ryanparker

I got the feeling they were "out for blood" against Russell last year. It was one of those games where as soon as I saw Ashland come out onto the field, I thought "uh-oh...Russell's in trouble tonight". Ashland was 1-2 at the time and a loss to Russell would have put them on the road to possibly another disappointing season. Needless to say, they turned it around in a big way. You're right, Raceland had better be ready to match their intensity...but first things first...Greenup County for Ashland and Boyd County for Raceland. I assume both of those games will be wins for Ashland and Raceland...but you never know.

I wonder if Ashland will come out fired up for that Raceland game.

Earning it week to week in practice is a good plan, but I hope they eventually find a couple of leaders they can get behind. I think it's better for a team to have some stability at a few key spots, especially quarterback. Last year's Raceland team had that and their main rival, Lexington Christian, certainly has that this year. In any case, I'm looking forward to seeing Raceland play Boyd County on August 22nd. Does Raceland have any scrimmages scheduled prior to that other than tonight's intrasquad game?

It is an exciting time of the year. I know there was some talk on here awhile back about who the QB is going to be. I would assume it's been decided by now given there's only 2 weeks until the opening game...so who is it? :-) Is Barr going to be starting at running back? If so, who's going to be lining up with him in the backfield?

Ram hit the nail on the head. Now that he mentioned it, I, too, can hear the overjoyed voice of the Ashland radio announcer letting loose about Carter and Albers. If Ashland comes up with a line this year, they are going to be very, very good. No amount of sandbagging can disguise that. I look for them to be a top 10 ranked 5-A team this year.

From what I've heard about all these transfers, in the future, it sounds like that article will read more like this: All kidding aside, it sounds like some of these kids and parents could learn a thing or two from a player who is willing to put himself aside and just do what his coaches tell him to. Kudos to Travis Jones. I hope he has a big senior season.

But then again, there don't seem to be too many Russell fans ever on here wanting to talk about football...so I guess the JFL and transfers are as good a topic as any. :-) I'll ask again if anyone is "in the know"...how has Russell practice been going? I have a good idea who most of the starters will be, but let me ask these questions...who is going to play the 2 defensive tackle spots? Who is in the secondary? How about right tackle and tight end on offense? Those are the only positions I'm curious about. The rest are filled in my mind.

From all I've heard and read, it has to do with the Russell JFL's decision to play each other rather than other area schools. Several people were evidently upset with that decision so they went to Raceland. I've heard that Raceland got a few more from Greenup due to their middle school decision as well. You'd think the Rams have hired Calipari as coach down there or something! Suddenly Raceland is the fashionable place to play football. I realize it's not Raceland's fault, but they look to be the beneficiary of several parents' decisions as I've heard several of these players were among the best of Russell's middle school ranks. :-) I will say this, though. With all of these players coming in, the Rams staff is going to have to be like Belichick and the Patriots with their ability to take malcontents from all over the place and mold them into "team" players. Sadly, we won't know which way is really best, though, for probably about another decade after players have had time to go through each system. Then we could compare the success of each program and find out which way turned out to be the best. This should probably be some sort of youth sports case study. :-) From a broader perspective, was it always this easy to just go to whatever school you want? I always thought you had to pay tuition or something a long time ago. Has that gone by the wayside to accomodate the "me" generation? I guess every young player eventually settles somewhere where they feel like they are getting what they want. There have probably been a thousand threads on here before about transfers, and I don't want to turn this into one, but it is an interesting topic that probably should be a thread of it's own.

Anyone know how practice is going?

That's good. I've never seen him play, but from everything I've heard he's going to be a good player for Raceland this year.

I read on another site that Rister suffered an injury in practice. True? Not true?

I agree in that games against the stronger teams are more fun to anticipate and watch. Ashland fans get to look forward to a great game pretty much every week on their schedule. Greenup and Boyd are probably the weakest teams on there and at least those are "rivalry" games. Fans of other area teams, however, have a few "dud" weeks mixed in. If Ashland can get their line playing strong, then I look for this to be one of the better Ashland teams in a while.

Something should be said for you Raceland fans who have kept this thread near the top for the entire off-season. I must say that you have pulled me in as I enjoy reading and posting about the Raceland team with you, even though I don't get to see them play very often because I go to Russell's games. The only thread with more replies is the Greenup County thread and that was boosted by a coaching change! With supporters like yourselves combined with a very good coaching staff, I agree that the pieces are in place for Raceland to have a good run for a few years.

I think Raceland will be the favorites in every game on their schedule except for Ashland and Lexington Christian. What do you guys think?

I agree. It was a good game. It really appeared as if Raceland had it locked up. LCA's QB took over and won it, though. I hope some of the teams in our area can provide November excitement like that once again...and I especially hope some of them get home field advantage like Raceland did last year. It makes it much more convenient to see games like that.

I think Ashland is fine competing with Bryan Station, Montgomery County, and Johnson Central in their district. They can play with those teams on a yearly basis. The problem is the district they are matched up against in the first round of the playoffs. It offers little chance for them to ever advance. They run into Fort Thomas or Covington Catholic right out of the gates and that's too bad. Russell and Raceland are fortunate in that they get easier districts in their first round playoff matchups. They don't run into hard teams until the 3rd or 4th round of the playoffs.

