Owensboro who was runner up in 5A last year will host St. Xavier who lost in the semifinals of 6A last year. Both teams will be championship contenders in their class this year which is why this is a big game. 
 

Owensboro comes into the game boasting the #1 QB Gavin Wimsatt and also the best player in the state according to 247 sports recruiting rankings, and has committed to Rutgers of the Big Ten. 3 of the top 4 receivers have graduated but they return a good one in Khalil Rogers who had 334 yards receiving last year with two tds. QB Wimsatt beside beating you with his strong arm can also beat you with his feet since he was one of the leading rushers on the team. Owensboro averaged 44 ppg game last year and with Wimsatt back this should be attainable again.

 The defense graduates the top tackler from last year but returns the 2nd leading tackler DE Sahvon Hines who had 72 tackles and 6 sacks last year. Also returning is LB Jeremiah Goodwin who had 55 tackles with 5 sacks last year. Last year they held opponents to 13.8 ppg. The duo of Hines & Goodwin should make the defense a formidable unit again.

St. X offense will be led by the WR duo of Mekhi Smith and Michael Duddy who both have started the last two seasons. Mekhi led St.X in scoring last year with 10 tds. QB Jack Sivori who has been injured the last two years will be the starter to feed Smith & Duddy the ball while also making some plays with his mobility. St. X averaged 23.3 ppg last year after facing 4 of the top defenses in the state.

The defense returns the most and will be led by the defensive ends with Micah Carter who has several D1 power 5 offers and Teddy Meiers who led the team in sacks last year with 6. The defense held teams to 15.8 ppg last year and look to improve this number.

This game should be a good test for both teams. Can St.X stop or slow Gavin Wimsatt? Can Owensboro stop or slow the WR duo of Mekhi Smith and Michael Duddy? Who wins?

I wouldn't call it a must win for St.X, but have to win this game if going to challenge Male in 6A because I think Male is better than Owensboro. Two things I'm looking for in this game is St.X's secondary vs Wimsatt and the Oline which has 4 new starters. With no scrimmages the St.X players are chomping at the bit to hit somebody different.

From an O perspective, they return 4-5 lineman on the offensive line that started at sometime.  Sophomore Lindsay (UK offer) anchors the line at the LT position, sliding over from center.  He’s 6-5 280 and much more agile.  He held is own vs Jager Burton and others, hence the UK offer, as well as Bowling Green.  Junior Miller (EKU offer) is at RT and very athletic.  6-3 267 very agile.  Chaney returns from amid season injury to restart at C (235), Stephens 300 lb RG returns.  I would expect Williams to start LG, who filled in as a freshman on the line last year at 240 lbs and very agile.  Against Freddie and BG last year, the line gave Wimsatt time but BG shut down the run game.  X will be the best defense O will see, and is top 5 in the state defense.  3 new WR’s, as Rogers returns, although he did not play in scrimmage.  Rogers, Taylor, Moorman, Early, Pendleton, Hartz will make up the receiving core.  Very fast unit.  I would expect 1-3 to be Rogers, Early and Pendleton.  All good size at 5-11 through 6-4.  At RB I loved Barksdale in the scrimmage but he starts at DE.  It looks like Taylor, Barksdale, Carbon and possibly freshman Winstead will rotate.

Key is Wimsatt establishing chemistry with new WR group.

Defense will be basically the same front 4 in Hines (250 lb.),  J Miller (270) - much improved and Barksdale 215 lb.  OLB Goodwin much bigger this year, super fast returns as does most of secondary.  Carbon, Moorman, Taylor return as safety and CB’s, Clark returns as nickel or LB/CB.  Johnson steps in to fill SS role and K Williams fills the weak side LB from DE last year - good speed.  The MLB is star transfer X Early from Hancock  county.  He looked really good in scrimmage.

Even with the loss of Gough, the sophomore crew from last year (juniors now) will make this a better defense.

I think O will challenge for a state title.  Wimsatt in the scrimmage looked very fast and in better shape than last year.  X is a great test as I believe they will challenge for the 6A title.  As I said in another thread, they allowed almost nothing last year, save the Trinity games.  Coach Wallace is phenomenal as well.  This will be a hard fought game and will come down to who can enforce their will.

