It will be a cat fight in Ft. Mitchell in round 3 of the 2A playoffs. The Shelby Valley Wildcats visit two time defending state champion Beechwood Tigers with a 7:30 pm kickoff. The focus of this game is crystal clear. The most prolific offense in 2A takes on the top scoring defense in 2A. 

Shelby Valley QB Russ Osborne is right at 3,000 yards passing on the year. He is effective and efficient completing 72.1% of his passes. That completion percent is going to put Osborne in the state's record books, right at the top 10 season completion percent's in state history. Osborne averages 247 yards passing per game. It doesn't stop there for the Wildcats offense. WR Brady Bentley leads 2A with over 1,100 yards and averages 22.1 yards per reception. But we are not done yet. RB Jayden Newsome is #5 in 2A with 1,339 yards and averages over 9 yards per carry. Shelby Valley is #3 in 2A in scoring margin, trailing only Mayfield and Beechwood.

Beechwood's defense is what has led them to two straight state titles and this year looks like more of the same. The Tigers allow only 7.7 points per game. The only team who has scored in double digits against Beechwood's first team defense is Covington Catholic. The Tigers defense is very disciplined and rarely gives up big plays. They only allow 59 yards passing per game. DE Xavier Campbell leads the defense and is one of the state leaders in sacks for a second year in a row. Offensively Beechwood has been forced to reinvent itself after the loss of leading Mr. Football candidate Mitchell Berger to a season ending knee injury in game 8. Sophomore RB Chase Flaherty has stepped in admirably to take on the rushing load and is gaining confidence every week. Sophomore QB Clay Hayden returned at mid season from an injury and is progressing well. He completes 68% of his passes and is averaging close to 200 yards per game passing. WR Liam McCormack also has stepped up since the Berger injury and is a formidable weapon averaging more than 20 yards per catch. McCormack has size and speed which make him a very tough matchup for DB's.

Shelby Valley is going to have to outscore Beechwood to win this game. Doing that against the Beechwood defense is a tall order, even for the Shelby Valley offense. 

How do you see this game going?

The Tigers in a running clock! From what my Pikeville friends told me Shelby Valleys QB got hurt. They don’t know how bad he is but they did tell me he didn’t play the 4th Qtr. 

41 minutes ago, Jason Bucklen said:

The Tigers in a running clock! From what my Pikeville friends told me Shelby Valleys QB got hurt. They don’t know how bad he is but they did tell me he didn’t play the 4th Qtr. 

That is a bummer. Hopefully he is ok. I want to see him! And I want the Beechwood defense to face him.

Go ahead and write Beechwood in on your semifinal bracket, and you can use ink. Tigers win this one by at least 3 touchdowns.

The playoffs at beechwood are always a fun time. I think it’s tigers by a lot, but I haven’t seen SV. It will be nice to see a new team visit NKY. 

Tigers run away with it. If Bentley is as good as advertised, then Rash will stick Robinson Jr. on him and we will see just how good he really is. I expect the further we get the more you see this BW defense tighten up and get even better. More schemes, more blitzes, more shadowing a teams best player. The offense can afford to start slow because of how stingy this defense is. Tigers by Running Clock. Bring on that NKY Semifinal game! 

Edited November 12, 20223 yr by ImJustHere
Grammar. Spelling.

No offense to Shelby Valley but they traditionally play a very weak schedule and it usually catches up to them in this round. Beechwood by at least 3 TDs.

28 minutes ago, Cobraxx said:

No offense to Shelby Valley but they traditionally play a very weak schedule and it usually catches up to them in this round. Beechwood by at least 3 TDs.

This sounds similar to how some teams may have been with SV longer ago. I can remember them having good records playing Newport Catholic longer ago and SV lost pretty handily to them during those times.

Can anyone update us on the status of DANGER-Russ Obsorne?

Have wanted to see him in person since I started seeing him fill up the stat sheets as a freshman two years ago. 

7 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

That is a bummer. Hopefully he is ok. I want to see him! And I want the Beechwood defense to face him.

Yeah me to. I hope he plays. 

Running clock.

On 11/12/2022 at 11:41 AM, Voice of Reason said:

That is a bummer. Hopefully he is ok. I want to see him! And I want the Beechwood defense to face him.

I heard he’s out with a broken collarbone but we will see. 

Not sure how much I would read into the injury ... He played defense after he came out of the game on offense.

I’m sure Rash will have them prepped for Osborne if he plays or not. The defense will be up for the test of a passer. They haven’t got to see a great one yet this season, so it will be fun to watch.