I would have to disagree with Streetglide. I am curious as to what your basis was for stating class 2a was weakest overall? It seems many people think that 3a was the worst class in ky hs football in 2014. The bottom of 2a is weak granted, but man is the top loaded, and the middle of the class is ripe with parity.

 

Parity is typically an excuse for bad football by a lot of teams.

 

Speaking solely on this past year:

1. DeSales- Great team. As I have stated, IMHO the best small school team. (A)

2. CAL- Tossup with DeSales..very good team (A)

3. Murray- Strong team that gave Mayfield and DeSales all they wanted (B+)

4. Caldwell County- Greta individual player and very good offense, but very flawed team with no defense. (B w/ Sindelair healthy... C without Sindelair)

5. NewCath- Best team in East 2A.. but not very good by NewCat standard (C+)

 

Then it falls...

6. Owensboro Catholic- Nothing impressive about their wins ©

7. Newport- Very good player but ho-him team.. lost to 3A Mason County and 1A Williamsburg (C-)

8. Shelby Valley- Won Region 4 but lost to 1A Paintsville and was destroyed by New Cath (D+)

9. Walton-Verona- Couldn't get past Newport.. played noone (D+)

10. Prestonsburg- Once again..no real signature wins and ere essentially an equal to NR 3A Lawrence County (D+)

 

2A was 2 very good teams, 2 strong teams, and 1 quality team then a big dropoff.

 

 

By comparison, 1A:

1. Mayfield- Very good team with the best resume of all (A)

2. Williamsburg- Gave Mayfield all they wanted..undefeated against an easy schedule (A-)

3. Beechwood- Very solid resume but made too many mistakes against Mayfield (A-)

4. Raceland- Nice run..decent resume.. (B)

5. Pikeville- Excellent resume but awful playoff loss to a team they had beat by 50+ (B)

Just like 2A a drop off

6. Frankfort- A team who had their goals derailed by numerous injuries (C+)

7. Russellville- Tough team but no signature wins.. dominated by 3A South Warren and Mayfield in the re-match ©

8. Paintsville- Rallied at the right time..beat 2A Shelby Valley.. major upset of Pikeville..beat LCA (C-)

9. Hazard- Lost to 2A Pburg... pretty ho-hum season (D+)

Another Drop

10. Holy Cross, Campbellsville, Paris, Fairview... any number of teams all with the same resume (D-)

1 Great Team, 2 Very Good Teams, 3 Good Teams...then gradually dropping

 

 

3A

1. Belfry- Struggled with injuries and aside from a surprise upset to 1A Pikeville had an excellent resume (A)

2. Central- Lots of losses to bigger, better teams but earned their way through the playoffs (B+)

3. South Warren- Most viewed them as an A school until Central beat them (B+)

4. Corbin- If If's and But's were candy and nuts... blew a massive lead to Central, win over Top 5 5A Southwestern, 2A Danville, and their only other loss was to 5A Champ Pulaski County. (B)

Now you find the drop..

5. Russell- Beat 4A Ashland, Mason County, Bourbon County, and Estill County. No bad loss ecept getting blown out by 1A Pikeville (C+)

6. Paducah Tilghman- Lost to very good teams including blowout to 1A Mayfield, beat 5A Runner-Up Graves County by 14, dominated by South Warren ©

7. Bell County- Nice name but no real results. Good win vs. 4A Knox Central but bad loss to 2A Middlesboro ©

 

What hurts 3A the most..another drop..

8. Lawrence County- Blowout loss to 1A Raceland and close loss to 2A Pburg (D)

9. & 10. Bourbon County, Estill County, Garrard County, Pike Central..no matter the team no signature win and losses to schools from the class below (D-)

1 Great Team, 3 Good Teams, Then Drops

Now with that said...noone can convince me otherwise that 5A was not the weakest class.

 

#1 Pulaski County won the Title by just 7 over #2 Graves.. a team Mayfield and Tilghman defeated. Pulaski was essentially an equal team to #4 Southwestern... Southwestern lost to 3A Corbin and also got dominated by 3A Belfry.

 

#3 Bowling Green is the outlier...an upset loss to Graves and a win over PUlaski (less their QB). Probably the best team but upsets happen.

 

Then outside of those 4 teams the drop was steep and noticable.

