Purple88

6A Playoffs – Round 4 – State Semi-Finals Ryle (10-3) at South Warren (12-0) This 6A State Semi-Final features the #1 RPI team in South Warren hosting the #6 RPI team in the Ryle Raiders. Ryle went to last season's 6A Championship Game and fought hard before falling to eventual Champion Trinity (an exact repeat of the 2006 season). But they have come back in 2025 and looking for another path back to Kroger Field with a win down in Bowling Green vs a stout South Warren team. South Warren won the 2015 4A State Championship and the 2018 and 2021 5A State Championships. So, these teams have experience playing deep into the playoffs! Ryle has played a very tough schedule, and I feel they have kinda been written off after the close Highlands loss (28-24) back in mid-September. But IMO their schedule has gotten them here. Not many teams win at The Farm (at Frederick Douglass) and that’s just what these Raiders did last night. Gutsy win! Congrats! The highlights of the Raiders season wins include at a very tough CovCath team, Ballard and at Frederick Douglass. They fell to Cooper, Christian Academy of Louisville and Highlands, but those are all three stout teams. And now they will face another stout team. But there is not Free Lunch at the Semi-Final Round! South Warren, on the other hand, has not played a terribly challenging schedule, but the Spartans did defeat DuPont Manual, Bowling Green and Pulaski County. The Spartans ran over an over-matched Henderson County team this week by a 49-21 score and has them hosting in the Semi-Finals round for the second year in a row! They have not played any common opponents, but both teams have strong defenses. And both teams have fairly balanced offensive attacks based on their seasonal statistics. Sets up for a very interesting game! These schools have never faced each other before. So, this first meeting is an especially Big One! Ryle Raiders Information – (TP94 Ranking: 76.65) Larry A. Ryle High School opened its doors in 1992. Mr. Ryle was a former superintendent, administrator, and teacher. Coach Mike Engler, in his 12th season taking over for Coach Bryson Warner in 2014, has done a super job off Highway 42 in Union, KY. He became the winningest head coach in Ryle football history in September 2024 and hasn’t looked back yet. This year’s version of the Raiders is playing well and looking to go back to Lexington for another chance at a title! Offensively, the Broncos are led by seasoned SR QB Nathan Verax who has passed for over 1,400 yards on the year with 16 TDs vs 6 INTs. Verax also has over 400 yards rushing on the season with another 7 TDs. But the rushing might of the Raiders is forged in SR Jacob Savage who has over 1,200 yards rushing with 24 TDs on the year. Outstanding! But word is the talented SR was injured in the Douglass game, and his availability is a pretty big deal. Verax’s top pass catcher is SR Dylan Lee with 27 catches for roughly 400 yards and 6 TDs. I honestly don’t know much of the Ryle Oline so if others could share that would be great! Defensively, the Raiders are led by you guessed it SR Jacob Savage with 107 tackles and 15 tackles for loss. In the Raider secondary, JR Evan Kincaid has 7 INTs on the year and 1 pick 6! Outstanding! South Warren Spartan Information – (TP94 Ranking: 89.64) The Spartans have been on cruise controls for a while now. I honestly think the last time they really dialed in to focus on a team was back for the Pulaski County game on September 26th. But South Warren is blessed with a very strong group of coaches led by Coach Brandon Smith, now in his 12th season off Nashville Road. And you may have heard of another guy, who is kinda a good coach - his father Chuck Smith coaches the defense and that’s pretty bad news for any offensive coordinator. South Warren has had a habit this season of playing down to a few of the earlier teams on their schedule, but then 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 ready to play for this game. The Spartans are led by JR QB Camden Page (1,874 yards passing with 20 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). SR RB Kayden York has played really well this year at RB and S. To me, he is the heart and soul of this team. He has 684 yards rushing and 237 yards receiving on the season with 20 combined TDs. SR WR Jake Carter is a fine player and he leads the Spartan WRs with 59 catches for 802 yards and 7 TDs on the year. 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!) and SR Malik Butler who form a strong tandem. The South LBs are very active and led by JRs Dakyon Darden and Ryley Oller who combine for roughly 110 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 BIG State Semi-Final Game down in Bowling Green will be played at South Warren High School on their new turf field. It’s a really nice field. Not a huge fan of the away bleachers though. Game time is currently scheduled for 7:00 pm (I'm not sure if that is Eastern or Central Time). The Sporting Times will stream this game for free here: Home | Sporting Times For Ryle, the Raider were playing this time last year, so I don’t expect this moment to be too big for them. They will have a 3.5-hour bus trip down though. Coach Engler isn’t a newbie, and this distance should be able to be managed on the non-school Black Friday Holiday. What will be harder to manage is the South Warren defense and the potential availability of Mr. Savage for Ryle. Top 4 key items for Ryle: 1. Be focused on getting your QB integrated with your game plan from Play #1. What do I mean? Throw some easy passes first. Don’t have a seam route that will take extreme finesse and guidance to succeed. Help your QB get in the game! 2. You need to match South’s physicality. They are going to come after you and you need to match that! 3. Pro-Tip: Pass to set up the run! South Warren has one of the best run defenses in the state. They will not let you get comfortable and they are coming after you. Be as prepared for this as you can! Pass first, but don’t abandon the run as you will need it, but you can’t expect to establish the run like the old Knute Rockne playbook tells you too! 4. Be prepared to pull out of your bag of tricks for this game. Don’t expect to just run up and down the field on South. But there will be instances in this game, where trick plays could be the difference in the game. Set the tone Raiders! For South Warren, they have had a great undefeated season, blasted their rival (Yes, that hurt to type!), and they have a good team. No doubt about it. This is another time in the season where the Spartans need to rise to the occasion and get laser focused and come out and execute what I’m sure will be a great game plan. Top 4 Key Items for South Warren: 1. Start Fast – South is on another level when they are focused offensively early like they were against Bowling Green earlier in the season. Get Kayden York the ball! 2. Get QB Camden Page comfortable early. He hasn’t thrown a pick in a long time. If he gets in a good rhythm, good things will happen for South. 3. Be the best Dline in this game! Shut down the Raiders run and dangerous Jacob Savage and make Ryle one-dimensional! This is a big deal! 4. South may be the best 4th down team in the state. When they get into your territory, they are likely going to keep going unless you stop them. And they might just have a few tricks in their bag for the Raiders!!! State Semi-Finals – It’s the BEST Week of the Season (No Work & Football!)! Do you need anything else to get excited about this game? I sure wouldn’t hope so. It’s time to play ball! Who wins this game and why?

