Lack Of Favorite(s) Makes For A More Thought Provoking Season

 

At the halfway point of the regular season, no class in the state feels as wide open as 5A. Every other class could be narrowed down to a couple of legit contenders or a clear favorite - Pikeville in 1A, Somerset/Mayfield in 2A, DeSales/Belfry/CAL in 3A, Boyle County/Johnson Central in 4A, and Male/Trinity in 6A. For comparison, Frederick Douglass, Covington Catholic, Scott County, Highlands, South Warren, and Bowling Green all feel like teams that could realistically make a run in November. And that's excluding Pulaski, South Oldham, and Owensboro. However, there's been a severe lack of separation amongst those teams. They are ranked in an order that BGP deems appropriate, but there's no clearly defined pecking order yet. No one has a resume you can point to as justification for being regarded as the best team in the class right now.

 

There is no 5A version of Trinity flexing on top ranked teams from other states, or a Male, who then proceeds to topple the Shamrocks. And there's no "OMG!!, did you see what Boyle County did to CAL last night?" type of attention grabbing score. Class 5A appears to have a collection of half a dozen or more very good, relatively evenly matched teams that will remain grouped together in some order or another until the dust settles on Kroger Field. And the pecking order between now and then will largely be determined by a series of games played amongst themselves. Barring any major upsets, Frederick Douglass/Scott County, CovCath/Highlands, and South Warren/BG will see each other twice this season, and it begins this week in Lexington (more on that below).

 

The perceived parity in 5A this season is a breath of fresh air after years of one sided domination from Highlands ('07-'10), Bowling Green ('11-'16), and CovCath/SW the past two years. Of course, that parity could prove to be a mirage by season's end. There are a lot of important games to come once district play gets underway that will help put the pieces of this puzzle in their place.

 

 

 

Hurry Up Offense

 

- QB Josh McClurg rushed for 190 yards and three touchdowns as Frederick Douglass eased past Henry Clay, 27-0. All together, the Broncos totalled 384 yards on the ground. Usually you don't find much fault in a four touchdown, shutout win. But this was hardly the convincing display you'd hope to see from FD against a winless opponent. Looking ahead to Scott County, perhaps?

 

- Covington Catholic spread the wealth against Beechwood, with seven different Colonels making it into the scorebook in the 49-3 rout. Caleb Jacob contributed 181 passing yards and three touchdowns, each to a different receiver.

 

- Scott County was a very ungracious host to Emmerich Manual (IN). The Cardinals welcomed their visitors from Indianapolis and then promptly dispatched them 52-16, rushing for 333 yards in the process.

 

- Highlands' offense sputtered against Ryle, but the defense shone through again, limiting the Raiders to less than 100 yards of offense. Colin Hollingsworth threw three touchdown passes in the 27-0 win, two of which were hauled in by Hunter Ahlfeld.

 

- Bowling Green couldn't overcome three first half turnovers that put them in a 0-14 hole against St. Xavier. The second half was evenly played, but St. X answered each Purples score to maintain the two touchdown margin.

 

- Despite losing a boatload of defensive talent from last year, South Warren has seen minimal drop-off in its level of play on that side of the ball. They allowed fewer rushing yards (7) than points (8) to Central in Week 4. This marked a milestone 20th consecutive victory for the Spartans.

 

- South Oldham emphatically won its fifth straight Oldham County championship, beating the Oldham County Colonels 49-0 on Friday after handling North Oldham 38-0 the week before.

 

- Pulaski County gave up 34 points and 400+ yards of offense to Madison Southern, but countered with 56 points and 545 yards of their own. Most of that yardage came from the arm of Drew Polston, who threw for 407 yards and 5 TDs.

 

- Owensboro got nearly 300 yards of total offense and four touchdowns (3 rushing) from QB Gavin Wimsatt to overpower Daviess County 55-17. The Red Devils are in the midst of the stretch of their schedule where maintaining focus each week against outgunned opponents can be a challenge in itself.

 

- Conventional wisdom says that slapping a gator will end badly for you, but Logan County bucked conventional wisdom and slapped the Greenwood Gators back to reality on Friday night. Greenwood's unblemished record was dashed, 43-6, by a group of hungry Cougars that amassed 531 yards of offense.

 

 

 

Scanning The Periphery

 

- Conner is starting to make a case for a place in the top 10. The Cougars don't have a signature win to hang their hat on, but their resume is as solid as anyone's outside the rankings. They stand 4-1 after Week 4's 28-0 over Campbell County with a win over 2A #9 Lloyd Memorial.

