ColonelMike

Time to start building indoor football arenas.... 🤪

Speaking as an old marching band guy (trumpet) from the 70s.....we marched in EVERYTHING (and I mean EVERYTHING) from 100+ degree temperatures to ten degree temps to - believe it or not - hail (briefly). Seriously.

We're still a week away, but honestly, I'm expecting a lot of cancellations on Friday, at least in the metro Louisville area. Forecasts are calling for 99 degree temps with 56% humidity.....that's a heat index of 122, guys. Even if it "cools" to 93 degrees - at that humidity - by game time (perhaps a delayed 8 pm or 8:30 start), you're still talking about 105 degree heat index. Anyone for Saturday morning "Football and Flapjacks"?

This could be a very exciting North offense if Coach Roberts gets what he's looking for out of this no-huddle, 4-wideout look - led by a 3-year starter at QB. Fern Creek will counter with a tremendous runner in Mykel Malone, who rushed for over 1,000 yards last year. The matchup to watch may be the North defense, which likely will be playing without star LB Noah Leber, who led the team in tackles with 144 last season, vs. the Fern Creek offense. Leber is cleared to play, but will likely be held out one more week. North's D can win the matchup if they can force Creek to throw the ball, something the Tigers do not do well. But if the Mustangs allow the Tigers to grind the game away on the ground behind Malone, it could be trouble for Coach Roberts' first game.

I'm thinking the BGP 6A rankings for these two may be more or less reversed this coming week.... ?

How about the Old Indian Weather Rock??

Note the time on this one.....kickoff is at 6 pm. If you don't go to the game, join me and former Oldham County / Jeffersontown coach Mike Shatzer on www.pegasussportsky.com beginning at 5:30 pm. (click on any of the school logos to get to the broadcast page) FREE live high def video coverage. The game will be held at SOUTH OLDHAM HS in Crestwood.... New North coach Brock Roberts comes from the Martha Layne Collins program, where he assisted Coach Lucas for 8 years. He also served two years as the head coach at Eminence, where he played in HS (WR/DB). It's starting to be a few years since those "glory days" for North, when the Mustangs were perennially ranked in the top 10 and the year when the Mustangs came within 6 seconds of playing in the state championship. Roberts is trying to resurrect that winning attitude among a group of kids who aren't quite old enough to remember it. The Mustangs have 67 kids on the roster this year, including 17 seniors. Jace Bullock returns for his third season as the North signal-caller, giving the North offense some veteran consistency at the most important position on the field. Another key player to watch on offense: Gray Schmittel, who will play slot receiver. Schmittel is a rugged receiver who is smart and finds ways to get open. He's also a capable backup quarterback who looks to be their heir apparent at that position in 2024. North will go uptempo this year, featuring a vertical passing game. In fact, expect the Mustangs to air the ball out a lot more than in previous years, as they try to get athletes in space. Roberts says the offense should look a lot like the Collins' Titans' attack. Defensively, the Mustangs will run a base 4-3. Look for North to try to put a lot of pressure on the quarterbacks with stunts and blitzes.

It's a bummer getting old. Never cared until after the heart surgery....and now my knee is chiming in. All the warranties are expiring and the parts need replacing....

Tought night for an exceptionally young and very inexperienced Dragon squad against a terrifically explosive passing attack from Anderson. South entered the game with ZERO returning starters from the unit that started 2022, and a veteran Raptor passing attack exploited that inexperience all night. Anderson never punted. That said, the game was close at 14-7 midway through the second, when the Raptors scored, forced a punt and scored again, then scored seconds later after a South fumble on the ensuing kickoff. That flurry of scoring over just 3 minutes and 3 seconds blew open an interesting chess game and left the visitors in control at the half, 37-7. Till that point, South had pursued a patient plan to play "keep away", and the Dragons were doing a good job of it, dominating the clock with their running game. Former SOHS great Keaton Martin's younger brother, sophomore Cole Greenwell (wearing his older brother's #21) revived some memories among the South faithful, rushing for 63 yards and an 18 yard TD in the first half as South dominated the time of possession. The Dragons threw the ball just 3 times in the first half, with Nick Hamilton connecting on a 38 yard pass to Jacob Acevedo, but otherwise, the Dragons remained disciplined and sought to keep the ball out of the hands of Anderson's talented offense. Greenwell finished - unofficially - with 82 yards on 23 carries and a score. The Dragons, combined, rushed for 220 yards as they ran the ball 56 times on 59 plays from scrimmage. Raptor junior QB Justice Burnam showed his experience and poise, repeatedly steering the defensive secondary by looking off his receivers then coming back to the opposite side of the field for wide-open completions against the Dragon zone. Burnam - who didn't throw any interceptions - threw SIX touchdowns for the game as all six Raptor scores came through the air. Four different receivers caught TDs. Lots of credit has to go to the Anderson OL, which kept Burnam clean and unhurried. In fact, Burnam was sacked just once on the night, when South edge rusher Jake Butler got to him. The game was remarkably "clean" for a Week 1 game. South had only three penalties for 20 yards, and - I wasn't keeping Anderson stats - I believe the Raptors only had 1 or 2 penalties. The only turnover of the game was a South fumble on a kickoff return in the second period. Honestly, this was a great first game - albeit painful - for this young South defense. New coach Cain Sams has the Dragons in a 3-4 base "D", but he is working with youth - five juniors and four sophomores start, and none of the starters from Week 1 2022 are on the field. Only two players had recorded any starts at all in 2022 - for nine of the defensive starters, it was their first-ever varsity start. South stays at home next week as they host the Nelson County Cardinals. CM