Cooper was probably #5.. w/ their 5 losses and were dominated in the Semi's by Pulaski

John Hardin probably #6 getting hot to reach Semi's and finishes w/ 7 Losses

Warren Central, Christian County, and Iroquois were probably #7 thru #9..Warren Central had 5 losses and were beat soundly by 2A DeSales and struggled beating 3A Bourbon County, Christian County lost 8 games,a dn Iroquois had a nice record but beat noone of merit.

 

In other words... of your top 10 teams (5) had 4+ losses, your runner-up was beat by a 1A team and a pretty weak 3A team, and one of your Top 4 teams needed mercy and called back TD's to avoid a running clock vs. Belfry.

 

To me there is no question 5A carried the collar this year as the State's weakest class.

With talk of defections from McCracken County to Mayfield next year in the air, the best in the lower three classes could be solidly Mayfield, not that it isn't already.

 

This is not intended as a slam on Mayfield but I just have to wonder how "defections" from one program to another happen? How is it allowed in some cases and not in others? I recall the Dunn kid from Danville being denied the chance to play football his Senior year at Boyle because they said his move was for "athletic reasons." Isn't that what you are saying is happening here in truecardinalfan? I'm just curious when these kinds of things are laid out there. :idunno:

This is not intended as a slam on Mayfield but I just have to wonder how "defections" from one program to another happen? How is it allowed in some cases and not in others? I recall the Dunn kid from Danville being denied the chance to play football his Senior year at Boyle because they said his move was for "athletic reasons." Isn't that what you are saying is happening here in truecardinalfan? I'm just curious when these kinds of things are laid out there. :idunno:

What you got here is a bunch of people who should not say a word about these things because none of this will probably happen and all it does is open a can of worms.

 

Every year we hear these things and while a transfer could happen most transfers are middle schoolers.

What you got here is a bunch of people who should not say a word about these things because none of this will probably happen and all it does is open a can of worms.

 

Every year we hear these things and while a transfer could happen most transfers are middle schoolers.

 

Snake is right. It is usually just talk. We hear about it all the time and it does happen sometimes, but more often than not, kids do not transfer to a new school just for athletic reasons. Besides, unless the KHSAA deems it a hardship case, a student athlete must sit out a full calendar year from ALL athletics if they played ANY varsity sport at the previous school. It does happen, but as I said, it must be ruled a hardship case by the KHSAA. That is why kids who plan to play for a particular school usually move after middle school.

Case in point, my Son ran cross country his freshman year and then transferred to another school that didn't even have a cross country team and was not allowed to play any sport for a year because he had participated in a varsity sport at his previous school and his case was not ruled a hardship because we did not physically move.

Parity is typically an excuse for bad football by a lot of teams.

 

Speaking solely on this past year:

1. DeSales- Great team. As I have stated, IMHO the best small school team. (A)

2. CAL- Tossup with DeSales..very good team (A)

3. Murray- Strong team that gave Mayfield and DeSales all they wanted (B+)

4. Caldwell County- Greta individual player and very good offense, but very flawed team with no defense. (B w/ Sindelair healthy... C without Sindelair)

5. NewCath- Best team in East 2A.. but not very good by NewCat standard (C+)

 

Then it falls...

6. Owensboro Catholic- Nothing impressive about their wins ©

7. Newport- Very good player but ho-him team.. lost to 3A Mason County and 1A Williamsburg (C-)

8. Shelby Valley- Won Region 4 but lost to 1A Paintsville and was destroyed by New Cath (D+)

9. Walton-Verona- Couldn't get past Newport.. played noone (D+)

10. Prestonsburg- Once again..no real signature wins and ere essentially an equal to NR 3A Lawrence County (D+)

 

2A was 2 very good teams, 2 strong teams, and 1 quality team then a big dropoff.

