Under the Lights

Trust me on this one, I know plenty about rivalries, that one in particular. Ryle is not anywhere near where they were at this point last year. Boone Co. is much improved over last year's team. And yet Boone beat Ryle by 12 last year if I am not mistaken. It just seems to me that Boone has owned Ryle in recent years, and with Boone having a "up" year and Ryle a "down" year, I wouldn't expect that to change. And for the record, Boone hasn't had much problem with Dixie in the past either. It's been Campbell Co. that has been the achilles heel for the Rebels. So I stand by my prediction. Boone will handle Dixie and Ryle (I actually think Dixie will keep it closer than Ryle).

Not only will this one not be close, but the one against Ryle in a few weeks won't be close either. BC is clearly the team to beat in NKY 6A.

This part simply isn't true anymore either. Most district games take place earlier in the year with the new alignment. Not to mention that the games with the split crews are not district games, as someone mentioned earlier.

As with any official.........everyone wants to criticize, no one wants to listen to the truth. Great post, couldn't have said it better myself. What people don't realize is that these guys aren't here to "serve" you. They are doing something they enjoy and yes they make a small amount of money doing it (even less today with the travel and gas prices). They show up on Fridays to get cursed at, booed, and be told they are idiots. And people still want to criticize how they form their crews? Nonsense. Instead of criticizing, sign up and BE an official. Then you can talk all you like. I can tell you this, the more you criticize, in any form, the worse you are making it on yourself. The more officials that are driven away, the less games that can be covered, and their will be a dropoff in the quality of the officiating due to experience. IMO this is what has necessitated the need for the split crew. It used to be that guys just worked lower level games until they had a few years under their belts. Now, because fewer people want to deal with the hassels of being an official, officiating associations don't have that luxury anymore. There simply aren't enough at the varsity level. You can imagine how frustrating it is for guys who have worked up through the ranks together over the years to now have to "bring the new guys along".

I have no idea about the officiating situation in the 16th so my comments certainly aren't directed that way. However, I will say this: I have noticed/heard that in recent years the number of officials, both new and old, has steadily declined. I think many are doing what you have suggested and are "doing something else". Fact of the matter is that most of these guys make very little for time they put into training, travel, etc. I know that many have decided that its just not worth it in between the general lack of respect for officials (in all sports), the time commitment, and political situations such as these. Most of these guys have wives and kids at home that I'm sure miss them very much when they are gone. You are right about one thing, it should NEVER be about anyone other than the kids. But to treat it as a business, which is what you attempt to do with the talk of subcontracto, service, etc. is foolhardy IMO. It is not a profession for all but a select few and therefore you cannot treat it in such a manner. My two cents is that more people are trying to treat it in this regard, so it has become a less fun "hobby" for the officials, and they are retiring earlier and coming out in less numbers. Less in quantity and experience can never be a good thing.

Sorry, I misinterpreted what was being said. I thought it was implied that the coach was coaching a summer team that consisted of his HS players.

Couldn't have said it better. I'll take it a step further.....someone stop me when I'm too far off base. So in today's HS coaching world there is less and less dedication and committment to head coaches. Coaches are hired/fired at an alarming rate, especially in football. You cannot fault coaches for trying to do everything they can to prepare their teams for the season. Although it may not be the main source of income for most, if you asked them I'm sure they would say that it is their profession. You cannot have it both ways. You can't place the exceedingly difficult demands of winning on a coach and then ask him to accomodate every scheduling conflict. Can you imagine Coach Mueller saying "Well I know we lost the first two games of the year, but we had a lot of kids in summer sports that weren't able to be at practice." I'm pretty sure that wouldn't go over too well in Ft. Thomas. As Hearsay commented on earlier, these forced decisions aren't necessarily being mandated by the coaches, but are directly or indirectly forced UPON the coaches by administration, fan base, etc. At some point it winning became paramount to all.

This would be illegal under KHSAA rules. HS coaches cannot coach their teams during the summer time.

And as far as vacations after the dead period, where there is a will, there is a way. My family went on vacation during 2 a days (back when they still had them). I chose to stay with a friend (no way my parents would have left me by myself at 15) and miss the vacation. I knew if I missed that it would hurt my team from a preparation standpoint and I didn't want to let those guys down. My family understood......some I would imagine aren't so lucky.

