Sir!

My guess would be Dean plays the #8, Ballard the #10 and Shackleford the #9 role. Ballard has a ton of assists so he's right in the middle of things, I suspect. For some reason I think Dean plays in the back or maybe even the #6 for LFC? Be curious to se if there is any game scenario where he sits s little deeper. I probably miss the game tonight due to work pile-up, but Quite Frankly, if I can catch it on CovCath radio that might hold me over.

Your Region 12 confusion is not alignment driven... maybe a bald tire?

Regions 5 and 10 were ranked higher by Maher as a group this year than Region 12. I wasn't aware of any Region 12 team (current or former alignment) winning State since 2004. There were winners from (former alignment) Region 6 and Region 14, I believe, but I didn't see 12.

CovCath is the only team this year with a chance to join the Elite Club of KY boys teams that have won back-to-back state titles (they would join St X and Ballard). Go NKY! To answer a prior question, I believe 4 of the remaining 16 boys teams are repeat regional Champs this year: KY#2 Daviess Co, KY#6 CovCath, KY#7 Mercer Co and KY#41South Laurel.

Ballard is the only other team (to date) that has managed the feat on the boys side: 1981 and 1982 1986 and 1987

Congrats to CCH and pretty darn good year to Ryle as well. Go Colonels, beat the Titans (Mercy County are the Titans, right? All of a sudden I'm not sure).

St X won back-to-back state titles in soccer: 1972 and 1973 2002 and 2003 2007, 2008 and 2009 2011 and 2012

If Ryle can press in midfield, limit service to Lamb and Stava, and create some chances on counter-attack then they've got a shot. If CCH wins the midfield battle they win 2-0. Key players (IMO) will be Schutt for CCH and Bolin for Ryle. Look for some great battles. Best of luck to both teams!

Yes. Final is Saturday at 4:30 pm I believe.

The soccer in the first half was quite a bit better for both sides. Second half the weather and soccer worsened. Ryle got the lone goal of the second half on an own goal off a corner. Credit to Ryle for pressing and defending well. Congrats to the Highlands boys on a solid season and special thoughts for the 11 seniors I've enjoyed following for many years.

Congrats Colonels and good luck in the final against Ryle. Got to see the first half and it looked like it was shaping up to be a fine game. Best of luck to a good group of graduating seniors for St Henry.

Only one of those shutouts was against a team with a higher Maher Rating than St Henry. Only one team has kept a clean sheet against St Henry (SoS 87) this season and that was Highlands early on. St Henry scored on CCH in an early season loss and recently scored on St X, PLD and Trinity all of whom have low GAA like CovCath. Kudos to CovCath if they can shut out St Henry and DJ Sanders tonight.

Both teams defend well. Neither are scoring machines. Two weeks ago Highlands beat Ryle 1-0 at Tower Park, but Ryle was deep into their bench with lots of JV players in the game by by halftime. Tonight's match will be a battle, but I think Highlands pulls out a 1-0 win largely on great team defending.

KY#7 Mercer Co takes on KY#44 West Jessamine for the Region 12 crown. It took OT for Mercer to beat KY#41 Boyle Co 4-3. Can West Jessamine pull the upset over Mercer Co? I'm thinking not. Mercer Co has several boys who play for LFC White including Brandon Ballard (24 goals and 23 assists) and Garrett Dean (20 goals and 13 assists). Cody Shackleford (28 goals and 8 assists) provides additional scoring punch for the Titans. Mercer Co has gone 3-0-1 against KY top-20 teams and their only KY loss came at the hands of McCracken County. Winner of this game travels to NKY next Tuesday to face the Region 9 winner.

Ho-Oh? Legendary!

I think St Henry is 0-5-1 against KY top-20 teams (5 goals for and 14 goals against) and CovCath is 1-3-1 against KY top-20 teams (6 goals for and 8 against). Maher has CCH at a 1.5 goal favorite on a neutral field. I'll go with CCH winning 2-1. CCH defense led by Michael Vogt just to much for St Henry to break down. Should be a good game.

I heard the final 4 minutes were an absolute barrage by Trinity trying to get the equalizer. Did Haji play? If not, any Intel on whether he may yet be back?

Collegiate beat St X 2-0 last week playing without Haji, so it's not like they are anemic without him. I give Trinity a slight edge either way, but I'd look for a tight game. Is it being streamed?

Hat trick by DJ Sanders, a brace from sophomore Jonathan Litzler, and a singleton from Kyle Beier. St Henry got 23 players in the game... nice experience for some boys to play in Regional and a little rest for starters heading into their semi-final match Thursday with CovCath. Sorry to see Adam Snow end his high school career -- hoping YC gives us a heads up next fall if/when EU plays in the area. Good luck to the rest of the Cooper seniors!

Another good one...

Congrats to CovCath on the win and moving on to the semifinals. Best of luck to the NCC seniors who finished their HS careers last night.

It would be easy to chalk up the score solely to poor finishing by Highlands, but that would fail to recognize Beechwood's effort/role in the outcome. Congrats to Beechwood Seniors Hayden Cammack and Matt Pugh. Moses B. and Bogden Shoyat (and others) played their hearts out for Beechwood and GK Cameron O'Connell had a hot night. Highlands shot count had to be over 30 and I'd guess O'Connell had 12 or more saves.

Cameron Smith puts up pretty good offensive stats for a center back. He has scored 7 goals in 6 different games thus far. The average Maher Rank of the OH/KY teams he's scored against is 146 so he's scoring against good competition. Goals against toughest opponents: Highlands #78, LexCath #93, South Oldham #169 and St X #21. I'd love to see some other names and supporting arguments from around the state. Who have you seen who is like Top-5 strong?

I would think Lamb would be a top candidate for NKY OPOY. A couple others compare well also: Griffin Lamb (CovCath): 21 goals in 10 different games (*). Average Maher Rank of OH/KY teams scored against = 304. Goals against toughest opponents: 1 against #125 Seven Hills and 2 against East Central. Lamb also contributes with a healthy dose of assists (12) opening the door for others to score. Note: Not including HC and Beechwood games, which obviously move goals and average OH/KY Maher Rank up. Colton Schneider (Campbell County): 30 goals in 12 different games. Average Maher Rank of OH/KY teams scored on = 291. Goals against toughest opponents: 1 against #37 CovCath 4 against #190 Simon Kenton. Contributing 8 assists, Colton has been involved in more than half of Campbell County's goals. Adam Snow (Cooper): 23 goals in 12 different games. Average Maher Rank of OH/KY teams scored against = 296. Goals against toughest opponents: 1 against #47 South Warren and 2 against #108 St Henry. Adam has pitched in 13 assists making him a part of over 80% of Cooper's scoring. The impact a player has on the field goes well beyond stats, but they help inform the discussion for offensive players. I think NKY OPOY and DPOY as well as the All-NKY teams get voted on before Regional play. Note sure when they vote for KY POY and the All-State teams. I'm certain that the next "award" most of the boys want to win is Regional Champ and a chance to play for a state title. Good luck to all heading into Regional play!

The Region 9 tournament generally has a couple surprises. Last year St Henry was a 3 goal favorite over Cooper and fell 4-2 and NCC was a 4 goal favorite over Dixie and fell 3-2. Also in the first round Highlands took CovCath to PKS. I'm not making any upset predictions, but they're historically in the mix.