Purple88

Congratulations Boyle County! Congratulations Franklin County on a great season too!

Incredible turn of events. I know there is a long way to go, but it feels like that play just won the game for Boyle.

Hate it for the Aces. But they had a good year! Congrats LCA!

These 2 teams represented 1A really well. Outstanding game! Congratulations KCD on your first Championship! That is special! Congratulations to Raceland on your outstanding season. The Rams outgained KCD something like 350 to 150. I thought the penalties were HUGE against Raceland and the timing of the KCD timeouts to get their defense a breather were instrumental in limiting Raceland to 3 instead of 7 at the end of the first half and the ended up being the difference on the scoreboard. Congrats to both teams!

Congratulations Franklin. Great win in the young season! Feel it's going to be a long year for BG. Hope it's just a work in progress, but such a young team.

Fats, Primarily only Kayden York (plays RB and S) and Malik Butler (plays on both the DLine and OLine). But they do have a couple guys that will do some spot duty on the other side, but don't play there all the time to my knowledge.

Wow! Great interview from Coach Cobb! I look for the Rocks to be laser focused on Saturday!

This is GREAT news for Christian County Football. Really good luck to them. With the Hoptown team members coming back they should compete in 6A District 1! Go Tigers!

Well I didn’t watch very much NASCAR this year but I will try to Watch Daytona in February. I like Kyle Larson!

Breaking News! Red Bull and Little Brother Racing Bulls have just announced their 2026 lineups! For Red Bull, 4 time world champion (and an outside chance this year) Max Verstaopen is the clear best driver in the world to me. He will be teamed with a 2025 rookie from the Racing Bulls team Isaac Hadjar who has been brilliant this season for Racing Bulls and a rookie! I love this promotion! But the best part for me is that they announced it at a time to give Hadjar an opportunity to learnn the new car a bit before it’s go time! With Lawson and then Tsunoda I just felt then never got enough time to get comfortable with the car before they were thrown in the fire with a car built for Verstaopen that only he could really drive under those conditions. In the Racing Bulls, Liam Lawson will assume the lead role with new rookie Arvid Lindblad from the Red Bull Junior team who had some great races in F2 this year and impressed in his fill in jobs at a couple free practice events this season. Really exciting move from Red Bull as their cars are typically very good. But 2026 will be an Epic year in F1 with new regulations to change the game again and everyone “sort of” back to even to start the 2026 season. I do feel bad for Yuki Tsunoda, who I think is a good driver but just didn’t have much luck in the last few seasons. He has been placed down in the reserve driver roll. One other racing tidbit I wanted to share is I saw where Mick Schumacher has taken a seat in IndyCar. Good for him. Wish him luck there. I want to like IndyCar for the 500 alone but I just don’t know the drivers that well and the ones I know are vanilla at best. I will pull for Schumacher to do well there.

Tremendous Coach! The first time I remember seeing Coach Wallace was at a Warren East vs Bowling Green game that Coach Wallace was coaching the Raiders and it was halftime and on the way off the field Coach Wallace was giving the refs an earful. Ha! He was a really young coach at that time. He has touched the lives of so many for the better and I think that's the ultimate goal for a coach. I love winning and he will be remembered for that, but as Who Knew said above it's about making a difference in the lives of these young men in critical times of their lives that count. One of the last times I spoke with him was at the 2017 Boys Sweet 16 when BG won the tournament. He supported his players during the offseason for football too. He always took time to speak even though he may not have wanted to. Wish you the best Coach! And Thank You for all you've done to make the schools you have been at better places and programs!

