smatting

A good number of people took notice of Beechwood last year when their Medley Relay tied for 2nd. Very impressive showing this year, they defeated some very good teams in that event. Looking forward to seeing what they are able to do over the next two years. As for St. X’s Medley Relay, they would beat most college teams with that time. That should be fast enough to win a National Championship in that event. Only one team was faster than that last year. Great Meet overall, the young man from Paul Dunbar, Bruck, was very impressive, and he is only a junior. He could very well be one of the top swimmers in the country next year. I don't see X slowing down any time soon, they had a number of quality underclassmen in their lineup. This year they wanted to make sure the distance between them and Trinity, the number two team in 2007, doubled. 131 points separated the teams in 2007, 272 points in 2008. Trinity was very vocal about taking over the swimming world after their success last season.

Great article today in the Courier-Journal on St. X All American Ethan Arave. Awesome photo!!! http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080118/SPORTS05/801180540/1002/SPORTS This might end up being one of the strongest teams St. X has ever put together. No superstars just a lot of speed and depth. As far State goes, X swam Trinity, the number 2 team in Kentucky, on Wednesday and won 106 to 48, with most of the X swimmers not swimming their best events. The meet was highlighted by the 200 Freestyle Relay made up of David Johnson, Hyatt Gaston, Andrew Taylor, and Michael Embry, who set a new pool record and achieved an All American time of 1:27.67. David Johnson’s leadoff swim on the Relay was also an All American swim in 21.47.

You can find results for most High School Meets at the following links Central Kentucky Woodford County Swimming http://wchs.woodfordschools.org/swim/index.htm Tates Creek Swimming http://www.creekfish.org/ Louisville St. Xavier Swimming http://www.tigersonline.org/swim/ This site includes an archive with results for the last 10 years. Ohio Swimming - http://www.Swimmeet.com

I felt going into the game that if Trinity could score over 24 points they had a chance to pull off the upset. To me that was the best Trinity Offense I have seen against X in the last 10 years. Trinity may have had better offensive teams in that time but they didn’t move the ball that well against the X Defense in those years. For Trinity to play that well against this year’s X defense especially in the first half was very impressive. Great Job to both teams!!! and after reading several other forms this week I believe Central, St. X and Trinity put on a Show and let everyone in the State know how good Louisville High School Football is.

With all of the bad blood the last couple years, the disappointment of the injured QB and loss of the State Championship as well as the Rain shortened ¼ Game awarded to Trinity. Do you think it helps the ROCKS to be labeled as the Number ONE Team in the State of Kentucky ahead of an undefeated Team that already beat you in the regular season? I believe X has enough motivation, the potential for Coach’s 1st undefeated season, a potential top 10 National Ranking at the end of the season, etc.. I sure wouldn’t want my opponent hanging things like this up the week before a game.

You bring up some Great Points. I believe Stein will play better, so you would agree 4 TD's 28 points will beat Trinity. I just don't see Trinity putting up more than that against this years D even with improvements. Another point I would like to bring up is that if both of Trinity's big Offensive Lineman are going to be playing both sides of the ball, Trinity better score early, I just don't see how they can keep the X defense out of the backfield in the 4the quarter.

Over the last 7 years with coach Beatty at Trinity, even with Brian Brohm the best high school QB in the country, Trinity has not scored more than 24 points. With what everyone in the State as well as on this Board agree on is that this is one of the best Tiger Defenses in years, maybe ever. So the only question about the outcome Saturday is can X score over 24 points against Trinity Defense? Bottom Line, this will decide the 6A State Champion. I forgot his first year, thanks for the correction. So in 10 Games under Beatty, Trinity's high powered offense has averaged 15.5 points per game against X. So I ask again, would all agree that if X can score over 24 points against Trinity, X wins no question.

Over the last 7 years with coach Beatty at Trinity, even with Brian Brohm the best high school QB in the country, Trinity has not scored more than 24 points. With what everyone in the State as well as on this Board agree on is that this is one of the best Tiger Defenses in years, maybe ever. So the only question about the outcome Saturday is can X score over 24 points against Trinity Defense? Bottom Line, this will decide the 6A State Champion.

