hockentucky

take exit 175 and go quarter mile west to Triple Crown Blvd. - turn right and follow 3 miles to Frogtown. Turn left and go 2 miles to Ryle.

My recollection from '06 is they never passed. Ryle has been passing quite well lately and have 3 serious running threats instead of two back in '06.

Worst team I've seen in a long time. Who did they beat?

Parents of all you great middle school football players considering moving to or around the Cincinnati area -- Ryle is a great public high school academically, has a beautiful new turf field and a really good football program (as well as other outstanding athletic and academic teams for your sons and daughters). Please move into the neighborhood! We'd love to have you!

Coop, I am sure Conner's dad would be the first to agree. Congrats to Conner, a great leader on a great path!

Having not read all the threads I will simply say that the opening kickoff must have led to a moment of overconfidence and the best kicker in NKY, Adam Weinel, was overlooked in favor of the 2-point pot-of-gold at the end of the rainbow. Congratulations to Ryle players and staff who never stop believing. The Raiders have learned well from the home/away exchange with HHS, which was always Ryle's objective. Hopefully HHS has learned something too and some of their players' hurt feelings will be wiped away by another state championship.

Whatever happens Ryle will show better than any other team in NKY would and there are plenty on the outside looking in.

and a good thing for Ryle too

I'm not so sure Conner can handle Cooper.

Can someone please finish the story?

I think once you factor in the distance around to the backside of Ryle's HS and stadium then SK is closer again.

Is there anyone out there that would dare to start a new thread polling NKY BGP'ers on their opinion as to which NKY varsity teams would be likely to lose a straight-up match against the Highlands Bluebirds JV squad? I would think there would be more than a couple. They just seem to out-execute everyone to death and you know they have some stars in the waiting!

The conclusion from the SK fans sitting around me was that neither team was likely to stop the other from scoring a TD in OT so therefore SK felt compelled to go for it.

Congrats to Jeff Huntley for making the most critical play of the game, but really the entire Ryle team showed tremendous willpower throughout the see-saw game. Ryle benefited from being first defender in OT and forcing Sk to gamble and pass on the FG.

I love the attention! Now for the game. BTW, I think the receivers are fine. Waiting for a breakout game by Huntley.

A few people like to talk about SKs win over Ryle last year and how it relates to this year. Its about as relevant as the Ryle / SK game two years ago. What about the Ryle / SK game 2 years ago? I recall Ryle won that one and it was at Ryle. This one is too. The truth of the matter it is less likely Ryle will give SK a bad beating this Friday without Elliott (who may may need some time off) but nonetheless Ryle seems to be able to do enough to win each week so far (except Highlands) and I would expect that to continue. Last year Ryle lost for one reason...they were unprepared for the weather. SK was able to keep their hands warm and Ryle could not. Its that simple. You can't tackle, throw or catch if you can't feel your hands. That was Sk's home field advantage last year -- they stayed inside longer before the game began and had the right equipment to keep warm during the game. Every Ryle player know this is true, and during the 3rd quarter last year when the weather improved Ryle scored a bunch of points. This week Ryle will not face that same disadvantage and will probably have four quarter of good weather. Conner Hemple is perfectly capable of carrying this team to victory with the help of the more balanced attack they are now forced into. Before SK knew what to prepare for -- Elliott. Now they have to prepared for the full potential of Hemple -- which hasn't been seen this year -- yet. He knows what to do and how to do it, and will kick it in to high gear Friday night! Ryle will be successful exploiting several of their strengths which they haven't needed much this year because of over-reliance on Elliott. The margin of victory will be provided by Ryle special teams.

When is the last time SK beat Ryle in Union?

