WHFootballFan

Western Hills struggled last season and won a ugly game against Woodford 12-7 (with Woodford not scoring a offensive TD and only completing 1 pass). Even with their struggles, Hills graduated a great deal on both sides of the ball. Hills is small and must stay disciplined to succeed. From my understanding Woodford is running the flex-bone offense this year. If Woodford lines up and runs at Hills, could be a long night for the Wolverines. Hills struggled on offense last season and lost QB, RB, 2 WR, and 2 OL to graduation. Hills needs to find a way to control the ball and clock, then score points.

I believe I have my numbers correct. NAIA can offer 25 full scholarships; while NCAA D I can offer 85, NCAA IAA can offer 65, NCAA D II can offer 37. NCAA D III can only offer need based or academic scholarships. All schools take need-based and academic money first (even NCAA D I), then fill in rest with football scholarships. NAIA and NCAA D II schools rarely offer more than 25% scholarship for football, which allows them to offer money to 100-125 kids. Most kids at NAIA and D II schools are lucky to get 50% scholarship money (athletic and academic combined), then pay the rest with student loans, parent loans, etc. One reason you see some really good athletes go to D III schools is that if they are good stdents then D III schools can often get more total scholarship money with out athletic scholarships than NAIA or D II schools can offerwith football scholarships.

Arie Slone (6'3", 220 lbs) a LB from Western Hills (Frankfort, KY) has commited to Thomas More. Slone lead Western Hills in tackles for 3 seasons and had offers from Wabash, Kentucky Wesleyan, Hillsdale, Hanover, and Lindsey Wilson. Should be a good fit with Thomas More's 4-4 defense.

North should be able to win this game. If QB Todd for E-town still out, it could get ugly. Against Western Hills E-town just attempted to run inside hand-offs and sweeps every play after injury to Todd. Runnming back for E-town (#28) had some yards and ran hard, but not going to be able to score against North with just these two plays. E-towns defense is quick and aggressive, but after seeing both teams North should have a big advantage up-front. If Todd plays I think North wins 35-21, if Todd is unable to play North wins 42-8.

Actually will give North Oldham an extra week to get ready for the winner of the E-Town - Western Hills game. Shawnee was the #4 seed and supposed to play #1 seed North Oldham. Central is on the opposite side of the bracket.

East Jessamine and Washington County both brought sledge hammers and hit the goals posts before they ran on the field at Western Hills. Washington County also removed the WH Goal Post Pads and threw them to the 20 yard line. Having a symbol or hammer for a unit is a good tradition, using it to beat any part of a opposing schools field is not. I heard that Shelby County used a sledge hammer on Trinty's "T" before their play-off game last year.

East Jessamine has a big offensive line and give it to Thomas (# 1) all night. Thomas is very athletic and fast - looks for the corner or a cut back lane to score on every touch. If North can force East Jessamine into 3rd and long, they do not throw the ball very well. On defense East Jessamine crowded the line of scrimmage against Hills. They are big upfront and LBs ran to the ball well. Thomas plays safety and keeps most big plays from happening. East Jessamine is playing well now (losing close games to Lex Catholic and Boyle Co), but this could be a good trap game for North as East Jessamine looks toward the play-offs.

The 1st round match-ups will be North Oldham (# 1 seed) vs Shawnee (# 4) plays winner of E-town (# 2) vs Western Hills (# 3). Louisville Central (# 1) vs Spencer Co (# 4) plays winner of Henry County (# 2) vs Moore (# 3).

North Oldham deserved to win with their 2nd half performance and congradualtions on the district title. Hope to see a Hills-North rematch in the 2nd round of the play-offs. Hills had some positives. Held North to 82 total yards and 10 points in the 1st half while gaining 220 yards (175 through the air). The wheels just came off for Hills in the 3rd quarter and they never stopped the bleeding. I thought the lines for Hills fought hard the entire game. Not always able to make a play, but with some new kids playing due to injuries they played hard the entire game. Also thought FB?LB Martin (# 32) for Hills did some good things. He ran hard all game and was able to make some athletic plays at LB in the 1st half. One other bright spot to me for WH was SR QB/LB Slone (# 7). In his first start at QB in over a month he threw for over 200 yards and had a few drops that hurt when the game was still competative. He also had around 12 tackles and North seemed to run away from his side in the 2nd half. If Hills can put together a complete game and show some heart, they could be a dangerous team in the play-offs.

