Consistency is what makes Mayfield great. Guys that coach little league are more concerned with teaching their team fundamentals and instilling that Cardinal thing in the kids than they are in dreaming up a double reverse flea flicker to win a meaningless game between ten year olds.

The entire town is into it...all in to it. When DeSales came to town a group of Cardinal alumni was up all night Thursday night barbequeing two pigs at the Stadium. How many locations in KY did that happen? Mayfield is invested in their team and nobody wants to be a part of "that" team that doesn't live up.

To have such a dynasty for sooooo long at a school that small really is a testament to the staff and the community.

 

Small school football is not easy to maintain that kind of level.

 

Those Morris fellows have to have some Thanksgiving conversations I wish I could listen to

To be fair though how many teams that Mayfield competes against have D1 players? Doesn't seem a requirement for success at the lower levels. In fact I'm not sure it's really necessary until you get to the 5A and 6A levels.

 

D1 level players aren't even that prevelant at the 5a and 6a levels, with exception to maybe a Male or Trinity or Lafayette(this year).. There's been years when Trinity has been loaded with 7-8 D1 players, then others when they may only have 1 or 2.. Either way, they still dominate most other 6a teams in the state.. When Johnathan Jackson played at Mayfield, he could have played at any level in Ky, 1a to 6a and been the best player on the field 9 out of 10 times.. He was a stud, but, D1 teams shyed away because he was 5'11 and not 6'1, so, he ended up at Murray St and last I heard, leading the OVP in tackles or right their amongst the top.. When a player of his calibre isn't good enough to play D1 football, it tells me it takes a tremendously talented kid with size, skill, speed, athleticism, etc to even be considered and there's not that many out there on Ky HS Fb teams...

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That's pretty impressive and certainly an outlier though. Plus it's twenty years ago. It's certainly not common for a 1A, 2A or even a 3A to have one, let alone multiple D1 players.

I agree

Consistency is what makes Mayfield great. Guys that coach little league are more concerned with teaching their team fundamentals and instilling that Cardinal thing in the kids than they are in dreaming up a double reverse flea flicker to win a meaningless game between ten year olds.

The entire town is into it...all in to it. When DeSales came to town a group of Cardinal alumni was up all night Thursday night barbequeing two pigs at the Stadium. How many locations in KY did that happen? Mayfield is invested in their team and nobody wants to be a part of "that" team that doesn't live up.

For better or worse, this is correct. It is a huge deal in Mayfield.

The consistency is truly amazing. My Jr. year we traveled from Lawrence Co all the way to Mayfield for the final 4. Longest playoff drive ever! They beat us 21-18. I remember reading at some point around there that they had been to 24 of the last 26 Final 4's or something close to that! That was all the way back in 1991! They haven't degressed since then! It's amazing!

I think they have to have a pretty special youth/MS feeder program! They had William Murral (fastest kid in the state) and Barnes then. Both went to Eastern.

Because it is that huge of a deal that can also explain why you maybe don't have more kids playing NAIA or Div. II. Because if you are from a program that is very successful it is hard for many of those kids to keep working at the next level when have had more people at your high school games than you will at your smaller college games. It's just not the same.

Depends on how far you want to go back. When I played in the mid 90's I can name 5 from Hopkinsville on the 1995 team.

 

And dont forget the Tilghman teams of 89- 90. They put 12 in D1 alone.

Not saying I have the answer here but I think not having the size is the reason why. I might get blasted by that statement but I think that could be the reason. For example, Trajon Bright. One of the best running backs in 2A. Great football player! His stats are very good. He is fast, reads blocks very well, and knows the game of football but I think his size is what will hurt him at the next level. There is no doubt he could play at the next level.

 

I have seen several very good athletes play football at Mayfield. Another example is our lineman. About 12 years ago we had a player named Micah Jones who played on the line. Kid was huge. Another great football player for Mayfield. Well he got a scholarship to play for Kentucky because he had the size. I have seen some very good lineman go through Mayfield but they were smaller and didn't play at the next level.

 

We may not have the biggest kids to make it to the next level but I can tell you one thing we do have to make up for it and that is heart and determination. We are in the hunt for a state championship every single year. Always have been, always will be.

 

Micah was a player, no doubt. I wish he would have stuck it out at UK. And I bet he does too.

And dont forget the Tilghman teams of 89- 90. They put 12 in D1 alone.

For sure. PT was loaded in the late 80's through early 90's.

As a PT player in the late 80s, I used to witness something about Mayfield that was somewhat unusual. And read my whole statement because it is a compliment. Back then we would typically dominate Mayfield all thru little league, middle school, and generally in JV.

But, what was happening is Mayfields' whole feeder program was preparing them very well for the Varsity level. Mayfield has had a long history with the Morris family, and also coach Leahy, who was a Morris disciple.

My point is this, Mayfield is a small-school team, who may not have huge numbers, but they have a long-established tradition bolstered by a great feeder program backed by coaches who have been in the system for a loooooonnnngggg time.

Mayfield players are prepped for their journey in High school from the time they start playing, and when they get to HS, they are ready to compete as a whole unit.

 

Joe Morris, is one of the best in the business at making adjustments, and his success is supported by a great staff. To be consistently good as they are, you have to have ALL the pieces of the puzzle, and apparently they must have at least 99.9% of them.

As a PT player in the late 80s, I used to witness something about Mayfield that was somewhat unusual. And read my whole statement because it is a compliment. Back then we would typically dominate Mayfield all thru little league, middle school, and generally in JV.

But, what was happening is Mayfields' whole feeder program was preparing them very well for the Varsity level. Mayfield has had a long history with the Morris family, and also coach Leahy, who was a Morris disciple.

My point is this, Mayfield is a small-school team, who may not have huge numbers, but they have a long-established tradition bolstered by a great feeder program backed by coaches who have been in the system for a loooooonnnngggg time.

Mayfield players are prepped for their journey in High school from the time they start playing, and when they get to HS, they are ready to compete as a whole unit.

 

Joe Morris, is one of the best in the business at making adjustments, and his success is supported by a great staff. To be consistently good as they are, you have to have ALL the pieces of the puzzle, and apparently they must have at least 99.9% of them.

 

Fair statement, so that brings up my next question truebluefan89, start a thread on Tilghman and how they are unable to get the talent out on the field. Trust me, I know first hand that there is more talent walking the hallways of the school than competing. So what can be done to tap into that? If Tilghman can come up with that answer then they would be untouchable!!! Or maybe ask Allen Cox how he did it.

I'll state my view on that one time and I will get off this thread.

There seemed to be much negativity near the end of the tenure of the last coaching staff. But, in 2 seasons Rogers has doubled the roster, so hopefully he is regaining that interest.

I agree with all the explanations offered and will add that I really think the "working as one unit" is under-appreciated in a general sense from outsiders. The kids start learning the plays, and the technique in elementary school.

The result could been seen in last week's DeSales' game. Most people on both sides thought the game would be tight. But no one from DeSales thought our O-line would open holes they way they did. And if you looked at the kids standing on each side of the line, by all rights we should not have been able to run up the middle. But we did. And I attribute it the work ethic of the kids, and the culmination of years of teaching technique for how to block, and how to work together as a unit. I think we have won more than a few games from coaching, but not necessarily coaching in the week of the game, but coaching in the years before the game.

 

Edit: I don't mean to imply that we don't win with coaching in the week of the game and at halftime too. We got that as well.

 

Be careful what you say... Some desalles fan might think your belittling his child... lol

Micah was a player, no doubt. I wish he would have stuck it out at UK. And I bet he does too.

 

He had career ending injury... How do you stick that out...