I disagree with the bolded part. I have witnessed many HS players who were definately among the best 11 talent wise. But they couldn't be trusted with responsibility. The responsibility of blocking the right man, running the right route, showing up on time, showing up at all, doing the right things in ALL phases of their lives. I guess what I'm saying is I'd be willing to lose my job playing a kid that wasn't as talented but did all the right things than for a kid that can't handle his responsibilities. The best 11 aren't always the RIGHT 11.

I think by and large, if you investigated the matter most of the time you'd find that the coach was never informed by the player that he was going to miss. Coaches pass out schedules at the beginning of June for the entire summer, the least the player can do is to bring to the coach's attention that he may have a conflict. I was always told that there is a time and place for family vacations, and that is before the dead period. All our coach ever asked was that we not take vacations or miss after the dead period was over. Right or wrong he would say this, "If your going to miss, and it comes down to a decision between you and another guy of comparable talent, I'm going to have to choose the other guy. I can't not reward a guy who is here working his tail off every day." For the record, I see nothing unreasonable about asking kids to not miss once the dead period has ended. I played several sports in HS (way back then), and I'd have had my tail end up between my ears if my father learned I had made a committment to a team and backed out of it.

Guess I should read all the posts before posting. :creepy: What stops a college Baseball coach from sending "some recruiting coordinator" to view a prospect on Mondays, Tuesdays, or Thursdays anymore than a FB coach going to view a prospect on Fridays? (Which is not usually done) I wholeheartedly agree about the limitations of seasons. My question then becomes, should football start a "summer football" program to get players exposure? Would that be any better than what we currently have? Is that even feasible?

I tend to agree with this, but weren't baseball and basketball coaches forcing kids to make decisions long before football got its act together? Just because "that's the way it has always been" doesn't make it right. Outlaw coach hit the nail on the head, that the coaches need to work together. The problem is that the summer teams, baseball or basketball, have no real contact with the HS teams and in many instances couldn't care less about the success of that particular HS. Heck, they may not even play their summer sport in the same state as their HS. "What we have here is a failure to communicate". :thumb:

Again, I'll pose the question to you, as you seem to be a very knowledgeable baseball man. What is it that prevents college baseball coaches from getting out and scouting during the season? College football coaches find a way to get it done, as there is no "summer football" for them to scout? Are they doing a better job? Why are they able to scout in season but baseball is not? In your scenario, what if college FB coaches are only available to scout Johnny at the passing leagues due to in season commitments? What then? I have been around baseball for a long time, and I think we are pushing this a bit too far. The fact of the matter is that many (not ALL as there are some very, very good ones) summer "programs" aren't being honest with some of the kids about their chances of acquiring a scholarship. In fairness, the same can be said about many HS football coaches. What we now have is the vast majority of kids that play summer baseball (check out the total number of kids playing in the SWOL :scared:) that realistically have no shot of obtaining a scholarship. Are they getting quality instruction and coaching? In most cases, absolutely. But for every kid out there that ends up getting a scholly that may not have, there is AT LEAST 1 whose arm is run into the ground by coaches who know no better (I'm sure you can attest to this). If a kid is an exceptional baseball talent, I have no problem with him missing the majority of the summer to pursue that. It is his future. The difference is that nowadays so many are missing. There is no easy answer to this problem, but I do not think that summer should belong to baseball.

Huge deal in OH. Growing rapidly in NKY.

I do have a question for you here, and keep in mind I am avid baseball fan in addition to being a football fan. So the argument for kids needing to play on summer league teams is exposure, correct? (My son plays on one by the way) I have heard people say that this is the only time college coaches can come see the kids play due to their in season obligations. Now, I'm no genius, but doesn't this apply to football too? Don't the coaches who coach football also have to coach while HS kids are playing their seasons? So how are they doing it? Are kids "missing out"? Why don't they need to see kids play "summer football" to make an assessment about their talent level? What gives? For the record, I went to a Big 10 school on a baseball scholarship. And anyone who doesn't see that there are exponentially more football scholarships than baseball is just ignoring facts. So the numbers (if it is just by the numbers), do say that you have a better chance with football. Furthermore, baseball coaches have begun to divide and subdivide their scholarships in an effort to get as many bodies on their teams as possible within their limitations. So nowadays it is much, much more common to see an absolutely fantastic HS baseball player go to school with only a .5 scholarship (or less). I can tell you that I didn't receive full compensation until my junior year. Having played and coached in summer baseball in the SWOL I can securely say that it has been taken a bit overboard. I don't care who you are, no 12 year old needs to play 90 games in a summer. Heck, I don't think a 17 year old needs to play that many games in the summer. It is amazing to look at the leagues that are FOR college players and see that they only play one or two days a week, and rarely have organized practices after the beginning of the summer. Imagine that. I for one would be in favor of expanding the dead period to encompass all of June and July. Let the kids be kids.

