ryanparker

This one was similar to the Greenup-Russell game on Friday night. Russell got behind big and then looked like a completely different team in the 4th quarter. If nothing else, it definitely makes for good entertainment and turns the atmosphere a little hostile by the end! :-)

Raceland's Tyler Boyles is a very good player. He was head and shoulders above everyone else on the floor. For whatever reason, he didn't seem to shoot a lot in the 2nd half, though. I believe Raceland would be better off just spreading the floor and letting him go 1 on however many the other team chooses to put on him. It worked on the final play of the game as it took about 3 Russell guys to contain Boyles and he found a player wide open for the winning layup.

I could see Raceland perhaps surprising some of the more talented teams in the region if Boyles comes out and goes for about 40.

As for Russell, I still believe they are capable of pulling off a surprise themselves as during their "comebacks" against Greenup and Raceland, they have 5 guys on the floor that can make 3's. That can be dangerous when they start hitting like they did in the 4th quarter tonight.

Lastly, I agree with Russell's radio announcer who said at the end of the game that the students and fans should come out and support this team. They do give quite an effort and are very fun to watch. In one or two years, they are going to start winning some games and that is going to be all the more gratifying because of what they are going through now.

Being a GC fan, I still have to give major props to Coach Kidwell, whatever ajustments he made at half time were unbelievable. To take a young Russell team and take a team with GC's talent to the wire is truley an amazing coaching job.

Greenup County does seem like a very talented team. I could see them making it to play Elliott County in the regional tournament this year. Then again, I could see Russell putting up a fight in the first round of the districts as well...so who knows?

I think it is good for Russell to get another game in. I look for Russell to stay closer to Raceland than they did the first time the teams met.

It appears to have been an up and down season for Raceland. They lose to Boyd by 4. Then, 6 days later they beat Boyd by 15. They beat Greenup by 6. Then, 13 days later they lose to Greenup by 9.

The 63rd district tournament will be exciting to watch this year. Raceland and Lewis will be a tossup and Russell and Greenup might be closer than some would think. About the only sure bet in the region this year is Elliott County. Something tells me they aren't going to lose. :-)

As coach Kidwell said on the post game the pressure will be on Greenup come district. If Russell can get of to a better start than they did tonight I think they can pull off the win.

He needs to let loose the halftime speech in the pregame the next time around. :-)

I agree even though I picked them to win tonight and they did not I still stand by what I said on the other thread I think Coach Kidwell is the better coach and Russell will win when they meet in the 63rd district tourn.

It is a really interesting matchup. If a neutral observer just looked at these teams out on the floor, they would have to think Greenup should win hands down. I'll be pulling for Russell to make it an exciting district game, but I'm not sure I'd pick them to win! :-) It's funny, though...with all the imposing size Greenup has out on the floor, it's really #1 who beat Russell tonight.

That's great. They were definitely great players for Raceland! Is Denton going to play in college? He should.

Coach Kidwell is doing a great job. I know that sounds crazy when talking about a 3-15 team, but they have some guys that really play with some fire. I love the intensity that Taylor (12), Stapleton (20), and Alexander (24) show. Those guys are juniors and really the reason why I think Russell becomes consistently competitive starting next year. Combine them with another year of experience for Skaggs and Davidson and I really think we have some hope for next year.

I agree. It was a fun game to watch. Russell managed to make it close enough to bring some of the old Russell-Greenup rivalry feeling into the gym.

Greenup fouled a lot and Russell shot free throws well to fuel the comeback. I think matchup number 3 for these teams in the first round of the district will tell us a lot about the abilities of these coaches.

Congratulations to Russell in this one. I was happy to see them get the win. Skaggs and Stapleton led the team to the victory as they pulled away in the 2nd half. If I'm not mistaken, Russell played 5 juniors, a sophomore, a freshman, and an 8th grader. Many say Russell is a few years away from being consistently competitive, but I think they'll be competitive next year when these 5 juniors are seniors. They always seem to try hard and have a shot against teams who will give up a few open 3's. Russell's next 3 games should be interesting since they play Menifee, Greenup, and Boyd at home...all winnable games.

On the other hand, Rowan County couldn't make a shot. They had numerous open looks in the first half and simply couldn't find the basket. On a positive note, though, Rowan County seemed to be one of the classiest and respectable teams I've seen this season. I generally sit behind the visiting team's bench and I have to say that Rowan County's coaches, both JV and Varsity, were very patient and very good. They remained positive and it seemed to funnel down to the entire team as they all pulled for each other on the bench, etc. They seem to be the type of team you'd want your child to play for.

