John Hardin vs. Kentucky Country Day Predictions/Updates

[Hardin County Preps]

John Hardin came away with a surprising victory last Friday night over Harrison County. In that game, John Hardin has three RB (Simon, Pittman, Anderson), rush for over 100 yards and compiled 415 rushing yards on the night. Things are starting to click on offense, but they must develop a passing game in order to be more balanced as they ended the night with only 22 passing yards. On defense, Cameron Moore (14 tackles), and TJ Williams (11 tackles), lead the way. The John Hardin defensive secondary allowed 288 yards thru the air but only allowed 77 yards rushing. 

KCD comes to town with a 4-0 record with wins against Atherton, Carroll County DeSales and Walton Verona. QB Ethan Harris has thrown for 602 yards over four games. His leading receivers are Troy Humphreys (239 yards), and Cameron Edwards (148 Yards). RB Kassani Wilson leads the ground attack with 345 yards on the season.

KCD will present a stiff test for this young John Hardin team and a good measuring stick on how far they have come over the last two years. This feels like it could be a breakout game for them, one that propels them to a winning 2023 season.  

[DawgsFan100]

This is a HUGE game for JH. Last week was so refreshing to see. After some of the recent losing seasons it felt good to win a game against a good team. (GREAT qb) New week new test. I did see KCD vs Etown in the preseason and I didn't come away too impressed. Good QB and a couple of good athletes but I don't know if they have the OL to sustain a run game to open their passing game. JH offense has come a long way. They will need to be able to throw the ball this week to win but I think they will still have most of their success on the ground. If they win this week theres a good chance they are 5-2 going into Bardstown game. JH is still playing mostly sophomores as well. Future is bright and they have a real chance to start the winning now. 

[DawgsFan100]

Interested to see if anyone has any other thoughts for this game? 

[Purple88]

12 minutes ago, DawgsFan100 said:

Interested to see if anyone has any other thoughts for this game? 

I really don't know much about either team, but I do know about the old games with John Hardin and Bowling Green.  I know that was some time ago, but what I see now for John is you have a great coach.

Coach Preston knows how to win and not just on the field, but in the field house too.  You have 52 kids on the roster as a 4A school and that's pretty good and important.

You are playing a really good team.  Just because KCD is 1A doesn't speak to them being a quality team, which they are.  Interesting is when I looked at your schedule I felt after KCD that Desales was your toughest game left on the schedule and KCD beat them in OT by 1 point, so Friday is a big game as you said above.

CalPreps says 31-14 KCD.  I think that's too many points, but I do feel John is the underdog here even at home.  I think you can win the game, but I think you need to ground and pound the Bearcats and control the clock and win the turnover battle.  Do all that and you can win this game.  I'll be looking for this score on Friday night!  Good Luck!

[DawgsFan100]

8 minutes ago, Purple88 said:

I really don't know much about either team, but I do know about the old games with John Hardin and Bowling Green.  I know that was some time ago, but what I see now for John is you have a great coach.

Coach Preston knows how to win and not just on the field, but in the field house too.  You have 52 kids on the roster as a 4A school and that's pretty good and important.

You are playing a really good team.  Just because KCD is 1A doesn't speak to them being a quality team, which they are.  Interesting is when I looked at your schedule I felt after KCD that Desales was your toughest game left on the schedule and KCD beat them in OT by 1 point, so Friday is a big game as you said above.

CalPreps says 31-14 KCD.  I think that's too many points, but I do feel John is the underdog here even at home.  I think you can win the game, but I think you need to ground and pound the Bearcats and control the clock and win the turnover battle.  Do all that and you can win this game.  I'll be looking for this score on Friday night!  Good Luck!

Was curious if anyone has seen KCD in person yet. From what I have seen on film KCD loves to run the ball out of the I formation and run play action off it. Keys for John has to be to stop the run and create turnovers (which they have been very very good at. lead the state in forced fumbles). Offensively they will need Sophomore QB Austin Richardson to step up and make some throws while also improving their run game. JH is much improved from their team last season and this is a big test. Opportunity is there for the Dawgs to be 5-2 going into Bardstown if they win this week.... 

[Hardin County Preps]

John Hardin is still a young team made up of mostly underclassman (a lot of sophomores), getting better every game. Next season they should be pretty competitive in all of their games. The need to become more balanced on offense as their passing game is almost nonexistent. 

