Elizabethtown 2017

[gchs_uk9]

Barring massive injuries or some unforeseen problems, I fully believe E-town ends their season in Bowling Green.

 

Lexington this year!

[thehotsnakes]

Lexington this year!

 

Hah, totally forgot about that.

 

Either way, they're playing in the finals.

[Voice of Reason]

What do OPTIONAL regular-season games (which are limited and come in 2-year deals) have to do with playoff games, exactly?

 

Playing E'town is NOT going to prepare Central Hardin for the 6-A postseason. Central Hardin gains NOTHING (other than decent gate and bragging rights) by playing Elizabethtown. And heaven forbid a Central Hardin player get hurt in a rout against a 3-A school. That would NOT go over well.

 

Central Hardin has grown by leaps and bounds as a program the last few years. It does NOT need Elizabethtown to survive (and grow more).

 

You don't build your program by thumping smaller schools.

 

Heck, Elizabethtown's having a hard time with North Hardin and you think it needs to play Central (which has had North's number for a while now)?

 

Central Hardin can fill -- and has filled in the past -- that game with a more competitive team and still get a decent gate. E'town, in turn, adds a game it might win (instead of realistically lose most years) and not get physically beaten black and blue.

 

The state of the programs, especially Central Hardin's strong upswing, has changed the last few years.

 

ADMIT IT: Central Hardin has outgrown Elizabethtown (or else it better have if it is half the program it thinks it has become).

 

If Central Hardin REALLY needs to play Elizabethtown, it has NOT taken as many steps forward as you think it has.

 

If Central Hardin is that much better than E-Town, then E-Town will not get to the title game and has zero chance in the title game. FYI ... E-Town and Central Hardin were rated pretty even by calpreps.com last year.

 

This post indicates you have a bias in favor of large schools over smaller schools. I believe the top small schools can play with and beat most of the big schools.

[Nathaniel Bryan]

If Central Hardin is that much better than E-Town, then E-Town will not get to the title game and has zero chance in the title game. FYI ... E-Town and Central Hardin were rated pretty even by calpreps.com last year.

 

This post indicates you have a bias in favor of large schools over smaller schools. I believe the top small schools can play with and beat most of the big schools.

 

I do NOT have a bias. There are plenty of small schools (CAL, DeSales, Boyle, Central, Danville, Belfry, Mayfield) that can and do beat bigger schools on a regular basis.

 

Looking SPECIFICALLY at the Central Hardin-Etown rivalry though, Central Hardin absolutely OWNED Elizabethtown in the last games of the rivalry. Not even close. Quite boring actually.

 

Elizabethtown has gotten better in that time, but so has Central Hardin (both teams were in the state semis in 2015). They had two common opponents last season, with Central Hardin thumping North Hardin and Elizabethtown losing to North Hardin by two touchdowns.

 

Central Hardin's varsity depth is almost twice that Elizabethtown's ENTIRE program.

 

As far as E'town getting to a 3-A title game (while being compared to a 6-A school), not sure what that has to do with it. You forget the toughest two teams Elizabethtown would have to go through theoretically this year are Boyle (which lost to North Hardin last year) and LexCath (which got crushed at HOME by that same Louisville Central team E'town took to the wire on the ROAD the next week).

 

Whether E'town is better than Central Hardin or Central Hardin is still better has no bearing on what E'town does in a completely separate class with entirely different opponents.

 

I stand by my post that Central Hardin is a bad matchup currently for Elizabethtown (due to school size, roster size, upswing of feeder programs, consistency finally in CH coaching staffs, etc.).

[Voice of Reason]

^ Gotcha. Does all of that mean you don't think Elizabethtown is going to be a top team in 3A this year?

[Nathaniel Bryan]

^ Gotcha. Does all of that mean you don't think Elizabethtown is going to be a top team in 3A this year?

 

I think E'town is top-10 3-A most definitely.

 

Are they the "West" favorite over Boyle and LexCath? I think they can compete with both. I'm not sure who the definitive favorite is out of those three.

 

Maybe things have FINALLY changed at Tilghman (we hear that every year) and Caldwell has put together some nice seasons (but does NOT have the best track record against teams from inside the Hardin County borders), but I think E'town wins its district and region (vs. District 1).

 

Do the Panthers make it to Lexington? Boyle or LexCath ain't no pushover.

 

And should E'town get there -- which would be a fabulous accomplishment -- they sure as !@#$ won't be the favorite against whichever mountain monster or Louisville Central comes outta the east. E'town has some nice skill players, but no big linemen at all.

[Voice of Reason]

And my point is if E-Town is good enough to compete for the 3A title, then they should be able to compete with Central Hardin.

[Nathaniel Bryan]

These are CalPreps' predictions for those teams:

2016: CH 21, E 19

2015: E 22, CH 21

2014: CH 35, E 12

2013: CH 42, E 7

2012: CH 44, E 8 (Actual: CH 51, E 20)

2011: CH 50, E 14 (Actual: CH 53, E 6)

2010: Actual: CH 28, E 26

2009: Actual: CH 49, E 7

 

Combine physical with actual and Elizabethtown would be 1-7 against CH with only a 1-point win to show for it and five losses of 3 touchdowns or more. The only year it would have won, 2015, Elizabethtown got hammered at home in the playoffs (by a team which turned around and got shut out). 2006 would have been the last year you could argue Elizabethtown actually/virtually imposed its will on CH (20-3 win by E).

