ryanparker

Isn't last year's Greenup coach now the coach of Portsmouth Notre Dame? If so, I can see there being a lot motivation there to really stick it to his former team. If Greenup has a turnaround this year, then it would make it look like as if he was the problem. If they don't, then it must be something else. I think that adds a lot of intrigue to this game. I know absolutely nothing about Portsmouth Notre Dame, though, so there is no way for me to logically pick the winner of this one. From watching Greenup play last week, it is obvious they need to cut down on the turnovers, penalties, and missed assignments. If they cut down on these drive killing mistakes, they might have a shot to put some points on the board because they have a few guys who run pretty well. I hope Greenup gets the win.

Come on now. I think your anti-Russell bias is showing through on this one! Russell hasn't stepped up to play a good team? Since 2000, Russell has played Simon Kenton, Mason County, Raceland, Belfry, Breathitt County, Corbin, Mercer County, Newport, Owensboro Catholic, Lloyd Memorial, Portsmouth West (OH), Wheelersburg (OH), Lexington Catholic, and your beloved Ashland Tomcats. All pretty good teams. Usually, they hold their own against such teams as well. I didn't take the time to calculate the stats, but I can promise you it's rare you'll see them get beat "by as many as the other team wants". Like I've said, I like the way this year's Russell team plays. There isn't a lot of "me" attitudes evident on the field or on the sidelines. It is yet to be seen as to how they are going to stand up to being behind in a game or even being scored on. We will likely find that out this week. Ironton will be the biggest challenge of the season, but I look for them to make a game of it against the bigger, stronger Tigers. It would surprise me if they lay down and quit.

Not to be unoriginal, but I completely agree that this will be a very good and close game. I think Fairview will win 20-19.

Will the turf at Belfry be an even bigger advantage to the Tomcats since their biggest asset is their speed? Belfry has one of the nicest high school football facilities I've ever been to.

I've never seen Rister play but have heard great things about him. I saw Farley play at Boyd County and thought he looked pretty impressive, particularly throwing the ball. If Rister truly is that much better than Farley and then they get Barr back...whew, look out! This Raceland offense could be pretty potent. I will say this, though. If Rister is head and shoulders above Farley, then he must be one of the best QB's this area has seen in a long time.

Russell visits Ironton's Tank Memorial Stadium this Friday for the first time since 1992. Russell last beat them there in 1977. Ironton holds the overall series lead 20-3-1. From everything I have read, this is one of Ironton's better teams in a while. Ironton kicked off their season by beating rival Wheelersburg for the first time in 3 years and it looks like Ironton fans are confident about what this season might bring. Does Russell pull off the upset of the year or does Ironton reestablish their dominance over Russell after a 17 year hiatus?

I wish I had gotten the chance to meet you. I saw in another thread where Nathan Taylor is your cousin. I love the way he plays basketball and I figured he would bring something good to the table on the football field as well, given the passion he shows on the basketball court. It looks like he has found an important role on this year's football team, being the punter and a very good special teams player. He even caught a TD pass last week as well.

Graybeard, I am giving Ashland my "kiss of death" prediction. :-) As you recognized on another thread, I'm on a real roll this year! I picked Boyd over Raceland, Raceland over Ashland, and Russell over their first 2 opponents in what I predicted would be nailbiters. I really think Ashland is better than Belfry this year, though. However, as you mentioned, Belfry isn't going to be a pleasant place to visit for your first away game of the year. It's a very tough place to play. The Belfry fans support their team in large numbers and with loud voices. The Belfry team plays with pride and passion. Plus, they have a tremendous coach who knows what he's doing. This game is a great challenge for Ashland at this point in the year. You've got to love the Tomcats schedule. Two local rivals at home to start the year. Then go on the road to face Phillip Haywood and Ivan McGlone in successive weeks. Then try your luck against Ironton and Waverly, Ohio. And then the tough district schedule starts followed by the closing game against longtime rival Boyd. The only way it could be worse is to be playing Johnson Central's schedule!

I like this team a lot. They've played hard both weeks so far and they did really cut down on mistakes tonight. They executed their offense very well and the defense looks like they are smartly sticking to their assignments and not allowing big plays. They are just a bunch of good football players. Like OldRambler said, Russell is Russell. An Ivan McGlone-coached team can be a joy to watch if they have a bunch of selfless players like they seem to have this year. I think this is going to be a fun season win or lose, because like I said, they are going to make the other team execute very well in order to win.

