Purple88

Congratulations to Coach Landis! Good luck going forward!

I thought I recall something about going back to a 4 year stretch this next realignment period. But maybe I am not recalling it correctly.

There has to be more to this story behind the scenes, doesn't it? I mean wanting to be the head coach at a school is many times half the battle in smaller classification, smaller rural communities especially. I think Ordell's Logan County comment may be very relevant if someone from the "Central Office" is taking a long-term ribbing regarding wins and losses to their rival. Who knows really. But I'm not sure there will be a better resume than Coach Benton's knocking on Russellville's door. That is the real problem, and the clock is ticking as football never stops.

Purples go to Campbellsville and don't play terrible just not good enough to win. Taylor County is a good team with good shooters, and they were helped with a 19 to 8 foul differential in their favor. Purples young players have to keep learning from these experiences. A big one for them this Friday at home vs district rival Greenwood.

2026 Bowling Green Purples Bowling Green enjoyed great success during a 5-year run from 2020 through the 2024 Season (2021 was a rebuilding year with a young team). A lot of bills came due for the Purples in 2025 and they paid them including: - Injuries (to a degree I can’t recall a season similar), - Over-scheduling (Scheduling is a tough business and to get tested is a good thing and needed; but to put every non-district game vs the 2A finalist, 3A Champion, 4A Finalist, 5A Semi-Finalist, and 6A finalist is a gauntlet), - Freshman QB (young Anthony Davis played admirably well for a Freshman, but truth is he was 4th string during 2025 Spring ball and basically just out of Junior High), - Penalties (how many big gains and TDs were erased for holding and other penalties? Too numerous to count!) - No Jungle D (this one hurts, as the last game in the Regional Finals saw time and again BG get out-flanked to the edge giving up nearly 300 yards and 4 TDs rushing vs Atherton. Was Atherton better that night? Yes. 5 TDs better? No IMO. BG defense only forced 15 turnovers in 2025; they forced 30 in 2024.) You are not going to win them all, and you are not going to win the 15th game every year, but the 2025 Purples team had the skill guys to compete for the 15th game and simply didn’t get there. Was not meant to be. 2025 Quick Recap Not a lot went right for Bowling Green really the entire year. Star WR Travey Barber went down to a lengthy injury early in the first quarter of the first game vs OCath and that really set the tone for the whole year. BG had to adjust at QB for the first 3 games vs very solid opponents and finally found the best option in Freshman Anthony Davis. And the young man played admirably well being thrown in that environment vs top teams each week. But the offense never really clicked, even though some rushing lanes did open somewhat later in the year. And defensively, Bowling Green tried many combinations but didn’t have a lot of cohesive luck there either. And with that the Purples ended with their first losing season since 2002. Just the facts. A disappointing end to a great 4 year run for the 2025 Senior Class who played 58 games in their 4 years wearing Royal Purple and Old Gold. Thank you, 2025 Seniors! 2026 Returning Player Status Offense: BG loses a lot of significant skill guys including top talent WR Travey Barber, who was robbed of a stellar senior season due to injury IMO. Also gone include 2-way star Jaxon Smith, Tre Graham (both of whom contributed since their sophomore years), and solid WRs like Hudson Nottmeier and Ethan Kirkwood. 3 OLinemen also graduate. Returning includes rising SO QB Anthony Davis (and I think the game will slow down a bit for him this season), RB Nick Graham, TE Reed Gathright and 2 OLinemen. Rising SOs Zyrek Burton should see some action at RB. And there are some talented younger Purples who will be vying for a starting role at WR in 2026. Defense: BG loses 4 of their top 5 tacklers including multi-year contributors LB Montez Trussell, DL Malik Coburn and DB Andru Jones. Those are really good football players. But the next 8 tacklers return for 2026. And I will add, this unit just did not gel the way past Purples defenses did. 2026 Schedule BG will play a very challenging schedule which will flip-flop home and away games from their 2025 schedule including 6A Bullitt East at the Rafferty’s Bowl at WKU, at St. X, Scott County, South Warren, Christian Academy of Louisville, at Greenwood and Franklin County. A tall task, but this year most of those games will be at Bowling Green, which should help a little. 2026 Outlook Like my friend @BillNye said in another thread, Bowling Green will have a lot of questions to answer in 2026. Who will be catching passes from young Anthony Davis? How will their Oline play go? The 5 departing seniors on defense made a lot of plays for BG; who will step into those shoes? Truth be told, I felt BG got pushed around more than I can recall. Can they reverse that? It's an important off season in the weight room for BG. Those are the tough issues for sure. But at no time in program history has so many young players been given SO much time on the varsity field. For example, 3 (count them) 3 Freshman started for basically the entire back half of the season. That has NEVER happened before. Those freshmen include QB Anthony Davis, OLB Zyrek Burton, and SS Jett Reynolds. Those guys are solid. And I feel there are a lot of other strong young players behind them capable as well but not proven on the varsity stage. And the varsity stage BG is stepping on has a high threshold and is not an easy learning ground for the young guys. But sink or swim, I think BG has to go with those young talented guys. It’s going to be interesting. Could BG start 0 and 4 for the second straight year? Goodness, I hope not, but Bullitt East (WKU), at St. X, Scott County and South Warren aren’t chopped liver. What say you?

He's been coaching basically half of his life and given a ton to the Fern Creek kids and community. The football coach is much more than a coach and looked to for leadership in so many tangent ways. I didn't know Coach Abell personally, but I always respected how he did his job and the way his teams played. A HUGE loss for Fern Creek and High School football in general. Good luck going forward Coach Abell!

How old was Brandon Smith when South Warren won their first championship in 4A in 2015?

I don't think any team in the 4th Region will defeat Warren Central this year. For that to happen, Central would need to play/shoot their worst game and the other team play their best game and be on the road for the Dragons. Even with that, the other team would need some more factors to go in their favor IMO. Just don't see it happening this year. But should one team get to meet Central 4 times, then you just never know, but I wouldn't count on it. Really interested to see how the January 9th games in the 14th go this week! Hoping BG can hold serve at home vs the Gators! Thanks for your efforts @DragonFire!

This is a great topic. I personally believe it is a lack of coaches who understand how to teach the techniques in a manner the player can relate to and thus implement on the field. I say it that way because I didn't want to say there aren't enough good OLine Coaches. I think it is the hardest position to coach effectively because you have to make 5 guys/plus backups get it and be cohesive about playing it and likely multiple positions within the group.

Turns out South Warren likes 6A just fine, as the Spartans go all the way to the Championship game and play a very respectable game falling to 30 Time State Champ Trinity 28-14 in the 2025 6A State Championship game. Well done! 2025 Quick Recap A lot went right for the Spartans in 2025 including then JR QB Camden Page really coming into his own and out of the Bryce Button shadows to lead the Spartans with nearly 2,400 passing yards - 24 TDs vs 8 INTs and a standout 13 and 1 record in their inaugural season in 6A football. Star Senior RB and S Kayden York did it all for the Spartans with nearly 1,100 rushing yards and 21 TDs while also being in the Top 10 in tackles and 4 INTs on the season! Well done! And the Spartan defense continued to bring havoc to pretty much every team they faced last year with a strong group at all 3 levels but based on that DLine by then JR Jaquise Smith and SR Malik Butler. Sure, you always want to win the last game, but it was a great 6A intro for the Spartans! 2026 Returning Player Status Offense: South loses playmaker RB Kayden York, 2 Starting WRs including Jake Carter, who played his best game in the State Championship Game IMO, and 3 OLine starters. But QB Camden Page returns for his Senior Year, JR Jamir Boards should step into the RB slot, and it will be time for some younger WRs and OLinemen to step up. That will be key for South in 2026. Defense: South only loses 3 key defensive players including stalwart Malik Butler on the DLine, Drayson Moore at LB and Kayden York at S. All very good players but the rest are back and there will be 9 Seniors to play/start on this year's Spartans D, so I look for a great year for the Spartan Defensive Unit. Perhaps one of their best groups. 2026 Schedule Like most every team, South will run their 2025 schedule back flip-flopping home and away, which should help them as they only had 4 regular season home games last year. Questions or highlights of the schedule include: - Do they keep Bryan Station at the e.campus.com Bowl the first game of the year? - DuPont Manual should travel to BG to take on South this year in a highly anticipated game! - South will travel to Bowling Green this year to see if they can make it 2 wins in a row for the third time ever against the rival Purples. - Pulaski County will travel to South in an interesting game with old Boyle County roots. 2026 Outlook First, Congratulations to Coach Brandon Smith who was the recipient of the KFCA Coach of the Year Award. Coach Smith has certainly done a fine job off Nashville Road. You have to like where the Spartans sit at this point in time. They are in an easy district for them and an easy side of the bracket away from Trinity and mostly away from X too. So, there is no reason to doubt that they will likely be the #1 6A team in RPI again next year, thus ready to host a semi-final game and you take your chances from there. Not a bad gig! But for conversation purposes, no team went further doing less last season. How dare I insult the robes of the Nashville Road elite! Let me explain my conversation point. What team/teams did South play last year that they were supposed to lose to? Bryan Station. Nope. Manual. Ok. That one is fair. Bowling Green. Nope. The 2025 BG team had a losing record for the first time since 2002. (And I'm not giving BG a pass. The Purples must do better. I think they know that.) Pulaski County. Nope. While they went to the final game (congratulations to the Maroons, as it is not insignificant feat), were the Maroons the favorite in any capacity in that September game even in Somerset? Nope. Let's expand to the playoffs. Their first-round game was forfeited. Not South's fault but goes to my point. They played a 4-A team (Hopkinsville) in round 2. Again, not South's fault. Henderson County at South. Come on. Ryle was a worthy opponent, but not without their 2 inside LBs and arguably generational both ways standout Jacob Savage. But again, not South's fault. Trinity. Yes, the Spartans were not favored in this game. So, for 14 games (which should have been 15), you are "tested" twice. Once on August 29th and once on December 6th. That is a tough road to be able to stay up mentally to be able to battle and beat a team as battle tested as the Trinity Shamrocks who are tested basically every week. So, I'll be interested to see what the 2027 South Warren schedule will be. Are they going to stay the old Nebraska Cornhuskers method of just playing lukewarm teams and having a shot at the end or upgrading the schedule to test yourself during the season in order to get your team ready for the last game. We shall see! What say you?

Great work as always DF! I think Barren County and Russell County are a shad high and Greenwood is a shad low, but rankings are a thankless business and it's the holidays, so Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

Purples go on the road last night and find a way to pull out a hard fought win 66 to 61. Christian County led by 2 after the First Quarter and completely outplayed BG in the second quarter taking a 10 point lead into the break. I'm sure Coach Sherrill lit into the Purples as they came out on fire defensively and forced Christian County into some turnovers BG used to climb back into the game. And BG took their first lead of the game as the 3rd Quarter horn sounded. It was an entertaining 4th Quarter as the lead went back and forth. The Colonels earned their final lead of the game off free throws by Acree at 61-60 Christian County with 1:21 to play, but BG would respond with buckets by Anthony Davis, Christian Muhire and free throws by Braylen Anderson to reach the final score of BG 66 - Christian County 61. The Colonels were led by their fine big man Rasean Livingston who had 23 points in the game. But he was the only Colonel with double figures. Christian County is a good team. They like to press and get after you and they do a good job getting into the passing lanes. Good luck the rest of the way! The Purples were led by their only senior on the roster Christian Muhire with 19. Braylen Anderson had 17 and Anthony Davis chipped in with 10. Really liked the fight in the Purples in the second half and the roll they are on right now. Winning helps alot with the bonding of this young Purples group. On to play in some holiday events before what I expect to be very tough district games (vs Warren Central, South Warren and Greenwood) in the new year. Happy Holidays! Go Purples!

I think there is going to be a lot of “upsets” this year in Region 4.

Bowling Green goes on the road and gets a big win in the young season. The game was back and forth pretty much the whole way. Glasgow has a really good team. SR Jerrick Martin is a load on the low block, and he led the Scotties with 18 points and 14 big rebounds! Also, Jaylen Bradley is a talented guard who had 16 points on the night. For BG, they had quite a bit of foul trouble but overcame it. Embree Dotson led the Purples with 14, Anderson had 12 points and was really aggressive and Aikins who is really a 2-guard playing some point with 12. But the free throws were a problem again tonight for BG going roughly 11 for 24. At the end of the game with 2.5 seconds, Glasgow had the ball with a two-point deficit. They had a good play drawn up and got the ball to Bradley with a 3-point attempt, but Arlando Davis blocked it! Wow! Great game! Good luck Glasgow! The Purples traveled to Hopkinsville the very next night and played a really good Florida Costal Prep Academy team and got blown out by 30 but just need to rest a bit and move on to this Tuesday night when BG goes back to Hopkinsville to take on a very solid Christian County team. Go Purples!

Thinking about it with the commitments required of all drivers, I have to agree G. And to be fair Alpine was probably the worst car on the grid this past year. So to expect them to be competing at the top end of the grid is misguided.

Does anyone know what time that X vs WCentral game will be?

Man that is some disparity among the salaries. I mean Colapinto is basically available to be Verstappens Uber driver!!! Ha!

F1 never sleeps! You finish the last race at Abu Dhabi and crown a World Champion and they turn around and start testing for the next season 2 days later!!!!!! The article below explains it in good depth: Post-season Abu Dhabi test takes first steps into F1’s new future Here is a great article by The Independent regarding the new 2026 regulations and the scuttlebutt on a potential for a new pecking order on the grid, which would be fascinating! Why F1 will be more unpredictable than ever in 2026 I feel these new engines will all be completely raw in that no team will have any great data to use on how they will perform during a real race. There are going to be some teams that will have alot of catching up to do. I have a gut feeling that Mercedes engines will have an advantage out of the gate. But there are so much unknown that all teams have a shot, so that first race in Australia will be must see TV for sure! It's less than 90 days away!

Two young teams met in Bowling Green tonight. For Bowling Green, Anthony Davis leads the way with 19 points and Braylon Edwards with 13. 2 others in double figures for the Purples also tonight. BG MUCH better with foul shooting compared to the Franklin game going 26 for 29. Etown has some nice players in Washington who had 25 and Ballard with 17. Good young team. Now see if we can sneak a win away from a very good Glasgow team on Friday. Go Purples!

DragonFire, what do you think Bowling Green's record will be after this weeks 3 games. I really have no idea. Ethan Kirkwood isn't on the KHSAA roster. So I don't know about that. Going to be interesting. I really think everyone else is playing for second as Warren Central is on another level. But this Region will have wild swings this year I think.

Congrats to @Jack of all Trades on a great long term win and @Runcible Owl on the short term win! Hard to do. Also shout out to @theguru who killed it with dedicated coverage of all 6 State Championship games! Outstanding work!

A very good F1 Season comes to a close in Abu Dhabi! Congratulations to Lando Norris (McLaren) who wins his first World Championship! Outstanding! Verstappen gets the win and just ran out of time on the championship. Here is F1's Overview points: Overview • Round 24 of 24 comes from the Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi • Lando Norris wins 2025 World Championship after third-placed finish • Max Verstappen takes victory in title-deciding race, with Oscar Piastri second • Final standings: Norris (423 points), Verstappen (421 points), Piastri (410 points) Alot I could say here, but will finish with these points: 1. Lando Norris - was good all year. Had a good car and good team. To me, he isn't the best driver (Verstappen is) but he made it all work and it's better to be lucky than good. He got the benefit of the "Papaya Rules", which I still don't understand, but they were always in his favor. 2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - IMO the best driver. His team had a HUGE shakeup mid-year and getting through that cost him this championship. He nearly got it anyway. Amazing performance. 3. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) - drove very well this season. IMO if McLaren would not have implemented the "Papaya Rules" he is World Champion today. I guess that's the rest of the story. Other Items: Mercedes - has a great stable of drivers (Russell and Antonelli). Should be strong next year. Ferrari - LeClerc drove his crankshaft off today to keep Norris honest with a car that is not good. I believe Ferrari pitched in the tent about 8-10 races ago to focus on 2026. IMO, no team has more pressure next year than Ferrari. Aston Martin - Stroll drove really well today; Fernando Alonso is a GREAT driver. The dude is 44 years old. WAY past 99.9% of past F1 drivers. But the guy continues to produce. With Adrian Newey now the new Principal at AM - LOOK OUT next year for Aston Martin! The great thing about F1 for people who like it like me is you don't have to wait long to see it come back again. Testing begins in Barcelona in just 7 short weeks. So have a great holiday season, take a vacation to Monaco and come back in 7 weeks to see how the brand-new cars (brand new regulations for 2026) take the track. It promises to be the most formative season for F1 in its history IMO. Happy Holidays F1 Fans!

Congratulations Owensboro! Happy for the O fans on this site! It's been a long time coming! Great season! Also great season for Pulaski County! Coach Burns has done a great job too!

Congratulations to Coach Cobb and the Shamrocks on Championship #30! Incredible! Even in their 2 losses I felt the rocks were the better team and could have won both of those games too. Great season! Have to tip my hat to Coach Smith and the Spartans. They played well tonight and made plays to keep themselves in this game. That is saying something against T. With the way 6A football is South will be in the hunt for the foreseeable future Add a few better games to the schedule and look out!

Ts QB just needs to settle down. It’s there.