I would strongly agree with this as well. Ashland's skill positions played well last night especially the secondary and backs. The line was outplayed on both sides true but thats not why they lost. Missed assingments on special teams, having the ball inside the Raceland 25 3 times and coming away with no points, penalties, turnovers, and and the injury of one of our captains on the 3rd play from scrimmage cost Ashland in this game without a doubt. I dont think there's any question Ashland has more talent. The good thing is its week 1 and this game means nothing towards the playoffs and hopefully the cats will wake up and start cutting out the silly mistakes. Good luck to a good Raceland team this year!

All the talent in the world does not help if you don't come out and play with determination and confidence.There is more to winning a game than just putting talent on the field. Raceland's defense was tested by Ashland and was bent but did not break, they made the plays when they had to. A lot of people had Raceland as the underdog in this game but the Raceland kids believed in their talent and heart and never once thought that they could not win this game. The ability to execute your game plan balances the talent difference and we saw that last night. Talent can be defined in many different ways.

I agree with Cville and OldRambler that the fire truck escort back to school last night was in order. Anyone can see from just this thread alone how important the Raceland/Ashland game is to our team, not to mention the community. IMHO, the escort is as much for the community as it is for the team. Also, these kids are 16-18 yrs. old. Let them relish the win for a day or two. Let them be kids. The coaches will most certainly get their heads back on football by Monday. I can almost guarantee when they are old and gray, they'll be rockin' on their front porches talking about last nights game. Great memories topped off with a firetruck escort home! It could be considered a community pep rally for the rest of the season. GO RAMS!

and by top players who are you referring to??

Cats Pause yearbook has their QB listed as a Mr. Football candidate.

I would strongly agree with this as well. Ashland's skill positions played well last night especially the secondary and backs. The line was outplayed on both sides true but thats not why they lost. Missed assingments on special teams, having the ball inside the Raceland 25 3 times and coming away with no points, penalties, turnovers, and and the injury of one of our captains on the 3rd play from scrimmage cost Ashland in this game without a doubt. I dont think there's any question Ashland has more talent. The good thing is its week 1 and this game means nothing towards the playoffs and hopefully the cats will wake up and start cutting out the silly mistakes. Good luck to a good Raceland team this year!

 

I hate like heck to disagree, momcat, but the truth is that the better team won last night. Would they win a rematch, if we played them again in 4 weeks? Who knows? But the reality is, they were the better team on the night that the game was scheduled. On the post game radio show, Coach Hart mentioned (on more than one occasion) that the coaching staff did not have our Tomcats ready to play this game. It's tough for him to have to admit that, but I take my hat off to him for it. Are the Raceland kids better than ours? Not at all. But as a team, they were definitely better than we were when it counted.

 

The talent and preparation of the Raceland team last night was better than the talent and preparation of the Ashland team. The difference may well have been more along the lines of preparation, but without question, talent had an impact on the outcome of that game as well.

 

Make no mistake - I'd still take our Ashland kids anytime. I'm sure that Oldrambler, Incognito, Cville, and the rest of the Ram faithful feel the same way about their kids.

 

 

Frances

I am assuming this was an upset, even though Raceland has one of the top players in the state.

This was considered an upset only if you were not a Raceland player. The Raceland kids never once doubted their ability to win and would not have been satisfied if it went any other way. They have set highstandards for themselves and were willing to work and make the sacrifice that it takes to reach those goals. I may be looking through Orange glasses but I don't think there is any program around that outworks the Raceland kids or coaching staff and anyone that is close to the program will tell you the same thing.

I agree with Cville and OldRambler that the fire truck escort back to school last night was in order. Anyone can see from just this thread alone how important the Raceland/Ashland game is to our team, not to mention the community. IMHO, the escort is as much for the community as it is for the team. Also, these kids are 16-18 yrs. old. Let them relish the win for a day or two. Let them be kids. The coaches will most certainly get their heads back on football by Monday. I can almost guarantee when they are old and gray, they'll be rockin' on their front porches talking about last nights game. Great memories topped off with a firetruck escort home! It could be considered a community pep rally for the rest of the season. GO RAMS!

:thumb: Well said Incognito!! I want to mention that the community also does this for the little league programs as well. It just tells the kids that we are supporting & appreciate what you do.I remember them doing this as I was a kid and I hope they do it when I am 80 (although they may have to turn the sirens up a little louder)

I hate like heck to disagree, momcat, but the truth is that the better team won last night. Would they win a rematch, if we played them again in 4 weeks? Who knows? But the reality is, they were the better team on the night that the game was scheduled. On the post game radio show, Coach Hart mentioned (on more than one occasion) that the coaching staff did not have our Tomcats ready to play this game. It's tough for him to have to admit that, but I take my hat off to him for it. Are the Raceland kids better than ours? Not at all. But as a team, they were definitely better than we were when it counted.