The Qatar Grand Prix started out with every car in the "slow" lane (or the cars in even number starting positions like 2, 4, and 6th) come off the standing start really slowly compared to the racing line and the cars in the odd numbered starting positions like pole, 3rd and etc. This hurt Lando Norris who dropped to 3rd in the first few turns and also George Russell who dropped 3 spots in this timeframe as well. That was a big deal as it's pretty tough to pass at Qatar. But the biggest event of the race to me was at Lap 6 when Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasley hit wheels. It caused Hulkenberg to spin and stall and bring out the Yellow Flag. Everybody driver came into pit expect both McLarens and Ocon (Haas). This was an egregious error IMO. The other special piece of info for this race was that Pirelli (the tire supplier) mandated a 25-lap maximum for this race due to extreme tire degradation rates typically experienced here. Plus, there are 57 laps in the race. So, on lap 7 you could/should pit under yellow and then only have to pit once more and you are done pitting. McLaren, the World Championship Team, did NOT pit either driver. WOW! There is a piece of me that thinks if Norris were the lead driver that they would have pitted at least Norris here. Regardless, it put them behind the 8-ball for the rest of the race, and they really never recovered from it. By the time they restarted the race, Verstappen in 3rd was back up to 3rd so he lost no track position and gained a full pit spot on both leaders of the race. Couldn't have asked for a better Christmas present. So, McLaren is on the back foot the whole way from here on out. They did choose to pit Piastri with about 10 laps to go so he could try to catch Verstappen. He did pass Antonelli and Sainz, but he couldn't catch Verstappen. Norris pitted a lap later and came out behind Antonelli and Sainz. He caught up to Antonelli and with 2 laps to go the rookie went deep into a turn and Norris was able to get around. But he had no time to catch Carlos Sainz (Williams) who drove a GREAT race and earned the final podium spot in 3rd. Verstappen wins and Piastri was 2nd. Norris comes home in 4th. Norris has 408 points, Verstappen has 396 points and Piastri has 392 points. Basically, if Norris gets 3rd in the last race in Abu Dhabi he is World Champion any thing below that and it gets interesting! It's been a good season! But there are clearly a couple teams that have packed it in for the year IMO and they are led by Ferrari who had a terrible weekend. Kick Sauber was terrible too even with the heroics of Hulkenberg. On to the last race of the year in 6 days! So the Driver Championship will move on to Abu Dhabi next week for the final race of the year!

Just a tremendous job @DragonFire! I expect Central to roll this year. For Bowling Green, it will be like starting with your ABC building blocks as the Purples just don’t have any returning experience this year to lean on. But it should make for some wild swings you don’t expect. I was impressed with Clinton County last season. I will be keeping up with South and Greenwood too. Should be a fun year! Thank you Dragonfire!

I have nothing against KCD and they have had a great season, but pulling for the Rams to get their first championship! Good luck!

This could turn out to be the best game of the 6 played in Lexington. Pulaski County has had a great season, but I'm pulling for the Red Devils to get the big win and bring the hardware back to Frederica Street one more time! Go Red Devils!

Good luck to the Aces! Go get this last win! You can do it! Chances Carrico is back?

Beechwood is a great team. Congrats on another fine season. HUGE win for Aces! Good luck next week! I'm pulling for you guys!

Red Devils on a mission! One more to go!

Wow! That is really bad.

