Businesslike and methodical meets explosive and chaotic when Allen-County Scottsville (9-2) visits Bardstown (8-3) in the 2nd round Friday night.

The Patriots, led by star RB Chase Ross, appear on film to do few things but do them well, including sound penetration defense behind LB’s Jackson Morris (129 tackles) and Edy Chavez (107) that have recorded 20 turnovers and 22 sacks on the year. Ross has run for over 1230 yards on the year and QB Braylon Adams has thrown for 1200 to lead a team that has taken care of business against the teams they were expected to beat and lost to teams they were expected to lose to. Friday night, ACS was down early to Nelson County but stayed the course, eventually pulling away and winning 56-34.

The Tigers are like that chaotic girlfriend, all at once a combination of explosive ecstasy and maddening lack of common sense. On one play, a breakaway 60 yard TD run from Amonti Marshall or a 45 yard TD catch from 6’5” WR Tykeem Taul-Williams, the next play a fumble returned for 6, a blown coverage on a wheel route resulting in another score, or an emotion-penalty on 4th down resulting in a first down. More of the latter nearly resulted in a loss in the first round to Coach Todd Adler and his trick-play circus against Logan County, but the Tigers righted the ship behind some explosive second-half plays and stout defense from star LB’s Caden Farrell and Kaden Stone, resulting in a great come-from-behind 28-20 victory.

Will fortune favor the consistency of the Patriots or the Tiger shooting stars on Friday night?

 

Go ACS!

I will confess to being mildly surprised that ACS is the favored team here in the voting. Both teams are basically the same personnel from last season, save that both teams graduated their top running back. Bardstown won this game 43-0 last season. Adams is an admittedly talented dual threat QB, and I like Jackson at LB, but they were there last season. Has there really been that big a swing?

I saw ACS in 7/7 this summer and they really impressed me.  Tremendous growth IMO!!!

 

17 minutes ago, Hearsay said:

I will confess to being mildly surprised that ACS is the favored team here in the voting. Both teams are basically the same personnel from last season, save that both teams graduated their top running back. Bardstown won this game 43-0 last season. Adams is an admittedly talented dual threat QB, and I like Jackson at LB, but they were there last season. Has there really been that big a swing?

It is close, here are the TP94 Power Ratings.

Allen Co. Scottsville 59.62
Bardstown 56.86

Here were the final BGP Rankings:

9. Bardstown
11. Allen County-Scottsville

Logan county fan here.... Allen County is one of the more physical games we played this year! I look for this to be a 2 score win for Allen County. 

4 hours ago, Hearsay said:

I will confess to being mildly surprised that ACS is the favored team here in the voting. Both teams are basically the same personnel from last season, save that both teams graduated their top running back. Bardstown won this game 43-0 last season. Adams is an admittedly talented dual threat QB, and I like Jackson at LB, but they were there last season. Has there really been that big a swing?

While I personally now think Bardstown will win, I think ACS is much, much better than they were in 2023.  They beat four teams that beat them in 2022, are in general much healthier this year than last, but the most dramatic difference is improvement in their run blocking which has allowed their rushing game to flourish.  They're averaging 2 YPC more this year and that's why they've doubled their yardage while running the ball 100+ more times.  Adams is better this year as well. 

I think the perception is Bardstown is not as good this year as they were last.  I'm not sure if that is true or not, but I think that is the perception. 

If this game was played to open October, I probably pick ACS.  Their defense has been very, very suspect in the past month, struggling mightily on third down.  The offense has been their saving grace in most games, and the reason Barren County got them was because the physicality of the Trojans preventing the ACS run game from being as effective.  But the defense is just not making enough plays.

11 hours ago, DragonFire said:

While I personally now think Bardstown will win, I think ACS is much, much better than they were in 2023.  They beat four teams that beat them in 2022, are in general much healthier this year than last, but the most dramatic difference is improvement in their run blocking which has allowed their rushing game to flourish.  They're averaging 2 YPC more this year and that's why they've doubled their yardage while running the ball 100+ more times.  Adams is better this year as well. 

I think the perception is Bardstown is not as good this year as they were last.  I'm not sure if that is true or not, but I think that is the perception. 

If this game was played to open October, I probably pick ACS.  Their defense has been very, very suspect in the past month, struggling mightily on third down.  The offense has been their saving grace in most games, and the reason Barren County got them was because the physicality of the Trojans preventing the ACS run game from being as effective.  But the defense is just not making enough plays.

ACS is clearly better.

I don’t think Bardstown is down, they are just different. Run defense adjusted to account for some DL graduations, that took a little time, but is quite good. Pass defense was the Achilles heal last season, it’s better this year, especially keeping deep receivers in front. As a unit, the OL is better. Bardstown can pass this year, and has two good receivers instead of one. The big change was going to sophomore Riley at QB and moving Marshall to RB. Riley throws better, though he’s afraid to get intercepted and occasionally will T-Rex his throws. Marshall can be electric. Special teams is better, good coverage teams, solid kicker and punter, kick to their returners at your peril. All in all, I actually think Bardstown is more versatile than they were last year.

11 hours ago, DragonFire said:

While I personally now think Bardstown will win, I think ACS is much, much better than they were in 2023.  They beat four teams that beat them in 2022, are in general much healthier this year than last, but the most dramatic difference is improvement in their run blocking which has allowed their rushing game to flourish.  They're averaging 2 YPC more this year and that's why they've doubled their yardage while running the ball 100+ more times.  Adams is better this year as well. 

I think the perception is Bardstown is not as good this year as they were last.  I'm not sure if that is true or not, but I think that is the perception. 

If this game was played to open October, I probably pick ACS.  Their defense has been very, very suspect in the past month, struggling mightily on third down.  The offense has been their saving grace in most games, and the reason Barren County got them was because the physicality of the Trojans preventing the ACS run game from being as effective.  But the defense is just not making enough plays.

 

3 minutes ago, Hearsay said:

ACS is clearly better.

I don’t think Bardstown is down, they are just different. Run defense adjusted to account for some DL graduations, that took a little time, but is quite good. Pass defense was the Achilles heal last season, it’s better this year, especially keeping deep receivers in front. As a unit, the OL is better. Bardstown can pass this year, and has two good receivers instead of one. The big change was going to sophomore Riley at QB and moving Marshall to RB. Riley throws better, though he’s afraid to get intercepted and occasionally will T-Rex his throws. Marshall can be electric. Special teams is better, good coverage teams, solid kicker and punter, kick to their returners at your peril. All in all, I actually think Bardstown is more versatile than they were last year.

Good insight on both clubs, guys. This should be one of the best games of the night.

Hudl stream listed, who knows:

https://fan.hudl.com/usa/ky/bardstown/organization/12419/bardstown-high-school/schedule?date=2024-11-10T05%3A00%3A00.000Z&range=Week&s=U2NoZWR1bGVFbnRyeVB1YmxpY1N1bW1hcnk2NzE0MmFiZmZlMGI1YzJkM2NlYzA1Mjg%3D

Bardstown leads 14-0 mid 1st. So far, you’d be unable to tell the difference between this year and last. Allen County-Scottsville doesn’t look equal to this task at all. 

21-0 Bardstown now, 4:59 1st. Tigers have almost as many TDs (3) as Patriots have offensive snaps (4). 

If Allen County-Scottsville doesn’t score here, I think this game is over. 

3 minutes ago, DragonFire said:

If Allen County-Scottsville doesn’t score here, I think this game is over. 

They didn’t score. IMO, they can’t win this game. They look totally outclassed, again. 
 

A strong chance they get running clocked.