gameplayedright

Sounds like a bad situation getting worse. Maybe it's finally time KHSSA separates the boys and girls soccer, one plays in the fall, the other in the spring like many states do and have done for yrs.

Every team has question marks in July. CCH's lack of varsity experience may cause them to answer more questions then some programs. I'll be watching the back four, how this group plays will be a big factor. It takes time to build consistency across the back line, add in a new keeper, this is an area to watch. Last yr's back line and keeper were all seniors and they played a huge role in that team's success. A good coaching staff uses the first half or so of the season to find these answers and builds from there to peak in mid Oct to Nov 5. groinpull's prediction of 8 juniors/sophomores will be starting by the end of the season is still capable of wining the region is interesting, and says something about the strength of the program heading into the 2017 season. But lets not get ahead of ourselves, like last season the 9th region will again prove to be tough one to get out of this season.

Tryouts concluded, team rosters announced? Seems early, I remember CCH tryouts always lasting 2 weeks. If true I would agree, " both sophs will see significant playing time." IMO makes little sense to put any sophomore on ANY varsity sports team to then sit them on the end of the bench. Playing sophomores that can hold their own and contribute quality minutes on the varsity team helps a program stay strong year after year.

My sources say St Henry is senior heavy and should be the team to beat. Ryle should contend if they can find the back of the net. CCH is inexperienced in July, by October they could be a much improved team. Don't know much about Highlands, word is NCC and Connor are down. Boone and Cooper??? I'll go top 5 (9th region teams only) as of July 23. I fully expect this to change come October. 1. St Henry 2. Ryle 3. CCH 4.Highlands 5. Cooper

Mixing together varsity and JV squads, no sense rotations, unlimited subbing. Unbearable heat turns to rain/thunder & lighting equals long delays. Mud, cars stuck in the lower grass field, a complete mess. Boy do I miss the BGSG!

No hang up what so ever, I was simply pointing out a fact to rgoodman2016. And for the record basketball is another sport that has one state championship per gender. Not including The All A tournament, which by the way does holds a soccer and basketball event. Not sure if this is what you meant by "small school champ."

Check out KY HS Athletic Association KHSAA/Riherds Scoreboards | Kentucky High School Athletic Association You can click on any year and get scores up to the State Championship match. Every team in the state competes for ONE KY HS Soccer State Champion. 16 teams (16 regions) make it into the state championship tournament each yr. There is only ONE soccer state champion in KY, one boy's team, one girl's team champion. The past few years the semi finals and finals for both boys and girls have been held at Paul Laurence Dunbar HS. Covington Catholic beat Henry Clay 3-0 in 2015 final.

Seen this happen many, many times in the college and the NFL.

Never been to BGSG. I would imagine there is a wide variety of objections to playing in these games? Experienced teams (large number of returning varsity players) looking to build on last season. Inexperienced teams using it for tryouts and/or trying to help determine which 13-15 players will be a factor this coming season, etc. Given the many different scenarios and these games are one week to a few days (depending on when teams actually start tryouts, 7/15 to 7/18) after the official start date of tryouts I would not expect them to provide any real outlook on the season. Is this an accurate assessment? As for Soccerama, maybe a different set of objections? 3+ weeks after the start of tryouts. By then teams are looking to play someone besides themselves in front of paying spectators! But again assume coaches will have different objections based on the make up of their roster. It is exciting to be this close to another HS soccer season, especially NKY HS. One that appears to be wide open.

So you have attended professional matches in an official capacity? You know for a fact there is no one other then the center ref keeping the official time? This is not want I have read and heard with regard to professional matches such as EPL, La Liga, etc, and International matches. The stadium clock when started and stopped correctly is very accurate. Again from what I read and hear in NCAA college soccer matches the official game clock is controlled (yes determined and indicated by the center ref) by the official clock keeper. I've witnessed quite a few college games and I've yet to see the center ref indicate to the clock operator during the run of play to change the time. When the clock reaches 0:00 on the board the horn sounds and the game is over. Many youth games such as MRL, National League, KPL type games are "not stacked so close together that you can't add time." Time is almost always added to this level of game. I have kept a clock during many youth games, "stopping" my clock during goals scored, cards and injuries. Almost never does the center ref even come close to adding the correct amount of stoppage time. In the college game where the clock is stopped and started rules and indicated by the center ref, it is very accurate.

The arguments either way to keep the game clock kept on the score board or by center ref by some on here is sometimes lacking basic common sense. There is no debating keeping it on the score board is more accurate and more consistent game to game. Not saying using this method in HS games will be perfect, but it will be more accurate and consistent. In professional FIFA games there is a time keeper up in a booth somewhere with a stop watch timing the stoppage of play. At the end of each half this (accurately kept) stoppage time is passed down to the 4th official on the field who then displays it for ALL to see. During NKY HS and youth FIFA games the center ref keeps the game clock. This is totally subject to his or her descretion and without ANY oversight. Give me a break, the center ref many times can't even keep up with everything they have going, how many times have we all seen the center ref fail to see their AR signal for an offsides? The amount of stoppage time added (sometimes it is not added at all) to these games is laughable when it comes to any consistency.

Pretty sure during college games the game clock is kept on the score board. IMO for HS and college it is the way to go. It takes one less responsibility, one less item for the center ref to be concerned with, which is a good thing. Sure the paid or volunteer game clock operator may miss a few seconds here and there but center refs miss minutes. The game clock being kept on the field is very, very inconsistent game to game. It will be much more consistent when kept on the score board and most importantly the players will know how much time remains simply by looking at the score board. Put me down for keeping the game clock on the score board.

