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The Tomcats of Ashland Blazer are 7-0 and rolling through the district, coming off a blowout win over Rowan County. Though not always consistent this year, when their offense has had a good night it really has shown to be dominant. They have had some nights where the endzone has been harder to find, but they still have stayed in the win column. Now comes rival Boyd County. This was a blowout last year and doesn't seem to be set up much differently this year. If the Tomcats can execute and get the win here, only Johnson County will stand in the way of an undefeated district record.

The Knights look to continue their dominance in their district, coming off a 49-0 win over Garrard County. This was a 42-8 Lexington Catholic win last year at home. Now they travel this year to face the Titans of Mercer County but I think you can expect more of the same. Much like last year, the resistance in the Knights' schedule looks to be minimal in this stretch of the year until they close out the regular season with Ashland. I expect this one to be a running clock, maybe by half.

The Knights of Lexington Catholic had the bye week to recover from their 1-point loss to rival Lexington Christian. Garrard County is coming off their first win of the year as they beat Casey County 25-0. Last year, the Knights blanked the Golden Lions 38-0. It feels like it could be worse this year. Lexington Catholic's offense has been really robust this year, though it took them a while to get started the last time out (weird circumstances, of course). Garrard doesn't really look to be able to slow them down at all, though they have had a couple of ugly slugfests. If the Knights get rolling, I think this one becomes a running-clock easily.

The undefeated Ashland Blazer Tomcats coming rolling down to Rowan County to continue their unbeaten streak. They will face a 4-1 Viking squad coming off a bye. The Vikings have been in high scoring affairs and they have been in rock fights. What they haven't seen yet is a team as complete and talented as Ashland. This was a 54-0 Ashland win last year. There is zero doubt in my mind that Rowan County has improved from last year. They are still not in the same stratosphere as this Ashland team. Trevonte Taylor has been dazzling on the ground, including two fantastic long touchdown runs in last week's win over Greenup. Rowan County is just not going to have an answer for what Ashland can do to them offensively.

The field off Longbranch Road will feature two schools coming off two very different wins. The Dixie Heights Colonels (2-4) dominated Scott by a score of 49 to 12. That is two wins in a row now after starting the year off with four consecutive blow out losses. The hosting Cooper Jaguars are 4-2, coming off a 22-21 win over feisty rival Conner. Cooper's 22 points was the second highest total they have had this year and the most since their opener where they got 28 on the board. It just isn't the same team offensively that it has been in previous years, but they are making due and still pulling out some wins. On the flip side, the 21 points scored by Conner is tied for second most against them. Last year, this was a 42-13 victory in favor of Cooper. Are they still capable of putting those kind of points up? Can they get the separation over Dixie they did last year? They are most likely the more talented team, but by how much is uncertain. Conner was able to compete and almost win. Can Dixie do the same?

3-2 Cooper takes the in-county trip over to 1-4 Conner. The visiting Jaguars have continued to show off a stout defense but have continued to struggle to score. Conner is coming off a blowout loss to Simon Kenton. Their only win this year is a dominating win over reeling NCC. I think the question here is can Cooper score against Conner like the other big schools have? If so, this may not be close. But it wouldn't be the strangest thing in the world for this game to devolve into an ugly, low scoring affair.

The 5-0 Ashland Tomcats travel to Greenup County to face a 4-1 Musketeer squad. This was a 35-21 Tomcat win last year, really a little tighter than expected but indicative of the direction Greenup was headed in. Now, Greenup hopes they have ramped up to a place where they can actually close things out against Ashland and get the W. Greenup's only blemish is a 6 point overtime loss to Russell, the same team that gave Ashland problems last game out. Ashland was able to escape with the 14-7 win but it is safe to say offensively things were never really clicking like they had been since the Raceland win. This still should be Ashland but with it being on the road, Greenup rolling, and the Tomcats coming off that rock fight, who knows?

Russell travels to face rival Ashland this Friday. This has been a one sided affair in favor of the Tomcats since 2022. That year Russell lost by 6 and the year before they actually won by 3. Since that 2022 game though it has been nothing but Ashland blowout wins. Rusell struggled to score last week against Paintsville while Ashland steamrolled East Jessamine by a tune of 53-0. This Tomcat team has really been just a multi-faceted success so far this season. There really isn't much hope in Russell slowing them down.

DuPont Manual hosts Cooper in a matchup between two teams coming off impressive wins, though maybe impressive in different ways. Cooper was able to get past fellow NKY big school Campbell County, though it took overtime. I think it is clear at this point that Cooper has taken a step back this year but that doesn't necessarily mean they are going to flounder against the competition. Kaden Mack came back from an injury-based absence in the Frederick Douglass game to lead Manual to a 35-14 beat down of the Atherton Ravens, who are no slouches themselves. Manual looks to be the more complete squad here, but the Cooper defense has been able to keep their opponents suppressed offensively.

This ended with Seneca on top 34 to 12.

I don't think there is any reason to expect Harrison to flip things from last year. I expect the Bearcats early and often.

