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What a way for these two to end their regular season. BGP's Number 2 3A Lexington Catholic Knights (7-2) hosts BGP's Number 6 4A Ashland Tomcats (9-0). This was a 24-6 Knight win last year and was part of the rough offensive stretch Ashland had at the end of the season. The Tomcats only scored more than 7 points in their 1 of their last 4 games last season. They have certainly elevated their play this year and are firing on all cylinders on offense right now, scoring 35 or more in their last 4 outings. Lexington Catholic is exiting a stretch of district games that posed no significant challenge. They haven't had a close game since their one-point loss to LCA in mid-September. Like Ashland, they have scored 35 or more points in their last 4 games. Can that offense hold up as they face stiffer competition? Will this game overall be more like the slug fest these two had last year or will it feature these potent offenses finding pay dirt often? Both of these squads are district champs and will look to make some noise in the postseason. Can they utilize this game to fine tune some things, especially on the defensive side of the ball? This should be a fun one and Ashland has an undefeated regular season on the line.

Final score was: Lexington Catholic 47 Casey County 6

The 6-2 Knights of Lexington Catholic travel to Casey County to face the 2-6 Rebels. This is the last step to another undefeated district season and 1 seed for the Knights now that they have dispatched Bardstown. The Knights are just a step above anybody else in their district, Casey County included. Even though this is a road game and they have the very tough Ashland Tomcats on the horizon, I expect the Knights to take care of business early and be at or close to a running clock by half.

The Cooper Jaguars are fresh off a sizeable win over Scott, a team that had just done the same to the Jaguars' next foe, Boone County. This district & intra-county matchup is just not at a competitive point at this juncture. In fact, this one is setup to be Cooper's best offensive performance, their high-point mark currently being their recent win over Scott where they notched 35. It hasn't been all dim and dour for the Rebels this year, but it is hard for them to see a path to victory in this one. Cooper with the running clock.

The undefeated Ashland Blazer Tomcats host Johnson Central this week in hopes of keeping their undefeated streak going. Johnson Central is coming off a six-point loss to Greenup County, a team that Ashland won by two touchdowns earlier this year. Johnson Central, sitting at 3-6, has certainly taken their lumps this year. The Ashland offense has only be held to less than 20 twice this year. It is hard to imagine that Johnson Central is going to be able to contain them. However, if by some chance they do get them into a rock fight, this may be interesting. A Johnson Central win would force this district into a three-way tie.

6-2 Bardstown travels to face 5-2 Lexington Catholic. The Knights are coming off a blow out win over Mercer while Bardstown just got a nice win over Garrard County, a team they lost to last year. Although both programs are having decent years, Lexington Catholic played the much harder schedule early on. This was a 36-0 victory for the Knights last year on the road. There is little reason to believe the gap between these two squads has shrunk enough for this to be competitive. However, as we all know, stranger things have happened.

The Scott Eagles (2-5) are coming off a decisive win over Boone County as they travel this week to face the Cooperate Jaguars (5-2). Cooper is coming off the bye week but went into the break with wins over Conner and Dixie Heights. Scott can hope to continue their success from last week but this is going to be a big task on the road. Cooper has executed well against good competition and that doesn’t bode well for a Scott program just trying to establish themselves.

Congratulations to Scott and Coach Trimnell. This is a great win.

Boone County (2-4) plays host to the Scott Eagles (1-5) for some Northern Kentucky Thursday night football. There are some striking similarities between these two programs. It can be argued that both are the red-headed stepchild of their respective school districts (no offense to Coach Court, a redhead himself). Scott is clearly far behind Simon Kenton and Dixie Heights as far as football goes and it is no secret that Boone has now been behind Ryle, Cooper, and Conner for a fairly long time. Both are lead by plucky coaches in their thirties who have learned from experience, respected coaches. And both are hopeful that their trajectory is finally on the way up. So whoever comes out of this one has to feel somewhat better about where the program is going as they really feel like natural guideposts for each other in terms of success. With all that said, Boone seems to be a little farther down the road of progress. Scott has the home field advantage as well as the short week advantage. The Eagles are coming off a bye while Boone has to turn right around from a Friday night blowout to Conner. I expect Boone to win, but I also expect it to be competitive.

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.