I don't know any of the programs well enough to know if, "most of the top 10 teams in Kentucky" or any other teams are holding workouts in the winter and spring. I would guess for the top 20 teams in the state this is likely not very accurate. The top 20 teams likely have a large majority, or at least their top 9-12 players on top level club teams. The commitment level on these top club teams don't leave much, if any time for their players to participate with the high school teams "during the winter and all spring." soccerfan000, can you name any "of the top 10 teams in Kentucky" that hold winter and all spring workouts?

A good size group of NKY boys playing at a high level. The thing I noticed from reading this list, out of these 9 players 7 different NKY High schools are represented. The talent in the 2016 HS season will be spread around. I think ASnow will be a senior, are the others to be juniors or any to be seniors?

Sir, not calling you out just wondering if your, "I know college coaches are groaning" comment is more an assumption (which is shared by many) or do you know some college coaches personally and they have told you this themselves? If you know some personally and have any inside information on how your college coach friends may be considering how they will recruit I would love to hear it.

My guess is NDA is the overwhelming favorite to win the 9th region, which would make 5 in a row! Good luck to the entire KHA U17 red team in the OS State Cup and Regionals in June.

Sounds like a great opportunity, our thoughts and prayers will be with them, their coaches, and support staff. Be safe and enjoy.

Agree with post # 4. And if you can't beat them, join them. The majority of catholic schools have seen a decline in student enrollment over the past 10-15 years. So they will welcome any new student/player with open arms. And it saves all of us KY tax paying residents tax dollars!!! Catholic schools get very, very little state money and the parents sending their children to catholic schools get no vouchers, not tax credit, etc.

I agree with VoR, post #15. I never said the club players should get different, or special consideration. But the HS game has evolved for the better, more technical, more tactical so the top level club player, with some limited exceptions, will be way better then the kid only playing soccer during the HS season.

Club players have a huge impact on HS soccer, they will only impact the sport more and more in yrs to come. The game is more technical and the coaching has improved at a lot of schools, all of these aspects are making the HS game better. With few exceptions, schools not having a number of top level club players and good coaching will win far and few regional titles. I see not fault in this. The kids (and parents) that dedicate themselves to the sport by playing year round, spending hours and hours on their own just to keep up with their club teammates should be rewarded. The kids playing top level club are not handed anything for free, they have to work their tails off day after day, year after year just to hold their club roster spot. I suspect it is the same way in BB, volleyball, baseball, tennis and many other sports. I'm fine with the kids not wanting this out of a sport, but they should not complain when their HS favors the more skilled, better players. Some kids just want to be a part of something, thats great enjoy it for just that. But some of these same kids' parents complain about playing time, coaching, etc. IMO St Henry's goal should be a regional title every year, anything less is down grading the program. I see no shame in this. Nor do I see shame in schools setting very high academic expectations. If you don't set high expectations, the students/athletes have nothing to aim for. Mediocre won't get you far in life these days.

Both teams' last 11 games, approximately one month ago through today's semi finals produce the following stats. CCH average score 67.54, opponents average score 41.36, average MoV 26.18 NCC average score 60.18, opponents average score 44.45, average MoV 15.73 Both teams are playing well at the right time of year, is CCH playing better? If CCH stays out of foul trouble they 3peat. CCH 62 NCC 57

How do you know they will be a "cheap fouls"? This comments would indicate Barnes isn't good enough to score against Weyer inside, if so, I disagree.

Congratulations to CCH on advancing, at this stage of the season that is pretty much the only important thing…and staying healthy. Difficult venue to play in, smaller then most junior high gyms. CCH made some wise defensive adjustments and Holmes just seem to run out of gas early in this game, pretty much game over half way through the second qt. Nice to read on here how many of the Holmes players are great kids on and off the court, I thought they showed class last night in a very one sided, season ending loss. Good luck to CCH the rest of the way. Looking forward to what promises to be a very exciting 9th Regional Tournament, at least 3 and as many as 5 teams with a legitimate chance to win it. Count me in as one that is very glad the 9th Region Tournament is held at NKU every year. If we could only convince the 9th Region to hold the boys and girls regional soccer tournament at NKU every year things would be much better.

I think the 9th region will be very competitive. All of the top teams lost some important players, have some important returning players and like every year, winning the title will, in large part be determine by players yet to be mentioned on BGP. I have heard a lot about the current sophomores, to be juniors at CCH. "how quickly these rising juniors adjust to the varsity level of play" as YC wrote may be a factor. But the important part of the season does not start until October so "how quickly" is not overly important as long as they've adjusted come October. Have no problem with the list of players YC posted, these players have been recognized by the coaches. IMO players should not be prematurely mention on BGP until they have earned it on the field at the varsity level. If some just start listing names all of a sudden it will become a roster list from each school and not a list of players that will truly have an impact next season. A few "top 10" list on BGP last season grew very quickly to "top 100" list. Hopefully that can be avoided this season, certainly lets not start in February.

Sounds like McNeil is the real deal, and I read a lot about how good a coach Ruthsatz is, which I don't disagree. Come Regionals something has to give, if these are the two best teams in the 9th region they should meet in the semi or finals. Will the coach have a plan to slow down McNeil or allow him his points but shut down everybody else and get the win? Or will McNeil take over the game getting Cooper the win? Already looking forward to this one.