Hoot Gibson

The Texas Association of Basketball Coaches has Duncanville #2 and Cedar Hill #3. Class 5A is the largest class in Texas and Cedar Hill's enrollment in grades 9-12 is 1,800.

I was very impressed by Elliot County. They obviously had an off night shooting and most of the shots that they missed early were open looks. The Lions out rebounded the much larger Cedar Hill team and played very evenly aside from their cold outside shooting. When a team can play their worst game of the season and stay within 10 of a team having four D1 recruits, they are obviously capable of beating anybody in the state on a given night.

I copied the original list from Massey and edited it. I just forgot to delete the "for Boys."

1. Trinity For Boys 2. Saint Xavier 3. Highlands 4. Bell County 5. Central 6. Johnson Central 6. Christian County 6. Boyle County 9. Manual 10. Owensboro

Bell gambled twice and passed up an almost sure FG. They failed once and they scored a TD on their second gamble. If the first decision was a bad one, then so was the second one. 2 FGs = 1 TD.

If they had opted for both field goals, the score would be the same.

What is impressive about it? It shows the lack of depth in Kentucky high school football compared to the states to its north and south. It also suggests that six classes are at least two too many for a state as small as Kentucky.

Johnson Central had three players named as honorable mentions - a reasonable number, IMO - but the leading rusher on the state's (nation's?) leading rushing team merited at least a mention.

Chase Richardson regular season offensive stats: 1439 yards, 15 touchdowns, 12.1 yards/carry Not even an Honorable Mention? Unbelievable.

A doubleheader would be fine as long as Johnson Central would get the lion's share of the gate receipts. If Paintsville wants a big payday, then it should not have killed the series with Johnson Central. I would prefer a Thursday night game at Johnson Central and a Friday or Saturday game at Paintsville. Enough people are in town for Apple Day to support two separate games in two separate stadiums.

2008 attendance for five Indiana state high school final games = 56,050 (11,210/game) 2007 attendance for six Kentucky state high school final games = 46,620 (7,770/game) Apparently many Kentucky fans do just stay home. Eliminating the open week, and playing the finals a a week or two earlier could not hurt attendance.

Every team. Nine regular season games. The bottom line is every team is guaranteed ten games and the winner of the 15th game in each of the five classes is a state champion. Teams usually play in five to seven conference games.

Indiana's season was over last Saturday. Every team participated in the playoffs and the finals were held indoors.

You are wrong about the academic gap between Paintsville and Johnson Central. The difference in average test scores is attributable to demographics and demographics alone. Put plainly, Johnson Central educates a far higher percentage of children who qualify for free and reduced lunches than Paintsville does and they always have. That brings the average scores down but it does not mean that students cannot get an education at Johnson Central that is equal to or better than they can get at Paintsville. IMO, Johnson County Middle School is among the top middle schools in the state. The school has won more Governor's Cup state titles in academic competition than any other middle school in the state. Although Johnson Central has not managed to win an overall state title, the school has become a consistent top 5 or top 10 finisher and I believe has finished as high as third in recent years. Much like its football team, Paintsville's academic teams have some excellent individual talent but they lack the depth to be competitive at the state level. As for the Apple Bowl, I think that this move is over due but I wish that JC had canceled the series a couple of years ago when it became obvious that the Tigers would not be competitive with the Golden Eagles as long as Jim Matney remains JC's head coach. Football-wise, canceling the Apple Bowl will help both teams in the long run. Paintsville will be able to schedule a team with which it can compete and JC will continue to bolster its strength of schedule.

Neither team played an out of state team this season. The top 5A teams in Indiana are concentrated in the greater Indianapolis area and usually play in state teams. Some of the top private schools (Cathedral, Roncalli, and Bishop Chatard) in 3A and 4A regularly play the top GCL teams. Most of the Indiana teams that play Kentucky teams are located in southern Indiana. IMO, the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference, which includes both Center Grove and Carmel, as well as Ben Davis, Warren Central and several other large schools, is one of the best in the country. According to Massey, here is how the top 10 would look if you combined Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio into a super-state: State Name Rating Ohio St. Ignatius 2.79 Kentucky Saint Xavier 2.74 Ohio Liberty-Benton 2.73 Ohio Elder 2.67 Ohio Glenville 2.65 Ohio Alter 2.64 Indiana Center Grove 2.59 Ohio Coldwater 2.38 Ohio Colerain 2.34 Indiana Carmel 2.33

Great game. UK signee Morgan Newton rushed 19 times for 219 yards and connected on 12 of 19 passes for 78 yards and one interception in a losing cause. Carmel dominated for more than three quarters but beginning with the Newton interception, everything began going Center Grove's way. Newton was easily the best player on the field and will be a great addition to the UK roster next fall.

Congratulations, Highlands. Great game plan and perfect execution. Good luck the rest of the way!

Really? I thought it proved that you cannot turn the ball over and win at this level. The fumble return for a touchdown was a killer.

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The WSIP link using Internet Explorer. Firefox will not work. I have had to reconnect manually several times but otherwise the link has worked just fine for me.

Same here. I have never gotten the link to work with Firefox.

Here are the directions from Salyersville.

If you are going to Paintsville early and want a break from driving, Natural Bridge State Park at Slade has Sandstone Arches Restaurant, and it is only a mile or two from the Mountain Parkway. The lodge is about an hour and fifteen minutes from Paintsville.

You will not find much in the way of fine dining in Paintsville. Aside from the chain restaurants like Shoney's, Bob Evans, Ponderosa, etc., there are not many options. I like Mexican food and the Fiesta Place, which is near Arby's, is pretty good. I haven't eaten there in a couple of years, but the Fiesta Place used to have some very tasty desserts. If you arrive with plenty of time to spare, I highly recommend the fried catfish at the Jenny Wiley State Park lodge near Prestonsburg, but it will take you about 20 minutes to get there from Paintsville.

Somebody may have already explained this, but if so it bears repeating, especially considering the cold weather. The Paintsville DQ has no indoor seats and no drive through window. There are picnic tables under a covered awning. Also, I am not sure how late the DQ is open during the winter, so grabbing a footlong before the game would be the safe way to go.