Congratulations Atherton! Really disappointed in BGs defense. Worst of the entire year.

They have a brand new turf field to play on. That should be an attractor I'd think.

Really puts what Coach White is doing and Atherton in the proper light as coaching at a JCPS school not names Male and Manual is very tough.

I have the Bowling Green Daily News article from the game last year and thought I'd post it here in case anyone wanted to see how last year went down in BG. But this year is a different game with different teams. But history is also history. Front Page: The_Park_City_Daily_News_2024_11_25_A6-1.pdf Second Page: The_Park_City_Daily_News_2024_11_25_A8-1.pdf

I would give the job to Coach Lopez tomorrow. No one gave Hoptown any accolades coming into the season. Hoptown is a 4A school thrown into 6A. AND they competed better than most 6A schools they faced. Seems easy to me but I guess that is what scares me. This consolidation group hasn’t made anything easy.

I agree with everything G said above. But for me I look forward to Semi-Finals Week the most. You know you are off work due to Thanksgiving. You have a whole weekend after that should be pretty open as well. And that Friday is all about the game. No going to work and then rushing to get to the game. That's a special atmosphere. It's still at a high school stadium and the last week at high school stadiums for the season. Everyone wants to win the trophy, but to make it to Black Friday is pretty special in my book too.

Bowling Green is in the final 5 of TP94's power ratings between 20 and 25. I'm fine with you not including them in your top 25, but to not have them in the Others Receiving Votes seems off for me. I'd have that on my bulletin board for motivation.

Don’t they have to play the same schedule back again next year too? Why would anyone sign up for that?

Boy it is a lot of back and forth for 30 minutes of time!!! I liked the 7 pm personally because it likely gets both teams away from potential rain later in the evening. But I guess this could change again, so hang on!!!!

I'm a Bowling Green Fan. Beechwood isn't really ever in my window from a district standpoint, classification standpoint or even regional standpoint. But I wanted to reach out and say how much I respect what they do. In their 10 wins this year they have scored 544 points and given up 45 for an average score of 54 to 5. And the schedule is nearly always scheduling up, which is critical IMO to winning in November and December. And you always play CovCath, who on paper should beat you most years. But I'd say you learn more from that one game that the other 9 regular season games combined. I usually pull for 2A teams that are closer to me. But I wanted you guys to know that I respect what you do and the consistency with which you do it. It's what makes KY High School Football great IMO. Good luck the rest of the way Tigers!

I think Tilghman has come a good ways since the Madisonville game I tried to watch on NFHS back in September. It sounds like their defense is coming around at the right time. That is important. Most of these Tilghman guys won the title last year, so that experience from here forward is invaluable and certainly an advantage in my eyes. I also have a ton of respect for Coach Adler and how he and his staff turned what was supposed to be a more down year due to their prospective QB leaving into a 10 and 2 team looking to compete for a semi-finals berth. And their only 2 losses? At Tilghman and At South Warren. Wow! Good luck to both teams!

Just an incredible game last season. I'm looking forward to keeping up with this one as well. Good luck to both teams!

That's a LONG drive to Murray from Lexington!