 

The talent and preparation of the Raceland team last night was better than the talent and preparation of the Ashland team. The difference may well have been more along the lines of preparation, but without question, talent had an impact on the outcome of that game as well.

 

Make no mistake - I'd still take our Ashland kids anytime. I'm sure that Oldrambler, Incognito, Cville, and the rest of the Ram faithful feel the same way about their kids.

 

 

Frances

:thumb: Nice post Frances!! We at Raceland take great Pride in our athletics & academics as I know other schools do also. We also have great respect for the Ashland football tradition.I hope Ashland goes undefeated the remainder of the season.

This was considered an upset only if you were not a Raceland player. The Raceland kids never once doubted their ability to win and would not have been satisfied if it went any other way. They have set highstandards for themselves and were willing to work and make the sacrifice that it takes to reach those goals. I may be looking through Orange glasses but I don't think there is any program around that outworks the Raceland kids or coaching staff and anyone that is close to the program will tell you the same thing.

Most of the posts before the game indicated Ashland was a slight favorite.

Cats Pause yearbook has their QB listed as a Mr. Football candidate.

He is considered to be one of the best in the state and has put up some impressive numbers for the last 2 years. He is a good football player and an even greater kid. If you ask him he will tell you that the only numbers he is concerned about is the number of wins we have at the end of the season. He is a total team player as well as the other 52 we have dressed.

Most of the posts before the game indicated Ashland was a slight favorite.

I understand and I expected it to be that way. That was the point in my previous post. The players did not feel that way.

We at Raceland take great Pride in our athletics & academics as I know other schools do also.

 

Great job by the Rams. :banana: I wish the community would come out and watch all Raceland sports like they do football.

Great job by the Rams. :banana: I wish the community would come out and watch all Raceland sports like they do football.

I agree statmaster. But Raceland football has been the talk of the town for many many years. It is like Kentucky basketball in that it is discussed year round and before season is even close to starting people want to know how they are going to be. As long as I can remember I could hear kids say they want to play football for the Rams when they grow up and you can still see it today as evident in the success of the JFL program. In success I mean the number of kids involved and the parent support (which sometimes could be another thread):lol: Raceland athletics have produced a number of great players throughout the years in all sports as many have gone on to play at the next level. The 2006 Senior class is a prime example.

I hate like heck to disagree, momcat, but the truth is that the better team won last night. Would they win a rematch, if we played them again in 4 weeks? Who knows? But the reality is, they were the better team on the night that the game was scheduled. On the post game radio show, Coach Hart mentioned (on more than one occasion) that the coaching staff did not have our Tomcats ready to play this game. It's tough for him to have to admit that, but I take my hat off to him for it. Are the Raceland kids better than ours? Not at all. But as a team, they were definitely better than we were when it counted.

 

The talent and preparation of the Raceland team last night was better than the talent and preparation of the Ashland team. The difference may well have been more along the lines of preparation, but without question, talent had an impact on the outcome of that game as well.

 

Make no mistake - I'd still take our Ashland kids anytime. I'm sure that Oldrambler, Incognito, Cville, and the rest of the Ram faithful feel the same way about their kids.

 

 

Frances

 

 

Well said..... As always Frances.

Luke Bonner's knee injury on the third play was HUGE for Ashland on both offense and defense. It looks like he may be out for a while. Ashland didnt make the plays to win, plain and simple. Turnovers and a penalty cost us. I thought McDavid did a good job at QB, but if all he's gonna do is run the ball with Cordle and Davis might as well put Mahan in there. The O-line looked pretty good and we were able to move the ball on the ground, but we wont be able to do that against better teams. We need some type of passing game.

 

 

Is that all? After all you said about Ashland winning, this is all you say? Hey, I got an idea, give Raceland a little credit for beating your mighty Tomcats. They deserve it....They came into a hostile place and scored a great victory and you give them no credit on a job well done. It's called showing some class.

I understand and I expected it to be that way. That was the point in my previous post. The players did not feel that way.

I am not from that area, so I could only go by what is posted to get a general feeling. Ashland has a lot of tradition, but I know that Raceland has had some good teams and was feeling pretty good about this game.