MHSCardinal

I don't see Coach Morris leaving Mayfield for at least another 4-5 years, then I look for him to retire from coaching and assume another role within the system.. If he did leave for McCracken, I could see several of the best players from PT all lining up to enroll in McCracken.. I'd also bet you'd see kids from Massac Co, Ballard Memorial and even parts of North Graves co lining up to enroll there, too. Would be a great match.. Newest school, best facilities, deep pockets with the best, most proven coach in the area.. Within 2-3 years, he'd be dominating West Ky. teams and likely scheduling a lot of out of state competition..

After witnessing the 1st 4 games this morning, who would you give the edge too to come out of the top bracket? Mayfield/Russellville/NCC/Univ Heights? Which was most impressive? Who has the most size? Who has the speed? Which team shoots the ball the best? etc..

For anyone with knowledge of these teams, who are the favorites to make it to Saturday and on into the finals, Sunday?

I know in Region 1, Murray plays Mayfield. Who are the other Regional final games and has the state matchups already been set and if so, what regions plays each other??

I expect OB Catholic to be a load to deal with next year. A lot of good, young talent on that team. Offensively, they'll be right there with any other 2a team. They'll need to get better defensively to compete with the elite teams in their class, but, they should be bigger and stronger in the trenches, so, I expect them to make that necessary improvement to be a top contender. I don't see anyone in there district that will compete with them. I expect Butler to take a step back with the loss of Henderson, Todd just isn't very good, Hancock is still in rebuilding mode. McLean Co returns a pretty good nucleus from a decent team, so, that'll likely be their biggest challenger, but, still, imo, 2-3 Tds below the Aces.

Someone in the know, fill us in on what Hopkinsville's outlook appears to be next year. I know they've been pretty solid the past couple of years, but, what do they have returning, did they get hit hard with losses, etc.. I know they've added Mayfield to next years schedule, so, I'm curious to know what to expect from them.

To answer your question, there were at least 3 and possibly 4 teams from the west side of the bracket that could have beaten Danville this year or, at the very least, would have been favored, plus LCA was at least there equal. LCA returns all there skill kids, CAL has 2 fantastic underclass men coming up, OB Catholic returns nearly intact, too, Desales simply has a deeper roster and Mayfield also returns a lot with some good underclassmen coming in. Danville will be right there in the mix, for sure, but, a lot of strong 2a teams coming in next year. Honestly, you could probably throw 6 or 7 teams in a hat and pull them out and you wouldn't get much argument regardless of the order. Very strong and balanced next class.

Trinity - B.Green Lafayette - Johnson Central Belfry - CAL Pulaski Co - F.Simpson Danville - Central Beechwood - Hazard

I would think Belfry, Beechwood and NCC would all be close.

TRINITY DANVILLE BOWLING GREEN OWENSBORO ST XAVIER MCCRACKEN CO MALE BEECHWOOD LAFAYETTE S.WARREN SCOTT CO CENTRAL RYLE HOPKINSVILLE BELFRY LCA JOHNSON CENTRAL MAD CENTRAL SIMON KENTON LEX CATHOLIC MANUAL SOUTHWESTERN PRP ELIZABETHTOWN CAL O'BORO CATHOLIC BALLARD ROCKCASTLE CO MAYFIELD GREENWOOD DESALES PAINTSVILLE CHRISTIAN CO WAYNE CO CONNER SHELBY CO FERN CREEK C.HARDIN COV CATHOLIC ASHLAND CORBIN HAZARD F. SIMPSON RUSSELL PULASKI CO BARDSTOWN COOPER CAMPBELL CO S.OLDHAM COV HOLY CROSS

If Mayfield has 21 appearances, their 1st was in 76, so, they've made the finals 21 of the last 40 years.. How many teams can say they've made it to state over 1/2 the time in the last 40 years?

Of course, you thought the same thing last year, but, imo, OB Cath and Mayfield were both better, certainly, as good.. I also think the east side is getting stronger and Danville, LCA and NCC should all be very good.. I also look for Murray, Somerset and Holy Cross to be pretty strong and capable of beating anyone on a given night. Lloyd Mem, Leslie Co, Glasgow and Prestonsburg should be pretty decent, as well. If I were to rank them pre-season, I'd probably go something like this: 1) CAL 2) Danville 3) Desales 4) Mayfield 5) OB Cath 6) LCA 7) NCC 8) Holy Cross 9) Somerset 10) Murray 11) Glasgow 12) Leslie Co 13) Lloyd Mem 14) P'Burg 15) Monroe Co

I'm fine with rotating the state games at different venues.. I'm okay with EKU or Murray St getting the championship games every 5 years or so. I'm okay with Lindsey Wilson getting them. Georgetown, NKU.. Any venue that can seat at least 8-10k would suffice.. But, anyone thinking simply moving it from B.Green is going to automatically make the ticket prices, parking, food, etc, go down, is simply fooling themselves. Going to be the same or very similar everywhere.

