Last week there were some big games in 1A. Three of the top 5 in the rankings took it on the chin. Those losses gave us more insight into how 1A might shake out as the year goes on. Despite the losses to some top teams, none of the teams ranked lower were able to make any gains in the rankings. Some of that was due to the losses being to high quality opponents. Some of that was due to the teams wanting to move up did not make a strong enough impression in their games to move up.

 

Our top ranked Beechwood Tigers lost in rather clearcut fashion to their neighborhood rival 5A Covington Catholic. One of the concerns that had been mentioned by more than a few people for Beechwood was their line play. With only one starting lineman returning and not near the depth the Tigers had last year, this was the key area everyone had their eyes on. In the first three games against 2A size competition, the line passed the test with flying colors. The Tigers were getting good production from their running game and the line looked solid. Facing the 5A level Colonels showed the Tigers line is not quite up to the level of play the team showed last year in their victory over the Colonels. This year it was CCH in control at the line of scrimmage. However, is there any line in 1A close to what the Colonels displayed? Beechwood has not had trouble with smaller school lines. Perhaps a little more insight will come this week as Beechwood takes on another 2A school in Covington Holy Cross.

 

The #2 ranked Paintsville Tigers had a battle of their own - an unexpected one - as they struggled to put away a winless Williamsburg team. While Paintsville led for most of the contest, Williamsburg stayed in striking distance until the Tigers finally widened the margin in the fourth quarter. Williamsburg racked up over 300 yards on the ground against Paintsville. Perhaps the Tigers were looking ahead to this week's game against 4A Bourbon County. Paintsville will need a stronger effort to get the win this week.

 

The #3 ranked Pikeville Panthers had a tougher loss as the 3A #2 Belfry Pirates had little trouble with the Panthers on their way to a 34-8 win. Belfry can do that to a lot of teams and they had plenty of incentive against Pikeville since the Panthers won last year's game. Pikeville should have no trouble getting back to winning when they face South Floyd this week.

 

Russellville might be scratching their heads after they had a convincing win and still were not able to jump over Pikeville. Unfortunately, Russellville's opponent last week was one they were expected to win over and did not give them much of a chance to show the voters something. This week, on the other hand, Russellville gets their chance to make an impression on the 1A voters when they face 2A #6 Murray.

 

The third top ranked losing team last week was #5 Raceland. The Rams fell to 3-2 with a loss to a solid Ohio opponent, Lucasville Valley. In some ways, this loss was harder to swallow than the Rams' earlier loss to Ashland as this was a game the Rams could have won. The close loss to a quality opponent did not cost the Rams in the rankings. A loss this week would be a different story. Rams opponent Portsmouth OH West is a team Raceland should beat.

 

Campbellsville got a win over a solid Green County team, but it may have come at a price. Reports are that Campbellsville lost their QB DeVonte Cubit to injury in the second series of the Green County game. That will be an even tougher loss since Campbellsville already lost possible all state RB Kendon Young for the season to an ACL. Good job by the Eagles getting the win over Green County without those two players. Fort Knox should be no problem for the Eagles this week even if the new QB has to play.

 

#7 Paris and #8 Fairview both had little trouble getting wins this past week. Paris should have just as easy a time of it facing Berea this week. Fairview will need a strong effort to get a win over Lexington Christian, who just took their first loss of the year last week.

 

The Hazard Bulldogs are our #9 team and they got a good win over a solid 2A Prestonsburg squad. That makes three straight close wins over solid opponents. Hazard appears to be putting things together for another strong playoff run. If any teams above them in the rankings stumble they are ready to move up.

 

The other big news in the rankings was the move of the Bishop Brossart Mustangs into the top 10. Brossart looked to be a school about to drop their football program in the summer of 2014. The team was looking for a coach and turned to Paul Wiggins, who had coached many of the Mustang players in middle school. Coach Wiggins was able to get players out and field a team in 2014. This year, just one year later, those players and others have Brossart undefeated and sitting at #10 . It is a great story and an example to other schools that are struggling to not give up.

