The toughest district in the 9th Region start their quest to make it to the regional tournament on Sunday.  These games are being played a little early due to Conner hosting and there is a field conflict I believe for either Wednesday or Thursday night.  Anyway...below are the brackets:

The first semi-final game has 1 seed Ryle playing 4 seed Boone County who they defeated earlier in the season 4-0. 

The next semi-final game as has the 2 seed Conner hosting 3 seed Cooper who Conner defeated 2-1 just a few weeks ago.  This Cougar vs Jaguar battle will be intense.  Last game the Cooper coach got 2 yellow cards and was shown the red card and asked to leave.  Conner has been idle this week as their game verses Dixie Heights was cancelled due to weather and the game verses LaSalle (OH) was cancelled also.  Cooper played Highlands who they lost to 5-0, then for some strange reason played Simon Kenton again, a game that was not scheduled but played on Friday at 5:30 in Independence.  Something about this just doesn't add up and I think I know why.

Predictions....Ryle over Boone 6-0.  I think Ryle will press hard in the first half and try to get some subs in so they can rest their core group of players.  Of course I'm going with my Cougars in the second game...Conner 1 Cooper 0.  Hoping to avoid the PK shootout as I'm sure the Jaguars would love to play spoiler much like the Cougars did to them last year. 

Championship game....even though I bleed blue, I think Ryle wins 1-0 over Conner.  They just seem to be a match up problem in the midfield for the Cougars and that is enough for them to win their 4th 33rd District title and their 8th 33rd title in the last 11 years. 

It is safe to assume the game was played to ensure eligibility. I don’t blame Cooper for doing this.

Ryle and Cooper play in the championship game Tuesday at Conner.