Union County is a tough team, and they won't be intimidated. But this is another level. CAL should win with game decided in the first half.

Go Cardinals!

Red Devils name the score.

Early weather forecast for Louisville for Friday the 21st: Rain during the day (around a quarter inch). High 60 degrees. Rain clearing at night. Lows during the game in the mid to low 50s. From 3 to 6 pm about a 50% chance of rain. By 9 pm about a 30% chance of rain. So, bring your rain gear if you're going to the game.

6A Playoffs – Round 3 – Regional Finals Henderson County (6-6) at South Warren (11-0) I have to be honest here. I had McCracken County in this thread when I prepped it. But that is why you play the game and Congratulations to the Colonels for continuing to fight and get the win on the road! To me, it really makes their season very positive no matter the outcome of this game. This will be the 3rd meeting between these 2 teams with the Spartans leading the series 2-0. They first met in the regular season in 2023 with South winning 38-14. The next year South went to Hendo and it took a MONSTER Game by SR QB Bryce Button who needed over 250 yards passing and nearly 100 yards rushing accounting for 5 TDs in a 43-33 BATTLE to get the win for South! I did not think Hoptown would give South a game, but by all accounts, they did just that. I think Hendo is much more likely to give South some difficulty compared to McCracken County, who I didn’t think could challenge South at all. Still a straight uphill climb for the Colonels! Henderson County Colonels Information – (TP94 Ranking: 38.59) Coach John Elliott in his first season as head coach of the Colonels has done a super job of holding his team together and having a solid year at 6 and 6. I admit I know little about the Colonels this season. JR QB Brody Belt leads the Colonels with nearly 1,200 yards passing with 12 TDs vs 6 INTs. SO Anzerion Marigny leads a Calvary of 7 players with at least 150 yards on the year with 436 yards rushing and 5 TDs. The top WR for Hendo is SR Avant Baxter who has 23 catches for over 525 yards and 6 TDs. Defensively, the Colonels don’t have reliable stats so not sure who their leader is for sure, but SR Myron Wright has played well for the Colonels this year. South Warren Spartan Information – (TP94 Ranking: 89.64) Rinse, Dry and Repeat! South Warren is on a roll, undefeated and playing with high confidence. Will the conveyor belt of overmatched teams end for South. Not this week. The Spartan Coaches can continue their Louisville School scouting and planning, which must be over two months now. I just don’t see a lot of planning for this game. Plain and simple. The Spartans are led by JR QB Camden Page (1,651 yards passing with 19 TDs vs 5 INTs). SR RB Kayden York continues his fine play. He has 612 yards rushing and 220 yards receiving on the season with 18 combined TDs. SR Jake Carter leads the Spartan WRs with 50 catches for 658 yards and 7 TDs on the year. Defensively, South has only given up 31 points in the last 5 games and all in mop up time. South’s defense is why they have a chance to win 6A this season IMO. Game Preview This is just a bad matchup for Henderson County IMO. I look for South to end this game pretty quickly with their defense setting their offense up with great field position. Plain and Simple. But I do think Hendo could hang around for a quarter or so and hope they do. I just don’t think this game will be competitive. South Big!