 

The big games this week are Paintsville, Russellville and Fairview. Those three look to be facing opponents who could pin them with a loss, and provide that opening for a gain by some teams looking to climb the 1A ladder.

I think we learn a lot about the top teams this week. I think the Beechwood loss showed us the top five may be closer then we previously thought. The Pikeville loss to Paintsville showed us they are beatable, then Pikeville lost to Belfry, which was expected, but Pikeville may be somewhat improved since the Paintsville loss. Raceland lost to a good Valley team, they should have won that game but didn't put it away. This week we see Paintsville take on a quality team and how they play in that game will tell us a lot. Likewise, as VOR said, Raceland should beat Portsmouth West this week, if they do, things may be close at the top. If Raceland loses, there may be a big separation from them and the top four.

Go Russellville!

Go Russellville!

I got carried away and forgot to mention Russellville in my dissertation:

 

Russellville has a chance this week to prove where they belong by playing a strong Murray team. If Russellville pulls out the win, they may be at the top of the class. If they can play Murray close, it is confirmed that the top five teams are basically the same.

I got carried away and forgot to mention Russellville in my dissertation:

 

Russellville has a chance this week to prove where they belong by playing a strong Murray team. If Russellville pulls out the win, they may be at the top of the class. If they can play Murray close, it is confirmed that the top five teams are basically the same.

 

Can't argue with that RAM! Their toughest district game will be AT Crittenden County and then they finish the season at 4A Franklin Simpson, who has had a disappointing season so far, but has good athletes and will prepare the Panthers as they try to make a deep playoff run.:thumb:

Here are my thoughts at this point:

 

Beechwood - Unlike almost everyone else, I have been saying all season that Beechwood is a slight favorite in 1A. The CCH loss showed everyone else what I have been thinking all season. Beechwood remains a slight favorite.

 

Paintsville - The Williamsburg game raised a red flag for both Paintsville and Pikeville in my eyes. It makes me wonder if those two teams are not quite as strong as I thought. We will see how Williamsburg plays from here on out. Perhaps they are getting that much better. Big game for Paintsville this week. If they are the strong Paintsville over Pikeville team, Paintsville will beat Bourbon County. A loss to Bourbon County drops Paintsville a little more in my eyes.

 

Pikeville - I know Belfry is really good, but that was not a good performance for Pikeville. Before anyone tries to sing the praises of Belfry, remember that last year Pikeville beat Belfry. I didn't expect Pikeville to win, but I thought it would be more of a game.

 

Russellville - This is the team everyone better be watching. I think they are the top contender versus Beechwood. I expect Russellville to win over Murray. If Russellville loses to Murray, they lose some of their luster in my eyes.

 

Raceland - I have to say I expected a little more out of the Rams. They have lost to a couple tough opponents so I don't want to be too hard on them. Those games should make them better. I am waiting to see that team that I thought was right there even with Beechwood. Rams need to win big this week to get that momentum and confidence back.

 

With Campbellsville's injury issues, I don't think anyone else is going to be able to challenge those 5 this year for the title. There is still time for further improvements, but I am not seeing anyone else that can get to the level of the top 5.

Edited September 24, 201511 yr by Voice of Reason

To make some excuses for Pikeville that may come back to haunt me in 3A discussion threads where I have to defend Belfry with such an impressive win:

 

- One thing you have to consider is Pikeville was in an uphill climb the entire night. Belfry did not start a single First Half drive on their side of the field. A nice kickoff return, a shanked punt, a Turnover on Downs, and an Interception. It's hard enough to stop Belfry's offense but stopping it when they only have to go Half the Field is next to impossible.

 

- Daric Pugh still is not himself. I don't think it would have mattered Friday because Belfry's run Defense is just so good... but he has been battling a hip injury the entire season and just is not himself. What has made him so dominant is at his size when he plants and cuts he has amazing acceleration, right now that explosion simply is not there. With three of their next four games being against South Floyd, Phelps, and Jenkins I anticipate Mr. Pugh to begin getting healthy before their playoff run.

