ColdHard

Speculation is that injuries appear to be preventing this matchup. Word coming out of Park Hills is that the team is almost back to full strength. Seems that practice today included the starting RB, the return of a starting offensive lineman, as well as the return of a wide receiver. So it looks as if QB is the only area where injury remains an issue, yet with that one injury a " top 10 program" is unable to field a JV team.

This is inexcusable! To schedule an opponent twice, and then cancel both is just not acceptable. I was on record in the last thread saying i was fine with the explanation and timing of the first cancelation. There is no acceptable excuse for this one with less than a week notice and your playing your other jv opponents. I smell something bad here and the smell is coming from Park Hills. I hope they get their wish and get to play Highlands in the playoffs, AGAIN.

Yes there is a formula and I think SK wins the tiebreaker as it takes wins of teams that you defeated outside of district. ( Now we know the thinking behind the schedule) Should be a moot point as SK is better on both lines.

SK winning 6A = Scott winning 5A. Both are having years that arguably are the best in school history. Both have put up impressive numbers so far against a suspect schedule. Both are still a great distance from the elite in their class. I would love to someday see an NKY sweep of the finals, but for this year the answer is NO.

One thing I would be willing to bet on is that Mueller will never agree to another game in Columbus after the debacle at DeSales several years back.

2014 is second year of a two year cycle for KY schools. I know Highlands has a ten game schedule set with week zero being the team from Florida again.

Come on man! What team hasn't had players miss games. The best team in NKY has had six offensive linemen miss at least one game, both running backs miss a game, both safeties and both corners miss at least one game, their best returning D lineman miss several games, and their top linebacker miss a game. This is football. Injuries happen to every team and nearly every team is missing someone every game. Your right that you play with the players that you've got. But if one guy missing makes that big a difference, you don't have enough guys to be a contender.

It's not strength of schedule so much as it is lack of exposure to the type of talent that they will see in the playoffs. The only skill speed team that they have been exposed to is Collins in week one. They eeked out a win because they were better on both lines in that game, not because they matched up skill wise. Against the true elite teams with speed, skill, and solid line play the lack of experience will be evident, just as it was against Scott Co. last year and against X in the scrimmage. A tougher schedule, even if it meant a loss or two along the way, would have better prepared SK to face what they will see should they make it to the finals. On the upside, any time an NKY team makes it to the final it's a plus for football in our area. On the down side can you imagine the chest pounding by UKFAN over a runner up finish.

'Mine is bigger'. Looks like a couple of guys had em out in public for all to see. I hope the follow up on this makes the paper as well. There had to be a better way of handling this.

You know that you might beat those guys in court, but they almost never lose outside of the courtroom. I guess we now know who was really in charge.

Because if BG and S. Warren were to play BG would score 50 and have 150 yds rushing.

I remember being about 7 years old sitting on the porch counting the cannon shots off in the distance and hoping for that last one right around bed time. Checked the score in the Kentucky Post in the morning to see if I had tabulated the score properly. (Saturday was the only day of the week that The Post had a morning edition) Seven cannon shots, deduct one for the start of each half and one for the win meant the Birds had likely put up 28 points. Plenty for a win in those days.

Just so folks know this is not as some described, a knee jerk reaction. It has been a month or more in the making as I first heard about it three weeks ago from a source outside of the KHSAA. As I understand it, the policy was written at that point and the information disseminated to schools about what was forthcoming. Time was granted for feedback and the the policy disseminated.

It may well be relevant. It is up to the individual voter to define his/ her criteria for their individual vote. If we're not limited to seniors the debate would be even more interesting. I seem to recall that in Ohio some guy named LeBron something was Mr. basketball three times.

That goes back to the basic argument of is the award for career achievement or for this season. That criteria to is not defined. Though it may not be fair that one player may have been one of the best ever over the three year career, the other sat behind two different first team all state qb's. should he be penalized for having waited his turn, then outperforming everyone else in his lone season. Also, many of those who vote attend the state finals. Not being there, performing well, or poorly in the final often has a huge impact on the voting. I also wish there was at least a loose set of guidelines. Though that may take away some of our ability to debate the issue.

Looking ahead I see some stat builders over the next two weeks for Barker followed by two teams that have low ppg avg. against. Houlliston has a likely stat builder followed by Elder and a Warren Central team that is averaging 7 ppg allowed over their last four games. Houlliston could also end the year against Johnson Central, Boyle Co, & Collins. All of whom have given up 90 or fewer points on the season to date. Though it is more likely that Houlliston enjoys a longer playoff run he will have to do it against some of the states best defenses. If he plays that schedule and continues to put up these crazy numbers he is the man.

