Tony Cavalier

Belfry will in all likelihood be the favorites in the East but are now joined by Bell and Corbin. I believe Corbin graduates a rather heavy senior class and Bell has a good amount of returning talent. Belfry moves to Region 3 which allows them to host the Semi's and get that key home field advantage. The West adds both Boyle and Lexington Catholic. Lexington Catholic will return 26 seniors based off of last seasons roster and will probably go in to next year as one of, if not the favorite, to make it to BG. 3A looks like it will be a beast for all those involved. Best of luck to the Pirates and one of my favorite players to watch, Austin Hatfield, this weekend.

Congratulations to each of these young men on quite an accomplishment.

This is why Highlands has and will always continue to be the class of Kentucky High School Football in my opinion. Self sacrifice for the greater good of the team is the epitome of a being a great teammate to help reach a common goal held by all. Many kids and parents may get frustrated and see it as a knock in stats or acknowledgment but those bred to win championships know and understand the true meaning behind any change.

Congratulations to Highlands on yet another impressive win. Best of luck next week from all of us at JC.

#3 for NCC was the difference in this game. In the first half I believe he had 10 carries for almost 300 yards rushing, 3 TDs and also a Punt Return for a TD. Overall team speed killed Valley tonight. Just when #3 seemed to be bottled up he either kicked it into another gear and left everyone in the dust or made several cuts, jukes and spins to find an open path to the endzone. Very nice looking player.

I hate to jump on the coattails of Highlands but as a JC fan I can honestly say that we always root for our Regional brethren in the playoffs. If we are unable to breakthrough the region why not cheer for your counterparts. After we were bounced this year I could not pick two better and classy programs to represent us other than HHS and CCH. Both of these teams are the definition of a championship program displaying everything from fan support, sportsmanship, doing things the right way and everything in between. On a personal note, Horst I cannot imagine the great pride that you take in to being able to see your son achieve the greatness that only a few are privileged to. I hope that you all enjoy this experience and have it end the way you all desire. Best of luck to the Bluebirds the rest of the way.

I really do like the idea of alternating venues. EKU would provide the same environment maybe a tad better due to the layout as neither side will have an upper deck upon completion allowing the crowds to be closer to the field. On the flip side, that may cause some issues with the larger classes due to capacity. I am not certain what the average attendance has been in those games the past few years but the capacities are currently listed as 20,000 (EKU) and 22,113 (WKU) respectively, so it may be a nonfactor after all. Plus, Richmond has everything that Bowling Green could offer maybe more so with lodging, restaurants and retail shopping in located 20 minutes north in Lexington. I like gchs's idea but why not keep it in the West when Semi-State 1 is considered the home team and move it East when Semi-State 2 is the home team. We all may be on to something as a lot of good ideas are being tossed around.

With EKU scheduled to renovate their current facilities, projected completion date prior to the 2016 season, maybe that would become a feasible option in the near future.

I'll be making the trip up there tonight to hopefully watch Paintsville pull it out. Does anyone have a meet and greet scheduled? Personally, I wouldn't mind meeting a few new faces.

Many great college QBs have come from BYU; Young, McMahon, Hall, Bosco, Beck, Detmer. Best wishes to Beau and I would love to see him add his name to that list. Congratulations, what an honor.

Congratulations to Mr. Bailey and his family on this honor.

Consider me jealous. There is no better place to watch a game than South Bend. Glad Austin was able to play again this past weekend and will be able to run through the tunnel one more time with his Gold helmet shining in the sun. After the Michigan game last season I thought he was on his way to being a star safety but unfortunately he has not been able to shake the injury bug. Very sorry that he had to endure so much over his time but I'm sure he would not change his time with ND for anything. He was a warrior at Highlands and his ability to remain positive throughout shows the sign of great character. Safe travels Oldtime.

Congratulations to Covington Catholic on the win. The key I thought was that CCH made the big plays when necessary to sustain drives in 3rd down situations. 3rd and 6, they get 7. 3rd and 8, they get 9. Overall it was a fun game and I wish both teams remaining from Region 4 to represent us well the rest of the way. Reading through some of these posts is sickening though. Like RiverRat said, many of these kids will get on here and read the comments posted by grown men trouncing everything that they have done. It was a fun ride for all of us associated with the program. Heck many predicted with it being a rebuilding year for JC to be 6-4 and a second place finish in the district. These young men exceeded those expectations and I congratulate each of them. But as the game ended, I saw the heart ache on the players faces as we said goodbye to our group of seniors and our 5 senior starters. They went above and beyond everything that they were asked and represented their school well during their time. No we didn't have the ending that we wanted but rarely does anyone. Someone has to win and someone has to lose, that is life. Tonight just wasn't our night and we lost to a very respectable opponent. After two drubbings by CCH and to field a team with over half of its starters never playing a down in a playoff game until this year, I can keep my head high as should they. So in conclusion, I tip my hat to CCH and wish them well the rest of the way. All of those that chose to make the long journey to Eagle Field, safe travels home.

It will be hard to recognize you because in EKY that is our Sunday best. I'd say many of those there tomorrow night will be coming out of the hills from buck chasing before the game. Safe travels and be extremely cautious tomorrow night Thrill. With the frigid temps any moisture on the Mountain Parkway could freeze.

I don't think it would be a surprise out of CCH. The biggest surprise would be if JC can keep the final outcome at least respectable, unlike their previous two meetings.

