There is no doubt that Mercer is a program on the rise. When Mercer came into the district they were a door mat. The last 3 years it is easy to see the Titans / Scotties grow into a legitimate power. The merger just sped the whole thing up by about 2 years. I look foward to seeing Mercer compete in 5A with teams of a similiar talent pool.

I am intrigued to see what happens in Round 3 for Mercer...until then they continue to be the most dominant mystery in the state of Kentucky IMO.

 

As of right now, Mercer's signature wins are against a Top 10 1A LCA, a very underachieving 3A Boyle County, a weak 4A South Laurel, and an average 2A Newport.

 

Western has beat ranked 2A Breathitt and 2A Larue (I am not sold on Breathitt though and Larue's calling card is John Hardin). They also have wins over 4A North laurel and 4A Butler. Without a doubt, Western has the best resume of any team in 2A.

 

Belfry has beat defending champion, yet 5 loss 1A NCC, a sporadic 1A Pikeville, and a subpar 3A Lawrence Co and dominated 2A average Prestonsburg (equal to Newport). The Pirates have also lost in OT to a borderline Top 10 3A Ashland and blew a 22 point lead to a top 5 2A Sheldon Clark. Belfry has played the schedule, just have been less than convincing with the results.

 

Middlesboro has beat a mysterious 2A Corbin and a decent 1A Harlan and an average 1A Lynn Camp. Their loss was a blowout but to a very good 4A Knoxville Central.

 

Russell, has a win over an average 3A Boyd County and below average 3A Greenup. They lost in OT to 3A Ashland as well. Russell, in all honesty, is in the same boat as Mercer. It is really hard to tell how good they really are and their weak district really hurts their resume.

 

Sheldon Clark has beat 2A Belfry, 3A Boyd Co., 2A below average Knott Central, a very weak Fairland, OH, and a subpar 3A Lawrence. The Cards lost surprisingly to 2A Pburg which really hurts their case or else they could easily be considered the #2 or #3 team right now.

:scared: Additionally on Russell:

 

With the new playoff system, in the regional finals the Devils are set to take on the winner of the Corbin district. If all holds true to form then that would set up a Russell vs. Corbin game, Corbin will enter the game 7-5!

 

Thus, it is plausible to say that Russell may make it to the 2A semi-finals with their best win coming against Boyd County.:scared:

 

Meanwhile, in 2A District 8... Belfry's path to Louisville if all held true to form would feature:

Round 1: vs. 5-5 Shelby Valley once ranked 11th in the AP Poll

Round 2: vs. 10-1 Sheldon Clark, #7

Round 3: vs. 11-1 Middlesboro, #4

Round 4: vs. 12-1 Russell, #3, Defending State Champs

Round 5: vs. 14-0 Mercer or Western, #1 or #2

 

Now that is a warpath to the top!

I'm looking forward to a Mercer/Western matchup myself if it happens. This would be a derby for sure.

From what I hear, Western's Coach and Coach Jaggers are great friends, wives are too. Western's wife rode with Mrs. Jaggers to North Oldham and this Western/Mercer match up was discussed, in a joking way. It could be a tough game for all involved. I would love to see the match up myself.