BluegrassPreps Lexington/Central Kentucky Area Playoff Power Rankings

Round 2 of the playoffs was an abysmal round for the Lexington/Central Kentucky Area as it was like Thanos came through and snapped his fingers and half of the teams disappeared. Mathematically it is actually more than half as 18 teams were alive last week and now there are only 7 teams remaining from the area still alive in the playoffs. How many will make it past this week? Let’s take a look and see who is left..........

The Sensational Seven:

1. Boyle County(3A)

Boyle County remains alive and is headed to Belfry this weekend as they had little trouble with Lawrence County in their 42-8 victory last Friday. The Belfry game looks to be more challenging than the Lawrence County game and add in the fact that it is a road game and things will get interesting for the Rebels. Belfry is traditionally strong at home and that is taking nothing away from them being strong every year. They will bring a strong running game to the table but one area of concern for the Pirates has to be their defense. They gave up 51 points to Lexington Catholic last week and anyone who has been following this season closely will tell you that Boyle County definitely has a much better offense than Lexington Catholic. Boyle County also has a much better defense than Lexington Catholic so do not expect Belfry to put up 55 points for the second week in a row. If Belfry can’t stop Lexington Catholic from putting up 51 points I am intrigued to see their gameplan to stop Boyle County’s offense. If Boyle County can score 30 points then I guarantee their opponent won’t win the game. Trying to outscore Boyle County is a fatal mistake. I imagine that Coach Haywood is well aware of this and the gameplan to stop the Rebels will be unveiled Friday night at 7:00pm at Belfry. We’ll see if it works.

2. Scott County(6A)

Scott County aka The School Up North emerged from their rematch with Frederick Douglass with a 28-27 victory. Unlike the first matchup Scott County was in this game from the start and led by the score of 20-7 at the half. Frederick Douglass came back and took a 21-20 lead at one point and Scott County answered with a score and successful 2 point conversion to make it 28-21. Frederick Douglass then went on to score but their 2 point conversion attempt failed and after one more possession Frederick Douglass was unable to convert a first down and that gave us the final score of 28-27 Scott County wins. Because Scott County was the 3 seed in their district they will have to travel once again. This time they head up north to Simon Kenton. They have some common opponents this season in Highlands, Henry Clay, Bryan Station and Campbell County. They share victories over all of those opponents except two, Highlands and Henry Clay. Scott County defeated Highlands 28-7 in a game that lasted one half and Simon Kenton lost to Highlands 38-9. Scott County was defeated by Henry Clay and Simon Kenton defeated Henry Clay but it is of note that Henry Clay has lost their starting QB for the season when they played Henry Clay so it was a markedly different team that defeated Scott County. None of these results will make much of a difference come Friday night as the team who executes the best will be moving on to Thanksgiving weekend.

3. Taylor County

Taylor County used their strong running game and stout defense to deliver a 23-0 shutout to John Hardin last Friday night. Next up for Taylor County will be Moore and this game will be at Taylor County. Moore rolls into this game with the same 11-1 record that Taylor County has earned this season. Moore’s only loss came from Johnson Central and Taylor County’s only loss came from Campbellsville. The common opponents that they share lost to both teams in similar fashion so there is no point in trying to figure out the outcome looking at those scores. Moore looks to have played the tougher schedule but on Friday night none of that will matter as both of these teams look to continue their impressive seasons for at least one more week.

4. Franklin County

Franklin County is alive and well in the playoffs after a 27-21 victory over Wayne County last Friday at Franklin County. They will travel down to Knox Central this weekend for a rematch of a previous game this season in which Franklin County won 42-20. The difference this time is that the game will be at Knox Central and it will be Franklin County doing the traveling this time. Nick Broyles was unstoppable last time these teams met and if Knox Central is unable to contain him this time then their season may come to an end.

5. Madison Central

Madison Central swept their season matchups with Tates Creek as they defeated the Commodores 13-10. Madison Central will now host Conner this weekend and both teams boast a 9-3 record entering this game. Both teams will run the ball more than they will throw it so I imagine this could be a low scoring ball game with the team showing a better defense pulling out the victory. Either way, two teams not mentioned much amongst the greats of 6A will be playing for the right to be one of the final four teams left in the 6A playoffs.

6. Lexington Christian

Lexington Christian traveled to Shelby Valley last week and came home with a 43-0 victory. Up next for them is a rematch against Somerset, a game they lost 35-0. That game was scoreless at the half but Somerset clearly took things to the next level in the second half of that game. How that affects Lexington Christian mentally remains to be seen. They will need to find a way to score and if they hope to win they will need to keep that Somerset offense off of the field as much as possible. It will likely be an uphill battle for sure but I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see this be a much better game than the previous one.

7. Frankfort

Frankfort defeated Ludlow 60-42 last week and their prize for that victory is a matchup with two-time defending 1A state champion, Beechwood. Frankfort has had a good season and a victory against Beechwood would be the biggest upset of the week. Not saying it won’t happen but this is the textbook definition of an uphill battle.

Final Overall Top Ten:

1. Boyle County

2. Scott County

3. Frederick Douglass

4. Anderson County

5. Lexington Catholic

6. Taylor County

7. Franklin County

8. Montgomery County

9. Madison Central

10. Lexington Christian

Player of the Year

Wandale Robinson-Western Hills