Wildcat18

If BG blows Christian County out of the water I would understand them remaining #1 . However if it's close and PC pulls out the big win on the road, it's hard to go against them based on strength of schedule for the first 2 games. By the end of the year, I could see any of your top 6 taking the trophy. On another note, John Hardin. A lot of buzz around them preseason. Similar to Highlands for me. They took a HUGE loss. Unless there are some big adjustments, I don't see them making the strides needed to even make the 4A title game like some (should I say most?) predicted. Where I think Highlands will recover, it's hard for me seeing JH recovering from that blowout.

Looks good! Will Pulaski jump to #1 in 5A regardless of a win by BG if they beat 6A #3 Scott County on the road? Jeffersonville was better than Monroe and Scott County is better than Christian County.

You may be right about that. Does he get reps out of the gun and under center both at BCMS?

That's a good list so far. What about linemen on both sides of the ball? Those guys are under-appreciated. The center position is quite possibly the 2nd most important position on the field behind the QB. Who are the best 8th grade centers in the state based on snapping consistency and blocking?

Big win for the Maroons. Defending state champion goes down. Two great teams.

He's my main go-to guy on eligibility as well. I would start with him.

A tie?

You do know this is a middle school thread right? You can start that argument on the high school thread and I may actually agree with you. Vito is special, that's for sure. However, your main concern should be keeping him at Bowling Green. I will let you in on a little secret with 100% certainty. He has been shopped to other schools. I don't see him leaving, but it has been discussed for sure. Take that for what it's worth. May want to hold out until after his butt hits the seat at the high school to start boosting that group and getting cocky like normal BG folks do.

How did you get a read on how good either team was? East Hardin was significantly better than West. Not even close. Of course BG looked great. They always look good against western KY teams. Eastern KY teams? Not so much. It usually shows in the playoffs. I agree with you that Pulaski vs. Bowling Green would have been the best match-up. You're brainwashed if you think BG would have beaten Northern Pulaski in both grades. It's ok to have that opinion, but I wouldn't guarantee it. This must be your first year covering KY middle school football.

Bowling Green's 7th grade (the team you saw Saturday) lost to Johnson County in the playoffs last year. Let's be honest about this weekends game, they weren't playing the stiffest competition. I only say that because Northern beat that West Hardin team 62-0 last season. Here's an unknown stat for most. Northern Pulaski has played Bowling Green 4 times between both grades at the middle school level since 2010. All games held at BG because BG never wants to make the return trip to Somerset. BG has never scored against Northern. Shutouts in all 4 games.

Notoriously, yes. However, you must keep in mind that Highlands, CovCath, or Owensboro are none walking through that door. Who will compete with Johnson Central in the east?

I get what you're saying, but you have to realize that Johnson Central beat Ashland by 35 points last year. Will they make up that difference? I personally don't believe they will. Some of you folks put way too much stock in Baker at Ashland. Bourbon will pose no threat to JC coming from 3A. We will have to agree to disagree.

So if they win their region with a 9-4 record and lose to Johnson Central in the state semi-finals as one of the final 4 teams left, they will not be in the top 5 at season's end?

Knox will end the regular season at 5-5 or 6-4, but they will be battle tested for the 4A playoffs. Wayne has a decent schedule, but it's nowhere near as stout as KC's. Wayne will look better on paper, but barring injury, KC will get them when it counts. Wayne is still a year away from making noise in 4A in my opinion. Incoming sophomore group is pretty good.

My dark-horse pick is Knox Central. They'll be top 5 in 4A by season's end.

Why did Witherspoon get suspended? That is a big hit for John Hardin IMO. He's a difference maker.

Pulaski County vs. Southwestern would be my homer pick. Belfry vs. Johnson Central should be a nice match-up.

I'm not a big fan of the targeting rule either. I can see it in certain circumstances though. Kickoff return and someone lays a crack back 30-40 yards behind the ball. There's no point in that. With that said, football is a physical sport. If you don't want to get hit, don't play.

