Russell 27 Owensboro Catholic 14

[TCatfan]

Congtats to the Devils. I wish I could have been there to see it.

[FBALL]

Congratulations to Coach McGlone, his staff, the players and fans. What a great job of preparation and planning. Instead of the wing-t, OC got a steady dose of the Power I, which had been Russell's goal line and short yardage offense all year. Big time play by the offensive line and Running backs.

 

Even with 9 in the box, Russell controlled the line of scrimmage. It really was a dominating performance by the Devil's offense. Some may say it is boring, but it was a beautiful thing to watch for those who do appreciate fundamental football.

 

Outstanding effort by the defense. Dropping 8 that could cover seemed to confuse the Aces. As the field got shorter, so did those gaps. And a big pat on the back to Nick Lewis. He played a great game at cornor, knowing OC was going to be coming after him.

[westsider]

For part of the Russell-Owensboro Catholic game, I sat with an old friend who has kids that play for one of Russell's regular opponents. He was very complimentary of the program (classy coaches, classy kids) and said they made it easy to root for them in the state finals. I was also impressed with their team.

 

Congrats, Russell ...

[midee1]

Here's a strange bit of trivia for you.

The only 2 teams to have beaten OC were both

RED DEVILS!!!!!!!

 

 

:fire: :fire: :fire: :fire:

[Devilologists]

Having the ACE up our sleeve paid off. Being able to have the help from our neighbors really made the difference. Being able to see the defense formations before the game compared to the ACES offense was interesting.

During the game fans were screaming, Get pressure on the QB!!!!!

I turned to them and said- "Thats not the game plan" They just looked at me. Why not??? I said watch- OC threw the INT.

Having the ends drop off into coverage along with the LB's made the OC QB just plain freak out.

When you rush 7, someone short is going to be open- NOT NOW...

When the kids do their job and do it well (Like Saturday), the whole plan comes together. They were awesome.

 

As for being a "Has Been". We probably had 15 of our senior class sitting close together. We yelled and screamed the entire game. Talked about beating Belfry our senior year and then loosing to the eventual state champ- CONNER. Highlights and Lowlights- memories and dreams of what if. Well they all came true Saturday- We are proud of our Devils and will always be there for them. Lets get ready to match Belfry with 2 in a row. :fire:

[Blue Blazer]

Way To Go Devils!!! :devil:

This whole week has been a blast. All the great stories and coverage by Maynard and crew were the perfect crescendo for the AA championship game. Driving down yesterday with the vehicle painted up and our Russell flag flying it was great to see all the community support. A whole lot of vehicles heading toward the 'Ville had license plates other than Greenup County and when we got to the game you could see the Raceland orange, Lawrence County red, Boyd County red and of course the Ashland maroon/white fans all on our side of the field and cheering right along with us for a Russell victory.

 

This Russell team has gone out all year long and "went to work" on Friday nights. Some shifts were more challenging than others, (there was one night that we even forgot to show up, i.e., BC), but they all served the same purpose; the goal of making it to the carpet. Ivan obviously had the team ready once again to roll up their sleeves to put in an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. It just so happens that this payday included a bonus called a state title trophy.

 

Congrats go out to all of the starters and those that got to play and hear their names annouced for a tackle, fumble recovery, etc. You can read about their exploits in today's paper. But my hat also goes off to those guys that put the pads on and grind it out on scout squads in the heat of summer and endure the long bus rides, etc., and never get the uniform dirty. A team has to have guys like these that see the bigger picture and understand their supporting role on the team. It's no less their victory and here's a big thank you!

 

Thanks Russell Red Devils for a great season. I'm looking forward to next year already!

 

:dancingpa

:thumb: Nice Post this certainly was a total TEAM EFFORT. Kasey said after the game that the line opened up some great holes and it was easy to run through. Als the Russell reserves and scout teams were a big part of success as they had to prepare the starters and push them week in and week out. :ylsuper:

[UKBLUE1964]

Russell had a couple of former LC players help them prepare for OCath. Here is an excerpt from the Daily Independent.

 

"Russell's defense got a glimpse of what was ahead in practice this week when former UK receiver Gerad Parker and Alan Short visited one day.

 

Parker ran some of the routes that the Owensboro Catholic receivers were going to run against the Red Devils. He also brought along Alan Short, a former Lawrence County quarterback, to throw it to him." :thumb:

 

 

It is great to see all of East Kentucky get behind one team and cheer for them. This is what makes Kentucky High School football so special.

[Cubster]

Ashland area must have been loaded this year. Russell was rated 3rd in final Daily Independent poll.

[LRCW]

Ashland area must have been loaded this year. Russell was rated 3rd in final Daily Independent poll.

 

 

When are you going to get over that?

[Cubster]

Just realized how strong the area was. JC had a 1st team all stater and Ashland had four players on the first three teams. The area was loaded.

[LRCW]

I can't believe that Russell just won the State Championship, they made the school proud, the community proud, even all of the area schools proud, and you can't even get on here and congratulate the kids and coaches who worked extremely hard since losing to Belfry last year. Instead the first thing you want to do is take a shot at the Daily Independent because they had Ashland ranked ahead of Russell in a ranking they put out just for fun.

[Cubster]

I have followed the Devils everywhere this year. This team deserves all the credit in the world. The team lost 24 seniors a year ago and the coaching staff just rolled up its sleeves and went to work. No bold predictions just hard work and preparation and it got them a STATE TITLE.

Lighten up LRCW maybe your Tomcats can get a little farther next season.

BTW Elden May is an excellent writer for the ADI. He was a manager on my first basketball team. I enjoyed his columns every Monday morning and I plan on getting some jabs in on him next time I see him about the poll. I am sure he will just laugh and realize sports are for fun and light-hearted fun is OK.

[goherd96]

With all the recognition the area got from the all-state teams this season, not to mention Russell's state title, I agree that northeastern Kentucky was pretty deep this year. Hopefully we won't have to wait 15 years for the next Ashland area state football title. Looking at the 2-deep chart in Saturday's Independent, Russell looks to reload again next season... :flame:

[Cubster]

Also the Daily Independent sports staff did an excellent job of covering the Devils the last two weeks. Almost every coach and every area of the team was covered in some way.

Kudos to Mark Maynard and his staff.

[stick1]

Just realized how strong the area was. JC had a 1st team all stater and Ashland had four players on the first three teams. The area was loaded.

I wouldn't put too much stock into that poll. The BGP poll is the best one with the Courier Journal poll behind it. The AP poll dosen't hold a lot of value IMO although a lot of the guys on there will still be on the other polls. I'll bet the farm that it changes quite a bit though when it gets into 2nd + 3rd teamers.