Dog bites man.

 

The sun sets in the west.

 

Boyle County is pretty good.

 

Perhaps none of those things qualifies as news, but the latter item might at least be a least a little surprising to those who had written this off as a rebuilding season for the Rebels.

 

A month ago, Boyle had more question marks than “The Riddler’s” green bodysuit. The defense was made up almost entirely of first-year starters, the offensive and defensive lines had been reconstructed, and the sheer volume of youth and inexperience left many wondering what kind of year it might be at Boyle.

 

Nobody expected the Rebels to stink, mind you, but as they approach the midpoint of the season, they are probably better off than many of thought they would be.

 

They are 4-0, with a ledger that includes two victories over name-brand teams from higher classifications. They are No. 4 in Class 4A in the latest Bluegrasspreps.com rankings. And they are just going to keep getting better.

 

So here’s the real news flash: It’s not a rebuilding season any more. Boyle is good and getting better, and as usual, it is once again one of the best teams in 4A.

Just look at what the Rebels did last week in their win over Anderson County. Yes, they made some mistakes that allowed Anderson to have a chance to win the game, and yes, they escaped with a 30-27 victory over a highly ranked team from the classification just above them only after a missed field-goal attempt in the final seconds.

 

Coach Larry French will say — and did say after that game — that the Rebels still have much work to do to get to where they want to be, and he’s absolutely right.

But the glass-half-full side of that story is that Boyle went toe to toe with a good team, got enough done on offense to build a 10-point lead, made a couple of big plays on defense that prevented a touchdown and forced Anderson into that field-goal try and pulled out a win in a game it could just as easily have lost.

 

Good teams find ways to win games like that, and the Rebels have gotten the job done so far. They have won two close games and two blowouts, and they have shown they have shown themselves to be strong in several areas along the way:

 

— In his first season as Boyle’s full-time starting quarterback, Josiah Robbins has shown he has the arm and athletic skills to be the kind of offensive leader this youngish team needs. He has thrown for 519 yards and four touchdowns with a .640 completion percentage. And he’s getting the job done on defense too; he successfully defended Anderson’s star receiver, Ross Cox, in the end zone on the final play before the Bearcats tried a field goal.

 

— Levi McKinney and Keagan Hinkle (nine receptions each) have emerged as capable pass-catchers, and Seph Burke (367 yards, five TDs) and Aiden Stewart-Hoskins (208 yards, four TDs) give the Rebels two threats in the backfield, where Robbins is also a capable rusher.

 

— The line play has been very good, especially given the number of new faces playing those positions.

 

— Boyle has been good on defense, where Burke, McKinney and Austin Bell are currently the top tacklers, though things were a little shaky in the fourth quarter against Anderson.

 

— There’s even another good kicker — Boyle always seems to have one — in Addison Coffey, who has been launching deep kickoffs and reliable placekicks in his first season.

 

As has been the case annually in recent years, Boyle’s fans are focused squarely on the Rebels’ game with Lexington Catholic, which usually decides the 4A-5 district championship and this year might also decide which of them would host a regional championship game in November.

 

The Rebels and Knights will meet Oct. 4 in Danville, and Boyle seems a pretty good bet to be 6-0 at that point. The Rebels play their final pre-district game Friday at George Rogers Clark, which has been giving up points in volume, then open district play a week later at Taylor County. That gives them two excellent opportunities to fine-tune their game before the biggest game on their schedule.

 

French is correct in saying that the Rebels still must improve to be ready for Lexington Catholic and the other big games beyond that one. But the learning curve seems to be pretty high.

Once again, very well done thegeneral. :thumb:

Nice article and looks to be exactly correct in describing this Boyle team.