked less than stellar thus far, but, all that talent returning from a very, very good 2012 team will find it's footing and I still find it hard to find them any lower than 10. look for them to slowly but surely work there way up the rankings throughout the year as they find there footing and stride.

 

Other teams I really like that could be darkhorses or at least better than expected, in order:

 

11) Middlesboro

12) Walton Verona

13) Prestonsburg

14) LCA

15) Ballard Memorial

That is a very nice summation and I think it tells us a couple of things:

 

1. Right now the West appears to have some teams capable of challenging Caldwell Co.

 

2. Several of the teams are going to take losses playing quality teams (usually larger) in the non-district part of the schedule and this will only help them in the end when they start playing district games and in the playoffs.

 

3. Losses sometimes reveal what a team's shortcomings are. The key is if they can overcome them.

That is a very nice summation and I think it tells us a couple of things:

 

1. Right now the West appears to have some teams capable of challenging Caldwell Co.

 

2. Several of the teams are going to take losses playing quality teams (usually larger) in the non-district part of the schedule and this will only help them in the end when they start playing district games and in the playoffs.

 

3. Losses sometimes reveal what a team's shortcomings are. The key is if they can overcome them.

 

 

I agree on all 3 points. It appears right now NCC is the clear cut favorite on the east side, possibly getting a challenge from Somerset, or possibly Danville, MBoro, Lloyd or W. Verona, but, they should be the team to beat by a pretty big margin. There are other decent teams in the east, just not sure any are strong enough to go toe to toe with NCC and even if able to pull an NCC upset, can they run the table with 5 straight games. I don't think so.

 

The west side of the bracket is absolutely loaded with teams capable of a long playoff run. Caldwell Co, Desales, CAL, OB Cath, Glasgow, Bardstown, Murray are 7 teams I could see making it to Bowling Green with a break or 2 along the way and any of the 7 are capable of knocking off the Breds on a given day.

 

Should be an exciting year in 2A, unlike most of the other classes, who have there 1 or 2 teams who you can almost pencil in that they'll be there.

It seems to me 2a is stacked year after year....My vote goes for our neighbors to the north "The Scotties of Glasgow"!!!!

This is a very strong year for Class 2A, and I am so glad that it is a year where the District 1 #1 seed gets all of the home games in the playoffs, because that may be just the advantage Caldwell County needs to make it back to Bowling Green. Watching NCC on nkysports last night, their line would have no business on the field against Caldwell's this year.