StrongO,

I'll take your word that HC has X outclassed in pure speed this year and next at the skilled positions. With that being said, I'll still take X's skilled players plodding along at 4.6, breaking tackles, juking tackles and making tackles. To me its like your saying you'd rather have seven or eight "Willie Gaults" on your team instead of 4 or 5 Emmit Smiths because the Willie Gaults would be no match for the Emmit Smiths. I just disagree.

If I took away St. Xavier's offensive line from those 4.6 skilled players you mentioned, and replaced them with hypothetical East Orange County's offensive line, those guys would not look nearly as good as they do in the green and gold.

 

Let's face it........St. Xavier and Trinity wins nine out of ten (or more) Kentucky large class titles with unity, teamwork, and discipline not with the fastest skilled personnel.

This discussion is about speed at the skilled positions.

 

Simon Kenton had trouble with Henry Clay's speed in their only loss back in September. They had a few too many turnovers as well.

 

I have gone on the record as saying Henry Clay is loaded with speed at the skilled position. Also, it is not one or two blurs, it is seven or eight blurs.

 

Listen, St. X is the best team in the state, in my opinion. Highlands is the second best. St. Xavier would beat Henry Clay this season nine times if they played ten games against each other. Even as mighty as the Tigers of St. Xavier are this season, their skilled position speed is no match for Henry Clay's.

 

They are not faster running a straight line, a zig, a zag, in a track meet, sideways, or backwards. St. X is without a doubt superior in other areas.

 

It is obviously difficult for some narcissistic St. X fans to accept, but it is the truth and you can take it to the bank.

 

What I love about this post is the fact that strong O hit the nail right on the coffin here...Another thing to love being an SK fan is HC probably is the fastest team in the state and yet its not like they blew SK off the field in there only loss of the season...SK can play and beat anybody that's just going to rely on fundamental sound physical football and they have done it all season long usually by about 4 or 5 TDS...I know ST.X is a traditional powerhouse but the blowouts SK has had all season equates to a 1TD or maybe 2TD victory over X

If I took away St. Xavier's offensive line from those 4.6 skilled players you mentioned, and replaced them with hypothetical East Orange County's offensive line, those guys would not look nearly as good as they do in the green and gold.

 

Let's face it........St. Xavier and Trinity wins nine out of ten (or more) Kentucky large class titles with unity, teamwork, and discipline not with the fastest skilled personnel.

 

I have to disagree on several points. First of all, Trinity and X’s personnel are very skilled. This may be what sets them apart from other programs. The players get excellent coaching with phenomenal resources over 4 years. X and Trinity have excellent coaches and numbers of coaches as well. At both schools, football is their bread and butter—football is a priority. There is a lot of time and energy given to the programs. They have excellent facilities to train. They have excellent conditioning programs. They practice against quality players as well.

 

St. X’s top 2 fastest players may match up or be faster than other teams, yet “football” speed needs to be qualified. McFadden ran the fastest 40 yard dash in the NFL combine but has yet to prove that he is the best running back in the NFL. Football “speed” has more to do than just running from point A to B in a straight line. It involves seeing the field, finding holes, explosiveness, toughness to fight through openings among other qualities.

 

But football is a numbers game. X and Trinity have a lot more good players than other teams. Maybe their top 20 fastest players are far faster than 20 from other teams? They can special in specialize in special teams. They are more able to sustain injuries to players and still play well.

I have to disagree on several points. First of all, Trinity and X’s personnel are very skilled. This may be what sets them apart from other programs. The players get excellent coaching with phenomenal resources over 4 years. X and Trinity have excellent coaches and numbers of coaches as well. At both schools, football is their bread and butter—football is a priority. There is a lot of time and energy given to the programs. They have excellent facilities to train. They have excellent conditioning programs. They practice against quality players as well.

 

St. X’s top 2 fastest players may match up or be faster than other teams, yet “football” speed needs to be qualified. McFadden ran the fastest 40 yard dash in the NFL combine but has yet to prove that he is the best running back in the NFL. Football “speed” has more to do than just running from point A to B in a straight line. It involves seeing the field, finding holes, explosiveness, toughness to fight through openings among other qualities.