Maybe we'll play the games in shorts and sandals.... 😄 I'm already dreading hauling up all my broadcast gear up those long, long steps at Oldham County's stadium in the heat.... CM

Great start for a young Colonels team that is very dependent on its underclassmen and learning a new coach. Oldham at home against a good Shelby County team next week in a game they will dedicate the field to longtime Oldham fan Kris Landers. Special night. Try to make it in person; if not - the game will be live in FREE HD VIDEO on www.pegasussportsky.com

North Oldham "hosts" the Fern Creek Tigers on Saturday 8/19/23 at 7:30 pm ET. LOCATION is at South Oldham HS in Crestwood, KY BROADCAST: FREE, live HD video coverage starts at 7 pm ET on www.pegasussportsky.com More to come.

Games vs. Anderson (OH), North Oldham, Oldham County, Anderson County, Woodford County, and - likely - Collins will be broadcast in FREE live HD video on www.pegasussportsky.com CM

Free Live HD video coverage starts at 7 pm on www.pegasussportsky.com I will be joined in the broadcast booth by former OH high school footballer / former Morehead State player Mark Neu, who currently assists the South Oldham MS team (his son plays on the team). He is a former assistant coach at Louisville Holy Cross. South will be YOUNG, YOUNG, YOUNG. Only three returning starters on offense, and NONE on offense. The OL and DL look to be strength; plenty of size and good depth. On offense, both tackles return, along with second-year starting QB Nick Hamilton. The three other O-linemen were frequent varsity players last year. The offense should look a lot like the offense of the past several years, which isn't surprising. Coach Sams spent five years as an assistant under Jamie Reed before taking the head coaching job at North Bullitt last season. The triple option, run-heavy look will try to take advantage of the BIG veterans on the o-line. The passing game is a bit of a mystery, as nobody returns who had many catches last year. On defense, South will resort to a 3-4 look, and the Dragons look to get upfield quickly on defense. Anderson will bring one of the most successful Division 2 programs from Ohio, having won at least two state championships this decade. The Raptors - formerly the Redskins - will likely have a roster of over 100 players - without freshmen. Expect the Raptors to throw, throw, throw - as much as 85% of the game, including frequent screen plays. Their free-wheeling offense will challenge a South defense with no returning starters and only a couple of players who played significant minutes last season. CM

South Oldham begins the Jonathan Sams era in Crestwood on Friday night, facing invaders from Ohio's Anderson HS. Jamie Reed stepped down as the South Oldham Dragons mentor at the end of last season after "only" winning 8 games and advancing to the Class 5A region title game. South finished the year strong after opening with three losses to powerhouses CAL, Fairdale, and Ballard, winning 8 of their final 10 games and going undefeated in district play. Over a 13 year career as the Dragons' mentor, Reed never had a losing season, and five of his final eight teams won over 10 games. The Dragons were frequent flyers in the regional finals and semi-finals of Class 5A. I haven't talked with Coach Sams yet - I will tonight - to go over the expected starters, but there definitely will be some new key players....gone to graduation are the top rushers from last year (Jeffery Burton, 1,061 yards rushing, 14 TDs, and Luke Oliveros 517 yards), along with the team's #1 tackler, Wyatt Fowler (112 total tackles / 19 TFL / 6 sacks). But there are also some seriously exciting young athletes - underclassmen - coming up. It will be interesting for me to watch this bunch, because I've coached about 8 members of this team in baseball.... Anyone know anything about Anderson?

time?