 

- If there's a team off your radar that might merit an eyeball or two in the coming weeks, it could be East Jessamine. The Jaguars are a modest 3-2, but both losses were one score setbacks to teams ranked in the top 5 in their respective classes - Franklin County and Paintsville. The schedule is favorable from here on, with no teams left that currently sport a winning record. Eight wins and a district championship look like a very attainable goal at the moment.

 

- Fairdale has been rolling since Week 1's one score loss to 4-1 Bullitt East. The Bulldogs (4-1) have won four straight behind an offense averaging 50 ppg during that time frame, including Friday's 43-12 victory over Valley. They open district play this week against a Bullitt Central team heading in the opposite direction. The Cougars have dropped four straight following a season opening win.

 

- Grayson County (5-0) continues to get the job done each and every week. The Cougars used four Breckinridge County turnovers - including a fumble recovery for a touchdown - and 118 yards rushing and a score from Jacob Kerr to defeat the Fighting Tigers 24-12. Kerr is also the player that recovered the fumble for six.

 

 

 

Co-GOTW For Week 6

 

Scott County at Frederick Douglass - I couldn't settle on one, so we're doubling up this week. Like I mentioned above, this class has been lacking separation so far. Here is a huge opportunity for one of these teams to achieve some. Frederick Douglass' meteoric rise over the past two and a half seasons has been stunted by the Cardinals. Scott County has taken three of the four prior meetings, including both season ending playoff games for the Broncos. Scott County's trio of Philip Garner, Bronson Brown, and Jeremy Hamilton have combined for over 1,300 yards rushing and 23 TDs on 10.6 ypc. Douglass counters with a run defense allowing just 31 yards per game. This is almost assuredly the first of two meetings for these new age rivals. Friday's result will determine home field for the inevitable playoff rematch, and set the stage for what will certainly be a hostile environment for the visitor.

 

Highlands at Boyle County - These two blue bloods have engaged in sporadic meetings over the years, including a couple of 3A championship games in '03 and '04. The Bluebirds lead the series 4-2 on the field, but the official record books say three wins apiece after Highlands had to forfeit a win in 2004. Boyle's 71 point explosion against CAL on Friday has been the talk of the Kentucky high school football world. They'll welcome a Highlands defense that has allowed just seven points over the past three weeks, but hasn't seen anything close to the caliber of skill that the Rebels possess since the loss to Knoxville Catholic. For Boyle County, this is another opportunity to terrify the rest of 4A. For Highlands, this is a chance to grab 5A's biggest win so far this season and solidify themselves as a legit challenger for a state title. Not to mention, there are huge RPI points on the line here for the victor.

Great analysis. Assume the Highland's forfeit to Boyle was because of the initial KHSAA ruling of use of ineligible player. Didn't the courts overrule and the wins were reinstated? Just my recall and that was wrong once.

Great info - a ton of it

 

Owensboro had 438 yds of offense vs Daviess. 154 of that on the ground.

 

Owensboro has a running clock on everyone they’ve played besides Evansville Central. Lost to Central by 2 despite many opportunities in the RZ. Evansville Central just walloped Evansville Castle something like 38-7 Castle is a huge school and usually very good as well.

Great analysis. Assume the Highland's forfeit to Boyle was because of the initial KHSAA ruling of use of ineligible player. Didn't the courts overrule and the wins were reinstated? Just my recall and that was wrong once.

 

If those wins were reinstated, the KHSAA scoreboard doesn't reflect it. That's what I'm going off of.

Great info - a ton of it

 

Owensboro had 438 yds of offense vs Daviess. 154 of that on the ground.

 

Owensboro has a running clock on everyone they’ve played besides Evansville Central. Lost to Central by 2 despite many opportunities in the RZ. Evansville Central just walloped Evansville Castle something like 38-7 Castle is a huge school and usually very good as well.

 

Owensboro seems to have overcome the losses of Owsley and Gough so far. They've been especially terrific on defense. But hey're hard to gauge within this class because the strength of schedule simply isn't there this year.

If those wins were reinstated, the KHSAA scoreboard doesn't reflect it. That's what I'm going off of.

 

I could be totally wrong.

I could be totally wrong.

 

After a little digging, it appears the wins were reinstated. I don't remember ever hearing anything about it at the time.

DMC I agree. There is no way Owensboro plays Breck, Muhlenburg, Ohio or Grayson unless stuck in the same district. Evansville Central is a terrific opponent however. Owensboro Catholic is a solid team albeit 2A - explosive offense. Graves is down but Henderson is a solid 6A team.