Turns out South Warren likes 6A just fine, as the Spartans go all the way to the Championship game and play a very respectable game falling to 30 Time State Champ Trinity 28-14 in the 2025 6A State Championship game.  Well done!

2025 Quick Recap

A lot went right for the Spartans in 2025 including then JR QB Camden Page really coming into his own and out of the Bryce Button shadows to lead the Spartans with nearly 2,400 passing yards - 24 TDs vs 8 INTs and a standout 13 and 1 record in their inaugural season in 6A football.  Star Senior RB and S Kayden York did it all for the Spartans with nearly 1,100 rushing yards and 21 TDs while also being in the Top 10 in tackles and 4 INTs on the season!  Well done!

And the Spartan defense continued to bring havoc to pretty much every team they faced last year with a strong group at all 3 levels but based on that DLine by then JR Jaquise Smith and SR Malik Butler.  Sure, you always want to win the last game, but it was a great 6A intro for the Spartans!

2026 Returning Player Status

Offense:  South loses playmaker RB Kayden York, 2 Starting WRs including Jake Carter, who played his best game in the State Championship Game IMO, and 3 OLine starters.  But QB Camden Page returns for his Senior Year, JR Jamir Boards should step into the RB slot, and it will be time for some younger WRs and OLinemen to step up.  That will be key for South in 2026.

Defense:  South only loses 3 key defensive players including stalwart Malik Butler on the DLine, Drayson Moore at LB and Kayden York at S.  All very good players but the rest are back and there will be 9 Seniors to play/start on this year's Spartans D, so I look for a great year for the Spartan Defensive Unit.  Perhaps one of their best groups.

2026 Schedule

Like most every team, South will run their 2025 schedule back flip-flopping home and away, which should help them as they only had 4 regular season home games last year.  Questions or highlights of the schedule include:

- Do they keep Bryan Station at the e.campus.com Bowl the first game of the year?

- DuPont Manual should travel to BG to take on South this year in a highly anticipated game!

- South will travel to Bowling Green this year to see if they can make it 2 wins in a row for the third time ever against the rival Purples.

- Pulaski County will travel to South in an interesting game with old Boyle County roots.

2026 Outlook

First, Congratulations to Coach Brandon Smith who was the recipient of the KFCA Coach of the Year Award.  Coach Smith has certainly done a fine job off Nashville Road.  You have to like where the Spartans sit at this point in time.  They are in an easy district for them and an easy side of the bracket away from Trinity and mostly away from X too.  So, there is no reason to doubt that they will likely be the #1 6A team in RPI again next year, thus ready to host a semi-final game and you take your chances from there.  Not a bad gig!

But for conversation purposes, no team went further doing less last season.  How dare I insult the robes of the Nashville Road elite!  Let me explain my conversation point.  What team/teams did South play last year that they were supposed to lose to?  Bryan Station.  Nope.  Manual.  Ok.  That one is fair.  Bowling Green.  Nope.  The 2025 BG team had a losing record for the first time since 2002.  (And I'm not giving BG a pass.  The Purples must do better.  I think they know that.)  Pulaski County.  Nope.  While they went to the final game (congratulations to the Maroons, as it is not insignificant feat), were the Maroons the favorite in any capacity in that September game even in Somerset?  Nope.

Let's expand to the playoffs.  Their first-round game was forfeited.  Not South's fault but goes to my point.  They played a 4-A team (Hopkinsville) in round 2.  Again, not South's fault.  Henderson County at South.  Come on.  Ryle was a worthy opponent, but not without their 2 inside LBs and arguably generational both ways standout Jacob Savage.  But again, not South's fault.  Trinity.  Yes, the Spartans were not favored in this game.

So, for 14 games (which should have been 15), you are "tested" twice.  Once on August 29th and once on December 6th.  That is a tough road to be able to stay up mentally to be able to battle and beat a team as battle tested as the Trinity Shamrocks who are tested basically every week.  So, I'll be interested to see what the 2027 South Warren schedule will be.  Are they going to stay the old Nebraska Cornhuskers method of just playing lukewarm teams and having a shot at the end or upgrading the schedule to test yourself during the season in order to get your team ready for the last game.  We shall see!

What say you?

 

I like that they stuck with their game plan against Trinity, it says alot about the coaching staff and the HC Smith. As we all see every Friday, most teams (players and coaches) get out of their game plan if a few drives don’t go the way they want. That being said I like SW to make it back to the finals for the reasons stated above. 

Bump.