All this talk about the lines is a bit confusing to me. Both teams have above average lines for Class A football. Dayton has a lot of size and can be dominating in spots. But just because your big doesn't mean your good, as Bellevue has proven week in and week out this year. IMO if there is an advantage to be had in this department it would go to Bellevue. One area where I think Dayton has a distinct advantage is out on the perimeter. They have some very talented kids in that area but I haven't seen them utilize those skills much this year. From what I understand they have recently been trying to get them more involved, which would benefit them greatly in this game. No predictions from me. Just hope it is a hard fought, injury free football game. This is what Friday nights are all about!!

Baseball

Owensboro has ALWAYS had talent and speed. They are one of the best kept secrets in KY football most years, being this far out west.:sssh:I was honestly suprised with how well Sr. was able to shut down Farris. He is a very good back, but good teams have more than just one player. I would agree with earlier assessments that Boone will have to be able to do more than just run the ball in order to win in the playoffs. Congrats Devils!! Stay focused and keep your eye on the prize!

Not only that, but with the widespread use of shotgun offenses across all levels of football, it would only make sense to use the NCAA rules. I am NOT an advocate of the NCAA rule where you can cut any player at any point (eg. WR's cutting DBs, leading FB cutting a LB). However it seems a bit silly to me to have a rule that hinders a team based on whether or not they choose to line up under center. Why should they not have the same advantages that an under center team has? Is there more danger to defensive players being cut from the shotgun rather than under center? Surely not. IMO your going to see more and more of this problem among local associations as the spread/shotgun offense continues to grow. Currently, the biggest problem I see is consistency in the application of the rule. I know the rule, most of the officials know the rule, but the consistency from game to game, area to area, just isn't there. Imagine how this can affect a HS team whose base offense is from the shotgun. I don't care which way it is called (although I'd prefer it to be by the rules ), just give us something concrete so coaches can teach their players accordingly.

This should be a good test for the Devils. Make no bones about it folks, Boone Co. has a pretty darn good football team this year. From what I hear back home they are one of the best teams in NKY and look to be tops in 6A in that area. I think the Devils D gives them a chance in any ballgame, but IMO it will be what the offense does that will determine whether the Devils come away with a W or an L. Looking forward to a great game......not so much looking forward to the drive.:devil:

My question is why? Why do they not have any semblance of a passing offense? All I read about earlier this year was that Ryle was going to a "new offense" this year and would be more balanced. I've yet to see it. As far as the game, I think if Ryle values the football they should win this one handily. If HC had difficulties moving the football against NCC I'd expect more of the same against the Raiders.

How difficult is this to interpret? Non-Varsity means exactly that, NON - VARSITY. How can you interpret that to mean that an 8th grader cannot play in a JV game? Trust me........I'm very sure about this I understand what your saying about the size and mental maturity vs. older players. I think that if you look you'll find that there are very few cases of 8th graders playing JV football other than the very small schools like Bellevue, Ludlow, Dayton, Brossart, etc. If these schools didn't let the young kids play up they would have difficulty fielding a JV team. Then how do you develop your younger talent for the varsity level? I'll throw a name out though from a large school that played JV as an 8th grader, a young man named Scottie Gray. I don't think it hurt his psyche too much. Now I'll agree that at larger schools it is the exception, not the rule, that someone so young would be able to sucessfully compete at the JV level.

1. I agree. I never really felt like the game was in jeopardy. Everytime it got close someone from Highlands made a play. I suppose I should be used to this......it's what they do. 2. See #1. I will say that I was impressed with the Draper kid. Made some tough catches in traffic. Not impressed at all with the decision making skills of the HHS QB. Throwing the ball into coverage will get you into trouble, but give credit where it is due, the HHS receivers made plays. 3. I was also perplexed by this, and would add this gem: Whatever happened to changing the cadence in these situations? 4. It was a very good play by the HHS defender. I personally didn't like the call there, but it was a good play. 5. Both teams didn't look real sharp in the special teams today. Defeciencies in those areas may ultimately cost either team a ballgame at some point. 6. Buckley will certainly help out the CovCath O, but more importantly I think they need to establish an identity. 7. See my earlier posts.

Rule says that an 8th grader cannot participate in any VARSITY contest in contact sports. However, any contests that are not deemed varsity contest are fair game for 8th graders. I will try to find the exact wording and post it here.