North came out in the 2nd half and dominated Hills. Most disappointing aspect is how WH quit in 3rd quarter. Western Hills controlled the 1st half, but unable to score TDs. Was inside North's 10 yard line and had a TD pass dropped and then a fumble with an open lane to the end zone - settled for FGs both possesions to be up 12-10 at the half. Hills opened the 3rd quarter with another good drive, but fumbled inside North's 15 yard line. North had a 80 yard run two plays later and Hills quit. Hills had a number of passing yards and first downs, but could not score while North ran the same pitch play for long TDs. North did a great job and with their region could go deep into the play-offs.

How Hills fares against North depends on which Hills offense that shows up - the one that struggled against Spencer and East Jessamine, or the one that could move the ball and score against Henry and West Jessamine. Another big factor will be how Hills defense handles North's running attack. Hills can not get behind by double digets early or will be another long night for the Wolverines. I really think that Slone playing QB will allow Hills more options on offense to get the ball to their playmakers. He has the size (6'3", 210 lbs), arm strength, and football IQ to force North to cover the pass; opening up a few running lanes. This does force Slone to make play-calls on both sides of the ball and hurts his defense, so could hurt Hills there. Hills o-line is playing much better and have good outside speed. As long as no knock-out blow early by North, Hills pulls the upset 28-24.

Henry County might have used their regular subs, but they did not go to a JV line-up. On Hills last drive, Henry County still had most if not all of their starters in the game - including Magness (# 7) at LB. Henry County beat Hills soundly, but this was not a case of Hills scoring late-game cheap points against Henry's JV.

Neither Henry County nor Western Hills played many back-ups last week. Both scored legit TDs against each others starters. Henry Co took advantage of big turnovers early and was up 27-0 before Hills went back to Slone (# 7) at QB. Hills threw for almost 300 yards and scored 33 points in the 3 quarters Slone played. Western Hills has playmakers on the outside in Clay (# 6) and Pugh ( # 1) and a big TE in Curry (# 11) - just have to be able to get them the ball. I think Hills will stick with Slone at QB (has had some neck and stinger problems which limited him to one side of the ball part of the season, and since a college LB prospect only played defense) and will be able to move the ball. Until last week or two Hills has done a good job on defense stopping the run, so will have to see how they handle North's running attack. Important game for North, Hills and Henry.

Do not take Jake as a "typical" Hills fan. Western Hills has struggled some this year with consistancy and finding an offensive identity. Against Henry Co Hills had the same problem as Henry had against North Oldham - 1st qrter turnovers and being down big to start the game. Hills has done a decent job of stopping the run (holding Thomas of East Jessamine to 100 yards under his average), but lack of offense and field position has really hurt. Last week Hills went back to the Spread with Slone (# 7) at Qb and played even with Henry Co after being down 27 points early. Slone had almost 300 yards passing and 4 TDs (1 rushing) in 3 quarters. Hills has the outside speed in Clay (# 6) and Pugh (# 1) to make some plays on both sides of the ball. Playing Slone at QB and MLB hurts Slone's ability to make plays on defense (where he is averaging over 11 tackles per game), but gives Hills the best opportunity to win. North Oldham will be a favorite, but if Hills can survive the 1st quarter it will be a close game. Hills knows that if they win, the worst that can happen is a 3 way tie for the district title.

Hills did not have an answer for Henry County all night. Henry County was probably 80% on 3rd down conversions. After two early Hill's turnovers led to TDs for Henry County, Hills went back to Slone at QB. He had almost 300 yards and 4 TDs (1 rushing) in 3 quarters. Hills can not play from behind. Will be an interesting district if Hills beats North Oldham and Henry County beats Spencer County.

Coach Miller is an outstanding coach and has begun to build a program at Western Hills. Both Washington County and Frankfort are good teams with excellent speed, and the scores were not an indicator of how close both games were. I am sure that Coach Miller will work on their mistakes and get the team ready for Districts.

It is true that Frankfort scored 14 points, but one of the drives was after a punt return to inside the 5 yard line. I guess it equalled out when Frankfort fumbled through the end zone. Even though not technically a Special Teams score, setting up your offense inside the 5 on a punt return is in essances a TD for Special Teams.

