STEEL_CURTAIN88

Im still not sold on Paris, their squeek by win over Nicholas County raised some red flags for me. If Raceland is without Clark, Christian, and Carmen this week, idk how they can hold up defensively against Paintsville and offensively, they need to stick to the run and quick out/deep middle passes, as those are the only thing Davidson seems to be comfortable throwing. Pikeville's switch at the QB position has made them more multi-demensional which makes them that much more dangerous. If Raceland gets those guys back, I think the loss to Fairview could be a wake up call and hopefully makes us play better from top to bottom. With district play going strong, things are shaking themselves out.

You know they are just jealous of the wonderful Raceland Water. I heard they have been sneaking into town in the cover of the night, just to get a bucket full of Pond Run Creek nectar. Thats what this is all about, cant believe I didnt see it before.

Bahahaha they just keep coming down the BGP River!!! Sad.

Stat tracker, in the last 5 years Raceland has won over 50 football games, won 2 district championships and 2 regional titles. West Carter has managed around 20 wins in that same amount of time, making it no further than the 2nd round of the playoffs each year. Guys are making comments about "Our high expectations", your darn right we have high expectations, thats what good PROGRAMS, do. Raceland isnt a flash in the frying pan. We have been building a tradition since the first Rambler laced up a cleat in a horse field or cow pasture. We came from nothing, no homefield, NOTHING, but we are sure as hell, far from nothing, these days. Programs arent built by a few good seasons. Programs are built over years and years. And in regaurds to calling for Salmon's head? Raceland is kind of like the Pittsburg Steelers of HS football. We dont get rid of a coach because he had a less than expected year.

I agree its too little too late for them to develope a passing game now. Imo, that's the biggest and only mistake the staff made in the offseason. Not just going with Dowdy from the get go. He doesnt have a bad arm and with work could be effective enough.

Lord, the West Carter posters have Raceland and Fairview posters agreeing and defending each other, they better be careful lol.

Nope. Baker needs to lead in touches. BUT, they have way too much speed and tallent at the skill positions to have no passing threat that is consistent. That is what i am refering to.

Stats speak for themselves. Baker leading all RBs in all categories. Baker avg 224 and 3.3 TDs/game. Brown, Dowdy, and Roberts, around 30 or 40. To have so many weapons, Ashland relies on Baker far too much, imo. They have other kids that can open their offense up a bit. This could hurt Ashland Friday.

I really thought this could be the year that Ashland pulls it off, but Ashland struggled at times against Raceland's down the field verticle passing routes and again against George Washington. Neither of those two teams were able to move the ball consistantly on the ground. JC will be aboe to do that. I want to see Ashland pull it off, but idk. I do think its closer than people will think. It takes Johnson Central 4 quarters to put the Cats away, but... Johnson Central 35 Ashland 21

Not sure, I onow he rushed for around 90 yards though.

I guess Bellevue isnt the team they were 25 years ago because they dont have the Sutkamp brothers back this year. All i am saying is last years seniors are gone and so are every other team's. Some were "it" factors, other ls were not missed as badly. New year new team, why do we keep talking about how much everyone misses anyone. The rosters are as they are.

Different style team this year. Mainly ground and pound and that was effective against Fairview but the defense of line let up and we missed a couple of guys due to injury and not being 100%. Fairview has beat us straight up they were the better team last night. Why in the name of Vince Lombardi do you keep bringing the stuff up? The comets had their shot , gave us a scare but we managed to put them away holding Braeho gave us a scare but we managed to put them away holding Brown to -4 yards in the second half. I appreciate anyone's input on here, but can we find another dead horse to kick?

Interesting messer stat, he was 4th on the team last year in touches, that includes Rushes (50), Pass attempts (17), and Rec (34). He scored 5 TDs rushing, 5 Passing and 10 recieving. 101 touches and 20 TDs. That's a TD for ever 5 touches. That is a huge loss. BUT, replacing Messer hasnt been the issue. Replacing the secondary, seeming lack of leadership, and just plain playing flat and emotionless at times is. Fairview went up 12-0 and we looked whipped. Had we scored on our first possesion, like we have done for the most part this year, its a different ball game. Idk how hard it is to get pumped up for Fairview. THAT imo is our biggest issue. Not much fire in their bellies.

