This week we will pass the midpoint of October, and suddenly there are only three weeks left in the regular season. Many districts have started to have their playoff picture come into focus, while a few are still quite clouded.

 

District 1 is pretty cut and dry, as we expected it to be. #7 Hopkinsville continues to roll, gaining a 42-8 victory over Logan County to improve to 7-1. They have yet to score less than 21 points this season, and have topped 42 points four times. This week they will play a district title game against surprising 4-3 Calloway County, which played themselves into this position with a 20-12 win over Madisonville-North Hopkins back on September 25th. The Lakers have now won four straight, but will have to take to the road to face the Tigers at the Stadium of Champions.

 

District 2 is now a mess thanks to a round-robin between Allen County-Scottsville, Franklin-Simpson, and Warren Central. ACS knocked off Franklin-Simpson 21-20 this past Friday, one week after Franklin-Simpson used an 18 point comeback to take down Warren Central 36-31. The week before that, the Dragons beat Allen County-Scottsville 22-0. That leaves us with a likely tiebreaker scenario, where Franklin-Simpson is currently the heavy favorite should it come to that. As it stands now, Franklin-Simpson would be the 2 seed, Allen County-Scottsville the 3 seed, and Warren Central the 4 seed. The only constant is #2 South Warren, which posted their third straight shutout 52-0 over district mate Warren East on Friday. No one in the district has scored on them, and they’ll need only to survive mini-district title games against ACS and Warren Central to claim the district. Either of those teams could likely stake their claim to the 1 spot if they pulled the megaton upset.

 

District 3 is exactly as we expected, with John Hardin the clearly dominant team. The #8 Bulldogs may not have been quite as high as we expected at the beginning, but in district play, they’ve got that district on lockdown. They beat Breckinridge County 48-6 before their bye week, and should roll over Valley and Western for the #1 spot. Valley grabbed a crucial 38-32 victory over Western on Friday, which puts them in the driver’s seat for the #2 seed.

 

District 4…. well District 4 has been the most interesting thing to watch in 4A so far this season. Four of their teams are in the top 10 this week, and the one that isn’t (North Oldham), is still quite dangerous. #4 Spencer County is in the midst of their best season ever, and held off a late rally attempt by then-#8 Franklin County 47-42 on Friday to move their record to 8-0. Spencer County needs only to beat #6 Shelby County on the road this week to claim the #1 seed and a perfect district record. Should Shelby County get the win, they’ll have their own shot to wrap up the top spot the following week vs. #10 Collins. With the way the results have played out, only those two teams can claim the top spot, as it is impossible for Spencer County to have more than 1 loss in the district, and it is also impossible to have a three way tie for first due to the other two one loss teams (Shelby County and Collins) still to play. If Shelby County wins over Spencer County and then loses to Collins the following week, Spencer County will grab the 1 seed thanks to the head to head tiebreaker over Collins. Meanwhile, there is still much uncertainty around who will be the odd team out and miss the playoffs. Right now, that’s North Oldham, which fell 24-7 to Shelby County on Friday and 13-0 to Spencer County the week before. They’ll have two road games at Collins and Franklin County for them to try to grab a needed district win, but last year’s state semifinalist could be on the outside looking in this postseason. It’s also possible that Franklin County, a team that started 6-0 and spent much of the year as our #4 ranked team, could miss the playoffs if they were to lose to North Oldham on the 23rd. A lot has to play out for clarity here.

 

District 5 has been a quiet one, as they have spent the year on the fringe of the rankings. Mercer County has a stranglehold on the district, winning their three district games by a combined 104-19 after starting the year 0-5. They’ll host 3-4 Taylor County on Friday to try to finish the unbeaten district slate. If Taylor County were to win, it would force a three way tie between those two and East Jessamine, which fell 19-0 to Mercer County but knocked off Taylor County 26-14 last Thursday. That would put Mercer County in a terrible spot, as they have no out of district wins to use. East Jessamine would likely grab the top spot in that event.

 

District 6 had what will most likely serve as their district title game in one of the last two weeks. It’ll be either when Wayne County took down Rockcastle County 21-13 or when they beat Knox Central 35-24 last Friday. Winless Russell County is all that stands between Wayne County and the 1 seed. Wayne County has been mostly overlooked this season, but have gotten out to a 6-2 record and have quietly won 4 in a row. There’s an excellent chance that they’ll be hosting a state semifinal game in November. Meanwhile, Knox Central will host Rockcastle County on October 23rd to determine who will get the other home playoff game for the district.

 

District 7 has been the Scott show this season. The #5 Eagles are 6-1, their lone setback coming by a single point to 6A Conner (itself 6-1). They’ve held five opponents to 7 points or less this season, and only once have scored below 27 points themselves. This week they’ll host Bourbon County as they come off a bye, and likely will wrap up the district title with a win. Should Bourbon County pull the upset, they’d have to clear Harrison County on the 23rd to wrap up the district and avoid a three way tiebreak. Harrison County fell to Scott on October 2nd by a 43-0 score. Scott is the heavy favorite, and figures to be hosting the Johnson Central/Ashland loser on November 13th in the second round of the playoffs.

 

Speaking of Johnson Central and Ashland, we’ve been crawling towards that marquee District 8 matchup for what seems forever. It’s still another week away, as the #1 Johnson Central Golden Eagles tune up with 4-4 Rowan County, while #3 Ashland puts their 7-0 record on the line at home against Greenup County. Both teams are heavy favorites, and would set up a battle of unbeaten on October 23rd for the District 8 title. Many expect that one to be the first of two meetings. Meanwhile, Greenup County has likely wrapped up the 3 spot with a 20-6 win over Rowan County back on October 2nd, while Rowan County likely secured passage into the playoffs with a 34-16 victory at Boyd County this past Friday.

 

The weather is finally starting to change, so get out there and enjoy some football weather and playoff atmospheres! Some of these games this week will be competitive games that will have teams jockeying for playoff position. Our marquee 4A game will be the aforementioned #4 Spencer County at #6 Shelby County matchup, a potential district title game!

i see you wayne county!!