"Dog?" For real? I see you're new here....please re-read the post. Nobody said North Oldham was a "powerhouse." I said that they were "pretty successful" - and they were, with regular appearances in the Top 10 rankings. I think most would concede that's a pretty fair accomplishment. As for Great Crossing - well, the fact is that the Warhawks were a Top 10 team all last season. Obviously, someone thought that they were a pretty fair team. Are you saying Top 10 status isn't enough to be designated a "powerhouse" in that particular season? I would say that anyone who holds a Top 10 ranking merits being called a "powerhouse" that year....IMO

North Oldham was actually pretty successful at football during Billy Martin's tenure as coach, from 2006-2015. While Martin's first team lost all ten games it played, his next nine teams went 68-39 overall, and were a regular in the Top 10. Overall, 7 of his 10 teams had winning records, including 10-2 in 2008, 9-3 in 2011, 9-4 in 2013, and 10-3 in 2014, when the Mustangs were 6 seconds from the state championship game before Owensboro's Hail Mary pass at the horn was tipped into a receiver's hands for the winning score in a 27-24 semi-final game. No other coach before or since Martin has had a winning record at North, however. Beno Chappel coached the team to three wins and a first-round playoff loss in its first year (2003), Pete Williams struggled mightily with roster numbers and went 4-16 over two years (2004-5) and failed to reach the playoffs - then Martin had his successful 10-year run - followed by Joe Gamsky (2016-2020) and Jamie Brown (2021-2). I thought Brown was doing a tremendous job in Goshen; the Mustangs' defense was excellent, but the offense hadn't quite caught up yet. The team went 4-6 in the regular season, won its first round playoff game, before falling to Central in round 2. They were competitive in regular season losses to powerhouse Great Crossing (a 12-0 loss), to Holy Cross (10-7), and to Nelson County (17-7) and had every right to be disappointed that they didn't finish the regular season 6-4 or 7-3. In short, the improvement was there over the past two seasons....the Mustang faithful will undoubtedly be hoping to find someone who can continue the upward trend and return North to the kind of success they once found.

"I'm not here to win championships; I'm here to get these young men into the NBA." Told everyone in the Commonwealth plainly where his priorities lie. We just didn't believe him. It's wonderful that the next recruiting class is expected to be a premier class - but will they be coached at a collegiate championship level? UK has lots of experience with highly-ranked recruits who never mattered because they weren't utilized well. Not saying Cal is a bad coach - he's an extraordinary recruiter, and does many things well. But I've become convinced UK needs a "game management" coach to really make the team better than the sum of the parts.

I've been broadcasting all of the boys' 8th Region games for 26 years - and before that, I was broadcasting most of the games each year. CANNOT remember a more crazy, goofy, wild, unpredictable tournament. Woodford was the team with the hot hand, and they earned the title with a remarkable effort - slamming the two highest-ranked teams (North #3, Collins #17) on the way to the title, and showing remarkable poise after trailing Owen by 10 with just one quarter to play. Best of luck to the Jackets! Carry the flag!

Dominance by Woodford, who had to beat two ranked teams (#3 North Oldham, #17 Collins) for the title. Woodford outscores Collins, 34-9, in the second half to win going away, 44-21. Collins with just 3 of 25 shooting in the second half and (unofficially) only 3 rebounds in the second half.

The Roy L. Winchester Gymnasium, New Castle, KY - Henry County HS Site of the boys' 8th Region basketball tournament since the 1963 event (won by Oldham County). The largest HS gym in the 8th Region....this is what HS basketball is all about. This is the 61st year in a row....longer than any venue in the state has hosted a regional tournament - and counting. Collins - going for their fourth title since the school opened in 2010-11.... Woodford County - seeking their first region 8 title since joining the region a few short years ago.... Free, live, hi-def video coverage starts at 5:45 pm ET on www.pegasussportsky.com

Chris Gaither with a masterful coaching job tonight. The Titans will face Woodford in an "All-30th-District Finale." SK finishes 22-11 on the year; Collins improves to 26-7.

Collins shot over 60%; SK lost but shot 57.1% (20 of 35).

SK - Dynes with 20 points / 10 rebounds for SK; the big guy didn't miss a shot from the floor (9 for 9), he was 2 for 3 at the line, and blocked 3 shots. COL - Kenyon Goodin with 23 points