2025 6A Playoffs – Round 5 – State Championship Game Trinity Shamrocks (12-2) vs South Warren Spartans (13-0) The 2025 6A State Championship Game will feature, in the Green Corner, the current Back-to-Back 6A State Champion Trinity Shamrocks and, in the Black Corner, a brand new (entered 6A this season) 6A challenger - the South Warren Spartans. The comparisons and contrasts of these teams have a wide swath. By comparison, both teams have planted their flag in having a tough, hard-nosed defense. For the Shamrocks, their stellar defensive unit has only yielded 126 points up to the Semi-Finals game (total of 13 games or roughly 10 points a game). The Semi-Finals game at St Xavier they hammered their rivals 50-7 sending a clear message for this game that the Rocks aren’t done! For the Spartans, their stout defensive unit has only yielded 181 points up to the Semi-Finals game (total of 12 games or roughly 15 points per game). The Semi-Finals game vs Ryle they outlasted a valient Ryle effort winning 36-20. Both teams’ offenses are balanced and athletic and can make plays and both hadn’t really been challenged in quite some time until the Semi-Finals round. By contrast, Trinity has again played a tough out-of-state slate of teams including at Archbishop Moeller (OH) (Loss – 24-21), at Cincinnati St. Xavier (OH) (Loss 17-14), and Carmel (IN) (Win – 41-28) and a tough in-state slate of teams including St. Xavier (Win – 35-24) and Frederick Douglass (Win – 37-0). For South Warren, their schedule doesn’t have near that level of competition with the top teams played including at Dupont Manual, at Pulaski County and Bowling Green. All good solid to dominant wins, but nowhere near the level of Trinity’s competition above. This will be the very first meeting between these two teams! And it should be an exciting one! On to the specific team information! Trinity Shamrocks Information – (TP94 Ranking: 103.82) A quick tip of the hat to @St. Matthews Boy who did a great job with Trinity information this season! Trinity High School opened its doors in 1953 and since that time has built a nice campus in St. Matthews along Sherrin Avenue. Head Coach Jay Cobb came to St Matthews in 2014 from Beaumont, Texas (thanks to my friend @thsrocks for this nugget of info) and assumed defensive coordinator roles for Legendary Head Coach Bob Beatty. Coach Cobb is now in his 5th season after taking over from Coach Beatty. He overcame two disappointing years in 2021 and 2022 (by Trinity’s Standards anyway) and righted the ship earning back-to-back 6A Championships in 2023 and 2024. Impressive! Offensively, the Rocks are led by JR QB Zane Johnson with roughly 2,300 passing yards on the year with 39 TDs vs only 3 INTs. All this young man has done is come on the Trinity Campus, work hard and earned a starting position on the varsity football team as a Freshman from the second game on from the 2023 season to now and contribute to a 35 and 7 record and 2-Time State Championship seasons and looking for more! The running back stable is young, talented and deep. They are led by JR RB Jamaurion Berry who has roughly 700 yards and 9 TDs on the year. At WR, T has 4 players with over 20 catches on the year and only 1 is a SR. SR WR Cross Watson has had a super SR year with 25 catches for roughly 530 yards and 8 TDs on the year. And you can’t play the teams T does regularly without a good Oline and the Rocks have a very good Oline led by SR Nate Shields at 6’3” – 255 lbs. Defensively, Trinity is led by JR LB Luke Vize with 61 tackles on the year. The Shamrocks Dline is big, physical and deep and may be the best Dline in the State. And I feel confident that they have the best secondary in the State with the likes of Elijah Burns-Crump (3 INTs), Sekou Kamara (3 INTs), Myles Howze (4 INTs), Sonny Bratcher Gray (3 INTs), and LA Evans (2 INTs). Wow! The Shamrocks expect to be here and when they smell the finish line, they are tough to stop. South Warren Spartan Information – (TP94 Ranking: 89.64) South Warren High School opened in August of 2010 with their first varsity season coming the following year in 2011. The Spartans have a very nice sprawling campus off Nashville Road in Bowling Green. South Warren started in 3A and kept a slow methodical climb up their football path coming all the way to 6A this season with the continued surge in population in south Warren County. Coach Mark Nelson was the first Spartan Head Coach, but Brandon Smith was his defensive coordinator from the beginning of the program. Coach Smith was selected to replace Coach Nelson in 2014 and is now in his 12th season as the Spartans head man. And he has done an outstanding job leading the Spartans to State Championships in 2015 (4A), 2018 (5A) and 2021 (5A). And his father Chuck Smith coaches the defense and is one of the better minds to do so in Kentucky High School Football period. The 2025 Spartans have been on cruise control from roughly September 26th to tonight’s Semi-Finals matchup with a formidable Ryle squad. I honestly think the last time they really dialed in to focus on a team prior to the Ryle game was back for the Pulaski County game roughly 2 months ago. But I do think the South Warren coaches have been preparing for this game since about that time as well. South Warren has had a habit this season of playing down to a few of the earlier teams on their schedule, but they were locked in for the 3 tougher games and defeated Manual, Bowling Green and Pulaski County handily. And I look for them to be very focused and ready to play for this game. The Spartans are led by JR QB Camden Page (1,651 yards passing with 19 TDs vs 5 INTs). He has good size and makes smart decisions. 4 of his 5 INTs on the season were thrown before September 6th 2025 (some time ago, but he did throw one tonight). SR RB Kayden York has played really well this year at RB and S. In a lot of ways, he is the heart and soul of this team. He has 612 yards rushing and 220 yards receiving on the season with 18 combined TDs. SR Jake Carter is a fine player, and he leads the Spartan WRs with 50 catches for 658 yards and 7 TDs on the year. South also has a good Oline and they are a physical group. Defensively, South Warren has always been a sound defensive unit. This year they are blessed with a very good Dline with JR Jaquise Smith (who is a LOAD down there at 6’1” 340 lbs.!) and SR Malik Butler forming a strong tandem. The South LBs are very active and led by JRs Dakyon Darden and Ryley Oller who combine for roughly 100 tackles, 20 tackles for loss and 4 sacks on the year. In the secondary, Kayden York has had a good year with 3 INTs and JR Isiah Bridges has had a great year with 5 INTs for South. Game Preview The State Finals is every team’s dream, but only two teams get the opportunity to play for the game’s biggest prize and this year it will be the Shamrocks vs the Spartans at Kroger Field in Lexington on Saturday December 6th at 4:00 pm. For Trinity, this just seems like another focused week. It would seem the majority of their players were playing in this game last season. That experience has to have some value here. The Shamrock players know what to expect because they have been here before and they are the back-to-back 6A State Champions. Plain and simple. For South Warren, they have had a great undefeated season, blasted their rival (yes that hurt to type), and they have a very good team. No doubt about it. But in no time in their history has their schedule really ever been a factor for them like it will be in this game IMO. Playing middle of the road teams for a 6A school since at least October has finally met a team unfazed by any of these antics. It got South a comfortable #1 RPI slot and that has them here with a chance vs the 29-time State Champions. The South Warren Coaches are more than capable of producing a game plan that will challenge the Rocks. Plain and simple. But outside of tonight, this team hasn’t been in a tough, tight game since maybe the middle of September vs Hopkinsville (who is dead to right a 4A school). But if you are South Warren, you say who cares and only you have an opportunity to play Trinity for a State Championship and is really why we play the game because you never know. A few keys to the game: For Trinity: 1. Set the tone: Come out physical; neutralize the South Warren front 7 and get your playmakers the ball in space. 2. Get QB Zane Johnson comfortable and confident early. If he gets in a nice rhythm, it’s a great sign for the Rocks! 3. Defensively, make South QB Page uncomfortable whether with the blitz or your stout DLine, which will be the best Dline South has faced this season. For South Warren: 1. Settle into the game early. There will be some nerves to overcome the first few minutes. NO Big mistakes here. You can’t afford to give T any free points or plays. 2. Get QB Camden Page comfortable and confident early. If he gets in a nice rhythm, it’s a great sign for the Spartans! 3. Defensively, do what you typically do – put pressure on the QB and stop the run. On paper that is easy, against the Rocks, not so much! It’s time to play ball! Good luck to both teams! Who wins this game and why?

