Oldham County (3-1, 1-0) hosts Lexington Bryan Station (4-1, 1-0) in a key 6A District 8 matchup this Friday 10/16/2020 in Buckner.

Both teams opened district play with two score victories last week as Oldham defeated Madison Central on the road, 23-10, and Bryan Station also got a road victory, 35-21, over GRC.

In the pre-season, GRC was considered by many to be the district favorites, and Madison Central was thought by some to be flirting with a possible ranking, but it's Oldham and Bryan Station who are out of the gates fast earlier in district play.

Both teams lost their openers in heartbreaking fashion to ranked 5A opponents; Oldham dropped a 28-21 decision to class 5A #7 South Oldham, giving up the winning score with just 1:06 to play in the game, and Bryan Station fell to class 5A #6 Scott County by a mere point, 7-6.

Since then, Oldham has racked up three straight wins, including a 12-7 victory over traditional 6A power Fern Creek, and the Defenders have won four straight.   Although Bryan Station's wins have come over four opponents with a combined record of 1-12, they have won each game handily, with only Henry Clay coming within 10 points of the high-scoring Defenders.

Bryan Station is averaging over 250 yards rushing per contest, led by Joseph Bond's 580 yards and 3 TDs (average 116 yards/game.)   

Junior Terik Mulder has been the primary signal-caller in the early season, throwing for 564 yards and 2 TDs, but also throwing 4 picks.   Senior Mikaleb Coffey may be set to displace the junior as the starter; he was 7 of 11 for 198 yards and 2 TDs with non interceptions in last Friday's win over GRC.   He's averaging 144 yards passing in two outings, with 3 TDs and 0 interceptions.

Carl Munford already has 25 catches for Bryan Station, for 371 yards and 2 TDs.   

On the defensive side, Amodeus Taylor has 44 tackles on the year, including 7 TFL.  

The Bryan Station defense has been pretty good at scoring; the Defenders have pounced on 6 fumbles in 5 games, returning one for a TD.  And Bryan Station has 7 interceptions, with three returned for the Pick Six.   Five different players have intercepted a pass, and the Defenders have returned those six interceptions for a whopping 229 yards.

Oldham County came into the season with a lot of question marks after 22 seniors graduated from last year's district champs / region runner-ups.    After the Week 1 heartbreaker loss to South Oldham, the OC defense has ratcheted up things, giving up just 10.3 ppg over the last three games, all wins.   The Colonels have been a "bend but don't break" bunch, at times surrendering some yardage, but knuckling down in the red zone.   Most impressive was the showing against a blazing fast Fern Creek team, as OC held the Tigers to just 7 points.

After surrendering 20 points to South Oldham in the first half of game one, Oldham has given up just 39 points over the last 14 quarters, or about 2.8 points per quarter.

Junior QB Sam Young is completing nearly 60% of his passes, and has thrown for 677 yards (169.2 / game) with 6 TDs and 2 INT.   He's been particularly effective against Fern Creek and Madison Central the past two weeks, going 29 for 45 (64.4%) for 359 yards and 5 TDs with no picks.

Young also leads the Colonels in rushing with 202 yards and a TD, averaging over 5 yards a carry.

Offensively, the Colonels are just beginning to get untracked, but one of the Colonels' strengths has been their versatility at receiver, where a whopping 16 different players have caught at least one pass already.   Drops were a problem early on, but Oldham seems to be working that out, and Young's competion percentage has risen accordingly.    Greyson Huff (17 catches for 165 yards and two TDs) leads the way for a deep receiving unit that is replacing the top 4 receivers from last year's team.

Defensively, LB Jalen Stratton leads OC with 38 tackles; DE Brian Monteleone has 24 tackles and a team-high 6.5 TFL.    Monteleone also has 2 fumble recoveries on the season.

Oldham County beat Bryan Station twice last season, prevailing 41-28 in Lexington during the regular season, before beating the Defenders, 60-24, in the first round of the 6A playoffs in Buckner.

Young was a combined 20-30 passing in those two contests, for 369 combined yards, 5 TDs, and just one pick.   But it was the running game that was key to Colonel victories, as they rushed for 265 yards and 255 yards, respectively in the two contests.

Bond had solid games for the Defenders, rushing for 190 yards in the home loss, and 80 yards in the playoff defeat.

Five turnovers by the Defenders helped push Oldham to the win in the 2019 playoffs.

Who wins this week?    Bryan Station returns a lot of the talent from their team last year; Oldham had to replace a lot of starters, but this game is five games into the Colonels' season and the "newcomers" are getting settled in.    Will the Oldham defense (allowing 14.8 ppg) be able to slow down Bond and the Defenders' running game?   (>250 yards rushing / game and 28.6 ppg).    Will the Defenders be able to knock Sam Young off his game and cover all the Oldham receivers?   

Perhaps most important....who wins the game of turnovers / big breaks?    (one thing we've noticed four weeks into the season is that the games have all been far more "messy" than usual this far into the season....bad snaps....bad holds....fumbled balls....etc.

The stands will be limited in terms of how many people can come, due to COVID.   If you can't attend, you can watch the live video broadcast, beginning at 7 pm on Friday, 10/16/2020, at www.pegasussportsky.com.    The game will also be archived for one year.   OLDHAM FANS:  Pegasus Sports is donating the proceeds from each High Definition purchase to the athletic departments at the three Oldham County schools.    With the athletic programs crimped for cash this year - all HS sports depend upon football revenues to operate - anteing up for the high definition broadcast will help all athletes at Oldham, South Oldham, and North Oldham.  

Thoughts??

CM

I think this is the game of the week in 6A and I think either team could win. Should be a good one.

New BGPreps rankings have Bryan Station #9 and Oldham County #10.....adds a little spice....

Both defenses have been good this year. I think this one winds up in the 21-14 range, in Station's favor, but it could easily go either way. I'm firmly on the "Station wagon" this year. 

Enjoy the call on this game @ColonelMike. You all do a great job over there.

 

This should be a fun game to watch!  I'm going with my friend @coachhawk and Station by a slim margin.

Bryan Station 21

Oldham County 20

And - as of today at least - the game is still on.

With the shortage of officials, COVID, curfews....games are "tentative" pretty much until they actually kick off.    ?

I'll post updates as I can during the broadcast....

CM

Among the players in this game getting serious college looks, we'll be watching 6'4"  270 pound OL/DL Josh Rowe of Bryan Station, who's being seriously looked at by Central Michigan....

I'll post updates to this thread throughout the game.

Remember, attendance is limited at the stadium due to COVID.   Live video coverage at www.pegasussportsky.com.    Standard definition is free; high definition is $7 (proceeds going to the three Oldham County high schools to help offset lost gate due to COVID).

Calpreps projects this one as Bryan Station 21 Oldham Co. 20. 

 

end of one

NO SCORE

11:15 left in first half

Sam Young 15 yard TD run

Oldham 7  Bryan Station 0

Defenders getting set to get the ball for only the second time.

5:58 left in half

Oldham 7 Bryan Station 6    botched PAT by Defenders

HALF   

Bryan Station 12

Oldham County 7

 

Jenkins with two touchdown grabs in the first half, one for 2 yards and one for 69.

But Bryan Station botched two conversion attempts, botching the snap on the PAT after the first TD and missing on a 2 point conversion after the second.

Oldham scored on their first drive of the game on a 15 yard run by junior QB Sam Young.