 

 

By comparison, 1A:

1. Mayfield- Very good team with the best resume of all (A)

2. Williamsburg- Gave Mayfield all they wanted..undefeated against an easy schedule (A-)

3. Beechwood- Very solid resume but made too many mistakes against Mayfield (A-)

4. Raceland- Nice run..decent resume.. (B)

5. Pikeville- Excellent resume but awful playoff loss to a team they had beat by 50+ (B)

Just like 2A a drop off

6. Frankfort- A team who had their goals derailed by numerous injuries (C+)

7. Russellville- Tough team but no signature wins.. dominated by 3A South Warren and Mayfield in the re-match ©

8. Paintsville- Rallied at the right time..beat 2A Shelby Valley.. major upset of Pikeville..beat LCA (C-)

9. Hazard- Lost to 2A Pburg... pretty ho-hum season (D+)

Another Drop

10. Holy Cross, Campbellsville, Paris, Fairview... any number of teams all with the same resume (D-)

1 Great Team, 2 Very Good Teams, 3 Good Teams...then gradually dropping

 

 

3A

1. Belfry- Struggled with injuries and aside from a surprise upset to 1A Pikeville had an excellent resume (A)

2. Central- Lots of losses to bigger, better teams but earned their way through the playoffs (B+)

3. South Warren- Most viewed them as an A school until Central beat them (B+)

4. Corbin- If If's and But's were candy and nuts... blew a massive lead to Central, win over Top 5 5A Southwestern, 2A Danville, and their only other loss was to 5A Champ Pulaski County. (B)

Now you find the drop..

5. Russell- Beat 4A Ashland, Mason County, Bourbon County, and Estill County. No bad loss ecept getting blown out by 1A Pikeville (C+)

6. Paducah Tilghman- Lost to very good teams including blowout to 1A Mayfield, beat 5A Runner-Up Graves County by 14, dominated by South Warren ©

7. Bell County- Nice name but no real results. Good win vs. 4A Knox Central but bad loss to 2A Middlesboro ©

 

What hurts 3A the most..another drop..

8. Lawrence County- Blowout loss to 1A Raceland and close loss to 2A Pburg (D)

9. & 10. Bourbon County, Estill County, Garrard County, Pike Central..no matter the team no signature win and losses to schools from the class below (D-)

1 Great Team, 3 Good Teams, Then Drops

 

 

Catholic had Murray beat and a bad all by officials cost catholic a TD. Would of put Catholic up 17-0. Gave Murray the ball and they scored making it 9-6. With Murray athletes they should beat everyone in their region by 28pts.

 

Catholic schedule was not good, but catholic would of beat all the teams Murray beat.

Looking at that game Murray has athletes and a size advantage every year, but struggle or go into OT against athletically a very average team.

To my point:

Defensive stat

2013 Mayfield gave up 233 points

2014 Mayfield gave up 184 points

 

Now let's go even deeper into that:

2014 Fort Campbell not as good as 2013

2014 McCracken better than in 2013

2014 PT a little weaker than 2013

2014 Murray better than 2013

2014 Graves much better than 2013

2014 Marshall better than 2013

2014 Fulton better than 2013

2014 Fulton Co better than 2013

2014 Russellville about same as 2013

2014 Caldwell about same as 2013

2014 Caverna much better than 2013

2014 Bethlehem better than 2nd rnd PPP

2014 Russellville about the same

2014 Beechwood better than Frankfort

2014 Wburg light yrs ahead of last year

 

Those stats mean absolutely nothing.. It's your opinion that those teams are better or worse than the prior year. I certainly wouldn't have ranked Caldwells 14 team even with there 13 team. Not sure Beechwood this year was better than Frankfort last year. Russellville was a lot better in 13 than in 14. Not sure McCracken was better in 14 than 13.. Points allowed only mean something if the varsity D plays the same minutes that they did the year before. Last year, the JV D got more opportunities to play more minutes than this years JV did. That was due to Mayfields offense not being near as good as last years and less blowouts.

 

I admit that I didn't feel near as good about this years team as I did the prior year. My question to you is the comment, I and many other Cardinal fans knew this would be more a struggle.. How can you include yourself in that category when you tried all year to convince people how great this team was and how much better the D was, etc, etc, etc. continually throwing out stats to try and back your claims.. Or, like you said, were you just trying to defend your boys? I'd like to know because I don't know whether to take you seriously or not..

This is not intended as a slam on Mayfield but I just have to wonder how "defections" from one program to another happen? How is it allowed in some cases and not in others? I recall the Dunn kid from Danville being denied the chance to play football his Senior year at Boyle because they said his move was for "athletic reasons." Isn't that what you are saying is happening here in truecardinalfan? I'm just curious when these kinds of things are laid out there. :idunno:

 

Are you serious ....Did I say that such and such a kid was moving due to athletic reasons? Not at all. You are the one using names and particulars...