 

Last year was a mirage for Elizabethtown. Coach Mark Brown has said as much. Last season -- not the year John Hardin went to the final, because JH was expected to if it could only exorcise its Bowling Green/Christian County demons, because Elizabethtown was supposed to rebuild last year. You forget they got beat by East Jessamine and North Hardin (which Central Hardin thumped) and Bardstown (which Lexington Catholic blitzed)?

Go back and look at E'town's 8 straight wins last year. Tell me they had MORE than ONE quality win, because I don't see it. Caldwell was E'town's best win last year and even North Hardin (which hasn't had a lengthy playoff run since ???) beat Caldwell, too.

 

Even without facing Central Hardin, Elizabethtown could EASILY start 0-3 this year. Road vs. Franklin-Simpson (beat South Warren last year), CAL (waxed Louisville Central last year and beat Meade County far worse than CH did) and North Hardin (more athletic, more depth and a future star in Octavious Oxendine who was offered by both Louisville and Purdue after starting both ways as a lineman as a freshman last year) will give Elizabethtown problems.

 

I think there is ZERO chance E'town opens 3-0. ONLY way Elizabethtown starts of 3-0 or 4-0 is if the Thomas Nelson game gets moved to second week (and Elizabethtown would need a gimme win over TNHS to ease the first four games).

 

Have you looked at E'town's postseason road? If they were switched with the Boyle/LexCath district instead of the more "cupcakier" WKY district, E'town could be two-and-through (fall to the Boyle-LexCath regular-season loser in Round 2). You think Elizabethtown would have survived a Round 3 date with Corbin or Russell last year? I don't.

 

E'town is 0-2 in state semis the past 2 years, getting waxed in one one them, with BOTH teams (LexCath 15, Louisville Central 16) getting absolutely hammered by Belfry in the final.

 

Again, beating CH (which Elizabethtown hasn't done "empatically" virtually or actually since 2008, and even that was a 1-point squeaker win for E) has zero to do with E'town having a CHANCE to play FOR the title (no way E'town would be favorite in final. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Ain't happening).

 

Local Big/Small rivalries are nice, but they end at some point. North Hardin has no business playing Fort Knox and that rivalry was the longest/oldest in the area. Many NH kids have ties to Fort Knox post). Central Hardin no longer plays LaRue (but plays them in most every other sport). LaRue no longer plays Meade (those were some slobberknockers in the early 2000s). John Hardin (a much smaller school) and Elizabethtown haven't met in a while, either.

[Voice of Reason]

^ Interesting. I was focused on this year in my posts above but appreciate the history lesson. Your expectations/projections for Elizabethtown this season seem to be lower than the large majority of what I have heard/read.

[Nathaniel Bryan]

^ Interesting. I was focused on this year in my posts above but appreciate the history lesson. Your expectations/projections for Elizabethtown this season seem to be lower than the large majority of what I have heard/read.

 

I think Elizabethtown is a very good Class 3-A team.

 

Are they among the overall elite teams in the state? I doubt it, but putting a hurting on Franklin-Simpson and CAL and North Hardin would sway my mind in a hurry.

 

I think some folks our putting E'town out there because of the relative ease of its schedule (final 7 games that is) and there is only ONE team (the Boyle-LexCath winner) stopping them from going to the final.

 

I think if Elizabethtown was in the east, it would be a much much much harder road winning in rounds 2-3-4.

 

It kind of reminds me of the old John Hardin days when it was expected to sleepwalk its way into the state semis before finally running into somebody with a pulse (and Bulldogs survived only one of those matchups).

[dognation2]

I think Elizabethtown is a very good Class 3-A team.

 

Are they among the overall elite teams in the state? I doubt it, but putting a hurting on Franklin-Simpson and CAL and North Hardin would sway my mind in a hurry.

 

I think some folks our putting E'town out there because of the relative ease of its schedule (final 7 games that is) and there is only ONE team (the Boyle-LexCath winner) stopping them from going to the final.

 

I think if Elizabethtown was in the east, it would be a much much much harder road winning in rounds 2-3-4.

 

It kind of reminds me of the old John Hardin days when it was expected to sleepwalk its way into the state semis before finally running into somebody with a pulse (and Bulldogs survived only one of those matchups).

 

Lol...hey this post was interesting and funny until you mentioned my dawgs....leave my dawgs out of this...lol

[Nathaniel Bryan]

Lol...hey this post was interesting and funny until you mentioned my dawgs....leave my dawgs out of this...lol

 

John Hardin had some very, very good teams under Brown.

 

But you can't say the Bulldogs' district/region foes at that time were all that great.

[Big Saucy]

I don't think Etown could beat Central year in and year out or they would probably be playing them. Should Etown play Central? That could be argued by either side. The only benefit is probably big money at the gate for both schools. I don't think Central is dodging anyone because their schedule speaks for itself. BG, South Warren, Ballard, CAL, John Hardin etc... and they have played a similar schedule for the past few years. None of these non district games are cake walks. Etown stepped up their schedule like I said in another post. Too many cup cakes scheduled in the past in regard to out of district games. Etown can't help district opponent "lack of" strength. With that said they still won in the playoffs. John Hardin had some really good teams under Brown, but the region wasn't great. Once again won despite the competition. I think Etown will have a good year. I'm not sure who they are matched with this year, but I don't think they beat Boyle or Lexington Catholic. Lack of depth and size in the Line will be the biggest concern I think.