I'll make an attempt to answer your question horst. Can CCH stop the JC Offense? Any team coached by Coach Wirth is going to be disciplined, tackle well and have great team pursuit to the ball. CCH is a familiar foe and they are probably more familiar with the JC offense than JC's current starters. New backfield, new QB, new linemen. As always nothing flashy on JC's end, line it up, try to create an opening and hope for the best. Defense has been par for the course as they have been consistent, not dominant, all year long. The best JC defense will be to keep their offense on the field this week. A team that has been snake bitten with injuries as bad as CCH makes it is really hard to judge by their overall record. This is the same team that soundly defeated Dixie Heights. JC has their work cut out for them that is for sure and it will take a flawless game on their part to meet their goal of keeping it respectable. When the clock nears zero in the 4th, hopefully they will have a chance to pull off the upset. Upset was not a typo either. We know that the polls don't mean squat because many voters have not seen the Eagles play and who knows what crazy formula is used for the Lit rankings. Any team that has won rather handedly the past two seasons should be favored until proven otherwise. In this instance, CCH should probably be heavily favored as stated by RiverRat because that is the feeling from over half the individuals in the community, probably more so if you remove parents from the equation. This is why Highlands has always been the predominant favorite year in and year out. Until someone can consistently beat them then they will always be at the top and rightfully so. That same label holds true for this week for CCH against JC. Whatever happens in the game happens and I just hope both teams come out injury free. Safe travels to all of those that decide to venture down the Mountain Parkway this Friday. If any of you are outdoors enthusiasts and can brave the weather, try heading out early and stopping off at Red River Gorge near Slade, exit 33. They have installed a zip-line course that provides some amazing views of the Appalachians and some narrow passes that will turn men into mice.

The only team that I see stopping HHS is themselves.

I agree, Highlands is by far the favorite this season as they should be. Hoge seems to be coming into his own as of late and is another product of the Highlands QB factory. Honest question though, does anyone else think he is better than Drew? Both young men have strong arms, check their pre-snap reads to recognize the D very well, locate the mismatches with ease, but I think Beau has the advantage with his legs when needed. And I stress when needed because they have outstanding pocket protection with the hogs up front. If people are doubting them because of a loss to Elder and C Columbus then they might as well doubt every other team in 4A or any other class. Outside of another fluke play, the Bluebirds are on their way to number 23.

Belfry has a win over Southwestern and Henry Clay.

I agree. This type of young man epitomizes what high school football is about. It is easy for someone of his stature to be upset because they are most likely playing out of their true position. He doesn't get upset but rather works his tail off and becomes the best he can be for the greater good of the TEAM. Congratulations young man on the honor.

Antics? My goodness, like I said earlier we should've just kept the starters in and run it up to 50 or 60-0 and this would've been a non-issue apparently. We kicked two FGs instead of going for TDs after our JV offense was subbed in the game with a running clock and you all act like it is horrible to even try to work on something that can be beneficial. Coach Matney and Coach Love are actually good friends and he was preventing the spread from being much wider. Coach Love had no problem with it so why do you? Taking knees while trying to burn as much time off the clock as possible, telling the officials to call back any TD run, telling the opposing D what play was coming. Yeah that sounds about as classless and trying to run up the score as much as possible as it gets. As for your fan base having a double standard of your team winning by a larger margin when the game is clearly out of hand but chastising others, there is class and then there's...well, it also rhymes with it. I try to be as sensible as possible, hold reasonable discussions with individuals across the state, but this is crazy. You people and your angst towards one program defies logic. Heck, CCH had a running clock on their opponent this weekend and went for two. Where is your outcry for that? If it was a new play that they installed in their repertoire and wanted to put it to use, so be it. People just choose to put JC as the whipping boy and tee off because it is for the greater good of their ego. Minus Boyle and Highlands, Matney has been fairly successful against every team that he has played. He brought a team that used to be a doormat after winning 4 games in 3 years to being in the Top 5 year in and year out in their class. Still can't win the big one everyone says. Well outside of Highlands and Collins miracle run last year, who else has won the thing in JC's class since 2007? No one. Hate away if it makes you feel like you got your big boy pants on, this has about been beat to death by individuals who were not there and have no clue what went on. I'm done with this one.

What I see is a guy that took two knees trying to run out as much of the remaining clock as possible. Setting up the kicker on the next play for a 40 yard chip shot after he told the defense what play he was running and told the officials that if they broke the score to call the TD back. Simple full back dive, gets housed, refs call it back then attempt the FG. And I'm sure someone would've said something about them punching two TDs in with a running clock instead of kicking the FGs. JC is at a darned if you do, darned if you don't situation.

So is 32-0 not clearly out of hand? What about 48-6? How is it different with those two but not us in a 42-7 spread? I'd love to hear it.

Better yet, maybe they should have punted every time they got possession of the ball in the fourth instead of taking a knee? Why didn't you all do the same to Paintsville or to Fairview the past two weeks?

I'm not buying it. I work with a crowd full of Belfry guys that tell me almost everyone is going to play. You are setting the tables to be as if JC wins by a few, then they are horrible becaue they should've won by more. If Belfry wins then JC is still horrible because they should have beaten a "depleated" roster. We will all find out what type of team JC has in the second round of the playoffs if they advance to that point. One thing is for sure, JC has some guys out that played in week one as does Belfry but the majority of each team's rosters should be healthy enough to play. Haywood will have his boys ready to roll like he always does and they will go out and play what they have to their best of their ability.