The history:

1933 6-6 tie

1934 39-12 St. X

1940  26-12 St. X

1941  12-6 Owensboro

1942  29-0 Owensboro

1943 39-7 St. X

1963 6-0 Owensboro 

1964 14-13 St. X

 

4-3-1 in favor of St. X

 

 

 

 

 

23 minutes ago, Brown said:

The history:

1933 6-6 tie

1934 39-12 St. X

1940  26-12 St. X

1941  12-6 Owensboro

1942  29-0 Owensboro

1943 39-7 St. X

1963 6-0 Owensboro 

1964 14-13 St. X

 

4-3-1 in favor of St. X

 

 

 

 

 

Been awhile!

1964 game featured All state Dicky Lyons for St. X vs All state back Dickie Moore for Owensboro.  Moore went on to be an all-American at WKU under coach Feix.

 

X also had1st team all state guard Louis Wolf.  Owensboro had a 3rd team all state back in Frankie Chambers.

This is a good way to start the season for both teams. Watching Owensboro play BG last year, Wimsatt made some good plays but at times in the passing game he would make some very good throws and WRs just couldn’t make the catch. I think that will be the big factor. Wimsatt will make some plays with his legs because he’s a very good player. It come down to their ability to test the St. X secondary and make plays in the passing game. If they can do that they’ll give St. X all they want. The St. X offense will be interesting. It will be interesting to see how a healthy Sivori plays an entire game. It’ll be interesting to see how the OL performs. It will be interesting to see the number of ways Mekhi Smith touches the ball. 
 

While St. X hasn’t had an opportunity to scrimmage another team, they have been able to have two intrasquad scrimmages which is good competition given their current team. 
 

This will be a competitive game as Rash Stadium will be rocking and it’s an atmosphere that not many on the St. X roster have experienced. But at the end of the day Coach Wallace will have his team ready to go as I’m sure this is the game he’s had circled for a long time. 
 

I’ll take St. X 27 Owensboro 10. 

 

@LongTimeReaderand @Tigerpride94 you guys ever been to Rash stadium?  About 20years ago when we had a series with Male, some of their fans were saying they had never been so on top of the game and a great place to watch a game.  Those were the last of the Bush / Barclay years at Male.

3 minutes ago, Brown said:

@LongTimeReaderand @Tigerpride94 you guys ever been to Rash stadium?  About 20years ago when we had a series with Male, some of their fans were saying they had never been so on top of the game and a great place to watch a game.  Those were the last of the Bush / Barclay years at Male.

I've never been there. I plan to be there and looking forward to seeing the stadium. I like road games better than home games since get to see new places.

http://Boys Varsity Football Saint Xavier High School vs Owensboro High School Stream high school sports live and on demand on any device with the NFHS Network

NFHS link to watch game. Requires subscription.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7Edl9UT0ok

 

Drone view of Rash

49 minutes ago, Brown said:

@LongTimeReaderand @Tigerpride94 you guys ever been to Rash stadium?  About 20years ago when we had a series with Male, some of their fans were saying they had never been so on top of the game and a great place to watch a game.  Those were the last of the Bush / Barclay years at Male.

Yes, I've been to Rash a number of times. It's a great atmosphere!

If I had to pin down a 'game of the week', this is it. 

- Two bona fide state championship contenders with loads of tradition

- A strong candidate for Mr. Football facing, like @Brown said, the best defense he'll see this year. 

- The Wallace vs. Owensboro storyline. He's 16-4 against the Red Devils as far back as KHSAA records show. It was a competitive series between O and BG in the late 90s/early 00s before Wallace took the Purples to another level and left Owensboro behind. He's won his last 13 encounters against them. Something about the red and black brings out the best in him.

Having not seen either team, it's a hard game to pick. I'm going to give it another day or two.

5 hours ago, Brown said:

The history:

1933 6-6 tie

1934 39-12 St. X

1940  26-12 St. X

1941  12-6 Owensboro

1942  29-0 Owensboro

1943 39-7 St. X

1963 6-0 Owensboro 

1964 14-13 St. X

 

4-3-1 in favor of St. X

 

4 hours ago, Tigerpride94 said:

Been awhile!

It's surprising they haven't met more than that, or more recently. Maybe it's just me, but St. Xavier vs. Owensboro has the sound and feel of a decades old rivalry that should have dozens of entries.