article Class 2A Notebook 9/19 - Let The Horses Run

[ATLCat]

Longshot Lands in the Winner Circle:

Let's be honest. You didn't see this coming.

 

Christian Academy- Louisville traveled to Newport and most assumed the top ranked team in Class 2A would be able to take care of a Newport Central Catholic team that had been outscored 89-36 in their two previous games.

 

Instead the Throroughbreds dominated the line of scrimmage, forced key turnovers, made the plays down the stretch, and shocked the Centurions 20-15. It was the first time CAL had tasted defeat to a 2A school, not named DeSales, since they opened the 2012 season with a loss to Lexington Christian Academy.

 

Harrison Walz had a pair of interceptions and 5 solo tackles to anchor the Defense. The star of the game had to be Kyle Kelly. Kelly not only led the Breds Offense with 86 rushing yards and a score, he added an interception on Defense for good measure.

 

If there is a silver lining for the Centurions, they were not exactly at full strength. Christian Academy- Louisville was without the services of multi-year starting QB Austin Carr. Coach LeFors tried to counter by moving standout play maker Milton Wright to QB, but there is no denying an Offense that wasn't exactly lighting scoreboards up felt the effects.

 

Newport Central Catholic will now look to rally from their new found confidence against 6A Conner before opening District play.

 

Colts Turning Into War Horses, Outlast Fern Creek

DeSales has a tendency to find beauty in the ugly. Over the years Coach Davis has became an artist at painting the "down and dirty" kind of win. DeSales held a ranked 5A Fern Creek to less than 200 yards of Total Offense, while not having a single back or receiver go for over 75 individual yards.

 

DeSales pass defense tightened the screws on Fern Creek, holding the Tigers to 9/20 passing for a mere 54 yards. The Colts secured a pair of interceptions as well, one by Ryan O'Shea and the other by Shawn Kaufman.

 

DeSales is now 4-0 against ranked teams in their non-district slate. Of those four wins, three have came against schools from larger classifications. DeSales will look to make that a 4-0 mark as they take on a ranked 3A Lexington Catholic.

 

Danville by a Nose, LCA by a Furlong

Sometimes simply comparing scores just simply gets you nowhere.

 

Judging by Danville's 10-7 win over rival Boyle County, and Boyle's subsequent 54-19 victory over Waggener the week prior, one could assume Danville should have had little issue with the fleet footed 3A squad from Louisville. Instead, the Admirals needed every extra point they could muster to pull of a 49-46 victory in a game full of Offensive fireworks. The Admirals had played stellar Defense most of the year, but the big play ability of Waggener was nearly lethal as the Wildcats piled up over 450 total yards.

 

On the other side of the spectrum, fellow district mate Lexington Christian Academy was expected to get a challenge from Walton-Verona. The Eagles instead led wire to wire and really never even felt threatened by the Bearcats en route to a 48-13 win.

 

Logan Nieves tossed four touchdown passes, two of which to Drayden Burton, and Dillon Wheatley did what he does best rumbling to 134 yards. The most impressive stat of the night was what LCA did to the vaunted Walton-Verona ground game. The Bearcats could only muster a mere 150 yards as the Eagles continually kept them behind the sticks.

 

Will Mayfield Fade Down the Stretch?

Anytime Mayfield is cranking out win after win, it becomes almost a pre-requisite to try to find room for improvement for one of the State's most well coached programs. Through five games there has been very little to take exception with. The Cardinals are averaging over 46 points per game and have shown great balance on Offense.

 

In Friday's 45-31 victory over County rival Graves County, a crack may have finally been found. After jumping out to a large lead Mayfield seemed to be well on their way to yet another eye opening win. Graves had other plans and rallied to cut the lead to 38-31 in the 4th Quarter before the Cards iced the game away on a Kyle Hurt 30 yard scamper. Coach Morris' comments in the post-game revealed that his team simply was getting tired and that Graves' size was a large reason they fatigued.

 

Mayfield will need to find their legs Friday as the Cardinals will take part in the premier game this week when they take on #2 3A Corbin on a neutral field at Austin Peay University. Corbin isn't quite as big as Graves County, but they are a seemingly much more balanced team. The Redhounds have also been able to prove that they can close down the stretch. Corbin came from behind to upset Alcoa, TN with a last minute drive and then a score in Overtime.

 

Around the Track:

- Todd County Central (4-0) did it! The Rebels are off to their fastest start in many years after crushing 1A Fulton City 54-6. Isaiah Fingers and Jaquavion Mimms combined for 231 rushing yards and 4 TD's on only six total carries.

 

- Washington County (4-1) also is off to a historic start of their own. The Commanders punished 4A Marion County 42-6. Washington County's ground attack was on point. Mike Ellery and Jbias Dawson combined for over 300 rushing yards and five scores between them.

 

- Prestonsburg (2-2) made a statement against newly formed County rival Floyd Central 42-22. Ethan Varney eclipsed the 200-yard mark and had countless key conversions to move the sticks as the Blackcats physically wore down the much larger Jaguars. Varney is a hair shy of 700 rushing yards through four games and will be key if Prestonsburg wants to win District 8.

 

In the Paddock:

- Lexington Christian Academy (5-0) travels to Louisville to take on #2 1A Kentucky Country Day (5-0) as they look to take down their second straight pack of Bearcats. KCD defeated Walton-Verona 21-20 earlier in the year and enter averaging over 400 yards per game.

 

- Glasgow and Somerset kind of looked like twins.

 

Glasgow (4-1) rebounded from their first loss to survive a scare from 4A Warren East 16-14. The Scotties will stay up in class to set their sights on a bit stiffer foe in a ranked Franklin-Simpson squad. Glasgow will not be the only 2A team from Southern Kentucky with visions of knocking off a ranked 4A foe.

 

Somerset remained hot by beating 5A North Laurel by that same 16-14 score. The Jumpers will draw the #4 team in Clas 4A as undefeated Rockcastle County (4-0) enters the Briar Patch.

 

Deeper in the Program:

- We may have our first "unofficial" District Champion Friday when Walton-Verona (3-2) hosts Owen County (3-1). So far the Rebels and Bearcats have appeared to be the class of District 5. Owen County's lone loss doesn't look so bad as 4A Bourbon County is off to a hot start, meanwhile they get W-V entering the game still smarting from the beatdown they took at the hands of LCA.

[Wireman]

Newport Central Catholic was no long shot, especially at home. I'm not surprised at all with the outcome.

[Toothpick]

I think Corbin will be a stern test for MF but I don't find any merit in thinking they will fade down the stretch. Fade is not a word I can recall every being used before when talking MF Football. The Corbin game will tell us all a lot, especially with Corbin coming off a week off with time to correct the things that went wrong at BW

[SemperFidelis]

Mayfield 42-Corbin 14.

[Wireman]

:lol2::lol2::lol2:

[Coltcity]

My favorite post week by week. Keep up the good work ALTCAT ! Thanks....

[snakesnot_2000]

Fade down the stretch? I guess you mean, will they lose in the Semi finals or State Championship game?

[ATLCat]

Fade down the stretch? I guess you mean, will they lose in the Semi finals or State Championship game?

 

Ya'll take things too literal LOL

 

Simply talking about getting tired toward the end of the Corbin game.