Go Red Devils!!!

Big 2026 News as Aston Martin announces Adrian Newey to become Team Principal next season. This season hasn’t gone well for Aston Martin so I’d say billionaire Laurence Stoll (team owner) has gone all in on 2026. Should be interesting!

Really interesting race! There wasn't a ton of passing on the track but there was alot of action/strategy going on. The Las Vegas Grand Prix is the 3rd to last race on the year. Only 2 races left (Qatar and Abu Dhabi)! Norris is in first place for the Driver's Championship race with his teammate Piastri in 2nd and hard charging reigning world champ Max Verstappen just behind in 3rd. Norris had a pretty good start to the weekend and pulled a great lap to take pole position for the race with Verstappen in 2nd but something has happened to Piastri who was down in 5th. About 4 or 5 races ago "the Papaya Rules" were in effect and they always went against Piastri and he hasn't been the same since. Reap what you sow McLaren! The start was pretty wild with Norris chopping down on Verstappen in a move you would expect from Verstappen. But in doing so, Norris missed his braking point and he ran wide into Turn 1 and lost the lead to Verstappen anyway! The really bad part was that he also got passed by a hard charging George Russell (Mercedes) to drop 2 spots in 1 turn! And Piastri dropped 2 spots also and now down in 7th. There were a couple fender benders too. Liam Lawson hit Piastri to drop him down. And Gabrielle Bortoleto ran wild and knocked 2 or 3 cars down the grid who all eventually did not finish the grand prix. I really like rookie Kimmie Antonelli (Mercedes). He can be somewhat erratic in that he completely missed the mark in qualifying when he was out in Q1 and started way down in 17th. But the kid has guts. Put on softs (tyres) to begin the race and he gained a few spots on the start. But with the Bortoleto tossed salad he took that opportunity to pit under Yellow on Lap 2 and put on the hard tyres and he took them 48 laps all the way to the end. He fought off cars he shouldn't have in Piastri and LeClerc (Ferrari) (both on newer tyres) and was one of the fastest cars at the end of the race. Outstanding! He is fun to watch! Norris eventually passed Russell back, but instead of trying to catch Verstappen he was notified his car had a problem and he had to lift and coast some to make his fuel reach the end of the race. So Verstappen wins with Norris in Second and Russell in third. Piastri finished 5th. But that didn't turn out to be the end. Both McLarens were disqualified from the race for a very technical issue! WOW! Meaning they didn't get any points from the race. So Verstappen is now tied with Piastri for 2nd and only 24 points behind Norris! With 2 races to go! This is going to get good! If I'm in Orange, I'm nervous with the World Champ on my gearbox!!! And the best part is the next 2 races are in back-to-back weeks starting next week in Qatar (there is also a sprint race here) and Abu Dhabi. Those tracks "should" favor McLaren much more than the cold desert of Vegas. Going to be fun!

This is a very interesting matchup! Both very good teams. But I said in a prior thread that if my Purples fell that I would pull for the Red Devils and I'm coming out here to keep my word. I would start the game with Hampton as a decoy and get it to Dillard as much as possible with Ganaway willing to run if needed. But come back to Hampton after the game gets going. I went to the Woodford vs South Oldham game and Woodford clobbered them. If Owensboro can limit the run game of Woodford and make their offense predictable. I like the ghosts of Rash Stadium to rise up with a Red Devil win 28-24. Good luck to both teams!

I think it's a tall test, but I'm pulling for the Aces after they beat my team.