5A PLAYOFFS – ROUND 3 – Regional Finals Bowling Green (6-6) at Atherton (11-1) The Purples head to Louisville for the second and last time in 2025 looking to even their Bourbon City record as they take on the high-flying Ravens of Atherton in the Regional Final Round of the 5A Playoffs. These teams have only met once, and it was last year in the same round of the playoffs with BG winning 44-20 in Bowling Green. But these are different teams, and it will surely be a different game in a different venue. For Atherton, they really haven’t been challenged all year outside of a September 12th loss to DuPont Manual 33-21 and have dominated in their 11 wins by a 446 to 26 score. Wowza!!! Of Atherton’s 12 opponents to date, 1 (North Oldham) is still playing in the playoffs. For Bowling Green, it has been a topsy-turvy year losing 5 of their first 6 games. Of BGs 12 opponents, 6 (OCath, St.X, Scott County, South Warren, CAL, and Franklin County) are still playing in the 3rd round of the playoffs. Atherton Ravens Information (TP94 Rating: 64.94) Head Coach Anthony White is a very fine football coach, who is now the all-time wins leader in Atherton’s football team history. Congratulations Coach White! Great accomplishment! The Ravens have a strong defense and have had a goal all year to get to the State Finals this season. The Ravens have 2 QBs that seem to have very similar numbers and likely both used in most games. SO QB Lamar Sistruck Jr has nearly 1,000 yards passing with 13 TDs vs only 2 INTs on the year. JR Deairus Smith has just over 800 yards and 10 TDs vs 3 INTs on the year. SR DuZye Grundy is a very hard running RB with great speed and elusiveness that leads the Ravens rushing attack with over 900 yards rushing and 13 TDs. JR WRs Garyon Hobbs is a special player and plays both ways and his WR partner Jason Briscoe refused to be tackled in Thursday’s game vs Jtown to score an impressive long running TD. He also has great speed and athleticism. Hobbs and Briscoe lead the Ravens receiving corps with nearly 1,000 yards and 13 TDs on the year. But the Ravens hang their hat on the defensive side of the ball only giving up 59 points THE WHOLE YEAR!!!! Wow! But 33 of those were to Manual. JRs ZaiVion Meads, Grayden Reid and Garyon Hobbs are D1 caliber players, and they lead the impressive defensive unit with about 160 tackles, 26 for loss and 10 sacks combined on the season. The Ravens schedule makes this team somewhat an “unknown” to me; meaning I’m not totally sure what to expect in a tight game should they ever get to one. It’s fun beating teams 40 to Zero, but what about in a close game? Fair question and I think we could find out here. But the Ravens have great skills guys, great team speed and they will be a tremendous test for any team to take out. Bowling Green Purples Information (TP94 Rating: 66.77) The Purples overcame a determined and well-coached Apollo squad tonight 52-27. No win is guaranteed and to get the chance to survive and advance is what all teams are shooting for this time of year. How many Freshmen QBs do you know that have played against St X, at Scott County, South Warren, at CAL and at Franklin County? I’d guess not many. Freshman QB Anthony Davis (AD) has been super cool and collected in these trying games for the Purples. I’m not sure what more you could ask of the young man, but as my friend @BillNye mentioned Bowling Green needs their other players to step up in these tough games to come and that is right now. How bout my man Trey Graham! 4 TDs tonight and just played with great determination. The Purples rushing attack typically runs through the Graham Brothers Nick and Trey who have roughly 570 yards on the year with 5 TDs. The Purples WR corps is seasoned with SRs Travey Barber, Hudson Nottmeier, Ethan Kirkwood and Jaxon Smith (who leads BG with 26 catches for 318 yards and 3 TDs). All 4 made big catches tonight. And I’d say this was likely the best the Oline has looked this season. Very positive! Defensively, SR LB Montez Trussell continues to lead BG with 80 tackles on the year with 10 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks. But it’s time to put up or shut up for this year’s version of the Purples Jungle D. I think the front 7 played about as well as they have all year tonight. But can they get the stops against a super talented Ravens team when they need it? We shall see! Game Preview This exciting second game of the series is currently slated to kick off in Louisville! UPDATE #3: Thanks to @Tigerpride94 again! GAME TIME is back at 7:30 pm Eastern Time! UPDATE: Thanks to @Tigerpride94 for confirming this game will be moved to Waggener High School's new turf field this Friday evening! GREAT MOVE! The likely streaming services available for this game include: Streaming: - Sporting Times (stfanclub.com) D93 Facebook Page: (BG’s radio feed also has a Facebook Live Stream): (3) Facebook I saw Atherton back in August at a 7v7 in Jeffersonville, IN and they looked good back then. But I hadn’t seen them otherwise all year, so I decided to go to the JTown game on Thursday. The Ravens looked very good. They refuse to be tackled easily. They battle you. They smother you on defense and have super athletes out in the secondary! Bowling Green isn’t the same team today that fell to OCath back in August. I really like the way this Purples team is playing in the playoffs. No, they haven’t played the Packers and Cowboys, but they played the way old Purples teams have played in Rounds 1 and 2. But this is a step up. And Bowling Green will need to bring their best effort of the season to cage this Ravens team. Plain and simple. A couple key questions: 1. Will Bowling Green be able to run the ball? Only Manual has been able to do that this year on this tough Ravens defense. It’s important for BG to be able to work some runs into their offensive scheme. 2. Atherton’s offense hasn’t played a tested defense like BGs in some time. How will they respond should they find difficulty moving the ball, something that hasn’t been a problem since September? 3. Does one team have an advantage in the kicking game? Well after Thursday, I would say it is nearly even. 4. Garyon Hobbs for Atherton and Travey Barber for Bowling Green are special players and will garner special attention from each opponent’s game plan. I think both will play well. Who else are critical to the success of their respective teams? The Regional Final Round isn’t about running clocks anymore; it’s about a good competitive game to see who gets to play on Black Friday, which is a big feather in a team’s cap! It is with great disdain that I report I likely won’t be able to make this game due to a family event I simply can’t get out of. I hate that and am hoping someone else can provide some score updates for this one! It’s going to be a good one! What say you? Who wins this game and why?

Go Aces!

Congrats Red Devils! Running Clock next week!

Tremendous win West Jess! Congratulations!

What a win Hendo! That takes their season to another level IMO!

Congrats St X on the solid win! Male won't be easy. It doesn't matter their record or what you think about them. They are going to battle you with everything they have. That said, I like X in that game!