Deuce was dressed and looked good during warm-ups at Marshal County. He however did not see any action. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next two weeks, but the way Montano, Carraro and company are running the ball with Zoeller's passing I think they will be able to put a couple TD's up against anyone left in the playoffs. With this years D that may very well be enough without Deuce.

I don’t think it has been mentioned that St. X was without their two best players, Matt Smith and Duece Finch. Both the offense and defense are affected when those two are out of the game. As for Cov Cath, very impressive. I really feel they can put a nice run together for the playoffs. As always first class fans and first class student athletes. We hope to see you back in the ‘Ville in a couple of weeks.

Chace showed up at school today in a leg cast. He has a severely sprained ankle and will be in the cast for at least two weeks. The good news is that his season is not over.

St. X set the National High School Record for State Titles with 41 State Championships 2 years ago. Panahou High School in Hawaii had 40 State Titles but has not won their State Championship the last 3 years. With this years win X has 43 State Championships as well as the Title the most successful High School Sports Program in history.

You got me thinking about what is considered a lot of points in a Swimming State Championship Meet. In 2005 X was the number 6 ranked team in the Nation and won the Meet 366.5 to Manual's 221 (145.5 points). Last year X ended the year as the number 2 in the Nation and won the Meet 371.5 to Manual's 235 (136.5 points). So this years win, 337 to 206 over Trinity (131 points) after graduating all of those division 1 athletes is not a bad win.

X was a hundred point underdog going into that State Finals. Cov Cath was very strong that year, that and the fact it was the unlucky 13th year, X was very fortunate to keep the streak alive.

After graduating 6 All Americans and the best high school swimmer in the Country last year, a 130 point win is a good size victory. Trinity swam unbelievable at Prelims on Friday and that kept the score down. I believe X only graduated 3 seniors who scored at the meet and from what I have heard the incoming class should be one of the most talented in several years. X should be much stronger next year.

I agree Rebel, the part of the deck directly in front of the spectators should have been blocked off. The paying public should have a clear view of the pool and that is something that was discussed when the topic of the event possibly being at U of L again next year came up. From what I heard the swimmers liked the speed of the pool, but it was a little crowded.

Jody Demling is the author of "The Book" this week. He picked the Tigers by 10

Of course...I'm sure Alexander was amazing. I just never saw him play in high school.

When Vic has open field, it's over. And he has the best balance I've ever seen on the HS level, period. Some of his runs tonight, while aided by excellent blocking and less-than stellar tackling, were simply amazing.

I disagree with your characterization of X's attitude in the state championship. At the beginning of the season, some of them were lazy - which prompted the comments from Glaser that you reference. I can't speak for each individual player on the team, but for the final game for most of them it was a totally different matter than how you describe it. They came into the game confident, but somewhat afraid because everything seemed like it had come too easily and they knew it wasn't going to be another game like the regular season one or the Scott Co. final last year. They knew a team like Trinity wasn't going to be that easy to beat the second time around, and that is what resulted in their playing tight. Rather than being cocky, they had a bit of a deer in the headlights reaction when the PAT got blocked and Curley went down. The confident execution and swagger they had going quickly vanished, and they couldn't recapture it. Had the PAT not been blocked, I honestly think it would have been a very different game for the St. X offense, which seemed sort of shocked. Trinity captured a lot of momentum with that play and didn't look back.

Mike Mattingly from St. X may be walking on at Notre Dame.

Agree - Isreal was a stud last year against St. X, which is the only time I've seen him play - he was quick and very decisive for a sophomore. He seemed to give Lex Cath a dimension their offense had lacked in previous years.

Vic is working with a trainer right now and is really finally learning how to lift and pack on muscle. As long as they can block for him upfront as well as X usually does, he should have a monster season. As others have pointed out, Eckman and the sophomore Finch should be more than capable of keeping defenses from being able to tee off on Anderson completely.

Anderson has blocked a decent amount the last two years. He threw plenty of good blocks for both Justin Brown two years ago and Mike Mattingly last year.

Ugliest thing I've ever seen. Just kidding, nice ring. Just wish the green and gold guys had gotten another one.