 

But football is a numbers game. X and Trinity have a lot more good players than other teams. Maybe their top 20 fastest players are far faster than 20 from other teams? They can special in specialize in special teams. They are more able to sustain injuries to players and still play well.

You are disagreeing with me, yet I agree with everything you write.

 

I did not say Trinity and St. X's personnel is not very skilled. Very much the opposite.

I have not seen Simon Kenton play. I have seen some of thier opponents play (Ryle, Manual, Henry Clay). I have read the related game threads here and elswhere.

 

My prediction is that St. Xavier wins this game 28 - 14. They will win not because of speed or because they play football in Louisville or any reason other than I believe they are the better football team.

 

And that is on biased and strong opinion.

SK will get all of you Louisville folks respect if SK actually comes out smart this game, and makes quicker adjustments than they did against Manual. Coaching is the thing that could make the difference in the game. SK has probably the best player in the state, and he didn't touch the ball once in their first four plays of the game. That just can't happen, he needs to get the ball. Giving him the ball gets him in a rhythm, and even if they know its coming he still has the ability to break it at anytime. The offense needs to be centered around him from start to finish. The more he gets it early, the more it opens up other things later.

 

SK also needs to make quicker adjustments in this game. I was at the game and me and my best friend both noticed mid way through the first quarter that Manual had more overall team speed, and had great pursuit to the outside. While SK though was much bigger up front. Yet SK kept in the spread and kept trying to run things to the outside. Me and my friend in the 1st quarter were saying they need to go to the "I" formation and just pound it straight at them with Simpson. Then this way once he gets through the line, he could then bounce it outside. SK finally did this to start the second half, and the offense finally got going the rest of the half by running this. If they want to beat teams like St. X the coaches are going to need to be able to see these things and make quicker adjustments before it gets to late next time.

 

If SK uses Simpson the right way, and makes the right adjustments quickly as the game goes along I do think SK will win this game, and surprise all the Louisville folks.

 

Simon Kenton 31

St. Xavier 28

SK will get all of you Louisville folks respect if SK actually comes out smart this game, and makes quicker adjustments than they did against Manual. Coaching is the thing that could make the difference in the game. SK has probably the best player in the state, and he didn't touch the ball once in their first four plays of the game. That just can't happen, he needs to get the ball. Giving him the ball gets him in a rhythm, and even if they know its coming he still has the ability to break it at anytime. The offense needs to be centered around him from start to finish. The more he gets it early, the more it opens up other things later.

 

SK also needs to make quicker adjustments in this game. I was at the game and me and my best friend both noticed mid way through the first quarter that Manual had more overall team speed, and had great pursuit to the outside. While SK though was much bigger up front. Yet SK kept in the spread and kept trying to run things to the outside. Me and my friend in the 1st quarter were saying they need to go to the "I" formation and just pound it straight at them with Simpson. Then this way once he gets through the line, he could then bounce it outside. SK finally did this to start the second half, and the offense finally got going the rest of the half by running this. If they want to beat teams like St. X the coaches are going to need to be able to see these things and make quicker adjustments before it gets to late next time.

 

If SK uses Simpson the right way, and makes the right adjustments quickly as the game goes along I do think SK will win this game, and surprise all the Louisville folks.

 

Simon Kenton 31

St. Xavier 28

 

Interesting. It sounds like you are saying this game boils down to coaching and game planning.

Interesting. It sounds like you are saying this game boils down to coaching and game planning.

 

Basically. I think SK has the talent to beat them, however in 6A other top teams have great talent too. So coaching does make a big difference. I think that is also one of the reasons why Louisville in 6A does so well against NKY in 6A is because of overall better coach. That is also why I think Trinity beats St.X usually in the playoffs, is because of Trinity having better coaching than them IMO. Coaching is a big part of winning in the playoffs. I am not saying SK has bad coaches, however in that last game I don't think they did that great of a job coaching early on. At halftime they finally did make the right adjustments and it went fine. Hopefully this game they come out with a great game plan early, and make quick adjustments on the fly when they need it.

Interesting. It sounds like you are saying this game boils down to coaching and game planning.

 

Then St. X has a big edge.

