gameplayedright

"Clementé did not play and Roberts went out with an injury early in the 2nd half." Defines a lot about this game. Take Messi out of Barca's lineup (in NO way making any comparison) and Barca is a totally different team, without him they are an average team. If this happens to a team as good as Barca, taking a Clemente out of Dunbar's lineup can have a larger impact.

Did someone get a photo of all 11 captains during the captains' pre-game meeting with the referees last night? Would enjoy seeing a photo of this.

If true, a Scott player receiving another red card, it's a real shame. Still wondering if or when the Scott AD (and at some point the principal) might get involved in this situation? Shines a bad light on the program, which is over seen by the AD, and ultimately the principal.

Day and Wessels played well (as did a number of CCH players), they are without question not the first opposing midfielders to have trouble when playing Summit. By saying "trouble" I don't mean struggled but more on the line of not being as dominant as they are accustomed to. The problem with playing a team like Summit where all 11 players have good technical skills, good speed and athleticism, teams will struggle unless they can match them. Very, very few HS teams can field 11 good players with these traits. Even though CCH did not have a great game last night with better finishing it could have easily been 5-5. But given the disparity in talent level 12 players to 12 players, IMO if they play each other 10 times, Summit wins 7-8 out of 10.

Given the number of club teammates on the field last night, pretty sure CCH players knew what they were up against long before the first whistle sounded. Thanks anyway YC. And Summit midfield is good but they have strengths up top and in the back as well. Besides one sub, which had a career night, 4 goals, their bench may not be very deep. All but maybe the last minute in the game I'm pretty sure Summit only played 12 players.

Agree, would have been nice to see the 5 midfield option for CCH. Pretty sure Day was pushed up to striker at some point late in the second half, this may have backfired. Yes Summit was already controlling the midfield, but with Day out of the midfield, Summit got even more control, more space and time to possess and attack. And not only does Summit have 11, maybe 12 good players on the field together that is unseen in NKY, maybe the entire state of KY, 2-3 of these players are really, really good. If they played in NKY their names would near the top of everybody's OPOY and DPOY lists.

I have never heard of a coach naming all of his/her seniors captains on Senior night, what a great idea! Hats off to the Cooper coaching staff for thinking of this.

CCH also had two unforced turnovers near the center of the field. CCH was attacking and looked to be in good position numbers wise and may have been dangerous but the turnovers off bad passes allowed Summit to counter which resulted in 2 of their goals. Not making excuses, Summit 100% deserved the win and is a very good team, but the 5-3 score is probably more do to these circumstances, (CCH late injuries, a player going off with cramps and a yellow card). And the fact CCH missed a few good opportunities, a 1 v1 with the keeper, another close range shot off the post, and Summit finished their chances. There is not a team in NKY that is even come close to putting 11 players on the field as talented as Summit's 11. They have no weakness in their starting 11 and their 12 player scored four goals last night, says a lot about how good they are.

Are you serious, are you actually indicating or suggesting a player not be considered for an award based on one or two plays over the length of the season or one game? I've read some unbelievable things on here over the years but this may top the list.

Depth will have little to nothing to do with the outcome. The impact players and/or defensive mistakes will make the difference. Both teams have a good core of players with one or two impact players on both sides. CCH 1 - Summit 1

Not surprised with this result. They will likely meet again in the 9th Regional, would expect the same outcome.

I agree kids have no control over a SCHOOL's schedule, but kids can decide to attend a different school which then they have more control of the strength of opponents (based on schedule history of that school) they will play against. Many kids over the years have chosen to attend a school, based in part to play against tougher competition, to play with better teammates, have a better chance of winning their regional tournament, etc. Kids have also chosen, based in part to play for a school because they may not perceive themselves of getting much playing time or even making the roster at another school, so it works both ways. A closer look at WV schedule may answer your questions and WV's OAS of -1.3 says a ton about the low level of competition they face on a regular basis. And if you look at 3 of WV's better opponents, which are my no means power houses these players had no goals, no assists. WV did not score VS Boone Co (OAS 6.4) WV did not score VS Cooper (OAS 6.17) WV did not score Vs Simon Kenton (OAS 4.23)

Live preview today, #9 NDA @ #8 NCC (rank based on Maher ranking as of Oct. 4). Will these two teams meet up again in two weeks in the Regional final, likely. Who ever wins this game today will certainly be the favorite to win the 9th region.

Stepover thank you for clarifying. Based on your description of the play the referee did use the correct restart, which would be a PK.

Agree the field is way to small for 14-16 year old boys, why do they continue to play it at TC? The championship game started with high intensity for the first 20-25 minutes, fun came to watch. CCH clearly the better team last night, fair result. Current CCH sophomores have not lost a soccer match while wearing the CCH uniform. The 2014 freshman team and current JV team still undefeated, and against some good competition. Heard this class is the first ever CCH soccer team to beat a Cincinnat X soccer team at any level.

I'm still confused, it would be nice for Stepover to clearly explain his, "Frustration between him and another player just caused him to pull the other player down in the box while the ball wasn't even in the play." Was the ball still live between the playing lines on the field somewhere, or was the ball outside the touchlines = out of play when the foul occurred? If the ball was out of play, ball out side of the touch lines when the foul occurred the PK restart was incorrect. Way to many referees continue to make mistakes on restarts, no excuse read and know the rule book.

