article Louisville and Surrounding Area Top 10 Power Rankings 7-29-15

[Bert]

1) Trinity High School - I argued with myself about number one and number two for days. I finally settled on Trinity because well, they're Trinity and over the past decade and a half have shown the ability to come back on top numerous times so until proven wrong, they will enter the preseason in this poll as the top ranked team.

 

2) Male High School - Number one and two could easily be flip flopped due to the immense talent Male has. Recent UofL signee Wakefield is incredible and could be a deciding factor in close games for the Bulldogs. Male was ranked #2 because in the past several years, they have also had incredible talent but have not been able to break through the state championship threshold just yet and how they have such a "raw" offensive line coming back which could muffle their very talented skill players. If anyone wants to argue with the author's placement of one and two, said author would not fight back much, the #1 and #2 teams could easily be flip flopped.

 

3) Saint Xavier High School - St. X rounds out the usual Big 3 and justifiably so, outside of any 6A team other than Trinity or Male, X would be favored against that team and with most of the high schools throughout the state also. X's big question mark is the new Offensive Coordinator. Appears to be a good hire but will adopting the new system this first year cause some indigestion? Hard to say which is part of the reason Pre Season polls need to be taken with a grain of salt, too much unknown.

 

4) Ballard High School - The Bruins appear to have supplanted Manual High School as the best team in Louisville not named Trinity, X or Male, though #5 and #6 may argue that. They are a formidable opponent but not quite on the level of the Big 3, hence the #4 ranking.

 

5) Saint Francis DeSales High School - After decades of falling enrollment and falling prestige of its football program, the Louisville Southend all boys Catholic High School is making an impressive resurgence thanks much to the Colt's President/Head Master (forget his official title) Doug Strothman. This mentioned resurgence has brought back to back state championship trophies to the Colts and has firmly placed DeSales as a solid program in Louisville.

 

6) Christian Academy of Louisville - The Centurions can make a decent argument that they are even with DeSales in that CAL beat DeSales the past two season in the regular season. Because DeSales was able to regroup after each loss and avenge themselves in the state tournament on the path to their state championships, Desales gets a SLIGHT bump over the Centurions but the author will note that the difference between these two schools is miniscule and they could flip flop very easily early in the season.

 

7) DuPont Manual High School - Over the past decade and a half, the Crimsons/Rams (are they ever going to make up their mind which is their mascot?) have probably felt like the girl who was always the Bride's Maid but never the Bride when it came to the state tournament. Season after season the Rams would field strong teams but they could never combine back to back wins over the Big Three in the state tournament to make it to the State Finals knowing full well they probably were better than the team the Big #3 would face in the Finals. This still seems to be the case except that they have been leap frogged by the Ballard Bruins. The realignment of districts and regions in Louisville may help the Rams since their schedule and therefore their path in the state tournament will not be so brutal. Only time will tell but for now, this poll will rank them at #7 .

 

8) Central High School - A decade or so ago, the Yellow Jackets blasted to the scene, winning state championships and taking games against St. X down to the wire which not too many years earlier would have been 20+ point losses. Central is still a quality team and will remain a contender in their class but they don't shine quite as bright as a few years ago so they will be ranked at #8 till they can show what they have against quality opponents.

 

9) Butler Traditional High School - Here is where ranking Louisville area teams starts getting really tough. The school from this point and below do not get much press and tend to be very inconsistent from year to year so the author will admit, ranking Butler has more to do with their history of being a solid team year after year.

 

10) John Hardin High School - Similar to #9 , the author of this ranking was really stretching for a team to wrap up the Top Ten and picked the Bulldogs due to they also being a consistently solid team. There may be other non Jefferson County School who have an argument to be ranked (Martha Layne Collins?, Meade Co.?) but it is difficult to tell at this point. These last two rankings are definitely the shakiest and could easily change after week one.

 

Opening Scrimmage of the Week - St. Xavier versus Simon Kenton

[Ram]

Not many surprises in the Top 10.

 

What teams are in the next group?

 

Can someone name some of the players to watch in this Region?

[Purple88]

Not many surprises in the Top 10.

 

What teams are in the next group?

 

Can someone name some of the players to watch in this Region?

 

Central Hardin and North Hardin should get some consideration IMO.

[hoss403]

Is this list for this year only or based on past performance? If it's solely based on this year I'd put Central Hardin around 4 or 5.

[psychicscubadiver]

I can see Manual being below Ballard this year, but I think they deserve the five spot. Manual doesn't play either of them, but as it has some common opponents with both schools we should get a rough idea as the season plays out.

