Wow, Clay County and Letcher Central in the District Playoffs, no matter where it's played, would be absolutely wild.

Nice job of compiling the information. Great fun - Thanks! :thumb:

 

 

But, I think you gave Mercer way too much credit. They barely beat Russell in the 2A championship last year. Johnson Central would have beat Mercer – IMO (based on watching Ashland beat Russell and lose to JC last year).

 

My 2-cents worth.

 

 

Apparently you werent there at the state final game, at least not on the field. Im not going to start a discussion on here of beating a dead horse, but I got news for you, in the weather conditions of that friday morning, the fact that a team would have been able to score was miraculous in itself. To be honest, I dont think a lot of you give RUSSELL enough credit. The way some you say in regards to Mercer "barely" beating Russell, ticks me off, and Im not even a Red Devil!

Some bold predictions for Mercer County in their first year with the big boys:confused:[/QUOT

 

The big boys!??? I love it how some of you think that the new 5-A is freaking indestructable, like Mercer, Johnson Central, Southwestern and others are going to be playing against Male, Trinity and St. X, week in, week out!!?? The new 5-A is mostly consisted of the old 3-A, now, granted there are some of the old 4-A teams in there, but give me a break!!

Some bold predictions for Mercer County in their first year with the big boys:confused:[/QUOT

 

The big boys!??? I love it how some of you think that the new 5-A is freaking indestructable, like Mercer, Johnson Central, Southwestern and others are going to be playing against Male, Trinity and St. X, week in, week out!!?? The new 5-A is mostly consisted of the old 3-A, now, granted there are some of the old 4-A teams in there, but give me a break!!

I think that anyone who goes into the 5A class with a 2A frame of mind will change their outlook by the time the regionals and semi finals take place. Sure, in some cases it will be easier to make the playoffs and advance, but you will still have to beat some pretty good teams to get a title. Highlands, CCH, BG, JH, WC, and JC are a whole different animal in the post season than what they're used to.

Can they win? Absolutely, but it will be much more difficult than you think.

Apparently you werent there at the state final game, at least not on the field. Im not going to start a discussion on here of beating a dead horse, but I got news for you, in the weather conditions of that friday morning, the fact that a team would have been able to score was miraculous in itself. To be honest, I dont think a lot of you give RUSSELL enough credit. The way some you say in regards to Mercer "barely" beating Russell, ticks me off, and Im not even a Red Devil!

 

True and it took Ashland 3 OT's to beat Russell. That was also an early season game so both teams were working the kinks out. Russell seemed to get them worked out a bit better later in the season.

 

I was at the game but not on the field. I have to agree. I think if it would have been two totally opposite teams like the Russell/OC game the year before the passing team would have had an even harder time trying to score. That's based on Russell's attempts to air it out late in that game. All in all a good game and a nail biter right to the end. Russell proved that they were the real deal when they held the Titans to 15 points. Mercer executed better on special teams in that game and that was the deciding factor. I don't think the AA state game could have been more evenly matched.

Although having a worse record, Whitley defeated North Laurel last year and should have been the three seed instead of the 4. Probably does not change the outcome just a observation.

 

 

You are right, Apex. And let that be a lesson to any team who finds itself quickly being gained-upon by a team taking the game away from the present score leader; all that is needed is to keep intentionally and overtly getting penalties within the red zone and continue the movements of the ball "half-the-distance to the goal line", not allowing another play to complete for the progressing team - thereby playing the clock to run-out and allowing the barely-leading team to escape by the skin of it's teeth.

Look at the record from last year for both North Laurel and Whitley County.

And, watch this season closely - no clock to burn this coming time.

Yet, a win is a win, and congratulations to Whitley County's coach have already been posted months past.

Great job on starting this thread! Interesting and entertaining. :thumb:

 

Also agree - it was a great State game, hard fought on both sides in unbelievable weather conditions.

Some bold predictions for Mercer County in their first year with the big boys:confused:[/QUOT

 

The big boys!??? I love it how some of you think that the new 5-A is freaking indestructable, like Mercer, Johnson Central, Southwestern and others are going to be playing against Male, Trinity and St. X, week in, week out!!?? The new 5-A is mostly consisted of the old 3-A, now, granted there are some of the old 4-A teams in there, but give me a break!!

