Mr. Sixer

Another solid win for the Jaguars. Always tough going to other regions and playing with officials that call the game “differently” than the 9th. Coach Sully is continuing to hold this team together during this stretch while 2 starters are out with injuries and the football players continue to get their basketball legs under them. Brown, Johnson and especially Combs were solid on both ends of the floor! SK’s Bilton is an absolute baller! He and Combs were the two best players on the floor and were matched up most of the night and battled hard.

Should be a good game. It will be interesting to how CCH plays against St. X’s size.

Couldn't agree with you more. Saw their highlights on the news from their game vs. Williamstown and it was sad to see the gym basically empty. I too miss those glory days when you had to get there during the freshman games just to get a seat in the gym. Truly unfortunate but will always wish them the best.

I will agree that the CCH-Newport game told me quite a bit early on. Both teams will surely get better as the season goes on but one thing that was glarily obvious is that Newport struggled against the zone. I am sure Coach Snapp will get that figured out. Additonally, I did not notice a great deal of depth from the Wildcats. The 9th will be very competitive without a doubt and while CCH and Newport are the top dogs, for now, EVERY team better be on their "A" game EVERY night as I do not see a clear dominant team at the moment. It will be interesting how this all plays out come February. It will also be interesting to see how Cooper looks come late January, early February with the football players fully acclimated, the return of Shaun Pouncy and Andy Johnson. Really looking forward to see how Lloyd fares vs. IMG as well. Whoever comes out of the 9th will surely be battle tested. Great write up!!

Nice win for the Cooper Jags despite not having the services of Andy Johnson who is injured. The Jags were led by 20 points from Yamil Rondon and a total of 41 points from the newly arrived football players Jaiden Combs, Isaiah Johnson and Isaac Brown which is extremely impressive with less than a week of practice. This team will be in the hunt once they get to full strength.

Good first half but excellent move by CCH to switch to zone. Newport looked very stagnant vs the zone and CCH got hot shooting the ball. Also did not see a lot of depth from the Newport side. Good game and both teams played hard.

How is their depth this year?

Congrats to Coach Johnson who is starting the season competitively with a very young team! Glad he's getting to build his program the way he wants to and creating his own culture of development!

I agree that HS kids absolutely suffer the most due to the portal. 1100 kids in it the very first day and 3000 by Wednesday. Makes it tough for the high schoolers no doubt. The only problem I see with holding off opening the portal until after the early period my opinion is that college coaches will simply withhold extending offers to the 1-3 stars players until after the early signing period. Just my opinion but the recruiting process is an absolute mess due to the portal!

A few, not all, of the football guys played having not picked up a baskeball since June and having half of one practice. I will agree that not having Johnson is huge as well as the older Pouncy but he should be returning very very soon! This team will look totally different come mid-late January and the best coach in the 9th will have his team ready come tourney time so if teams are going to get Cooper they better do it now while they're wounded because like I stated, they'll look and be playing differently in the not too distant future.

Not surprised here by the score. The Jags are short-handed but help is on the way as the 6 football players return to the hardwood after finishing their run to the state championship. Additionally two of the current starters are out due to injury. These two teams have battled hard over the last several years and it’s always great to see them at full strength fighting to the end. Cooper will look immensely different in another 3 weeks or so. Congrats to Elder who always fields a tough team.

It may take a while to get them back in the groove, but Cooper will now get there 7-8 football players back on the basketball team now that the Jags football team finished runner-up in their state championship game. The 9th Region will be incredibly strong with Newport, Cooper, CCH, Lloyd along with a few others trying to navigate the NKY gauntlet. Going to be fun to watch!

Well said! It’s tough to make the finals to begin with and all of them should be extremely proud whether they are champions or runner-ups. Some teams, like Cooper for instance arrived a year early and, like several others, return most or significant portions their teams and could, like MANY OTHERS, could be in the hunt next year. Kentucky is blessed with some talented players and excellent coaching staffs and while many can pound their chests and “scream” that “this team or that team” is winning it next year, remember this: The games will be played on the field and they will be won or lost there. I sure there were the same “predictions” at the end of last season too that flat out didn’t materialize this year! I’m happy to sit back and enjoy the great football in the state of Kentucky as it “plays” itself out on the field 😉

Well said! The best post of the thread.

Congrats to the Purples. Clearly had the advantage of playing multiple times in the state finals and that experience mattered. Cooper knew going in that BG had some great playmakers and they had a huge challenge trying to contain them. Cooper had several chances in the 2nd half but just couldn’t capitalize on the turnovers they forced as the BG defensive pressure caused huge problems. Congratulations to Cooper as well. What they achieved after their shootout loss with Highlands earlier in the year then beating them in the rematch was truly incredible. The Jags should hold their heads high as everyone knew this team was very young only playing 3 seniors all year, well 4 if you count the kicker, and they would be much better next season. Yet the young Jags clearly overachieved and arrived a year ahead of schedule. The future is bright on Longbranch Great seasons for both these teams and I look forward to them both challenging for the crown next season.

Spot on! The 2012 experience was not the best for Cooper having to sit in a WKU campus rec center for what seemed like nearly 2 hours before having to walk over to the stadium, rushed into a locker room to hurry up and change to get on to the field. Being at UK is a huge plus and the timing will be better planned. Good luck to the Jags as well as CCH tomorrow!

If that was point that was being made I missed it. I took it to mean that said D1 players were not better than anyone else on the field and that's not correct. You are correct, there are excellent and D1 players on BOTH teams which to me means that the post wasn't necessary at all. Benke, Alexander and many others are flat out studs. Again, no big deal. I am just pleased that college coaches are finally understanding that NKY has exceptional talent just like Cincinnati, Lexington and Louisville! Hoping that trend continues.

Uh ok? As a point a reference, #3 was not the smallest player on the field, #21 in white was and had a real good game as well. As for your “I didn’t see anyone on the field that looked that much better than anyone else” comment, well you must have been getting popcorn when those D1 players were making plays. Doesn’t matter I guess, there are about 25 FBS Schools, including several P5’s, that beg to differ with your assessment. HHS will always have top talent as great progams always do. Cooper has arrived a year early as nearly everyone thought they might be a year away from potentially reaching this level. The one clear cut reason for their performance in this game is that the Jags were “battle tested” having to go in the road to beat Scott Co., Southwestern and now #1 HHS in 5A. There were no running clock games, no games to rest the starters, just pure grinding it out to come out on top. NKY is blessed with great football and I am hoping both Cooper and CCH bring home Championship Trophies!

I was thinking the exact same thing 😂😂 The Jags will just line up and do what they do regardless of all the “Experts” predictions. Sounds like some didn’t learn from the previous 3 weeks.

This will look good in the Cooper Trophy case! Huge win and quite possibly the biggest in school history! Hopefully they’ll top it with a win next week!

And they are young!! Cooper only plays 4 seniors and one of them is the kicker!! But that’s for next year’s thread! Right now the players and coaches will celebrate for a few hours and get right back to work tomorrow morning for the trip to Lexington!! Congrats Jags! Been doubted every game of the playoffs! It’s not about proving others wrong, it’s about proving yourselves RIGHT!! BRING IT BACK TO NKY!!

No 2nd! 2012! This will be a rematch with BG.

Oh yes someone please check on them!!! All the great predictions of steak, cake and crème brule 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 Somehow the Jags missed the memo 😵‍💫

A funny thing happened in FT tonight 😂😂😂😂Looks like Cooper didn’t get the memo they were supposed to lose 😂😂❤️

Elizabethtown