Our resident expert @warbeagle thinks the X-Men will wear the Panthers down.

 

Do you agree?

 

Who wins, X or DC?

 

The Championship Game is scheduled for this Saturday the 4th at 5pm at Lafayette High School.

 

I have been to Lafayette, it is a beautiful stadium!

The Tigers will roll to the title and it won’t be close! Make it 5-1

I wish that there were more soccer guys on here just to get historical perspective at times. If X wins, where do they rank All Time? They have been completely dominant.

I wish that there were more soccer guys on here just to get historical perspective at times. If X wins, where do they rank All Time? They have been completely dominant.

 

I thought this was their year. The 7th region was down a bit this year. Manual, Collegiate both down,.. and they are in X's district. Trinity was very young.

 

St x is very deep and plays many players. Most teams may be able to hang with their starts,.. but players 12-23 are where they get you. They sub in/out constantly to get fresh legs on the field. Daviess only used 3 subs in the semi final. They will need to go deeper than that to keep up.

 

They have handled the Kentucky teams very well. The only blemish was a 2-2 tie vs. Trinity. Trinity played them tough again with X score with 1 minute left to win 2-1. They played a solid instate schedule, but stayed away from the tough teams in northern Ky (Highlands, CovCath,Ryle) and didn't venture to Lexington to play any of the tough Region 11 teams.

 

They did however take the show on the road in Evansville and St Louis against tough out-of-state teams, going 0-3-1 . With 22 seniors and a large roster, they have been able to utilize many players to keep other teams off balance.

 

I look for a blowout. tight at halftime 2-1 ,.. then as Daviess wears down, it gets ugly. 6-1.

 

Congrats Tigers. Congrats Daviess for making it back to the final.

I wish that there were more soccer guys on here just to get historical perspective at times. If X wins, where do they rank All Time? They have been completely dominant.

They are good, but I don't think they rank as one of the all-time greats. I think some of their past teams would beat them by a comfortable margin. Their teams of the late 2000s were star studded and also extremely deep. I don't see the star power as much on this squad, but they are very good.

Thank you. I really need to catch up on this part of Kentucky High School sports.

I'd probably go with X's teams of 2007, 2008, and 2009 and then also the Trinity team of 1998 as the best high school teams I have seen. It's all relative though. I feel like the competition at the top was a little better back then than it is now. I actually thought there was a lot of parity this year in boys soccer.

There is a lot of parity in soccer this year. St X and everyone else. Team speed and spacing is excellent and technically sound. I'm with wb on this one 2-0 at half 5-0 by the end of the game. I would have loved to have seen that T vs X game I'm sure it was quite a game.

Not sure I would agree with quality of competition was better at top in 1998 or 2007-2009. With all of the good travel teams now around the state outside of Louisville--Owensboro, Bowling Green, Northern KY, Lexington etc. you could say that quality of competition is much better now than even 8-9 years ago. Look at the State Cup tournament over the last 4-5 years, no longer does one travel club dominate the results as it is spread throughout the clubs

Not sure I would agree with quality of competition was better at top in 1998 or 2007-2009. With all of the good travel teams now around the state outside of Louisville--Owensboro, Bowling Green, Northern KY, Lexington etc. you could say that quality of competition is much better now than even 8-9 years ago. Look at the State Cup tournament over the last 4-5 years, no longer does one travel club dominate the results as it is spread throughout the clubs

I think you made my point for me. I agree, it is spread out everywhere, therefore we have parity because teams are thinned out. I agree completely there is way more depth now. The middle of the pack and even some at the bottom are much better than 15-20 years ago, and that is due to the points you made. But I don't see it at the top.

 

As for club, it has been pretty much universally agreed on that we have way too many clubs in the state now which is spreading out the talent across all teams. Yes, no club dominates state cup, but that's because the level isn't as strong at the top. There are always exceptions, but most state champs struggle in regionals these days. This is an entirely different discussion though. My only point is that parity in club at state cup doesn't mean the level is higher in club (and doesn't mean anything in regards to the level in high school). In fact, I would argue that means the level is lower.

Guess I didn't make my point clear. In 1998 there was very few clubs and one club dominated as there was no competition. Those kids played at only a very few high schools which is why the teams were "better at the top"--their literally was only 1 or 2 high school teams any good.. Today, the competition is better because hundreds of kids are getting early training and many high schools now have trained soccer players. In 1998 kids who never played club (or even had ever played soccer before) could make all high school teams if they were good athletes. At the top schools today (X, Trinity, Cov Cath, Dunbar etc as examples) they don't make the high school team unless they have played club and that is extending to other schools as well. Better training across the state has made soccer better for all high school teams IMO. That is why no one can dominate any more and there is more "parity"

The training across the state has gotten much better. There are now too many clubs to have a dominate club that can go forward and compete nationally(yes there are exceptions). More clubs means more, better trained players at the high school level. St x for instance has 24+/- seniors. I believe all of them come from club soccer. 20 years ago, that was definitely good for a state title. Out of curiosity how many club players play varsity at the team you follow?

The training across the state has gotten much better. There are now too many clubs to have a dominate club that can go forward and compete nationally(yes there are exceptions). More clubs means more, better trained players at the high school level. St x for instance has 24+/- seniors. I believe all of them come from club soccer. 20 years ago, that was definitely good for a state title. Out of curiosity how many club players play varsity at the team you follow?

 

At Highlands, the Varsity I believe had all but 1 on some club team, but that is so obscure now. 1 Frosh on NKSA Pro, 2 Sophomores on KHA Red '02, 7 JRs. on NKSA Pro, 1 on KHA Blue' 00, and 1 on KHA Gray '00. I am not sure on our where the seniors played. That is all of the underclassman on a higher level club team.

In 1998 kids who never played club (or even had ever played soccer before) could make all high school teams if they were good athletes.

Totally disagree with this statement. Maybe a lot of schools, but not the ones at the top. Heck, that Trinity squad in 1998 had a bench who could have competed for and maybe even won the state title that year. Not much has changed for those top tier schools. For a long time they have had a full roster of (high level) club players. But now the gap to the second tier is much smaller as most of those kids are now club players too, although most likely at a lower level, while back then it was probably half and half. I just don't think the top tier is quite at the level it used to be. No way to know for sure though. Just my opinion. I still take those X teams with Bick, Schickel and Riggs over any teams I have seen today though.

 

Our state has done a good job at providing a lot more opportunities for your average soccer player. While these kids were probably playing mostly rec in the 2000s, now they are improving more at mid/low level club. The depth has increased, which is awesome, and that is a big reason why the second tier has closed that gap. However, in my opinion, that has come at the expense of our best of the best across the state. As talent has spread out, the opportunities we provide those elite kids have decreased. It's probably why I think the top level has come down recently.

 

I know a couple of girls coaches who watched a boys game recently (and they rarely watch boys soccer) of a school they were very familiar with back in the 2000s. They came away unimpressed and said the level just wasn't the same these days, and this was a top 5 team this year. Yes a small sample size, but I know I'm not the only one.

I think you are just like Charles Barkley saying Steph Curry couldn't play in his era. People always remember bygone era being better than today. Happened from Aristotle until today. Give me a break some girls coaches criticizing boys team. Hear the same thing in basketball and from girls coaches and is ridiculous just a different game. Soccer is better today than in 2007-2009 and the "top" teams were better only because other teams were worse. Now were they more dominant in their time than any team today? Maybe, as who can judge that. Would they compare to today's teams-doubtful as today's athletes are bigger, stronger, faster.

Edited November 5, 20178 yr by hoops5
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