CAL travels to Ryle on Friday for a highly anticipated showdown.  Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

CAL comes into the matchup with a record of 3-0, which includes 3 running clock victories over traditional powers Pikeville, Owensboro & LCA.  Ryle heads into the matchup with a record of 2-1 with a big victory over Covington Catholic to start out the year, followed by a running clock victory over Conner and a 7-point defeat to rival Cooper.

CAL is led by QBs JR Brodie Pfeiffer and SO Jackson Burke.  To this point, the QBs have split reps evenly, alternating series, which has worked out well for CAL.  In the backfield CAL has SR Jeffrey Vezzana and SR Tyree Stoner share the workload, while WRs JR Ja'Hyde Brown and JR Gaines Howard lead the way on the outside.  On the defensive side of the ball, CAL is led by their LB duo of SR Jackson Settle and JR Micah Newsome with SR Brody Cherry and SR Jason Hilliard anchoring the DL.  SO Kellan Hall and SR Stone Perkins have yet to play this year, but that could change come Friday, which would be a huge boost to CAL's chances in this contest.

For Ryle, they are led by Mr. Football candidate and IU commit SR Jacob Savage.  Savage has been a dynamic player for Ryle for 4 years and impacts the game on both sides of the ball.  At QB is SR Nathan Verax and although he has not been as accurate this season as last, he is capable of making a big impact on this contest with his main targets being SR Dylan Lee and Gavin Lyons.

This will be the 3rd meeting between the two schools with each school winning on the other team's home field (2023 at Ryle - CAL 34 Ryle 22 & 2024 at CAL - Ryle 28 CAL 24).  Last season, CAL had a sizable lead of 24-7 with 10 minutes left to go in the game before Ryle made a huge comeback to win 28-24.

Does CAL exact revenge for last season's defeat?  Does Ryle get back to their winning ways as they try to make a repeat trip to Kroger Field in December?  Let's hear it BGP....who wins this matchup Friday and why?

I think CAL wins a close one. 

3 hours ago, Unrivaled97 said:

CAL travels to Ryle on Friday for a highly anticipated showdown.  Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

CAL comes into the matchup with a record of 3-0, which includes 3 running clock victories over traditional powers Pikeville, Owensboro & LCA.  Ryle heads into the matchup with a record of 2-1 with a big victory over Covington Catholic to start out the year, followed by a running clock victory over Conner and a 7-point defeat to rival Cooper.

CAL is led by QBs JR Brodie Pfeiffer and SO Jackson Burke.  To this point, the QBs have split reps evenly, alternating series, which has worked out well for CAL.  In the backfield CAL has SR Jeffrey Vezzana and SR Tyree Stoner share the workload, while WRs JR Ja'Hyde Brown and JR Gaines Howard lead the way on the outside.  On the defensive side of the ball, CAL is led by their LB duo of SR Jackson Settle and JR Micah Newsome with SR Brody Cherry and SR Jason Hilliard anchoring the DL.  SO Kellan Hall and SR Stone Perkins have yet to play this year, but that could change come Friday, which would be a huge boost to CAL's chances in this contest.

For Ryle, they are led by Mr. Football candidate and IU commit SR Jacob Savage.  Savage has been a dynamic player for Ryle for 4 years and impacts the game on both sides of the ball.  At QB is SR Nathan Verax and although he has not been as accurate this season as last, he is capable of making a big impact on this contest with his main targets being SR Dylan Lee and Gavin Lyons.

This will be the 3rd meeting between the two schools with each school winning on the other team's home field (2023 @ Ryle - CAL 34 Ryle 22 & 2024 @ CAL - Ryle 28 CAL 24).  Last season, CAL had a sizable lead of 24-7 with 10 minutes left to go in the game before Ryle made a huge comeback to win 28-24.

Does CAL exact revenge for last season's defeat?  Does Ryle get back to their winning ways as they try to make a repeat trip to Kroger Field in December?  Let's hear it BGP....who wins this matchup Friday and why?

Excellent recap U97. CAL is the favorite. Dylan Lee is likely out again as he was for the Cooper game, which is a huge loss for Ryle on offense, defense, and special teams. Should be a great night for football. Hopefully, Ryle takes care of the ball and eliminates a lot of the major penalties and miscues to keep it close. Ryle needs to win the TO battle to win the game. Safe travels to the Centurions.

Just looking at this game for what it is, I think Jacob Savage has to have a HUGE game for Ryle to win.  That's just my opinion.  He'll have to have his best game year-to-date.  Nathan Verax will need to step it up as well.  He's only completing about 42% of his passes this year and if that continues on Friday night, that will put an even bigger strain on the Ryle running game.  In addition, I agree with @StraightShooterthat Ryle must win the TO battle and I think they have to win it by at least +2.  CAL has only created 1 TO on defense and has only turned the ball over 1 time on offense, so turnovers have not been a factor in any of their games thus far this year.   Ryle must change that on Friday.  If I had my way, I would have much preferred for Ryle to win last Friday against Cooper, hoping that maybe they would look past CAL and towards Highlands the following week, but as it is now, you know they'll be dialed in for this one.  I know it sounds crazy that someone would "overlook" CAL, but with CAL being sandwiched in between 2 rivalry games and these being high school kids, it can happen.

This should be a great game between what is 2 top 10 teams in the state.  I said a few months back that in the 1st 6 games for CAL, I thought they would finish anywhere from 3-3 to 5-1, leaning towards 5-1.  This was the 1 I thought they might lose.  As it stands now, I feel good about their chances heading into Friday, but they'll have to earn it.

I saw a video and saw that CAL may be missing a few key players? Regardless they looked dominant last week. I expect them to do the same this week. 

CAL: 35

Ryle: 21

9 minutes ago, Hard Work said:

I saw a video and saw that CAL may be missing a few key players? Regardless they looked dominant last week. I expect them to do the same this week. 

CAL: 35

Ryle: 21

Basically, they have 2 D1 FBS kids who haven't played in the regular season yet.  One might return this week and the other I don't expect the play.  The team has rallied and played well in their absence, and I hope for that to continue on Friday.

Mark Wehry - 859 Sports Radio with another great game this week, thanks 859 Sports Radio!

 

Might be a running clock in Union. 

2 minutes ago, MaddenCurse44 said:

Might be a running clock in Union. 

I don't think that is going to happen but I don't think it can be totally ruled out. 

Good read everyone:

1 hour ago, theguru said:

Mark Wehry - 859 Sports Radio with another great game this week, thanks 859 Sports Radio!

 

In speaking with the CAL broadcast team last Friday, I believe they will be also live again on Livesportscaster.com and it will be audio and video this week.  Is so, I will post a link later this week when available.

3 minutes ago, Unrivaled97 said:

In speaking with the CAL broadcast team last Friday, I believe they will be also live again on Livesportscaster.com and it will be audio and video this week.  Is so, I will post a link later this week when available.

Everyone, https://livesportscaster.com/ does excellent work!

See which team BGP members are picking in our contest.

I think this is CAL convincingly.  Ryle will move the ball somewhat but scores tough to come by against this defense.

CAL 35-10

If Verax doesn't step up his game, I'm not sure it matters what Savage does. They need a little balance this week. CAL is far too good to lose to one player or even a one dimensional team.