Getting back to talking about the upcoming season, I agree with Old Rambler in that LCA is going to be quite a challenge for Raceland this year to say the least. I know that Raceland can't do anything about their district games, but you have to really respect them for beefing up the rest of their schedule. As far as the out-of-district schedule goes, they face a pretty good challenge most every week now. That should help prepare them for LCA when the time comes...although I think LCA would probably demolish Ashland (what I think is the best team on Raceland's schedule outside of their district) as well this year. I went to the LCA playoff game last year at Raceland and was quite impressed with the players that LCA has coming back. Unless something changed with their roster over the summer, they should have a good chance at the 1A state title this year.

You're right...that was too PC... OK...Russell has won the last 8 meetings between these schools and has done so by an average score of 31-10. The last time Greenup managed to beat Russell was in the year 2000 when T.J. Maynard was their coach. So, I'll go out on a limb and say Greenup's new coach and enthusiasm won't be enough to make up a 21 point gap...not this year. Besides, I saw in yesterday's paper that Jack Ditty will likely run for the senate seat. I wouldn't have a chance anyway. :-)

I didn't intend to sound like I was putting down the accomplishments of the Raceland teams of the past or the potential accomplishments of this year's Raceland team. I was only trying to point out how impressive it would be to win at Ashland this year because of the players Raceland lost and the team Ashland has coming back. Although none quite as impressive as last year, Raceland has had good years in the past, only to return to average years. For example, the 2002 team went 9-3, only to be followed by .500 seasons for the next 2 years. I was curious so I looked up Raceland's record over the past 10 years along with how they fared in the playoffs and how they fared against other area teams: 1998 - 7-4; 1st Round Playoff Loss; L to Greenup County 1999 - 7-4; 1st Round Playoff Loss; W over Ashland; L to Greenup County 2000 - 1-9; No Playoffs; L to Ashland; L to Greenup 2001 - 5-6; 1st Round Playoff Loss; L to Greenup 2002 - 9-3; 2nd Round Playoff Loss; L to Greenup 2003 - 6-5; 1st Round Playoff Loss; L to Greenup 2004 - 5-6; 1st Round Playoff Loss; L to Greenup 2005 - 7-4; 1st Round Playoff Loss; L to Ashland; W over Greenup 2006 - 11-2; 3rd Round Playoff Loss; W over Ashland; W over Greenup 2007 - 7-5; 2nd Round Playoff Loss; W over Ashland; W over Greenup; L to Russell 2008 - 12-1; 3rd Round Playoff Loss; W over Ashland; W over Greenup; W over Russell Granted, the 1st round playoff losses from 1998 to 2005 were to the Beechwood's, Newport Central Catholic's, and Bellevue's of the world, but it doesn't look like the program was at the level where it is now. It is only since 2005 that Raceland began what is now a 4 game winning streak over Greenup, started a 3 game winning streak over Ashland, and made it to round 3 of the playoffs twice. It's obvious that Raceland's program is on the upswing and I really hope Raceland builds upon the success of the past 3 years. It gives us area football fans more interesting games to watch in November. I just think with the graduations of last year and the toughness of the schedule this year, this could be considered a "big" season to keep the program rolling along in the right direction. From the statistics, though, it's clear that whatever happened in 2005 was a good thing. Is that the year that you came on board with the program, SidelineDoc? :-)

Excuse me if this was already posted in this massive thread, but when does Raceland start practice? I saw in the Greenup thread where practice starts tonight (July 16th). Russell doesn't start until July 27th. Why such a difference?

Enthusiasm seems to be high for Greenup County football this year. If that enthusiasm translates to the better play on the field, then Greenup certainly has a chance. For a better answer to this question, though, I reserve comment until after seeing what happens in both teams first game on August 21st. :-)

They really will be. Raceland and Greenup County must have drawn the shortest straw or something being the road team both weeks!

I guess I'm looking forward to some game threads. The first couple of weeks will be good for area fans: August 21st (Friday) Greenup County @ Ashland August 22nd (Saturday) Raceland @ Boyd County August 28th (Friday) Raceland @ Ashland August 29th (Saturday) Greenup County @ Russell

I'm not trying to jinx you! :-) I would rather see Raceland beat Ashland than not any day of the week! I just think the Rams will the underdogs in that one...because like Ram said, Ashland is going to be the best in the area this year. I'd love to see Raceland pull it off up there again, and I was just commenting on what a HUGE win that would be...should it happen.

Good point...Raceland might just win both of those games...and that won't be solely because of the QB either. I tell you what, though...if Raceland beats Ashland at Putnam Stadium again coming out of the gate this year, then it is becoming clear that the football program at Raceland is really becoming something special. If you can lose the area sportsman of the year in Boyles, two fast and powerful backs in Denton and Carver, one of the best linemen to come through the area in a while in Logan, and the enormous Swede and STILL go beat one of Ashland's best teams in a while, then that is really making a statement.