I love an 8:00 PM kickoff and that is exactly what we get in Owenton this week as the Trimble County Raiders, under the leadership of first year head coach Chris Yates, travel to face the Owen County Rebels in the nightcap of the Owen County Bowl. Pendleton County and Gallatin County open the event at 4:00 PM. In last year's event, Pendleton played in the feature against Owen County and Trimble played Gallatin in the opener. This year we get the flip-flop. Coach Yates is seeking his first win as Trimble is 0-3 while Owen enters this game 1-2. These teams both play a similar small-school schedule and even share an early season opponent. In fact, on paper these teams appear to be fairly equal. Both have played Carroll County and neither team was competitive against them, Trimble losing 35-0 and Owen County losing 29-7. The Rebels defeated Grant County but are coming off a blowout loss to Dayton. The Raiders competed with Bellevue in their opener, falling 42-36. Their last game was a 27-10 loss to Iroquois. For the Rebels, Austin Young has been a bright spot on offense. In their lone win over Grant County, he found the endzone twice running the ball and once on the receiving end of a Caleb Allnutt touchdown pass. The only other Rebel touchdown on the young season so far was a 66-yard pass from Allnutt to Keaden Fornash in the opener against Carroll County. The Raiders feature the three Sanduskys. Freshman quarterback Noah Sandusky is trying to fill the big shoes of Jamison Isley. Silas and Moses Sandusky play on both sides of the ball, Silas having been an all-conference selection last year, playing both tailback and safety. Kane Walls was also an all-conference pick and is capable of playing quarterback and wide receiver. Can Trimble surprise the Rebels in their own bowl and get Coach Yates his first win? Or will the Rebels power their way to a win behind the offensive duo of Young and Allnutt?

This is great stuff. It really is just bewildering how this random person out on the internet popped up with a superior product to the KHSAA.

The Washington County Commanders out of 2A go on the road to taken on the Western Hills Wolverines out of 4A. Washington County is reeling, coming into this one 0-3 after going 2-1 last year against the same three opponents. That includes blowout losses to Anderson County and Bethlehem, teams they defeated last year. Western Hills is also 0-3, being blown out by Estill County, East Jessamine, and Henry County. These are two teams desperate for a win and trying to right their season before it gets away from them. For Washington County, Wade Crain, a senior linebacker, is a dynamic athlete who led the defensive unit in tackles last year and also offers some support on the offensive side of the ball as a tight end. Ja'Kiston Thompson and Christian Hart make an interesting two-headed monster at the top of the running back room. Both can be explained in a way by their touchdowns last week. The hulking Hart, standing in at 6'4, 230 pounds had a 17 yard thunderclap of a run for the Commanders' first score last week. Thompson capped Washington County's scoring with a 68 yard sprint. Justin Franklin is still looking for his first win as the coach of Western Hills. Last year's Wolverines could not compete with the Commanders, losing 49 to 6. It will be interesting to see if Coach Franklin's squad can fare better at home this year. He has Bradley Stout and Nicholai Kendall as options at the quarterback position and has touted a complex, "share-the-ball" offense he is attempting to implement. Even just being competitive in this one would be a big step forward.

The Seneca Redhawks host one of the two matchups across the state on Thursday this week. Both of these games are taking place in Louisville. They host the Southern Trojans. Both these squads had losing seasons last year and spent most of the season towards the bottom of their respective classes when it came to RPI (Seneca playing in 5A, Southern in 6A). Last year, this matchup produced an 18-7 gritty Seneca win. The Redhawks came into that game last year winless after losing to Fern Creek, John Hardin, and Bethlehem (this one was an overtime 1 point loss). This year, however, Seneca comes in 1-2 as they were able to get the opening season win over Fern Creek. That being said, they haven't been competitive at the end in their last two outings, losing by 20 to John Hardin and 15 to Bethlehem. The Trojans were 1-2 last year at this time and they are again this year. They feature the talented Elijah Simpson, a back who led them in both passing and running last year and also contributed defensively. Simpson is a senior and you can expect him to touch the ball early and often. Seneca has junior QB Christopher Curry, who averaged 119 passing yards per game last year and found the endzone through the air 13 times. However, 7 of those times he found AJ Joway who has since graduated. This was a low-scoring, tight affair last year. Even though Southern lost, it was the second-lowest total of points allowed they had all year at 18 (they blew out Doss and held them to 6 - interesting note, this year Doss put up 32, though the Trojans were able to score 53). It was also the lowest total of points Seneca had in a win out of their four on the year. I think this game is certainly essential to Seneca building momentum as they are a month out from district play. There are certainly some losses from last year they can flip to wins this year and they have already done it once with Fern Creek. A loss to Southern would be a big backslide. On the other hand, a road win like this for Southern would be a huge morale booster for a program that struggles to compete amongst the giants of the state. Keeping it a slow-paced slugfest is probably their best chance. If Curry can find receivers in space and this becomes a more up-tempo affair, I am afraid the Trojans will be left in the dust.