I cast my vote for SK on the strength of Lawrence's performance against St. X last fall AFTER Miles Simpson was injured. If he is still the same player, then I think he will be the difference. I hope (for SK's sake) their remaining cast of characters can make up for the one-dimensional offense that only Chad (sans Miles) brings to the table. IMO he is the most elusive runner in NKY this year -- not the best by any means, but his ability to cut back and run against the grain is exceptional and makes it hard to get a clean shot at him. He sidesteps like Collinsworth, except smaller and he doesn't have Highland's line blowing them out up front. Bradley has great vision and is a very effect north-south runner that plays faster than he really is by hitting the hole without hesitation (when one exists.) If his upper body had half the strength of his lower body he would be another Miles. Still, can't wait for Hemple and Elliott to shred SK -- sorry -- couldn't resist!

The difference in this game was Special Teams. Ryle's punting, punt returns, kickoffs and kick returns gave Ryle approximately a 300-yard field position advantage. I will give credit to Cooper punter who was able to hit the coffin corner twice, but to compare the special teams performance in this game it was Ryle's men against Cooper boys. Cooper allowed easily received punts to hit the ground and roll dozens of yards giving up dozens of critical field position yards and then made risky plays fielding the bounding ball, and then called a fair catch when it was completely unnecessary. Their kickoff team was even worse with short, line-drive, zero hang-time kickoffs routinely returned past the 50. Cooper should have tried to on-side kick -- they might cover one as well as less likely to be returned for a TD -- like their first one was by Ryle's Caleb Lonkard who did not hesitate for a minute to take it to the house. Their PAT/FG crew was 'lucky' to make one PAT and appeared incapable of attempting a FG if they ever need one. Meanwhile Ryle kicked off into the end zone often, made their PATs and punted like a college team (when the long snaps weren't too high.) Cooper will not win the close games until it gets this part of their game in order and on par with other NKY teams. Suggestion to coach -- talk to the soccer coach.

Glad to see Ryle complete a few swing passes today. If they can build on that, then they will improve. If Hemple could get enough time to "air it out" like he did last year then he should be in business. He certainly has speedy receivers, but unfortunately none of them are 6' 8" or named Trent Fugate, but nonetheless I would expect a track speedster like Jeff Huntley to be able to run under some long bombs once in a while. That is the difference in this offense compared to a year ago. I also worry about the mileage on Elliott going both ways. He is a truly exceptional football player. Kudos to Hemple for taking a broken play to paydirt when it mattered.

After the first 5 minutes of this game I expected it to be a blowout, but Ryle just couldn't seem to get the passing game going...when they do watch out! They'll be good. Elliott continues to impress beyond expectations...all-around football stud. Next year run him in the Wildcat BTW, a couple of posters need to go back to HS English, OMG when a team doesn't win, then they 'lost' ...I don't know if "lossed" is even a word. I find it painful to read some of this, although there is the entertainment factor.

Ryle - W, SK - L. Nothing else matters. Good training ground for the officials and SK's scoreboard operator.

Ryle needs to keep the stars of Homecoming out of their eyes and take care of business! Hemple's scrambling and Elliott's smash-mouth football is just too much for Dixie!

Last year Highlands won the Miss Universe contest. This year they're probably 'just' Runner-up. Meanwhile most of NKY wants to win the Miss Covington contest. THATS what mediocrity is in Fort Thomas, and how the rest measure up. Here's to hoping Union is a finalist for the Miss Kentucky crown this year!

Compared with the Ryle - NCC game from a year ago NCC played very well. That being said I think Ryle has considerable upside potential which will only be realized if they continue to work the passing game. There were moments of brilliance and moments of groaning, however we saw a variety of receivers catch at least one pass and saw the potential of Jeff Huntley at wide-out with his State track speed, height and jumping ability. Deon Mullins played a very capable counter to all-world Travis Elliot, who was only contained due to stacking the box and excellent gang tackling. I am sure those who were on the receiving end of his non-TD runs could still feel it this morning. Congrats to both teams on a game played for a full four quarters. Worth note: Elliott was not playing linebacker in the last, long drive by NCC. When he was in there at LB, he reeked havoc with his speed and nose for the ball and was (IMO) at least indirectly responsible for much of NCC's offensive woes.