Parity is typically an excuse for bad football by a lot of teams.

 

Speaking solely on this past year:

1. DeSales- Great team. As I have stated, IMHO the best small school team. (A)

2. CAL- Tossup with DeSales..very good team (A)

3. Murray- Strong team that gave Mayfield and DeSales all they wanted (B+)

4. Caldwell County- Greta individual player and very good offense, but very flawed team with no defense. (B w/ Sindelair healthy... C without Sindelair)

5. NewCath- Best team in East 2A.. but not very good by NewCat standard (C+)

 

Then it falls...

6. Owensboro Catholic- Nothing impressive about their wins ©

7. Newport- Very good player but ho-him team.. lost to 3A Mason County and 1A Williamsburg (C-)

8. Shelby Valley- Won Region 4 but lost to 1A Paintsville and was destroyed by New Cath (D+)

9. Walton-Verona- Couldn't get past Newport.. played noone (D+)

10. Prestonsburg- Once again..no real signature wins and ere essentially an equal to NR 3A Lawrence County (D+)

 

2A was 2 very good teams, 2 strong teams, and 1 quality team then a big dropoff.

 

 

By comparison, 1A:

1. Mayfield- Very good team with the best resume of all (A)

2. Williamsburg- Gave Mayfield all they wanted..undefeated against an easy schedule (A-)

3. Beechwood- Very solid resume but made too many mistakes against Mayfield (A-)

4. Raceland- Nice run..decent resume.. (B)

5. Pikeville- Excellent resume but awful playoff loss to a team they had beat by 50+ (B)

Just like 2A a drop off

6. Frankfort- A team who had their goals derailed by numerous injuries (C+)

7. Russellville- Tough team but no signature wins.. dominated by 3A South Warren and Mayfield in the re-match ©

8. Paintsville- Rallied at the right time..beat 2A Shelby Valley.. major upset of Pikeville..beat LCA (C-)

9. Hazard- Lost to 2A Pburg... pretty ho-hum season (D+)

Another Drop

10. Holy Cross, Campbellsville, Paris, Fairview... any number of teams all with the same resume (D-)

1 Great Team, 2 Very Good Teams, 3 Good Teams...then gradually dropping

 

 

3A

1. Belfry- Struggled with injuries and aside from a surprise upset to 1A Pikeville had an excellent resume (A)

2. Central- Lots of losses to bigger, better teams but earned their way through the playoffs (B+)

3. South Warren- Most viewed them as an A school until Central beat them (B+)

4. Corbin- If If's and But's were candy and nuts... blew a massive lead to Central, win over Top 5 5A Southwestern, 2A Danville, and their only other loss was to 5A Champ Pulaski County. (B)

Now you find the drop..

5. Russell- Beat 4A Ashland, Mason County, Bourbon County, and Estill County. No bad loss ecept getting blown out by 1A Pikeville (C+)

6. Paducah Tilghman- Lost to very good teams including blowout to 1A Mayfield, beat 5A Runner-Up Graves County by 14, dominated by South Warren ©

7. Bell County- Nice name but no real results. Good win vs. 4A Knox Central but bad loss to 2A Middlesboro ©

 

What hurts 3A the most..another drop..

8. Lawrence County- Blowout loss to 1A Raceland and close loss to 2A Pburg (D)

9. & 10. Bourbon County, Estill County, Garrard County, Pike Central..no matter the team no signature win and losses to schools from the class below (D-)

1 Great Team, 3 Good Teams, Then Drops

 

You list may be just OK. But your list of the best teams in 2A is horribly off. Before you should even mention ANY team from the east one should first examine the west thouroughly.

 

#1 DeSales - state champion 2A, only loss to CAL

#2 CAL - only loss to DeSales

#3 Murray - state runner-up

#4 Caldwell - losses to a state champion and a state runner-up (who they had beaten earlier in the season and was leading 14-0 when Sindelar went down and held lead through 3rd quarter).

#5 O'Cath - Only a loss to Murray which escaped with a very narrow win.