So the answer is pretty easy then. The Mr. Football award is for high school achievement right? Why would you vote for a guy based on what he could do in college. I keep hearing this stuff about who will be the better college player and I can't figure out what it has to do with the award for who is the best senior football player in Kentucky high school this year

I had the opportunity to speak to Nick about college recruiting over the summer. He indicated then that nearly every school that recruited him either said that they projected him as an o lineman or said that o line was the fallback after trying tight end. I don't know where WKU falls among them, but I think Nick sees himself as a tackle. I also feel like Nick is 'growing into' the position as well as he looks to me to be 260 or above.

Very true. The science part is the easier of the two as there are measurables. The difficulty lies in baseline and control, and the lack thereof. Thus it's never apples to apples. The art part of quarterbacking is as with art itself. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I have seen pieces of art sell at auction for tens of thousands that I would not put in my home. I have seen qb's with with off the chart measurables that I would not have on my team. Conversely there are many examples of pieces of art cast aside in yard sales that prove later to be priceless. Just as there are examples of 5th string quarterbacks going on to be named Mr. football. This thread and the others like it affirm that in our state we continue to put out top QB talent. If we could put out talent at comparable levels at other position KY football will have arrived.

The you won by too much stuff is old to me as well so I will climb to the top of my soapbox and philosophize for a moment about the ColdHard world. I don't mean to offend, just share some of my experiences. My son played football, soccer, baseball, and basketball. Some in youth sports and some in high school. He played on undefeated teams, teams that fought for every inch and won championships against all odds, average teams, bad teams, and one that went winless. On some teams he was the best player on his team on others he was at the end of the bench and at certain points he was every imaginable place in between. At times he didn't play as much as he thought he deserved and others he played more, or in a position more than he had actually earned. My expectations of him as a parent never changed. Have fun, always try to do your best, be a good teammate, and show sportsmanship. Sportsmanship to me, and what I taught to my son, meant to be respectful of everyone on the field. Never try to harm or humiliate anyone with your actions outside of the play itself. Play within the rules always. I also taught him what it meant to give your best effort when a win or a loss was a given. Give no slack and don't expect any from opponents. I taught him that you should put your opponent away as soon as you could. That you should never give up no matter how far behind. I taught him what it meant to send a message to an opponent and future opponents through his play. I like to think that those messages and those lessons learned, all of them good and bad, are things that he will draw from as an adult. That they will make him a better man, a better father to my future grand kids, a better husband when he someday has a wife, that he is a better employee and that he someday leads others, that he gives back to his community, and finally that when I am old and feeble, that he is a great son to me. As difficult as life sometimes gets in one or more areas I am glad that he has all of those varied experiences to draw from and that someday when I am gone that those lessons helped build for him a foundation that he can continue to draw upon. My hope for the players from Logan and Harrison Counties, from Bowling Green and Highlands, from all of the teams that won, lost, played poorly, or played well is that they have parents and coaches using the lessons of the game build better young men. On a side note, every one of those ColdHard life lessons began (begin with) ' life is not fair,' and end with ' I love you son.'

Come on man!

I mean the Towles that went on to a dominant HIGH SCHOOL senior season, sweeping the HIGH SCHOOL player of the year awards like the one this thread is about, and a Pike who self destructed and finished the year suspended from his team.

Lots of praise to go around for both qb's and I'll just leave it at that and move on. Interested to know your thoughts on why you leave Elam on your list of possible winners.

Never been to or seen a regional camp but have seen references to the 7 on 7 over the years. In this particular year they may not have. As I said it is an ever changing entity. My point is and always has been that college potential has nothing to do with who is performing best at the high school level. People continue to point out college offers and rankings as reasons why a particular player is better than another and it has nothing to do with it. I have seen numerous examples over the years where highly rated recruits have shown little in high school and gone on to fine college careers. Look no further than mention of Elam in this thread. That kid has great potential and I see what the recruiters are seeing. He is huge, fast for his size, and athletic for his size. Yet he has no business being mentioned as a Mr. football candidate, as his on field performance has not warranted such mention. Hell, he's not even the best DL on his own team. Highlands has a kid going to Western on scholarship who was the top rated tight end in the state. Now he is playing tackle and is clearly a project. But he is at least 6'5" and about 260 so I see what Western sees. Houliston does not have the measurable attributes that D1 coaches are seeking. But he is not playing college ball, he's playing high school ball. The question is/ was, who are the leading candidates for the award given the best high school football player in the state and based on performance to date Houliston is at the top of that list. No hating on anyone here. As I remind that I said at the beginning of this thread that I expect Fant will win the award as the QB candidates divide votes among them.

Very familiar with the elite 11 and it is an ever changing entity. It looks nothing like it did just a few years ago and has zero resemblance to what it was at its inception. It is a big big money operation now with ESPN and Nike involvement. The concept is great and the experience that the kids get is incredible. That being said, it is a competition to determine who the best 11 college prospects are. The competitions and evaluations beginning with the thousands who attend regional camps are weighted heavily on 7 on 7 performances, and that is not football. It might be noted that Houliston and Highlands did not take one 7 on 7 rep against another opponent this year.