se7ens

Great Crossing (0-3) visits Lexington Catholic (2-1), a game that should grab some attention with the Knights coming off an upset win over Boyle County. Lexington Catholic, even with the huge win, has struggled to score, not yet breaking 20 points in a game. The Warhawks on the other hand have had no problem breaking 20. Their problem has been stopping teams. They have given up over 40 points in all three games. The Knights should have the significant edge here but what I am looking for most is what they can do offensively.

Kentucky 24 Ole Miss 17, Willie Rodriguez 17 yard touchdown reception with 35 seconds left to win it.

2-0 Corbin travels to face 0-2 Bryan Station. Corbin has been virtually one dimensional on offense but it has paid off so far. Bryan Station has put up points but both of their games so far have been high scoring affairs that have left them in the losing column. Coleson Carpenter plays QB for Station and sports a 272 yards, 3 touchdowns, 3 interceptions stat line through 2 games. Kamani Barbour and Avery Johnson, in that order, lead in rushing and receiving. The skill is there in those three pieces but depth is certainly a question. Corbin has Cole Stevens and Cam Estep carrying their offense right now but the passing game has been very limited. Corbin should have the advantage here but it isn’t a given. Expect moderate to heavy scoring either way.

I think Boyle runs away with this one. Wasik is such a dynamic player but in a perfect world he wouldn’t be QB. He’s better served at several other positions. Catholic continues to be reliant on the run and will have to count on their defense to keep them competitive against good competition and that until is also still a work-in-progress.

Thursday night football this week includes Ashland traveling to Lawrence County. Ashland seems to be the easy pick here but they have to go on the road and face a Lawrence County offense that is putting up big numbers. Cameron Davis led the Tomcats in both receiving and rushing yards this past week. He is the highlight of a run heavy offense that found another level of success in week 2. Lawrence County comes in having just hung 57 points on Garrard County. It is safe to say though they are about to see the toughest defense they have faced yet in this young season in Ashland. This could be entertaining for a while but I still expect Ashland to come out victorious.

I tend to agree that it might be.

At first glance, the matchup between Ashland and Tates Creek feels like it should go in favor of the Tomcats. I believe a closer game can be expected Friday. Tates Creek comes off a 66 point performance in a history over Mercer County while Ashland found itself on the wrong end of a 17-14 slugfest against Raceland. Which unit holds? Will Ashland’s defense be able to contain the Commodore offense? Can the Tomcats’ offense find more success? A win by Creek would only surge their momentum after their week 1 win while Ashland strains to right things after the narrow defeat to Raceland.

This will be the first recorded meeting I can find between Catholic and Dunbar. And although it is historic in that two Lexington teams are finally meeting, this shouldn’t be a suspense filled evening. Dunbar comes off a blowout loss to Wayne County while LexCath had 0 offensive points in a 19-6 loss to Ballard. Dunbar should be outmatched here on both sides of the ball. Especially look for the Knight offense to gain some traction early and often to work out some of the woes from week 1. it will be fun if the Bulldogs can hang here but look for the Knights to get their first win of the season.

1-0 North Laurel hosts 1-0 Corbin in a Friday bowl showdown on what is sure to be an entertaining game. These two schools are 24 minutes apart but haven’t played football since 2010. That game was a Corbin 24-6 win. The Jaguars shutout Perry County Central week one while Corbin racked up over 40 points on out of state competition from Indiana. Though Corbin may still be adjusting to some things early after graduating Mr. Football and North Laurel is showing signs of continued improvement, it would still be a shock to see the Jaguars pull this off.

Camels up 24-14 at half.

Newport up 33-7 at half.

Brossart up 12-7 at half.

It is now officially the post-Kade Elam era for Corbin. However, their sideline is still lined with a few future D1 contributors and an abundance of talent. They host out of state Linton-Stockton from Indiana on Saturday. The Miners are 2A in Indiana and went 12-3 last year. They should be no joke. Corbin had one of the most dominant offenses in the state last season and it will be interesting to see how they recover from the loss of Elam. This should be a real fun one on Saturday.

This matchup features two teams aiming for big things this year. The Raceland Rams fell 28-7 at home in this game last year but find themselves still the talk of 1A as they enter the 2025 season. Ashland’s season ended brutally to Corbin but they hope to build off of last year’s success to that point. The Rams held the Tomcats to under 100 rushing yards last year, forcing Ashland to be successful in the air. LaBryant Strader finished with over 200 passing yards and three passing touchdowns. With him now gone, who will fill those shoes offensively? Will it still be an air-focused attack? This one might be tighter than last year’s contest but Ashland at home will be hard to overcome all the same.

Both Ballard and Lexington Catholic had similar years on paper last year, struggling at times but finding some success later in the year, the Knights finishing at 7-7, Ballard at 6-7. The Knights offense was only held under 20 three times last year and so far through two scrimmages, that offense may be the bright spot again even with QB Kern gone and a new head coach at the helm in David Clark. Larry Irvin, the dual threat Ballard QB, returns, hoping to achieve more offensive consistency this year as the season gets underway. I honestly don’t know what to expect in this one other than points. I think we will have plenty of scoring, I just don’t know who comes out on top.

And it's official. Tommy Sorrell has been named boys' head coach.

Former Newport Central Catholic head coach George Stoll has been hired.

Coach Jim Hicks steps down but sounds like he will remain as AD. There has already been a surge in the community online calling for former girls coach Tommy Sorrell.

Marcus Harris at Boone? Danny Roller? Tommy Sorrell? Hilary Johnson? Emily Drees?

The article says he can’t disclose yet but with both him and Hans be former Cru head coaches and Brown being a Truist Arena staffer, good chance it’s NKU women’s assistant.

Coach Steve Brown leaves after 3 years to take a collegiate-level opportunity.

I couldn’t disagree with this more. Coaching matters. Chemistry matters. Getting a team to buy in matters. Work ethic matters. Talent only gets you so far. And when you have a lot of talent, that presents its own challenges.

I think Holthaus has to be on the table and then promote in house for the girls job. Someone has already said Ruthsatz. That would be hilarious and would be considered a home run by some, but I don’t know how realistic that is. Ricardo Johnson’s coaching career got off to a hot start so I could see that being an enticing route. I think Aaron Stamm and Scott Code are both in their happy places but they are both more than capable. I think there a bunch of other names out there that might go for it. This late in the game it could be pretty wild. Will also be interested to see who avoids this out of loyalty to Sully. You make a lot of friends coaching somewhere for 17 years. For example, Ken Chevalier, former Dixie head coach and Cooper assistant, would be a great interim hire to hold things together for a year. But hard seeing someone like that who coached for Sully take the job.

That could happen but there is also the part where the Cru have not been a factor competitively for a few years now. They need a jolt to the system if they want to take the next step. I also don’t know if that next step is immediately being a top 3 team. With that all said, Sully could absolutely be that catalyst, but I think it’s a tougher job for sure. Potential in the program? Sure. But still don’t think it’s an easy task.

Still nothing official? I do take it as a sign that this has to be close to being announced now that Trevor Gould has been named Bellevue girls coach. You would think that a former varsity head coach currently on staff would have been at least a consideration in the hiring process. Him moving on says maybe they know what is about to happen and just haven’t announced.