I agree! But I look for the Rams to be at least 8-2. I look forward to them matching their record last season. Ashland and LCA are the only two games I worry about.

I think an 8-2 record would be a huge accomplishment for Raceland given what they lost last year and the difficulty of this year's schedule.

Obviously, playing at Ashland and at LCA are going to be VERY difficult games to win. Ashland has some extremely talented players returning and I doubt they are going to want to lose to Raceland at home again...so I would anticipate maximum effort from them in game 1. LCA simply has too much talent for the Rams next year. From what I recall, they return most of their players. As another poster pointed out, they should be one of the top teams in the state in any class.

Other than those 2 games, I would think the only "gimmes" on the schedule would be Fleming County, Nicholas County, and Paris. In my opinion, the games with Greenup County, East Carter, Fairview, Boyd County, and Russell will all be a challenge and could go either way.

It is a good schedule, though, and should be a good test of where the Raceland program stands. I look forward to football season as basketball season is sort of a dud this year in the 16th region since everybody knows they aren't beating Elliott County.

Congrats to the Fairview players on the win.

 

How did the Stapleton kid for Russell do? He is a good basketball player, he works hard and is a good kid as well.

He played hard as always. His 3 point shots weren't falling last night, though. I agree that he is a good player.

Is Messer the big guy who sat the bench the entire Russell game? If so, it was very surprising to me that he didn't come in. He appeared to be much taller and bigger than every Russell player. If he is in any kind of game shape at all, then he would have been a nightmare for Russell to defend.

Maybe the problem is they don't have anybody near the talent level of the guys you mentioned that established the tradition?

Wow. Fast paced game.

I just got in from the Ashland/Boyd Co. game and all I can honestly say that I have no earthly idea what Boyd is trying to accomplish.

 

A proud tradition established by guys like Frank Lee, Greg Fugate, and Antonio Owens has been turned into a circus act.

What was the score?

Fairview pulls away in the second half in this one after trailing by 3 at the half. Essentially, this one came down to 2 things. Fairview appeared to be taller than Russell at every position on the floor which led to a significant rebounding differential. Also, Russell failed to hit their 3 point shots. It was still a good effort by a young Russell team, though. As I have reiterated, they are going to be fun to watch win or lose and they have the ability to surprise some teams this year if the 3's are falling.

Fairview has a couple of very good players in #30 and #32, though. They should be able to play with and probably beat most teams in the region this year with the obvious exception being Elliott County.

On the Boyd side there are way too many "I's" in the "team", and furthermore whats going on with a system that has there only "true" center sitting on the bench?

 

It will be a dreadfully long season if this system doesn't remember to play as a team and run the positions guard through center as they are intended to be played.

Are you referring to the big guy who sat the bench the entire game? When I was watching Boyd County in warmups, I thought that guy would probably give Russell fits on the inside because that is essentially how Greenup beat Russell. They had a couple of big guys underneath who either jumped over them or moved them out of the way. That guy never got in the game, though.

I actually thought it was advantageous to Russell that Boyd County pressed the entire game. If nothing else, Russell does appear to have a bunch of young and fast guys who seem to be able to play at an up tempo pace all night. They had some turnovers due to the press but it seemed like they got just as many runouts and open 3's to make up for the turnovers. I would think you would want to play a halfcourt game against this Russell team and pound the ball inside...sort of like Greenup did.

Merle Kidwell has the team giving all out effort, playing with enthusiasm, and firing up the 3's. They are fun to watch. I think that win or lose as the season progresses, Russell definitely got the right guy for the job!

The whole team deserves accolades after this one. They all try very hard. Of course, as you pointed out, Skaggs and Stapleton are quite a combination from the outside. Russell isn't strong on the inside but they could be rather dangerous to other teams on any given night.

I am sorry but no matter how you looks at it he would be lowering his standards. If I was in his shoes I would tell the Greenup admin to take a hike and remind them what they had done in the past. I am sorry but Greenup is Greenup and will always have the division in the county and a terrible admin. The ONLY team they care about now is baseball.

I don't think he would be lowering his standards by going to coach Greenup again. If he wants to be a head coach again and wants to remain in the area, then he could probably do worse than the Greenup job. There is likely a lot of potential with the football program there.

Personally, though, I would hope he would wait for the Russell job when McGlone retires. But as it appears, that may never happen! :-)

I commend Raceland on a very good season. I, too, would have liked to have seen Raceland make it to and even win the championship game. This is a good example, though, of how difficult it is to actually do that. This may or may not have been Raceland's best team ever, but I do think it was the team with the best chance of making it to the title game since they didn't have any "powerhouses" standing in their way.