 

- Pikeville finished with 4 Interceptions. One ended a nice drive to close out the Half and another directly set Belfry up for 3 points. The indirect consequence of those were it caused their Defensive Line to have spend even more time on the field vs. Belfry.

 

- To compound things Pikeville had several "irritating" penalties that you can't have to beat Belfry. Linemen down field that negate 7 yard completions... delay of game on 1st and 10... though Belfry had almost twice the penalty yards the Pikeville penalties kept them behind the chains and took the option of gaining 4 yards per play and eating clock out of the equation.

 

Now don't get me wrong... in no way am I saying the Final Score should have been closer with all this. Belfry basically shut their brains off in the 4th Quarter while also subbing heavily and settled for 6 points when they easily could have put up 21 points or more. Truth be told Belfry was 21-28 points better as the scoreboard indicated.

 

I just think it is very important to see this game for what it is:

Pikeville didn't bring their A-Game

Belfry is really good as well as bigger and deeper than any other 1A team.

When did Paintsville give up 300 rushing to Wburg? Per KHSAA Wburg had 126 rushing, half of which came vs Paintsvilles 2 D on one long play. Paintsville's defense has stonewalled the last 2 opponents. Couple mishaps on punts last week with an injured punter and snapper. Both players back in the lineup this week. Paintsville has a very tall order with Bourbon this week!

Edited September 24, 201511 yr by Pville Tiger
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When did Paintsville give up 300 rushing to Wburg? Per KHSAA Wburg had 126 rushing, half of which came vs Paintsvilles 2 D on one long play. Paintsville's defense has stonewalled the last 2 opponents. Couple mishaps on punts last week with an injured punter and snapper. Both players back in the lineup this week. Paintsville has a very tall order with Bourbon this week!

 

My apologies on that. Thank you for catching it and pointing it out. It was 300 yards total with 145 yards rushing per a story I read online.

IMO, Murray should beat Russellville, but, these 2 teams are pretty even from a talent standpoint. I think Murray has a slight advantage in the trenches and have been challenged a little more this year than Russellville has. In saying that, I also think I would likely favor Murray over any of the other 1a teams, too. When healthy and playing their A game, I believe they'd be ranked #1 or 2 if they were in 1a.

I dont think the top 5 are seperated by much no matter what way you slice it. I dont think Paintsville or Pikeville are any better than Raceland either, especially if the Ram's offense continues to play like it did last week. In that regaurd, I think we have only scratched the surface.

IMO, Murray should beat Russellville, but, these 2 teams are pretty even from a talent standpoint. I think Murray has a slight advantage in the trenches and have been challenged a little more this year than Russellville has. In saying that, I also think I would likely favor Murray over any of the other 1a teams, too. When healthy and playing their A game, I believe they'd be ranked #1 or 2 if they were in 1a.

 

Tonight's game will help answer this question. From a distance, Murray seems to be struggling a little, at least below where they are ranked. We will find out tonight.

Tonight's game will help answer this question. From a distance, Murray seems to be struggling a little, at least below where they are ranked. We will find out tonight.

 

The only game they played poorly and struggled was the game vs Graves Co and they had 3 key contributors out for that game, there QB being one of them. The other loss was to a good Hopkinsville team that they took down to the wire and had a chance to beat all the way to the end. They were also without a couple of their key players in that one. When Murray has their full compliment of players, they're a very tough team. As far as I know, all these kids are back now, that's why I picked them to beat the Panthers, but, even if they do, I don't think it says anything less about Russellville, unless it's a complete blow out, which I don't expect..

Williamsburg is better than you think. With the qb change you can throw the lca score completely out. They aren't as good as they were, but they are a lot better than people think. They will be there with Pikeville and Hazard for the region. If Williamsburg can win their district and then find a way to win the region then Paintsville or Raceland will have to head south and anything can happen.