RowdyRedRam

To be fair to the opponent, most on here have stated the game will be competitive.

The last game started with St X jumping ahead and Manual getting the advantage once the game settled down. Manual will NOT fatigue. But they may have holes that can be exploited.

There were over 11,000 to attend the Manual Male game at Papa John's of that probably 6,000 of those were Manual fans. St X is our next biggest rival I would expect at least 2,000 Manual fans to be in attendance. Most Visitors stands don't accommodate us. If yours only holds a 1,000, a great number of Manual fans will be standing.

I don't understand, please explain.

Both offensively and defensively St X performed better, but something should be said of the fact that St X went into half time up 14-0 and and finished the game 21-14. Take what you will of the following... Every scoring drive of St X consisted of 4 or less plays. They couldn't punch it in on there long drives but scored off long plays. Manual's only scoring drive (not counting the 1 play 1 yrd TD off the punt) was 11 plays 98yrds in the 4th qtr. Manual provided the only "real" turnover by throwing and int while in the red zone in the middle of the 3rd qtr. To say St X proved to be a better team, I would whole heartedly agree, to say Manual was fortunate to be in the game, is incorrect.

per http://manualfootball.com/ Which is outstanding at giving a full account of stats rushing attempts 358 Passing attempts 170

I don't think the match up is really as close as some on here think. I think that St X is a significantly better team than Manual. With that said Manual is one of the few team in the state capable of playing with St X, but if they beat them I would consider it an upset. In the last game X popped Manual in the mouth early like they hadn't seen yet, or saw since, this season. With Manual having a better understanding of what they are going up against, they shouldn't be as shell shocked by the physicality of X.

It didn't appear so.

...And then you do the Hokie Pokie and you turn yourself around

It is much nicer coming into the playoffs with a win against Male. Usually the let down of that game is to much for the Rams to stay focused in the Playoffs. Manual gave PRP one of their more lopsided losses this season (34-6). While the margin might not be as high I still expect Manual to come away with the victory.

YAHOOOOOO

If you start looking for series records and other such stats you'll find that this is a lopsided rivalry with Male far and away on top. What makes this rivalry isn't the competitive nature but rather what these schools are. In the beginning (1893) Male was the white collar prep school and Manual was the blue collar trade school. Natural class rivalry developed from the start. Today, Manual and Male are two the top schools in Jefferson Co. Getting into Male or Manual is no easy task as they are the most sought after schools in an open enrollment system. Yet while both schools excel, they are dramatically different in culture. Male is still very much a prep school with the traditional program, its the school of preps and jocks. Manual on the other hand with its diverse programs of arts(YPAS and Visual arts) and sciences (MST program) makes Manual a school of freaks and geeks. When I played, I never played a Male team that we could remotely touch in terms of talent. Today the gap has closed a great deal. Some have, in the last few years, said that Manual might have more talent than Male. I don't think I believe that. Male is still Male, nor do I think Manual is as talented as their record makes people assume.

I expect Highlands to win this one, and it wouldn't shock me if this was a big win either. Unlike most teams that have Highlands on there schedule I don't think Central will see this game as the big match up of the season hurting there chances of winning. Central has play respectably against the stronger teams but hasn't been able to get the win in any of the marquee match ups this season, I think this will also be sitting heavy on there minds. A note to those visiting Central for the first time. The stadium is new and nice however the visitors section is tiny. I don't know how well Highlands fans travel but if you typically bring a large contingent and are particular about getting a good seat, try to get there early. Another thing, parking is scarce. While there are some new urban renewal sub divisions built south of the stadium that are very nice and seem perfectly safe, nobody I know would feel comfortable with the idea roaming the streets of west Louisville after dark looking for your car.

Should be a good one. Go Rams

I would think Manual would be favored however being the last game before Male and following one of the less competitive games this one could be a trap game. I could see this one ranging from a Manual blowout to a close win by BE.

In regards to the original question. I think both teams are better than those they will face to the finals. Sure, I think Manual is capable of beating St X but I don't think Manual is nearly as good as St X either, if the Crimsons win, it will be an upset. If St X does what they should do, they really don't have a hard route to the championship.

Manual has never had the better team against St X or Trinity. I find it ironic that he gets disrespected because he hasn't upset the X and T programs "enough" in his five years of coaching.

I remember thinking the interior D-Line caused a great deal of pressure up the middle disrupting Manual's running game. Neither the line backers nor the offensive line left any impression on me, but the general rule with Central is that they are probably bigger, faster, and stronger than you (I say this as a 6A team viewing a 3A team). Beating them requires playing sound football, even if the physical mismatch is extreme, Central has had the tendency to give enough opportunities to opponent to close the athletic gap. Maybe I just haven't been paying attention, but I can't recall very many, if any, Lou vs EKY match ups. I'm very interested as to how this game plays out. I'd love for those who watch it to give a very detailed report in the post game.

Losing makes everything harder. It is much harder to put on the pads everyday when you are losing than when you win.

The article was in the papar. The online version has some additional aspects like video and photos.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=SPORTS05 Under the sports tab there is a listing of Prep sports. If you go to that then another tab appears that says KY or IN, click on KY and it brings you to this page.

Pete W usually has very detailed stats. My best guess wouldn't be very good as to the actual pass run ratio, but it seemed like St X only threw down field about three times, all the others were screens or quick slants.

I really don't think you can say that with this game in particular. Manual was down 14-0 at the half and came back to make 21-14. The game was close because Manual fought there way back in it, and against a better team.

I'm not really upset or disappointed about this loss. St X was clearly the better team. I think the coaches at PRP and Butler did a disservice to honesty when they voted Manual #1 in the district. It was obvious in the pregame warm ups that X was physically superior and the depth factor was already a given. The one thing I feel good about this game is that Manual improved as the game went on. St X was the first defense that we have played that we simply couldn't outplay. We really looked shell shocked in the beginning at how impenetrable the Tiger D seemed to be. It didn't help the the passing game didn't click at all early on, partly due to pressure on the QB but partly due to hastily chucked balls. It never really felt like Harness was settled in the passing game at all toinight despite the fact that we did make some throws. Defensively it kind of went the same way. I don't think Manual was ready for the way X smacked them in the mouth right at the begining but after it settled down and realized that they were playing big boy ball they play as well I could have hoped for. Ultimately the defense played well enough to win the game, the mismatch of our offense to there defense was in my opinion the determining factor. Many people have made reference to Manual having athletes. But honestly I think tonight showed that we really lack an game breaker speed to scare the top teams. Again I think St X was clearly the better team, but Manual should come out of this game with some confidence that they played better as the game wore on.

If my memory serves me correctly there are two parking lots for High School itself and there is an elemetary school just behind it that is sure to have parking as well. I don't know the exact parking process at Eastern but you shouldn't have any trouble getting a place to park with so many spots. Edit: But then take a Tarc because the game is at Trinity.