Two teams with a season full of peaks and valleys square off Friday night at Ty Scroggins Stadium in the first round of the Class 3A playoffs.

Bardstown (7-3), the #3 seed from District 4, started the season hot with wins over 4A foes E-Town, Fern Creek, John Hardin, and Nelson County. The Tigers then got blitzkrieged (and suffered an injury to top rusher Sevyn Hamilton) in a mid-season loss to Owensboro Catholic, and began a slide of 3 losses in 5 games, including an explicable overtime loss at Garrard County and a hard-to-stomach shutout at the hands of Lexington Catholic and former head coach David Clark, before getting well Friday night in a lopsided victory over Washington County.  The tools are there for the Tigers, with Hamilton back and having run for 750 yards, junior quarterback Carson Riley throwing for over 1,500 yards on the season, and sophomore wideout Chi Poynter setting a single-season school record with 51 receptions on the year. But the defense is very suspect at times, exposed against better competition from the two Catholic schools.

Louisville Central (4-6), the #2 seed from District 3, is harder to read. They have played their traditional murderer's row of a schedule and gotten pummeled by state powers like Manual, Belfry, CovCath, CAL, and Mayfield, while beating the teams they are supposed to beat and earning the first round home game. Central has had difficulty scoring and relies heavily on the run paced by Brian Marshall and Damontre Cherry, although this year QB Rashad Baker has thrown it about 13 times per game.  The Yellowjackets suffered an unfortunate setback week before last, losing head coach Marvin Dantzler to a dispute with the school's administration. It remains to be seen how that will affect the overall program going forward.

However it plays out, Central has played the more dominant schedule and should be the favorite, together with the best band and fish sandwiches in Kentucky High School ball, and either way, the winner will have the joyful privilege of traveling to Christian Academy in Week 2.

Bardstown had better be prepared for Marshall and Cherry who are hard to bring to the ground. Against us last week, they consistently got yards when it looked like they had been stopped. Also, do not go to sleep on Baker’s arm. I was impressed with his accuracy when he chose to put it in the air.

Bardstown has never beat Central and I don't think this will be the year they do. For the exception of Nelson & Washington County Bardstown has taken too long to get started, they have to take a punch or two before they decide to play ball. They will not be able to do that this Friday. The Central program is built for the playoffs they will come out swinging looking for the early knock out. Central may just come out and bully Bardstown like Lex Cath and Owensboro Cath did earlier in the season, hopefully the Tigers have some want to about them Friday and make this game a true battle. In order to do that Bardstown has to find its run game with Hamilton that's been none existent for a few weeks because I believe Central will focus on stopping the Riley to Poynter connection that has been Bardstown bread and butter. Central just has to limit their mistakes and just do what they do.  

 Central plays hard. I look for them to win this game. 

21 hours ago, Hearsay said:

Two teams with a season full of peaks and valleys square off Friday night at Ty Scroggins Stadium in the first round of the Class 3A playoffs.

Bardstown (7-3), the #3 seed from District 4, started the season hot with wins over 4A foes E-Town, Fern Creek, John Hardin, and Nelson County. The Tigers then got blitzkrieged (and suffered an injury to top rusher Sevyn Hamilton) in a mid-season loss to Owensboro Catholic, and began a slide of 3 losses in 5 games, including an explicable overtime loss at Garrard County and a hard-to-stomach shutout at the hands of Lexington Catholic and former head coach David Clark, before getting well Friday night in a lopsided victory over Washington County.  The tools are there for the Tigers, with Hamilton back and having run for 750 yards, junior quarterback Carson Riley throwing for over 1,500 yards on the season, and sophomore wideout Chi Poynter setting a single-season school record with 51 receptions on the year. But the defense is very suspect at times, exposed against better competition from the two Catholic schools.

Louisville Central (4-6), the #2 seed from District 3, is harder to read. They have played their traditional murderer's row of a schedule and gotten pummeled by state powers like Manual, Belfry, CovCath, CAL, and Mayfield, while beating the teams they are supposed to beat and earning the first round home game. Central has had difficulty scoring and relies heavily on the run paced by Brian Marshall and Damontre Cherry, although this year QB Rashad Baker has thrown it about 13 times per game.  The Yellowjackets suffered an unfortunate setback week before last, losing head coach Marvin Dantzler to a dispute with the school's administration. It remains to be seen how that will affect the overall program going forward.

However it plays out, Central has played the more dominant schedule and should be the favorite, together with the best band and fish sandwiches in Kentucky High School ball, and either way, the winner will have the joyful privilege of traveling to Christian Academy in Week 2.

I believe the winner of this game plays at Lex Cath in round 2.  It's the winner of the Garrard County vs. DeSales game that will travel to CAL.

2 hours ago, Unrivaled97 said:

I believe the winner of this game plays at Lex Cath in round 2.  It's the winner of the Garrard County vs. DeSales game that will travel to CAL.

You may well be right about that.

Bump.

Any streaming for this game?

1 hour ago, Bardcard said:

Any streaming for this game?

I have the same question, I would like to watch this game, anyone on a stream?

 

 

Final 29-18. The Tigers done what they have all year and waited until the second half to try and start playing ball. They just could not make the big play when it was needed. Central came out and stuck to their game plan and controlled the game. Prayers for the Tigers Qb Riley as he took a shot to the head late in the fourth quarter that looked like a late hit, that put him out of the game.