This won't be easy for Ashland by any means. I don't think they win it by the margin of their first 2 victories this season, but I do think they win it. From all accounts, this is a down year for Belfry and an up year for Ashland. I say Ashland wins 21-20.

Given the record breaking preseason thread about Greenup County football, I thought there would be someone on here to talk about this game tonight??? I realize Russell fans are few and far between on here, but I figured somebody would say something. Any Raceland or Ashland fans make the game?

First, I apologize to Russell running back Travis Jones for saying Russell doesn't have anyone with breakaway speed this year! :-) He and the rest of the Russell team played a really good game tonight. Again, while not record breaking in the weight room or on the track, Russell does what they do very well and tonight was a prime example of that. They execute their plan and do so with a lot of effort. It is going to take a good football team to beat them. Tonight, Greenup wasn't that team. You could tell many of the Greenup players were playing hard, but there were just too many little mistakes to kill drives and give up big plays. Also, the Russell defense is playing pretty well, not having given up a point yet this season. All in all, it was a nice win for the Devils. Greenup has a lot of work to do before they get to the district part of their schedule.

Not that there would be anything wrong with that...but I agree, so I gave the Rams my vote.

Should be a good game tonight. Good weather. Looking for a good crowd on both sides. I look for it to be a close game as well.

Good post. I think it's just human nature, though, particularly for fans who are getting spoiled by winning, to try to pin the loss on something they can control rather than just admitting the loss was something Knute Rockne himself couldn't even have prevented! Ashland is obviously just better this year, way better. End of story. No matter what plays were called, it's likely that Ashland's speedy defenders would have handled anything that came their way. For example, I have often been amazed in the past at the many people who will criticize Ivan McGlone at Russell during down years. The guy has coached for over 30 years, won a ton of games, and won 2 state titles, but yet you'll still hear people saying he doesn't know what plays to call when Russell loses. Please. Raceland has a very good coaching staff and what they have accomplished the last few years should be respected. I agree with your post, though. Hey, Ashland was just the better team this year. You won't see another team like that on the schedule until LCA. Get the injured players back and just get better until then.

Now I might be on the Ashland bandwagon again, but I'm not riding it into the playoffs! That's when they are guaranteed to run into Highlands and that's never pretty. Do you really think they can compete with Highlands this year?

Wow. Raceland opens the season with 3 straight away games. I don't know a thing about Fleming County this year other than they are in Russell's district again. They used to be able to field a decent team every once in a while and judging from their week 1 result, Raceland better not take them lightly.

Since I'm back to reality now and not picking against Ashland, I have to say that Ashland will beat Belfry next week. Belfry lost to Prestonsburg and only beat Boyd County by 2 TD's, so this must not be the typical Belfry team. The biggest challenges are ahead for Ashland are Ironton and probably still Johnson Central, even though they have lost their first 2. I really hope Ashland can win their district, though, so they wouldn't have to see Highlands until the 3rd round of the playoffs. In any case, they should have a good season.

I can't help but notice that while Ashland is beating up thier first 2 opponents this year, their main district rival Johnson Central has been on the other end of beatings in their first 2 weeks.

Would anyone have picked Sheldon Clark in this game besides Sheldon Clark fans? Probably not. How many yards did Fugate have? People were listing his stats last week and talking about his chance to get a ridiculous amount of yards and TD's this year and become the state's all-time leading rusher. I guess Sheldon Clark put an end to that talk.

Another good win for Mason County. Congratulations to the Royals.

This is a very surprising result. It's hard to believe that Fugate could be shut out.

So...somebody give us some details about what this game looked like. Did Farley not look as impressive as last week? Was Ashland's speed the deciding factor as many predicted? What was the difference?

Wow. Was I ever wrong! Sounds like it was a complete domination, especially by the Tomcats defense. I've said many times that Ashland was far and away the best team in our area this year. I think I just lost my senses and got temporarily blinded by the orange propaganda. :-) I'll wait and see what Russell does against Greenup tomorrow night before I make any prediction about the Russell-Ashland game.

Wow. Does this mean we'll see him suited up in green and white Saturday night at Russell? :-) I know the transfer rules must be lax anymore, but they're not that lenient, are they?