I'm not buying this argument in the HS game. If you're talking EPL, La Liga, etc. yes good argument but not in HS. Is a Messi, a Ronaldo right in winning the Ballon d'Or, yes. This argument punishes the CCH players simply because they have good supporting teammates and rewards the Cooper, Scott, Connor, etc, players because they did not have good support around them. Does a Snow, Morgan, Wend dominate their team's scoring efforts simply because their teams have no other players capable? And how can you assume if Day, Darple, etc weren't on CCH their record would be the same? This argument significantly dispels the worth of a Day, Darple, Litzler, Wessles, etc. If voting was based on this argument the OPOY, DPOY would go the players on the mediocre teams almost every year and the players on the top 2-3 teams would almost never get consideration, makes zero sense. And one more time, IMO strength of competition should never be over looked when voting. Over the entire length of the season this has a huge impact on the final stats. For more proof check out the top goal scores and assists leaders in KY. The leaders teams' in both categories play pretty weak (OAS) competition. Goals scored leaders, Wilson with Franklin Simpson/4.24, Minnis with John Hardin/3.93, Hilliard with Fern Creek/2.0. Assists leaders, Teasly with Fern Creek/2.0, Linscott with John Hardin/3.93, Noe with Hopksinville/2.07. Will any of these players win MR KY Soccer, likely not. Another example of how strength of competition has a baring on player performance. Why do professional players that are no longer good enough to play in the EPL, Li Liga, Serie A, your Robbie Keane, Kaka, David Villa, etc. dominate the MLS, 100% because of the level of competition. Level of competition/speed of play has a huge baring on player performance in EVERY sport at EVERY level.

Stepover, Futbalfan, and Yellow Card each make good points. And my mistake on the Morgan goal count in those 3 games, not intentional. And YC makes a good argument for Litzler, so perhaps there are four in the running. Each one of them is deserving of the award, good luck to everyone.

IMO OPOY has it wound down to 3 players. If so and I was a betting man I would put my money on one of the two seniors, history says seniors (right or wrong) get a little extra consideration from the voting members. Breaking down the stats, strength of opponents (OAS) and other side notes. Day, 15 games, 12 goals/0.8, assists 9/.06, opponents OAS 7.22* Morgan 13 games, 24 goals/1.8, assists 8/.06, opponents OAS 4.32 Snow 13 games, 20 goals/1.5, assists 11/.08, opponents OAS 5.78 * Does not factor the OH teams' strength of schedules, which would cause CCH's OAS to be even higher. Addition notes Day's largest goal total in any one game is 2 goals in two games Vs St Henry OAS 6.70 and Simon Kenton OAS 4.42. Day has played against two very weak defensive teams, Holmes and Scott and did not score in either game, these are both opponents he could have easily padded his stats. CCH beat Holmes 5-1 and beat Scott 8-1. Morgan had 4 goals VS Beechwood OAS 1.81, 4 goals VS Calvary Christian OAS 0.74, and 4 goals Vs Bourbon Co OAS 1.72. Scott beat Beechwood 8-0, beat Calvary 4-0, and beat Bourbon Co 5-1. Did Morgan stay in these games when the outcomes were well decided? Snow had 3 goals Vs Calvary Christian OAS 0.74 and 5 goals VS Campbell Co OAS 4.77. Copper beat Calvary 5-1 and beat Campbell Co 5-4. Morgan has 12 more goals then Day, but 16 of Morgan's goals have come in 3 games and against very, very weak competition. Day had two very weak opponents that for what ever reason he not score, did not pad his stats, by his own choice, did he play very limited minutes in these two games? All factors that should be considered when voting.

OTB84 you make a good argument but no way listing all 4 CCH defenders and keeper will fly on here. I've counted something like 13 different defenders mentioned just on this thread, I'm sorry but there are not 13 Top NKY defenders. Someone on this thread mentioned 3 defenders from St Henry, really? St Henry has a 1.69 GPG, certainly nothing to brag about and this against decent but not great competition. Mentioned before, this thread should be titled Top 100 NKY Players (take 2)

Do you find it hard to believe the NCC supporters believe their team has met and exceeded their expectations up to this point? 18-0-0 with an ALL A title, would bet they did not think it would be this good back when it all started on July 15th. Of course anything less then a 9th Region title will be a disappointment, but your question above was posted on October 1.

Trinity JV obviously down this year, what does this mean for their varsity squad the next couple of years?

Not a good argument because those four teams are very, very good and the EPL top to bottom is very good. For entertainment purposes only, I'll take the EPL tournament simply because it provides me with more great games to watch.

A football class with 32-42 teams good be great, there are 32 teams in the NFL, put them all in a tournament and it is a very good tournament. The number of teams is irrelative in any class, any sport, any tournament, on and on. What is relative is the strength of the teams top to bottom. If you put together a 4 team tournament with Barca, ManU, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich, you would arguably have the strongest soccer tournament today. Take Barca and put them in a tournament with 10000 HS teams, this is not a strong tournament. I did't start this argument, Equus Grevyi did by saying, "consider that it is harder to win an "All A" state title in a sport than it is to win a football state title. Football divisions have 32-34 teams in each class and the statewide "All A" forums can include up to 125 teams depending on the sport."

I've been the to the last 3-4 Region 9 boys BB finals at NKU, very large crowds. Doesn't matters who the host team is or if the host team makes the finals, the final attracts a large crowd. Some of the schools have complained about the tournament being held at NKU, most complaints I've read come from the loosing teams, are they making excuses? Some fans complain about the parking, traffic, legit complaints, not a perfect world.