 

 

Indestructable no . Play against Male , Trinity, and St.X alot , yes . Hey 6A is GOOD , but 5A is very strong also ! How many state titles have come out of District 2 & 5 alone ? And some of those teams have beat the Big 6A schools !

CCH vs Mercer would be a great game. But if CCH wins, rematch of last years state championship would be awesome. I also like to see Johnson Central getting some respect they deserve. They were a great team last year, they just happened to play a CCH team just a better team. I would have liked to see a BG vs JC game last year, JC would have givin them a tough game IMO.

5A is strong and yes Mercer, you are playing with the big boys now and you will see that when the playoffs roll around. Different animal at this level. BG has a great team year in and year out, yet, they can't even hang with CCH or Highlands and I have yet to see the other strong schools like JC, but living in Danville, working in Harrodsburg, and graduating from BG I have seen both teams enough to know that Mercer would not have beaten BG last year. I am not taking away anything from your program, my son may end up at Mercer in high school, I am just being realistic. I expect Mercer to take 2-3 years to get up to speed with the 5A powerhouses, but the potential for Mercer to become a mainstay in the 5A powerhouse list is definitely there. You must have an above average passing game to win state at this level. You will not smashmouth your way to a title in 5A. Good luck with the big boys this year. I look forward to the day that BG and Mercer play so I can paint Corning Inc. purple and gold.

 

:argue: :flame:

5A is strong and yes Mercer, you are playing with the big boys now and you will see that when the playoffs roll around. Different animal at this level. BG has a great team year in and year out, yet, they can't even hang with CCH or Highlands and I have yet to see the other strong schools like JC, but living in Danville, working in Harrodsburg, and graduating from BG I have seen both teams enough to know that Mercer would not have beaten BG last year. I am not taking away anything from your program, my son may end up at Mercer in high school, I am just being realistic. I expect Mercer to take 2-3 years to get up to speed with the 5A powerhouses, but the potential for Mercer to become a mainstay in the 5A powerhouse list is definitely there. You must have an above average passing game to win state at this level. You will not smashmouth your way to a title in 5A. Good luck with the big boys this year. I look forward to the day that BG and Mercer play so I can paint Corning Inc. purple and gold.

 

:argue: :flame:

So the past 5A State Champs aired it out on offense? OH WAIT.....there hasn't been a 5A Champ........EVER!

Mercer was one of the best teams in the state last year regardless of classification......period.

So, let me get this straight.....when Mercer won the 2A title last year, it wasn't fair because they were "one of the big boys". Now that they are in the newly classified 5A....they can't be "one of the big boys" because they are jumping up from 2A? Funny...

80+ varsity players, both sides of the lines returning, SOLID group of experienced LB's, hungry, talented RB's who have patiently waited their turn, a proven offense, experienced, adaptible and creative coaching staff, and overall way more positives than question marks.......this is the year Mercer can finally silence "some folks". :sssh:

5A is strong and yes Mercer, you are playing with the big boys now and you will see that when the playoffs roll around. Different animal at this level. BG has a great team year in and year out, yet, they can't even hang with CCH or Highlands and I have yet to see the other strong schools like JC, but living in Danville, working in Harrodsburg, and graduating from BG I have seen both teams enough to know that Mercer would not have beaten BG last year. I am not taking away anything from your program, my son may end up at Mercer in high school, I am just being realistic. I expect Mercer to take 2-3 years to get up to speed with the 5A powerhouses, but the potential for Mercer to become a mainstay in the 5A powerhouse list is definitely there. You must have an above average passing game to win state at this level. You will not smashmouth your way to a title in 5A. Good luck with the big boys this year. I look forward to the day that BG and Mercer play so I can paint Corning Inc. purple and gold.

 

:argue: :flame:

 

How do you know that Mercer's passing game last year wasn't capable?!? You don't. You have no clue. Mercer didnt have to throw last year to win, if they HAD to , they would have, but they didnt NEED too.

 

When Marty Jaggers was at Lincoln County, they were 3A, he faired pretty dang well, including going 2-0 against your BG Purples ('92 Heritage Bowl) and Warren Central ('93 Semis), and I got news for you, the overall talent level edge was definately not on Lincoln's side of the field. Granted, there was talent, including '93 Mr. Football, Jeremy Simpson, but in the overall scheme of things, it wasnt even close. Oh yeah, and those teams won playing smashmouth.