[DawgsFan100]

1 minute ago, Hardin County Preps said:

John Hardin is still a young team made up of mostly underclassman (a lot of sophomores), getting better every game. Next season they should be pretty competitive in all of their games. The need to become more balanced on offense as their passing game is almost nonexistent. 

I would agree with that statement almost 90%. I think they are so young they have focused on getting better one facet of the game at a time. Last week Harrison County got physically manhandled in the trenches and I think that is why they didn't even attempt a pass. When you can't do that to some teams (I'm not sure if they will be able to do that against KCD or not) you have to find balance. I definitely think JH finds out how good they are this week. There is an opportunity for this team to win now while also having a very bright future. They have a couple of freshman that I know local schools would really really want right now. Expecting a very good game Friday night

[Tkinslow]

Coach Preston is known as a running coach but he’s made it work for him I don’t think they have to become balanced if you can’t throw you just can’t throw. I’m going with KCD 24-21.

[DawgsFan100]

3 hours ago, Tkinslow said:

Coach Preston is known as a running coach but he’s made it work for him I don’t think they have to become balanced if you can’t throw you just can’t throw. I’m going with KCD 24-21.

I wouldn’t say JH *can't* throw I just think their passing game is behind. They really struggled first 2 weeks and I think really simplified things for this offense. For them to be as successful as they want to be you will have to be able to throw the ball efficiently at some point. Especially with how young they are, they won’t dominate LOS every week. Interested to see how this week plays out

[Hardin County Preps]

I was able to attend all six state championship games last season in Lexington. All of the teams that won a state title had one thing in common, they were balanced on offense. It is absolutely necessary. No greater example was Bardstown vs CAL. CAL was able to stop Bardstown running game and Bardstown wasn’t effective throwing the ball and got blown out in the most important game of the season.

[Tkinslow]

22 minutes ago, Hardin County Preps said:

I was able to attend all six state championship games last season in Lexington. All of the teams that won a state title had one thing in common, they were balanced on offense. It is absolutely necessary. No greater example was Bardstown vs CAL. CAL was able to stop Bardstown running game and Bardstown wasn’t effective throwing the ball and got blown out in the most important game of the season.

Apparently there’s been a misunderstanding I thought we were talking about this game for which I don’t think JH has to be balanced to win. But they have zero chance to get to a state championship so I don’t think balance matters with this team.

[Hardin County Preps]

Balance matters with every team! To be successful and reach every kids dream, a state title, it matters. Anyhow, I digress. Everyone adult has different definitions of success but every high school football players dream, if asked, would be to play for a championship, so why not give them the best chance to reach their goal?

[Hard Work]

Coach Jones will have KCD ready for this one! KCD seems to be firing on all cylinders early. 

 

KCD- 28

JH- 14

[DawgsFan100]

1 hour ago, Hardin County Preps said:

Balance matters with every team! To be successful and reach every kids dream, a state title, it matters. Anyhow, I digress. Everyone adult has different definitions of success but every high school football players dream, if asked, would be to play for a championship, so why not give them the best chance to reach their goal?

I would even argue for JH to reach an obtainable goal this year (District champions) they MUST be able to throw the ball. You can't run the ball with 8-9 people in the box expecting run against good teams. You have to keep a defense honest even in the wing-t. JH has the athletes to throw the ball IMO they just need to continue to get better.

I haven't dropped a prediction yet was waiting until the end of the week to make a decision. Keys to this game for JH is simple: Dominate in the trenches and continue to grow on offense. RBs Anderson, Pittman and Wilson rotate on offense to keep each other fresh on offense and defense. JHs DL has arguably won the trenches against every team they have played. They are playing a freshman at NT Elijah Luna (remember that name) that is listed at 6'2 280 that already has 5 sacks this season! They play fast and aggressive all night long on defense. Young team will face their biggest test tonight. Give me the Dawgs at home.

JH- 28

KCD- 24

[Tkinslow]

3 hours ago, Hardin County Preps said:

Balance matters with every team! To be successful and reach every kids dream, a state title, it matters. Anyhow, I digress. Everyone adult has different definitions of success but every high school football players dream, if asked, would be to play for a championship, so why not give them the best chance to reach their goal?

If you truly believe that every player for every team thinks they are going to win a state championship you are living in a dream world. And no balance doesn’t always matter if you can run and overpower teams you don’t have to throw the ball. I believe Belfry Franklin Simpson and many other teams have proven this is past state championship victories.