Raceland was clearly the best team from our area this year. I hope they can keep their success going because it is good for northeastern Kentucky football to have as many good teams as possible. It is also good for those teams to continue playing each other every year. The more competitive local rivalries the better. I wish Greenup and Boyd County could start producing good teams on a yearly basis.

I am starting to think, though, after years of watching area football that none of our schools will ever produce a truly dominant team on a statewide level. They are always going to run into that team from northern Kentucky, Lexington, Louisville, or southeastern Kentucky who matches or exceeds them in talent. At that point, it seems to me like it simply comes down to a couple of plays here or there.

I know many Raceland fans don't like hearing about Russell, but I use them as an example just because I've followed them. The 2005 team that won the state had to pull off a 2 minute drive in the 3rd round game at Newport just to send that game into overtime. Then in the overtime, they had to block an extra point to win the game by 1. They then had to have a late game interception in the semifinal game against Belfry to win that one. They could have easily lost either game. On the flip side, the 2007 Russell team dropped a late game interception against Breathitt County to lose their 3rd round game. Was the 2005 team that much better than the 2007 team? I don't think so. It was just a matter of a play or two here and there going their way. Raceland could have easily made it to the title game this year had a play or two in that LCA game have gone their way. No difference.

With that being said and with all of us realizing how difficult it is to go all the way, I see no reason why every fan of teams in northeastern Kentucky (particularly Ashland, Boyd County, Russell, Greenup County, and Fairview) should not have been cheering for the Rams last week. We should all support the other teams when they aren't playing our own team and when they are trying to accomplish something that would be good for the entire area.

Back to the original point, though! Congratulations to Raceland for a great year and best wishes on getting ready for next season. My early pick for "best team in our area" next year is Ashland...so in my opinion, Raceland will get to face the best next year right at the start of the season!

In reference to a comment made earlier about Raceland either "couldn't or wouldn't adjust to defend the pass"...I really think Raceland's coaches did all they could on the defensive side of the ball in this one. When they got pressure on Witt, none of Raceland's players were fast enough to get to him and bring him down. Several of the plays he made to get LCA back into the game were "sandlot" plays where the guy with more talent simply won out. As far as any criticism of Raceland's secondary goes, I doubt there are too many high school athletes in the state who would be able to stick with the fast LCA receivers for as long as Raceland's guys had to last night. LCA's line did well and when they didn't, Witt bought himself enormous amounts of time on some of those plays with his running ability. It is hard to believe that the QB and several other key players including Hayden, #1, #18, and at least one of those big linemen are underclassmen! With the players LCA has coming back, Raceland has a tall order if they are going to be competitive with this team next year!

As for all the comments about the senior class of Raceland being upstanding guys...I don't know any of them personally, but I am sure they do have a fine bunch of guys who will do well in life. They represented themselves well on the field last night. I wish them the best in their future endeavors. They gave their community a memorable season and injected a lot of excitement into the Raceland football program, which in turn puts a lot of life into Northeastern Kentucky football. Congratulations on a great season.

It helps to have recievers like #4 & #1 also.

Good point. The whole team impressed.

The QB for LCA is the real deal, he can flat throw throw on the run.

More than anything else, that is what I came away impressed with from this game. Someone at the game said he's only a Junior? If so, they are going to be something else to contend with next season...as if they're not enough to contend with now.

I got to see this one in person and it turned out to be quite a game. I'm sorry Raceland couldn't pull it out, but LCA (and more specifically their QB) was just too good.

The first 2 and a half quarters, LCA seemed content to go for short passes and try for yards after catch. It didn't work a whole lot. They went nowhere while Raceland had an efficient enough offense to keep possession of the ball most of the time. When LCA opened it up and started going downfield after falling behind 20-3, the game completely changed. Raceland got a rush on the LCA QB occasionally, but he was always too fast to be brought down. He would simply elude the rush and either scramble for decent yardage or make big plays downfield.

I would complain and say Raceland played it too conservative on offense after getting the 17 point lead as there seemed to be a few series in a row where their offense went nowhere, but I was on here before the game saying Raceland should keep it on the ground and pound away at LCA the entire time. I was wrong on that one. LCA's defense and line held their own in the 2nd half. They stepped up when it counted most.

All in all, it was a great game. I'm sorry to see Raceland's season end this way, but they have a lot to be proud of considering what they accomplished this year. LCA is a good team with a great QB!

Skaggs is not the point guard.

Wasn't he the point guard most of last year? Who is the point guard?