 

I also think Central Hardin should have either the eighth or ninth spot. Possibly include Meade County at tenth. I do agree that the bottom of the list is hard to rank.

 

Nice to see the Rocks at first, but I do agree that the top two are almost interchangeable. I love seeing Male at this level and wish them all the best. Y'know, except when they're playing my team.

[Bert]

I can see Manual being below Ballard this year, but I think they deserve the five spot. Manual doesn't play either of them, but as it has some common opponents with both schools we should get a rough idea as the season plays out.

 

That crossed my mind also, is Manual better than DeSales and CAL or are CAL and DeSales better than Manual. Went back and forth on that.

 

I also think Central Hardin should have either the eighth or ninth spot. Possibly include Meade County at tenth. I do agree that the bottom of the list is hard to rank.

 

Sounds like I may have missed the boat on Central Hardin based on the number of you mentioning them. Like I said, the bottom third are the ones I really struggled with the most so they are obviously the ones I will hesitate the least to drop off should Central Hardin look good and the ranked teams have an blemish.

 

Nice to see the Rocks at first, but I do agree that the top two are almost interchangeable. I love seeing Male at this level and wish them all the best. Y'know, except when they're playing my team.

 

Once again I think Male is the most talented team in the state but, can they do something with that talent. That fact and the untested offensive line (thanks to advice from AllTell) is why I put them as second.

 

 

In a few weeks scrimmages start. I have been arguing with myself whether or not to give them much credence in this ranking. Some coaches look at scrimmages as "test" games so see how kids will play in games and those do have some merit in judging how good a team is. Others go into scrimmages simply wanting to test inexperienced players and try new plays or formations and could care less what the score board says. Those really don't tell you near as much ie about 7 or 8 years ago, Trinity "lost" to Scott Co in a scrimmage. Coach Beatty didn't look concerned at all that Trinity was "losing" so I had to assume he was more testing his raw players and they scrimmage didn't mean much. That was the case because Trinity went on and won state that year.

[ATLCat]

The only team I think you are off on is Central.

 

What has CAL done to deserve ranking ahead of them? For that matter isn't the same critique with Central valid for DeSales?

 

Central has defeated some of the Jefferson County 6A teams over the years.. neither DeSales or CAL can make that statement.

 

Central in 2015 returns 8 starters each way which is far more than either of those teams.

[ColtCountry]

I certainly think DeSales has the team (and numbers) to compete with Manual. Not sure about CAL. Have yet to see a post on CAL and what they lost or have coming back.

[ColtFootball]

So excited for the desales vs Ballard game this year. Good measure for where we are at as a program. I do wish we could have played a 6A school of that caliber the past two years.

[Old-School-Football]

Glad to see the DeSales guys jump into this one. I can only speak from experience...what I've seen with my own eyes. Manual is the real deal. They have been for the past two seasons. I would go as far to say that Manual could have won state championships in another class (I can do that because other people talk about other schools as good as teams in other classes all the time). I'm just saying...I've seen them in person and they are 100% for real. If you haven't seen that defense with Derek Dorsey, go check it out.

 

I value the DeSales run as much as anyone in Louisville and know many of the kids from grade school ball. Worthy of a top 5 or 6...yes. But not ahead of Manual yet in my eyes. Agree the Ballard game is a great measuring stick. I personally feel like we have our top 5-6 but need Manual to be in that discussion with DeSales and Ballard. NO WAY you put Manual behind CAL.

 

I'll join in and place a vote for Central Hardin as well. Should be a solid group from what I'm hearing.

[UK fball fan]

No way CAL is ahead of Meade Co, C.Hardin, Manual, Central, JHardin or Butler.. They are boarder line Top 15..

[Bert]

I certainly think DeSales has the team (and numbers) to compete with Manual. Not sure about CAL. Have yet to see a post on CAL and what they lost or have coming back.

 

Same here, I could find nothing for CAL when researching this listing so I could only assume they would be similar to last year. May be a bad assumption. Will find out in the coming weeks.

[Bert]

So excited for the desales vs Ballard game this year. Good measure for where we are at as a program. I do wish we could have played a 6A school of that caliber the past two years.

 

Excited to see that game too. It will answer many of my questions about whether Ballard is as good as I am giving them credit for and how well the Colts are compared to 6A schools. That game will definitely jumble up this top 10.

 

I will be pulling for the Colts and if they win, I hope that opens the door to DeSales and Trinity playing again like they did up till the mid 90's (I think).

[Knights]

Manual is underrated and Central Hardin should be in the top 10 but it's a preseason ranking so it'll change throughout the season.

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

I have a hard time seeing Central beat Butler, but that's just me.