#6 Bardstown - Only losses to DeSales and CAL (were not dominated by either).

 

You have to go through those 6 FIRST before you even consider NCC (a down year for them). I would put them in a class with Glasgow. A step down from the first six. Now you have 8 solid teams. Then you throw in the Shelby Valley, Walton Verona, Newport,Prestonsburg, Danville, and Lexington Christian. Steady drop there. There were some bottom dwelling teams as there is in any class, but to say that 2A was weak is crazy.

 

The reality is that you have in 2A you have 5 great teams (by comparing head to head match-ups), 1 very good team (who could hold their own, but really not be in the upper tier), 2 good teams (not quite up to par in this class, but top 10 in the other 2), and 6 quality teams (solid in some respects, weak in others) before your drop off of the rest of 2A.

I am not saying 2A was weak... I actually agree that it was stronger in most ways than 3A and 5A. I am saying that it isn't nearly as strong as you are valuing it to be, and truth be told the difference between 3A and 2A is minimal (even ina down year for 3A) and that 1A may be just as good if not better.

 

You mention Glasgow. The same Glasgow who lost 42-0 to Etown? Etown probably wasn't even a Top 15 team in 3A.

 

I am not impressed with Bardstown as well. The only teams of quality they played were in their district. Hard to evaluate them when their toughest Non-District game was beating 1A Campbellsville by only 2 TD's. They were competitive against CAL and DeSales..but there is no way to justify crowning them anything special without a quality win.

 

Murray is also an interesting case. For all this talk of how good they were, at the core this is a team who lost 5 games and outside of OCath had their best win come against 3-8 Madison Central by 7 points.

 

For that matter.... what quality wins did 2A teams have outside of their own class outside of DeSales and CAL?

Murray- Best win outside of 2A was 3-8 6A Madison Central by 7

Caldwell County- Best win was 4-8 5A Christian County by 21 in a game they allowed 57 points

OCath- Best win was 4-7 6A Daviess County

Walton Verona- Best win was 2-9 4A Holmes

NewCath- No wins outside of their class

Newport- Best win was 2-9 4A Holmes

Shelby Valley- Best win was a 7-4 3A Fleming County by 9..Fleming probably wasn't a Top 20 team in 3A

 

The only 2A teams not named DeSales and CAL to actually post respectable wins out of class:

LCA- Beat 9-3 3A Estill County... Estill was porbably a Top 15 3A team but not Top 10

Middlesboro- Beat 3A Bell County...Bell was a legitimate Top 10 3A team... Middlesboro also lost in big fashion to 1A Pikeville though even with Pikeville without their best player

Danville- Beat 3A Garrard County.. a Top 15 team but not Top 10. Also lost to 1A Frankfort and 3A Corbin though

Pburg- Beat 1A Hazard by 8... Hazard was a Top 10 1A team. Beat 3A Lawrence County by 7.. LC was probably a borderline Top 10 team.

By comparison in 1A:

Mayfield- Beat 3A Tilghman, 2A Murray, 5A Graves County, and 2A Caldwell County. All Top 10 in their respective classes.

Williamsburg- Beat 2A Newport (Top 10), 3A Pike Central (Top 15), and 3A Wayne County (Top 20)

Pikeville- Beat 3A Belfry (#1), 3A Russell (Top 10), 2A Pburg (Top 10). and 2A Middlesboro (Top 15)

Beechwood- Beat 2A NewCath by 17(Top 5-7), beat 4A CovCath (Top 5-7), beat 5A Franklin County (Top 15)

Raceland- Beat 3A Lawrence County (Borderline Top 10) by 33... much more impressive than what Pburg did

Frankfort- Beat 2A LCA (Top 15)

Hazard- Beat 5A Letcher Central (Top 20), beat 2A Somerset by 34

 

A lot more quality wins and pretty much owned 2A in Head to head matchups

Lets see if we can agree on this before I say anything else. 3A was the weakest of the three classes.

Lets see if we can agree on this before I say anything else. 3A was the weakest of the three classes.

 

In 2014 it was slightly weaker than 2A on the whole... I agree.

Few more. Of the three classes we are talking about in 2014, 3A had the weakest top 10. 1A had the strongest top ten.

2A had the strongest top 5. 3A the weakest top 5.