2026 South Warren Spartans:

Aug 6 vs. Allen County (Scrimmage)
Aug 13 at Owensboro (Scrimmage)
Aug 21 vs. Bryan Station (at Lexington Christian Academy eCampus Bowl)
Aug 28 vs. Manual
Sep 4 vs. Greenwood
Sep 11 at Bowling Green
Sep 18 vs. Christian County
Sep 25 vs. Pulaski County
Oct 2 vs. Meade County (District)
Oct 9 - BYE
Oct 15 vs. Central Hardin (District)
Oct 23 at Daviess County (District)
Oct 30 at Logan County

I have to admit they could play a tougher schedule but it’s not like they were playing a bunch of 2A squads. Bryan Station and Bowling Green are traditionally pretty good Pulaski went to the finals and Manual is good every year so I’m not exactly sure what you could do unless you scheduled Trinity 5 games and St X 5 games. That being said while I do expect SW to compete in 6A I think it would be hard to win state and certainly not at the rate they competed in 5A they had a good chance there every year. I’m not saying they can’t win it in 6A but I feel like it will be very difficult.

South Warren and Coach Smith have done a nice job.  They need to upgrade their schedule if they want to compete for championships.  I am not saying they should go crazy with it, but 1-2 games against tougher competition would help them.  I think they should schedule either X or T (one of them) every year.  If you have to beat them to win a title, then you should play them during the season to see what it takes.

24 minutes ago, bruin66 said:

South Warren and Coach Smith have done a nice job.  They need to upgrade their schedule if they want to compete for championships.  I am not saying they should go crazy with it, but 1-2 games against tougher competition would help them.  I think they should schedule either X or T (one of them) every year.  If you have to beat them to win a title, then you should play them during the season to see what it takes.

That was the approach Coach Wolfe took when he accepted the job at Male. And, that included playing Trinity at the F and JV levels as well. He said that if he avoided Trinity at ANY level what message was that sending to his players. He felt that before we can compete toe to toe with them in the varsity post season, we need to compete with them in the regular season. 

1 hour ago, bruin66 said:

South Warren and Coach Smith have done a nice job.  They need to upgrade their schedule if they want to compete for championships.  I am not saying they should go crazy with it, but 1-2 games against tougher competition would help them.  I think they should schedule either X or T (one of them) every year.  If you have to beat them to win a title, then you should play them during the season to see what it takes.

I see a lot of posts on here about teams needing to play this team or that team but you have to remember these teams have to be willing to play you back. I’m fine with the schedule it didn’t seem to prevent them from getting to the finals last year.

1 hour ago, Tkinslow said:

I see a lot of posts on here about teams needing to play this team or that team but you have to remember these teams have to be willing to play you back. I’m fine with the schedule it didn’t seem to prevent them from getting to the finals last year.

Bingo. A lot of times a team will reach out be told "no we don't want to play or can't play" or just be left on read. It would surprise a lot of people, the teams that this happens to!

On 4/24/2026 at 12:46 PM, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

2026 South Warren Spartans:

Aug 6 vs. Allen County (Scrimmage)
Aug 13 at Owensboro (Scrimmage)
Aug 21 vs. Bryan Station (at Lexington Christian Academy eCampus Bowl)
Aug 28 vs. Manual
Sep 4 vs. Greenwood
Sep 11 at Bowling Green
Sep 18 vs. Christian County
Sep 25 vs. Pulaski County
Oct 2 vs. Meade County (District)
Oct 9 - BYE
Oct 15 vs. Central Hardin (District)
Oct 23 at Daviess County (District)
Oct 30 at Logan County

4 hours ago, bruin66 said:

South Warren and Coach Smith have done a nice job.  They need to upgrade their schedule if they want to compete for championships.  I am not saying they should go crazy with it, but 1-2 games against tougher competition would help them.  I think they should schedule either X or T (one of them) every year.  If you have to beat them to win a title, then you should play them during the season to see what it takes.

Didn't they play for a State title last year. They gave Trinity problems in that game. I don't understand the "compete for state titles" comment. They will probably "compete" again this year for a title.

33 minutes ago, TimeWillTell said:

Didn't they play for a State title last year. They gave Trinity problems in that game. I don't understand the "compete for state titles" comment. They will probably "compete" again this year for a title.

They won’t win titles in 6A like they did in 5A they may never win any in 6A I never said they couldn’t compete I just said they wouldn’t be the power they was in 5A I mean since 6A started there’s been what 2 teams not named Trinity St X or Male win state and Trinity had some of their worst teams by Trinity standards in those two years. So to sum it up will they be good, sure can they win state yeah but not on the level they did in 5A.

On tangent here I guess, I think SW's schedule would be great if they were playing 5A but as a 6A school I think their schedule is thin. 

19 hours ago, TimeWillTell said:

Didn't they play for a State title last year. They gave Trinity problems in that game. I don't understand the "compete for state titles" comment. They will probably "compete" again this year for a title.

So you are saying that a 1-2 game per year upgrade to the schedule would not help come playoff time?  I am not saying that they should schedule "murderer's row."  But 1 or 2 games per year against tougher competition should help them.  People don't remember how a team did in the regular season.  They remember how well a team did in the playoffs.  Who cares if they lose a non-district game in the regular season if it prepares them to perform better in the playoffs.

And in my original post, I also alluded to the fact the SW does a good job.  They transitioned well to 6A.  A small tweak to their future scheduling would, in my opinion, help them in the long run.