Not sure anyone thought those teams were cupcakes. Ashland, Wayne, Mercer and Knox were all ranked for the biggest part of the year. They certainly weren't murder's row, but, solid teams. FS played Hoptown, Russellville, Greenwood and SWarren twice. Again, not murderer's row, but, solid teams.. Based on the full body of work over the course of the season, I definitely feel FS was the 2nd best team in the class, just JC was head and shoulders above the pack, just like BG in 5a, Trinity in 6a and Belfry in 3a.. All those teams won big, as well, but, it doesn't mean Lafayette, Pulaski and Central didn't deserve to be there..

How great would a Belfry/JC rematch in the finals have been? I know, they're in different classes and on the same side of the state, but, wow, that would have been an epic title game.. I think JC may have taken them the 2nd time around. Either way, would have been a war.

Wow, never expected this. I did think JC would win and even thought it had a chance to get out of hand, but, when I was thinking out of hand, I was thinking 35-7, but, really thought it's be a 28-7 or 28-14 type game. This FS team deserved to be there today and had beaten some solid teams along the way. Very impressed with JCs running game. I knew there D was good and would give FS some problems moving the ball, but, there RBs are a load and there OL was tremendous. It really hurt FS losing there best DLmen, but, he wouldn't have made that much of a difference..

The extreme difference is Lafayettes players come from 1 particular geographic neighborhood in Lexington while Trinitys comes from the entire city and surrounding counties and states with 90% of their teams players coming to that school specifically to play football there. The scholastic benefit is helpful, but, if that were the primary draw, most could find a private school with equal educational benefits closer to home..

I guess if you could take an all star team of players from all the Lexington schools and surrounding counties and put them on one team, you'd have a shot to compete because that's what you basically have in Trinity. Great team, but, it would be hard for me to get excited about winning a state championship when the deck is heavily stacked to your advantage. Unfortunately, Ky doesn't have enough big private schools to have it's own class. It's not Trinity's fault and I'm not blaming them, they have a terrific program and what parent wouldn't want their kids to play there if they're an elite athlete and have that opportunity, but, what state public school can compete with them? It's like placing Alabama in the OVC, just a different level than the rest of the state. I'm sure Trinity players, fans and administration wishes they had another option, but, at this point, there isn't one out there and other large public schools are the ones that have to suffer for it.

Yeah, if those numbers hold true the next 2 years, it's almost a certainty they'll move up. There are several other current 2a teams across other parts of the state with less numbers than the Tigers have,(Betsy Layne, Trimble Co, Middlesboro, Ft Knox, etc) and I highly doubt too many of those, if any, will opt to play up..

I voted no and I agree with above. By saying a team is back, imo, you're saying they're a lot better than they've been in recent years and while they've been solid the last couple of years and made it further in the playoffs, I don't think they're better than the 2011 team or a couple of others the past 7-8 years. If it's any consolation, Mayfield's likely in the same boat that Beechwood has been in for the past several years, now that they're in 2a with Desales, CAL & OB Catholic. They'll win there fair share and make solid playoff runs, but, I doubt you'll ever see another run like they were on the past few years and I doubt you'll see another run like the Tigers had back in the 90s..

CALs DL probably won't give Dampier time to sit in the pocket long enough for a 50 yard pass play to develop. The Ads best chance is the short passes in space to their speedy receivers and let them see if they can break something. I don't expect them to be very successful running the ball. CAL pursues left to right very well and they're pretty stout on the interior, so, running right at them is tough, too. If the Ads can break a couple of long plays with the screens, shorter throws, that'll help open things up a little. Mayfield did have some success there and I feel Danville's team is very similar to Mayfield's, not real big in the trenches, but, versatile with a lot of playmakers all over the field. Danville's OL will have to do a better job containing the pressure and not try and force things over the top. If they're going to have success, they'll have to be patient and take what the D gives them, try and win the field position battle and not turn the ball over. Plus, there D will have to play fundamentally sound football against the run and force them to beat you thru the air..

Liberty has turned into quite the power in West Tn 3a. They've been a thorn in Milan's side the past couple of years. They won't beat Alcoa, they're on a level by themselves in Tn 3a, but, Liberty's a team with a ton of talent and especially skill players. Would be a great team for Mayfield to try and add to their schedule in the future.

I don't expect Murray to stay down for long either. They were very young this year. Holy Cross and NCC will have a lot returning, as well. I think it's fair to say, it'll be the same familiar faces next year, but, maybe even a higher quality set of contenders than this year and this year was pretty loaded.

Not trying to be smart, but, Mayfield moving to 2a definitely helps. If not for them, they probably would have had at least 2 or 3 more championships in the past 7-8 years.. In saying that, I'm not sure they really ever left, just had a tougher road to hoe.. They aren't the dominant team of the 90s any more, but, they're good enough that they'll be competing for 1a titles on an annual basis, but, imo, teams like Pikeville, Paintsville, Hazard, etc, will have years where they can and will knock them off, like last year, whereas, that would have never happened with those 90s teams.

Congrats Tigers.. Exciting game between 2 evenly matched teams.. Both of these teams bring a lot back next year, so, wouldn't be surprised to see a rematch next year.. Hard to believe this Hazard team was projected by most as the 4th best team from the east behind Paintsville, Raceland and Pikeville.. The east was very strong and balanced this year.. Beechwood was head and shoulders the best from the west..