2 factors that aren't being talked about gives X the big edge in this game - Special teams and line play. When X kicks off, SK will start drives from the 20 just about every time. When SK kicks off, X will start from the 35 or 40 on average. If X punts, they will be boomed. When SK punts, they will be less than boomed. The biggest factor in every game is what goes on in the trenches, not who would win a track meet. Interestingly enough, X would win a track meet if you lined up player for player and put together cumulative times for a race. All the speed in the world means nothing when you are bottled up at the line of scrimmage. St. X is overall stronger in the trenches even though SK has some strong guys - X has more. SK is not nearly as good overall in the trenches on both sides of the ball. X will win this game at the respective lines of scrimmage and with superior special teams, just like Trinity did last year vs. SK. Just don't see it being close for more than 2 quarters.

I will tell you that St. Xavier did not out "speed" Henry Clay in that scrimmage. They outdid them in every other facet of the scrimmage, but it was not 28-0 on the scoreboard because of speed.

 

I will settle this argument.

 

St. Xavier is obviously a good football team, but in no way do they have the skilled position speed that Henry Clay has. This is not to make anyone believe that I think Henry Clay is the team to beat in Class 6A this season.........I don't.

 

Henry Clay is far and away the fastest team in the skilled positions in the state of Kentucky. I will stick my head out a little further and say it is no contest.

 

Simon Kenton has played against the fastest offensive team in Kentucky already this season, and it was their only loss.

 

Did you attend the X vs HC game? If you did, then you nwould have seen the X backs blow away from the HC defense and the HC backs getting no substantial yards until X put their 2's and 3's in. If that is not what you saw, please explain why it was no contest.

Simon Kenton has played against the fastest offensive team in Kentucky already this season, and it was their only loss.

I will tell you that St. Xavier did not out "speed" Henry Clay in that scrimmage. They outdid them in every other facet of the scrimmage, but it was not 28-0 on the scoreboard because of speed.

 

I will settle this argument.

 

St. Xavier is obviously a good football team, but in no way do they have the skilled position speed that Henry Clay has. This is not to make anyone believe that I think Henry Clay is the team to beat in Class 6A this season.........I don't.

 

Henry Clay is far and away the fastest team in the skilled positions in the state of Kentucky. I will stick my head out a little further and say it is no contest.

 

Simon Kenton has played against the fastest offensive team in Kentucky already this season, and it was their only loss.

 

Did you attend the X vs HC game? If you did, then you would have seen the X backs blow away from the HC defense and the HC backs getting no substantial yards until X put their 2's and 3's in. If that is not what you saw, please explain why it was no contest.

I fully understand what you are saying and I agree with your points. I have been around it enough to know what you are saying about the zigging and zagging is true. But what you are saying about St. X having more of it than Henry Clay is false.

 

What is even more interesting about the Henry Clay skilled speed is, that of the skilled speed we are talking about, only two or three of the seven or eight players are seniors. As fast as the 2009 Blue Devil squad is, the 2010 will be faster.

 

I am not sure of how many of these speedsters will be D-I. Their Division I potential will be realized next season.

 

Just ask Mike and Bill Glaser about the Henry Clay speed. They know several of these kids personally and are very aware of it.

 

Are we already talking about next year? Will HC be even faster next year? See you at X in August unless HC decides not to play next year.

Another telling key to this game will be whether Simon Kenton's defense can throttle the St. X offense. SK has not faced as varied as an offense as they will see Friday. With Brian Buehner back healthy he and Luke Brohm completed 8-11 passes for 157 yards and 2 touchdowns in only 3 quarters of play. When X passes with this much efficiency they are practically unable to stop.

St. X's 4 headed monster running attack of Neal, McMurry, Montano and Hayden rushed for 243 yards. If X approaches 400 yards of total offense it will spell doom for SK. Simon Kenton's defense will be challenged as never before. They have to perform all night to stay in contention for an upset. Now add in the threat of a healthy Buehner running from the spread, plus Hayden from the Wildcat and opposing defensive coordinators will have to game plan for 5-6 differnt offenses. Tough chore!

Are we already talking about next year? Will HC be even faster next year? See you at X in August unless HC decides not to play next year.

With posts like this, is it any wonder why the private schools have so many detractors?

Edited November 18, 200916 yr by strongopenyon