The lack of leadership is a big problem for Hills at this time. The loss of talent from last years team was huge, but the loss of leadership is even bigger. When things start going bad, then Hills does not know how to stop the bleeding. Washington Co scored 14 points on offense and Frankfort scored 7, but gave up 49 and 34! Hills has the talent to win some games and compete in their district, but need to establish some consistancy as a team.

The score was 14-6 with 6 mintues left in the game. Frankfort scored 3 TDs without it's offense touching the field. Was a defensive struggle until that point. Hills has not consistancy or identity at this point.

Hills is still very inexperienced. In the Red Zone just had some breaqk downs - penalty, wrong read, missed block, etc. This team can not overcome set backs at this stage, but was a big improvement on offense from previous week. The line did a much better job, and with 4 of the linemen making only their second Varsity start that is important. Slone also did much better making throws. He was 21 of 37 for 273 yrds in three quarters. Mistakes on Special Teams was a killer this week, if Hills can correct these mistakes and continue to improve on offense they can win some games this year.

The old sport cliche is really true in this game - the game was much closer than the score. Hills Special Teams gave up 28 points. Not many team can overcome that many points on Special Team mistakes. Hills had more passing yards, total yards and first downs at half; but was down 28-14. Washington Co. only scored 1 offensive TD in second half, while Hills had ball in Red Zone 4 times in the game to only score 1 TD. Hills looked better on offense - having 210 yards passing and 250 total yards at half. Will be big to see how Hills responds to a bad game mentally.

Was an UGLY game, but Western Hills showed heart in a come from behind win. Both teams had trouble moving the ball and I think Woodford Co. only completed 1 pass for -3 yards (did have a few drops as well). Hills entire defense played well, and did not give up an offensive touchdown (Woodford took kick off back for TD). Hills offense had no continuity and showed all of the new starters and new system. Quentin Martin and Jalen Adair ran hard and set up both of Western Hill's TDs. The mistakes and lack of offense for Hills is very correctable - have the players to run the Franklin System; just have to have time to learn to work together. Is a good win against a 5A school for Hills.

Hills' defense looked good against Lincoln County. They did not give up a offensive touchdown (Lincoln took opening kick off back for a TD) and had 6 sacks. Hills' offense showed it is adjusting to 4 new linemen, new FB, new QB, and new system. Had some good moments on offense, but also many mental mistakes. Hills' varsity beat Licnlon County's Varsity 33-7 before both teams JV played the 4th quarter. Last season Hills had 12 penalties and 7 turnovers in losing to Woodford County 28-22. If Hills cuts down mental mistakes, turnovers and first game jitters; they have a good chance to beat Woodford - 28-14.

Western Hills had its most successful season in school history in 2009, but lost a great deal to graduation. Hills lost 4 out of 5 offensive linemen; as well as FB/LB Justin Wright, TE/DE Cody Hecker, and QB/LB (and UL signee) Dylan Curry. The good news for WH is that they do return most of their skill players and the majority of their defense. Besides the loss of talent, it might be even harder to replace the loss of leadership. Defense will have to carry WH until the offense gets up to speed. Hills returns leading tackler LB Arie Slone, DT Ken Holbrrok, LB Quentin Martin, DB Bobby Clay, S Chris Pugh, S Jacob Sharp, and DB Dakota Miley on defense. The offense has more holes to fill, but has the skill players to overcome inexperience. Christian Wilkins returns as a 2 year starter at center, but is the only offensive lineman with Varsity experience. Pugh, Clay, and Miley return at WR; while Logan Curry (6'4", 235 lbs) returns as a big target at TE. Martin will try to replace Wright's 1000 yards and 12 TDs at FB. The other big question mark on offense will be at QB. Dylan Curry was a 3 1/2 year starter at QB, as well as having a big arm and running ability. Slone will take over at QB. Slone has decent size (6'3", 210 lbs) as well as good football IQ (calling plays on both offense and defense). Coach Don Miller has done a great job of building Western Hills into a competative program, and this team will be well coached. As long as Hills is able to limit injuries, they should be able to compete for a district title in one of the most balanced districts in the state.

What is the status of Henry County's QB after the horrible injury against Central in last year's play-offs? Even from a district rival, hope that Mangess returns healthy. Seemed that Henry Co lost a great deal to graduation, but should have a good returning core if Mangess able to return for his Senior season. I expect another great Henry Co-Western Hills game to decide the district crown.