Bluegrass Area Playoff Preview

 

 

This year the Fayette County/Bluegrass Area 6A playoffs will be a local affair. With rotation of the 'super district' this is not always the case. So the local 6A teams will get another bite at the proverbial apple as all the 6A games will be rematches from the regular season. Though the 2/3 seed games are where most look for competitive games in the first round, it is a 1/4 match-up that will be the headliner in the first round of Region 4 this year.

 

 

 

Dunbar at Tates Creek

 

In a rematch of the opening game of the season for both teams four seed Dunbar takes on one seed Tates Creek. The Commodores squeaked by the Bulldogs by 1 point with a 21-20 victory. Dunbar missed an extra point try after scoring at touchdown with only 52 seconds left in the contest. A closer look at the statistics shows how competitive the game was. Tates Creek had 2 more first downs (16 to 14) but Dunbar had more total yards (342 to 307) and ran the ball better than Tates Creek (254 to 134 yards). Both teams passed for two touchdowns but overall Graham Gordon had the better night completing 15 of 18 passes for 157 yards. Dunbar's Emory Thompson was a respectable 4 for 10 for 88 yards.

 

Without a doubt, this is THE 1/4 seed match-up in any region of the week.

 

 

 

Madison Central at Henry Clay

 

Henry Clay bested Madison Central in the regular season game 41 to 21. Under normal circumstances the Blue Devils would have to be the odds-on-favorite in the rematch. But these will not be normal circumstances. Elijah Bell is expected to be on the sidelines after an ejection in the final regular season game. And Bell accounts for over half of the Blue Devils total offense (3,142 yards) with 1,588 yards rushing this season. This is big hit to the Henry Clay offense. Henry Clay was on a roll until running into the Scott County buzz saw. They bounced back with a good win over an improving Dunbar team but then ended the season with loss to rival Bryan Station in overtime.

 

Madison Central has gone through what would most would consider a rebuilding season after losing a number of top seniors from the 2012 squad. It also encountered a number of injuries in the middle of the season. Even so, the Indians notched a victory over George Rogers Clark in their final regular season game and had the last week of the regular season as a bye week, giving the Indians some time to heal up. Coach Bert Brown takes nothing for granted. He has a team that started out young and now has 10 games under their belt. They are going against a team that will be missing a major component of their offense. He almost certainly is using the situation as a motivating factor and will probably pull out all the stops.

 

Most will still pencil in Henry Clay to move on. But those that do should make sure the pencil has an eraser.

 

 

 

 

Bryan Station at Lafayette

 

In the regular season game Lafayette had a 7 to 0 lead at the end of the first quarter. They expanded the lead to 14 to 0 early in the second quarter. Then Frank Park's Defenders got into gear and ripped off 33 straight points on 3 passes and 2 runs from "Bo" Johnson. The final score was 53 to 21.

 

The reflects the differences in these two teams this year. Lafayette has been a good team in Eric Shaw's first year but has lacked the 'pop' to get by strong teams. Bryan Station on the other hand has plenty of pop lead by Johnson's arm and at times legs. But sometimes the Defenders need a Mentose tossed in to generate the super fizz they are capable of. Bryan Station should win this game.

 

 

 

George Rogers Clark at Scott County

 

The regular season game went to the Cardinals (10-0) 51 to 13. It was 34 to 6 at the end of the first quarter. GRC (2-8) can look to their upset win over the other #1 seed in the region, Tates Creek, for inspiration. However, Jim McKee will be on the first leg of a mission. This one should be over early.

 

 

 

 

Rockcastle County at Lexington Catholic

 

Three seed Rockcastle County (2-8) comes to two seed Lexington Catholic (7-3) Friday night. The Rockets two wins are against four seed Clay County (2-8) and Whitely County (1-9). The running game has really struggled for the Rockets, averaging only 100 yards a game. Quarterback Corey McPhetridge has been a bright spot though completing 158 passes on 288 attempts for 2064 yards and 17 touchdowns.

 

The Knights are coming off a strong win against struggling Boone County. The Knights are mostly back up to full strength with standout junior defensive back Cody Mitchell back in the line-up. Mitchell was out for a stretch of games - including the key Boyle County loss. This should allow Noah Mitchell, who was going both ways during Cody's absence, to get back to the fullback position full time. The other gears in the Knight offensive engine are also ready to go - Ryan, Bouvier, Logan, Letton. This one should go to the Knights. The winner of this game will likely face Russell County in away game in week 2.

 

 

 

Lexington Christian at Prestonburg

 

Four seed Lexington Christian (1-9) visits one seed Prestonburg (5-5). Prestonburg's apparently mediocre record may be reason for some hope by the Eagles until you see that Prestonburg lost 3 games by a total of 4 points in a rough stretch. The Eagles under par season likely comes to an end this weekend.

Love this 1-4 matchup. Should be 1 of the Best Games of the early playoff schedule. Very excited to see how Creek performs with a great opportunity to get their first playoff victory in quite some time, to go along with their first district title in 8 years. Tates Creek is a lot more explosive than they showed in the first game of the year, while Dunbar will be much more comfortable and efficient while running the Triple Option. This has all the makings of a great early round game. Just what we want in Central KY, is meaningful playoff games with high excitement value, and good football. 2 good, solid football teams with 2 totally different approaches.