Yeah, beating up on 2A schools with a 3A lineup doesn't make you a big boy all of a sudden. You have to earn it. Yes, Jaggers is 2-0 against my Purples but you are discrediting Lincoln if you say the talent level wasn't equal. We had Shawn Taylor and a 1st year(sophomore) QB in 93 from a team that lost a large amount of starters on offense and defense so don't act like Lincoln pulled off the upset of the 90's by beating the BG teams from 93 and 94 which were much like Boyle County's team last year. I know Mercer's passing game wasn't capable because I saw your passing game. Yeah, you didn't have to throw much, but trust me, if you want to WIN a 5A state title, you better learn to throw the ball efficiently. No one trick ponies will win 5A or 6A state championships. In the early 90's before KY high school football was as intricate as it is now, everybody ran, but after the Tim Couch era, passing the ball became vogue and the bigger schools with capable athletes took notice. You must also stop the pass if you want to win and the best passing team you guys faced last year was Boyle County. I am not taking anything away from you guys at all. I rooted for you guys, I froze my tail off watching the 2A title game screaming for you guys. I work in Harrodsburg and understand the hard feelings about the merger working themselves out as you guys went on to have a great season unified. But one state title in a lesser classification doesn't make you a big boy. Even BC wasn't given big boy status until after they moved up from 2A to 3A and kept on winning championships. Win state again this year and prove me wrong, until then, I will say to all the Mercer County fans that I work with, you can't hang with the big boys.

 

See you in December.:fire:

So the past 5A State Champs aired it out on offense? OH WAIT.....there hasn't been a 5A Champ........EVER!

Mercer was one of the best teams in the state last year regardless of classification......period.

So, let me get this straight.....when Mercer won the 2A title last year, it wasn't fair because they were "one of the big boys". Now that they are in the newly classified 5A....they can't be "one of the big boys" because they are jumping up from 2A? Funny...

80+ varsity players, both sides of the lines returning, SOLID group of experienced LB's, hungry, talented RB's who have patiently waited their turn, a proven offense, experienced, adaptible and creative coaching staff, and overall way more positives than question marks.......this is the year Mercer can finally silence "some folks". :sssh:

 

 

True, there wasn't a past 5A state champ, the past 3A champs are in 5A so forgive me for jumping the gun and considering them the class of 5A until someone beats them. As said, earn it. Win state this year and you will have earned it. Be honest with yourselves, Mercer has never had a powerhouse football program. Now that you have Harrodsburg, the powerhouse potential is there, but you have to prove you can play and beat the big boys before you receive big boy status. That's just the way it is. The only thing this year's team lacks is experienced defensive backs, you guys are indeed solid everywhere else, I hear your QB looks like Mike Vick on the field. I wish you well, but playing against the big boys is a whole different level of football and after you breeze through your 9 game schedule we'll see exactly if you guys can indeed hang with the big boys come playoff time. I hope you guys make it far enough to play BG. I get my BG-BC game this year finally, now there's nothing more I would love than to see Mercer-BG. :fight:

So the past 5A State Champs aired it out on offense? OH WAIT.....there hasn't been a 5A Champ........EVER!

Mercer was one of the best teams in the state last year regardless of classification......period.

So, let me get this straight.....when Mercer won the 2A title last year, it wasn't fair because they were "one of the big boys". Now that they are in the newly classified 5A....they can't be "one of the big boys" because they are jumping up from 2A? Funny...

80+ varsity players, both sides of the lines returning, SOLID group of experienced LB's, hungry, talented RB's who have patiently waited their turn, a proven offense, experienced, adaptible and creative coaching staff, and overall way more positives than question marks.......this is the year Mercer can finally silence "some folks". :sssh:

 

80 Varsity players playing 2A ? Why wasn't Mercer playing 4A or 3A last year ? They should have won 2A easy with those numbers ! Is this the same Mercer that played Newport in NKY ? This school sounds alot like us , Dixie's QB has started for 3yr's now , also most of the O is back . The D has alot of players that have started 2 or 3 yr's now . We also had 80+ last year playing 4A . With 30 SR's this year , I would love to see Dixie meet up with Mercer this year !:thumb: But we have to focus on Highlands and Cov Cath first !!!:ylsuper: