Tony Cavalier

Geordan is really something else and a super kid to boot. Once football ends he begins to cut weight for wrestling. After he won the state title in wrestling last year he was out on the diamond taking cuts and fielding ground balls the very next day. He played on a summer traveling baseball team out of Huntington, WV until the start of football season. For him to be able to seamlessly transition from one sport to the next really speaks volumes on how well rounded of an athlete he is and the same is applicable for probably all of these young men that will be mentioned. For each of these individuals to live their high school experience to the fullest will provide them with lifelong memories to look back upon.

Geordan Blanton (JR)-Johnson Central Mr. Versatility on the football field, State Champion wrestler, provides a great glove and bat in the lineup on the baseball team.

What's not legit and clean about the block I posted? It was clean as no flag was thrown. It is not like I am tooting our player's horn and parading around comments or clips to belittle the opposition, I simply asked a question. Some people are so darn sensitive when it comes to anything JC, tunnel vision ensues and they simply miss what is asked. If I was trying to bring attention to this hit I believe I would have made reference following the game, not a month after the fact. I'm not a trying to stir anything up or a parent of any one of our players. Feel free to read all my posts and you will find that I'm actually quite intellectual and positive towards all in every single post I make. The kid that made the block did not get up and beat his chest or try to bring attention to himself following the hit. Just a good clean block. If I was a little more tech savvy and knew how to rip plays off hudl I would gladly share others, especially by our LBs, but this is the only one that I could find with capabilities of sharing. LC provided a few big blows to our boys as well during the contest. I agree, FC brought the hammer. One that I really wish I could share was another downfield block by a LC player against Ryle that I watched online. The LC WR got a huge hit on the Ryle defender as his teammate was cutting back across the grain.

Indeed. He leads with his shoulder and makes helmet contact following the initial hit. A ref was right there and anyone that has done as many rule seminars as the state requires its officials/coaches to attend will know that. The nfhs.org made helmet to helmet contact a point of emphasis due to the rise in concussions for player safety. If it is remotely close they are going to call it. http://www.nfhs.org/sports-resource-content/football-game-officials-manual-points-of-emphasis-2014-2015/

I didn't ask what were impressive by anyone's standards, I simply asked what were some of the bigger ones that you have personally seen that were on film. You stated your opinion and I concur. Nothing is better than a FS like a Ronnie Lott running the alley and stuffing a bruising back as he is trying to hit the edge. Blocks on an individual that isn't looking, sacking the QB from behind or a bone crusher on a WR going across the middle are not the greatest but do provide an ample amount of big hits, which is what was poised. I tip my cap to the young man from LC as he got back up and ran down field to assist in making the tackle.

[video=youtube;4-mn5Z_Pg1I] Sophomore DE Tyrese Allen (6'4 250) from JC throws a block in the Lexington Catholic game during the middle of the 3rd after SR DE Blake Martin (6'4 230) intercepts the Knights QB. The pick gave JC good field position and allowed them to tack on another score making it 42-14.

Now that over half the season has played out, does anyone care to share some footage of a big collision that they have witnessed over the course of the season thus far?

I hope you feel better oldrambler. I'm sure tonight will help ease you in that transition.

I will respectfully disagree. I think the only ones that will be calling one team a favorite are each others most passionate, sometimes illogical, fans. I think Belfry will take A LOT from this game and make their strong surge like they normally do towards the end of the year. The staffs, players and most sensible fans have a remarkable amount of respect for one another. I truly believe that this year will be a doozy at the CAM regardless of the loss by the Pirates tonight.

Tell that to Midland when they got up on JC in 2014 and started barking like dogs, a little prematurely, on the sidelines at them. I work alongside some of the Midland faithful and they informed me that they did a normal week of game prep going off of their film from the first meeting in 2013. No love lost between those two schools, that's for sure. Scrimmages are what you make it, some take it to heart and others take it as a chance to learn and get better. Both of those teams probably do a little of both. Anyways, you are right. They give you a chance to learn where your soft spots are and then as a staff you try to solidify it prior to the games that carry a little weight.

Way to hang Raceland. Nice win.

Absolutely not. JC did win the scrimmage 28-7 while each team played their 1st unit, final 28-21, but given that it was both teams first scrimmage probably not a lot of weight to put behind that result. I expected Belfry to hang in there with a chance to pull it off but CM is a darn good team with an immense amount of size and speed. Those attributes are something that is not typically seen from a WV school. Facing two superb teams in consecutive weeks could have caused a little overhang on the Pirates part and they may not have been mentally there as the Knights advanced their game plan. I fully expect Belfry to rebound nicely and the JC game at Belfry on Oct. 30 will be a dandy. Time to move on and just focus on winning each week, except the last one.

Midland played only 1 varsity quarter and was up 28-0.

Why would Midland scrimmage GW when they play in the regular season on Oct 23? Their two reported scrimmages were against JC and St. Albans the following week, that is unless you let something out of the bag.

The attached picture shows a little about what I discussed in my earlier post. I'm sure the Highlands and CovCath players can see a noticeable difference compared to the last time they visited. The weight room used to be a solid canary yellow color which was recently painted in a fashion that represents the stripe on their helmet. Record boards are displayed behind the GHRs, leg presses and curl/ext portion of the facility. This is one of groups from the offseason. We usually have anywhere from 8-10 groups working at one time, depending on what we are trying to accomplish in a particular day we may have two lifting sessions. This group has a fairly nice mix between upper and lowerclassmen that we strive to achieve for basic bonding purposes. Pictured with one of the SCs are two seniors (Ratliff and Workman), an incoming freshman, along with juniors Frisby and Gunner Slone.

JC has a nice little program set up to monitor and evaluate. They have really gotten after it by evaluating each player based off their position when they first arrive and set goals for them to attain each year. Where certain areas are lagging, each player will perform a variety of auxiliary exercises to increase those weaknesses. By the time they are ready for varsity they should be where we need them to be to prevent any type of fall due to graduation. One of the main things that needed to be done was to get a lot of support from the administration and provide a place, aesthetically with paint, sound system, flags and other signage, that would get the kids excited to come in to do work. Offseason conditioning needed to feel like a team as well and many that aren't playing other sports are rewarded with shirts, meals, or other miniscule things to reinforce that their hard work is not going unnoticed. Record boards were purchased finally and are filled out after each max week to keep the competitive juices flowing. No one wants to be the low man on the totem pole, especially if you are an upperclassman getting bypassed by a freshman. One thing that I really like is how we try to build chemistry with the older guys that have been around and the newbies. We try to put 2 younger guys in groups with older guys, even though it may take a little more time than normal due to loading and unloading the bar. If they can see that everyone is pulling for one another, it eliminates cliques and starts to develop a cohesiveness. We do a lot of circuit training as well. The players come in, the place is set up and labeled with what exercises are to be done at each spot, given a set amount of time to get their reps and take off. This prevents a lot of wasted time by people waiting for a station to open up and keeps them focused on the task at hand and not on daily gab. Workouts typically last an hour maybe a little more if you count stretching at the end. Occasionally we will mix up the location by having lifts outside when the weather permits just to switch it up a little from the monotony. All in all it is much better now than where it has been in the past and we can really see a difference in our overall level of play.

Donahue will also line up in the backfield for their power/short yardage situations. #2 and #1 provide a nice 1-2- punch for Midland in the backfield. #75 is a huge offensive lineman with word from many of the Midland fans after our scrimmage is that he is being courted by Ohio State, Marshall and WVU. #2 7 is a stud at Mike. He was all over the field against JC and was probably in on about 75% of their tackles during the varsity scrimmage. This game will be tight but I fully expect Belfry to be able to move the ball well enough to sustain long time consuming drives to keep Midlands explosive offense on the sidelines. I'll go with Belfry for the W, 28-24.

LeMaster-Paintsville

Congratulations LexCath on the nice win. Best of luck the rest of the way.

No need in trying to hand out bulletin board material for the Knights because I can assure you the Eagles do not feel this way. Coach Perry is a great coach and JC has more than their fair share of work cut out for them, maybe too much to prepare for in a week. Had this game been later in the year I would feel a little better about our chances but with it so early and how our teams improve largely during the later weeks of the year, it is probably not the best time to face a seasoned team like the Knights. After watching their game the other night on the live broadcast, one thing that there is no lack of on their side is speed. In the past speed has always been the achilles heel for most JC teams. No way in the world will this be an easy W for JC and if the game takes a turn this way then I would say it has to favor LexCath with their ability to put points on the board in break neck speed. Anyone that knows a thing or two about JC is that they will go out, line it up and let the chips fall where they may. The one reason we scheduled this game is for playoff preparation. A game like this will help in having the kids face adversity early on, give ample time to correct flaws by athletically superior teams before the playoffs and provide a great atmosphere for our players and fans. I hope that regardless of the outcome, both teams play a good, clean game and that the Eagles are within striking distance towards the end to have a chance to pull out a win.

Nothing firm as far as scholarship offers at the present time to my knowledge but he has had correspondences with schools as far west as Stanford and more locally Louisville. Several other schools, such as Vandy and Notre Dame, have called inquiring information about him from the school but the previous two are probably the ones taking more keen of an interest. Specialists are probably not the highest priority of a power conference's wish list at this point. Tyler is also a very bright young man which would potentially open up doors on the academic end to get him to college should an athletic scholarship not be available. He has tremendous upside with additional work on his mechanics as this year will make only his 3rd year kicking a football.

T-Cats, I haven't heard any results from Ashland's scrimmage against Wayne. Did they play this game? If not, how come? Wayne is traditionally about as solid of a 2A team from WV.

I agree 100%. I'd bump JC down and in all honesty it wouldn't bother me a bit to not see them ranked at all.

Great to hear about East and very excited for their players. After coming off of the season they had last year and to play well against Tug, a team that defeated Paintsville last week in a scrimmage, has to give them confidence going forward. Best of luck to the Raiders this coming season.

I disagree. The thing that has killed JC in the past is the same thing that has killed every other team in their Class the previous 7 of 8 seasons, Highlands or CovCath. JC is ofer against Highlands but since the expansion to 6 classes the series has been a wash with CovCath with both teams winning 3 apiece. Even in defeat, most of those games were close (minus 2011's thrashing from Highlands) for well over a half but then the depth of 100 player rosters catches up with them in the 4th.