I haven’t watch Johnson central play but they seem to just demolish every team in their way .. what makes them?

I haven’t watch Johnson central play but they seem to just demolish every team in their way .. what makes them?

 

The teams they have demolished have been bad teams. JC has beaten some good teams thus far, Capital (WV), South Charleston (WV), and Henry Clay.

 

JC will be have one more blowout victory before the level of competition turns up with Ashland on the road and then Belfry on the road, a game i suspect they will lose.

 

If JC were in any other class this year besides 1A, I would suspect they would be middle of the pack.

To answer the question from a general standpoint:

 

What makes Johnson Central so good?

 

1. It starts with their line play and fundamentals. Johnson Central has a tremendous feeder program and their kids are taught their system very early on and by the time they get to High School already know the terminology and the fundamentals.

 

2. They are blessed with large, strong kids with blue collar work ethic. Look at JC any year and they will have great size to go along with those fundamentals.

 

3. Hate him or love him, Matney is a very good coach and does a great job motivating his teams. He also has numerous quality assistants and great resources at his disposal.

 

4. They use their wrestling program to their advantage , specifically with skill guys and Linebackers.

Taking nothing away from JC, but only Capital and Greenup County have winning records so far this year. Their record isn't Johnson Centrals fault, but the teams they killed in the last 4 games are just 12-18.

PHYSICALITY. Something that is hard to simulate in practice for teams that do not run physical systems on offense themselves. The 2 and 3 back, under center, hard-nosed offense is the outlier now, whereas in the past it was the norm. It is hard for teams to get ready for that in a week when they have spend most of the rest of the season defending shotgun and 4-wides.

Can Wayne challenge them?

Can Wayne challenge them?

 

Wayne can give them a more challenging game than they have seen from any team in Kentucky thus far this year, save possibly Henry Clay. Still, I think if they play Wayne in the playoffs, Johnson Central will come away winning by two touchdowns.

JC is always the most physical team on both sides of the ball that the Tomcats play but also their skill kids are some of the fastest too. That is a Lethal combination in High School football. The Ashland coaches know about as well as any how to slow them down and every few years have enough to make it interesting. The years they don't they get destroyed. Matney one of the best coaches I've seen at making halftime adjustments.

They just haven't played the right team....unbeatable...LOL

They should play in 5A

A great feeder system and coach Mattney is what makes JC the program that they have evolved into. Mattney leaving Sheldon Clark for JC was a game changer for the Golden Eagles. I'm not a JC insider by any means but I imagine Mattney has a lot to do with feeder system as well. Like him or not (for years I didn't, however he's certainly earned my respect since then) Mattney is one heck of a coach and could make just about any program in the state better if he was their head coach. Take Sheldon Clark as an example, a small school in a small rural county that was always in the hunt for a district championship as well as winning several while Mattney was there. Since Mattney left Sheldon Clark they are 65-82, with most of their 65 wins coming in the first few years after Mattney left.

Older seniors

Older seniors

 

QB is a Sophomore that still cant drive (started last year as a Freshman), Joe Jackson was a sophomore last season on a state championship team and named MVP with 2K yards and 30 plus TD's (just turned 17 this season), Eight defensive players are Juniors or younger this season (all 17 and younger), leading wide receiver this season is a Sophomore who again does not have his license yet, this years offensive line has only one senior and he just turned 18 (Bingham - committed to Marshall), Gamble just turned 18 and is a senior in the backfield to go with a Freshman (Preston) and Sophomore (Johnson - just took a trip to Clemson who is recruiting him as a MLB - check his twitter for pictures), i could go on and on.

 

After this season, JC will have to replace three starters on defense and two on offense and they are all the proper age (none will be 19 before graduating).

 

Point: "Older Seniors" is not the reason why JC has been successful in 4A. In truth, they dont have any and are very young. Aforementioned post hit the nail on the head when it comes to success.

 

1. Youth programs that are running Matney's system

2. Great assistant coaches

3. Weight room, weight room, weight room

4. Wrestling (this cannot be understated as there is elementary divisions and middle school divisions in the county)

5. Strong community suppport

 

Johnson County has five elementary schools that all have a 3rd/4th and 5th/6th grade team that all play ten plus games a season. Most 3rd/4th play out of county B teams or higher and some of the 5th/6th compete with and occasionally beat weaker K-8 elementary A teams. All these schools feed into one middle school giving 5 QBs, 20 plus RB's, 5 plus linemen at each spot, etc. etc. to chose from.

 

When these kids get to middle school (7th/8th) there are two teams with kids playing in their respective grade. They have won 4 middle school state championships thus far and have a great chance for another one this year.

 

Even K-2 do flag football and run the basics of the wishbone with 10 plus teams competing every Saturday.

 

Matney has built his program to last from the ground up. It has sustainability. He can be seen every Saturday at the flag football games with some of his coaching staff, every Tuesday and Thursday nights at the local elementary's watching players and helping coaching staffs.

 

Oh yeah, Matney's players absolutely love him too!

Holdbacks? Heard they have a lot of kids that were held back in middle school. Just a rumor... Anyone care to confirm or deny. Btw I have no dog in the fight. Just curious about the answer. It's not illegal.

Holdbacks? Heard they have a lot of kids that were held back in middle school. Just a rumor... Anyone care to confirm or deny. Btw I have no dog in the fight. Just curious about the answer. It's not illegal.

 

We hear that alot because our kids are so much bigger and stronger than most other middle school teams. I think its a way for other teams, parents, etc. to rationalize why they are not winning so not to accept they are not as good or have a program as complete from K-12. Its alot easier to say "they are hold backs" than "they are better and get better individual training".

 

What they dont see is the wrestling, weight lifting, plymetric training, etc. that these kids get in elementary and middle school levels. Like I said before, most of our kids are underclassmen this year. Even if they were held back they would still be younger than a normal senior and are still winning in dominate fashion. A similar program that we usually split with at all levels and play quite a bit is Belfry. They have similar sized kids with similar strength etc. They have several middle school state championships as well (JC plays D3 middle school, Belfry D2) and both have translated since the KYMSFA started state playoffs 10 years ago.

 

I wonder if Belfry hears the same kind of rumors. Its always a good game when JC and Belfry meet at any level and both fan bases have lots of respect for one another.