groinpull

My guess is it's a bit early to have that much interest. I think once some games are played there will be a little more chatter on this but I do agree that some people have probably moved on after their kids have graduated. I also think some schools discourage their parents or players from being on here.

Maybe I'm missing it but will there not be separate rankings for just Kentucky or will it be a combined Ohio/Kentucky list only? I'm also not sure I understand the changes you made. Care to explain those? It appears that the teams ranked highly last year keep their spots this year to start. That seemed to be one of the chief complaints. Not sure how a team like CovCath can be ranked #1 in the state (if I'm reading it correctly) after losing 9 of 11 starters.

Congrats to Adam, hopefully he is back on the field soon playing.

Nice article. Glad the season is about to get started. Will be interesting to see what SK can do against Ballard on Monday. Some good matchups Tuesday, highlighted by two of the top 3-4 teams in N. Ky. going at it in CCH/St. Henry. Highlands at Cooper should also be an interesting game. Assuming Snow is still out, I'll go with Highlands in that one.

CCH depth appears to be fine actually. This is a team that will be much better in October than they are in August. Defense was very solid, Griffin Lamb had three goals but the midfield will need to improve.

I'd looked at their roster as well and saw the same thing but I'm not sure how many of those guys saw significant action until later in the game. In the first half, I'm not sure that SO subbed at all but if they did, maybe just a couple players. I did see a couple players who played both JV/Varsity. Like I said, a good core and they at times in the first half gave CCH all they wanted but were not able to sustain it.

CCH 4 - South Oldham 0 Probably a bit closer than the final score indicates. SO has a quality team but no depth right now.

Stava, Darpel and Lehman. First two are younger siblings of past/present players.

No freshmen on the CCH side that I saw unless I missed someone. Quite frankly I can't recall the last time a frosh played w/ the varsity early in the year. I've seen a couple brought up late I the season after the frosh/JV seasons are over but that's about it. Three frosh have been moved to the JV team. CCH is carrying a couple sophomores on varsity.

Wait til "Red Card" makes a reappearance on BGP and then we'll see who is reasonable.

This is interesting but even at the highest levels, you see handling called differently by different officials, particularly if it will result in a PK. The biggest X factor is what constitutes an "unnatural position" of the arm/hand. Many times, a ref will award a free kick in the middle of the field for handling when the same infraction in the penalty area will not garner a PK. If the rule was called strictly in accordance w/ the laws of the game, I think there would be very few handling calls made.

Just from a CCH standpoint, it appears they used the game to do just what is being discussed. There were a lot of different combinations, etc. to see who worked where and who didn't work. My take on things: - CCH defense should be solid - Midfield is going to struggle early on but hopefully they figure it out - Scoring goals will be a bit of an issue. CCH plays South Oldham in a scrimmage tomorrow and then St. Henry in the opener. I expect that game to be relatively low scoring, maybe a one or two goal margin.

I believe CCH/Cooper ended up with CCH winning 3-0 but not sure about that. Cooper has a pretty solid squad from what I saw and that was without Snow in the lineup. I really don't know if St. Henry was playing a mixed lineup as well and I heard they were missing some starters too. As usual, Soccerama didn't really tell me much but was fun to see some actual games.

You may be right that it was 8-0. Hard game to watch really. Connor looked really young to me.

I believe it was St. Henry 6 Connor 0 in the first game. Connor is going to struggle to win many games from what I saw. St Henry looked ok I guess but not as sharp as I expected with that many seniors. I only saw half of CCH vs Cooper with CCH up 2-0 at half. Very choppy half for CCH and not very sharp either. Cooper looked to be pretty good, especially without Snow in the lineup. CCH played a mixed lineup in the first half so I expect they were experimenting quite a bit.

Anyone see last night's games?

Actually, I also heard that Simon Kenton is expected to contend this year although that would be 10th region I believe. I heard they have a new coach from Louisville and he's bringing a very talented daughter and they got another transfer as well but don't know the details.

I would note for the record that the first dust up of the season was started by a football fan and not a soccer person.

My understanding is that NDA has an experienced and talented team this year, I think returning 9 starters. Is it pretty much NDA and Highlands this year?

I'd agree that the BG vs Dunbar game will give a good indication of where some of the traditional powers are this year from down state. Trinity vs the N. Ky teams will be a good measuring stick as well.

Hopefully a speedy recovery for games that matter a bit more down the line.

The word at CCH is that Snow is out with an injury? Maybe Yellow Card can confirm? Hopefully nothing serious.

If I had to guess, I'd say that Bluegrass games are not considered "scrimmages" at all so the scrimmage limitation does not apply, if in fact all teams are limited to two scrimmages. BGSG is a tournament with winners and losers and probably considered no different than a bball tournament or baseball tournament. I'm not sure who said they were considered scrimmage games.

While I'm not a big fan of Bluegrass Games, I'm not sure I'd call it a "fiasco". I don't know the rules for HS football but given that they are two completely different sports, it may be appropriate to have different rules for how many scrimmages, etc they can allow. There is a reason that soccer teams play 2-3 games per week and football teams play 1 game per week don't you think? My guess is that the physical demands of football on the player's body dictate reduced pre-season action and not some "unfairness" handed down from KHSAA.

None of those results sound surprising. I think Dixie and Boone will both struggle this year. Any actual scores to report?