There's no question for me that middle school benefits the high school program. Youth league > Middle school > High school > College > Professional. The phases of the game. If you take one of those links out, you're screwed. I only say that to say this. I had a good friend who played youth league and was an absolute stud at that level back in the day. He did not play at the middle school level because he wanted to take a break from the game. During those 1-2 years, he didn't mature as much as the rest. We were all lifting and working out at that time while he was dedicated to baseball and video games. He then tried coming out as a freshman and was so far behind, both mentally and physically that he couldn't catch up. He never made it through the first year back. There are high schools where I've personally heard coaches downplay the emphasis of their own feeder and 3-4 years later, it has shown. On the flip-side of that, I've seen youth leagues being taken more seriously and it has paid huge dividends in that area. Heck, I went to a middle school game about 2 or 3 years ago in a connecting county and I would have thrown down money that our 6th grade team would have beaten that 8th grade team. That day showed me how much the emphasis on youth programs helps get some kids miles ahead.

Very interesting thread. I know time is of the essence when recruiting such a broad range. However, I wouldn't be as interested in your top 25 plays as I would be the rest of your game. Do you take plays off? How hard do you go? Do you hustle and exert the effort needed to help me? What kind of practice player are you? Are you a leader or a follower? Some players are natural and some players are coachable. I want guys that are coachable. Although a little natural is great too!

plantmanky - What are the financial numbers for hosting a regional for the KMSFA playoffs? What is average "take-home" for the host site, competing teams, KMSFA, etc? Not sure how all that works. I know you all look for turf fields most of the time for each region. Would be nice to finally get a regional located in Somerset somewhere!

Here is what I know about this situation after talking to people who would probably know along the way. When all of this discussion about getting turf initially came up, Southwestern was to be installed first, before Pulaski. That could be a rumor, but I believe my source would have been involved in that decision of some sort. That is absolutely crazy to me to be honest. Same person also told me about 1/3 of the funding would come from private businesses & boosters. (I'm not sure if that was both fields or just Pulaski's.) I personally believe the administrators at both schools were given a green light for a couple of months, then just a week or two ago, it turned to a yellow light and almost immediately a red light within a 24 hour span. The vote shot it all down 3-2 and in my opinion, 1 of those 3 flopped in that 24 hour period for some reason. Almost everyone from both sides assumed it would pass easily and I personally believe both sides were somewhat led on by select board members. As far as the current condition of the field. It's about 60% weeds & 40% dirt (or concrete is what it feels like). It has been vandalized (rumored to have been from a crosstown rival) and there are truck tracks all over it. The football program uses the grass field (even the middle school & youth programs when it is available). The band uses it (when they don't have to practice in the parking lot. This year, I have a feeling that no one will be allowed on the the grass field whatsoever other than the high school football team because of the maintenance it will take to keep it up. To my knowledge, soccer has never used it as they have their own nice facility over the hill and have never complained. Getting turf at both schools is necessary for a variety of reasons. As far as football, state championships are not played on grass. If the Pulaski district wants more, they need to put out for both schools. SW and Pulaski neither one fear each other and the day has come where Highlands, Bowling Green, etc. are just names on a jersey. Historically, they're not on the same level, but right now...Pulaski is king of 5A (could have very easily been SW). Turf will give these programs an advantage by getting to play/practice on the state surface year long like the other "big boys."

I don't know him personally and he may be a good dude. This McPeek guy would get an immediate "No" from me if I were an administrator at a school he was inquiring about. Too much baggage. I'm not sure how he got away with all of this and is still coaching somewhere. Blows my mind.

Put more of an emphasis on their youth programs. That would be the first thing I'd do if I were them. I've seen many other programs blow theirs out of the water over the years.

I would say 2 different things personally. 1. I love seeing the weekly rankings and different opinionated explanations per class. Helps me kind of gauge each team in other classes I may not necessarily be familiar with. 2. The moderators are great on this site compared to other similar sites on the folks who like to cause trouble. Very little ignorance and a lot more substance on BGP.