With the way we have been this year, a 1 or 2 seed is not out of the question if our season's history tells us anything. We come out flat one week, then play like the world is on fire the next. This makes me feel like we will play better football next week and have a shot to beat Paintsville. Not saying we will, just saying I expect us to look like a totally different team next week. We rushed for over 300 and threw for over 100 yards, over 400 yards of offense, problem is, Fairview did as well and held a higher redzone production percentage. Idk what the answer is to our redzone issues. We had two trips get denied. Score 1/2 there and we win the ball game. I just dont get how how you can avg 8 or 9 yards a carry between the 20s and not be able to find the endzone from there.

Its still Beechwood, Paintsville, Russellville, Pikeville, Raceland, Fairview and Hazard. Imo, Raceland's lack on consistency all across the board makes them the weakest offense on that list. Not having Morgan off the edge was a huge loss, as was Josh going down with his shoulder. But the biggest issue was penalties. Had we not gotten a 5 yd running into the punter penalty, we go up 28-18. Had Isaac Wallace made the tackle on Fairviews 2pt conversion, Fairview needs a pat to win. We simply got beat and thats all their is to it. As for Mike being in the "hot seat", that isnt how we do things at Raceland.

That was a night and day different Fairview team that took the field against Paintsville.

Raceland needs to win their next two regular season games to even have a shot at the 2nd seed. This loss really set us back. I still think though, that one of these 3 teams get to the regional championship.

I believe Damon has a fractured ankle. Hate to hear that, hope he gets healed up quickly. To answer your question, heck, idk. I would say Carson Christian steps in as the back up QB now, a senior leader who knows the offense, has QB experience as a Frosh and Soph, a solid back up by any means and with our depth at RB, we dont lose anything there, should Nathaniel (god forbid), go down with an injury. But keep in mind, Nathaniel is not your regular QB. He grew up a RB and LB, so he is used to taking and making hits, so IF, the game plan was to indeed have him in at LB/DB, I dont think it changes that much. You may however, see his carries drop from 10-15/game down to 8-12/game. But he is still a crucial part of our rushing attack because it is his Iso stuff that leads to the trap and delay that give Kane big runs. So, I think you see some things change a little, but not much. Damon only had a handful of Varsity snaps this year any way. As for tonight, Fairview's defense looks a little weak again this year, they have struggled heavily with physical football teams. I look for the Ram ground and pound to TCB. If Raceland comes out and plays their brand of football and doesnt get caught sleeping (dont see that happening) This one could be ugly.

I agree. I really think Fairview will break a long pass, maybe 2 for a TD. I think if it happens, it will be early on. Hard to simulate their run and gun with the scout team. But I like the way our secondary has improved, I think you may see Nathaniel get some defensive reps this week as well, to give us a little better coverage at the LB spot. With the way Bailey Walker and Blake Whitt have been pass rushing lately, that could almost become a nickel package with a VERY physical extra DB in Nathaniel. Real season starts tomorrow, time to put up or shut up!

I have been thinking back about our offensive production this year. Play calling, what has worked, what hasnt, and something crossed my mind. We have seen a few wrinkles briught out, that we havent really used on a consistent basis, but always seemed to have been productive for big gains. 1. Our two minute offense (quick passes in the flats or across the middle), in the two games we really used it (Valley/Portsmouth), looked really sharp and productive. 2. The Jet Sweep or WR reverse. We have only seen it a handful of times. But when Cam Webb ran it, it looked great, picking up 10-15 yards each time. My question is this, do you all think that These are things we are simply not going to do very much, or has the staff been holding back some, simply because the ground and pound has been enough to get by? Also curious if anyone knew anything about Damon. I heard he got injured in the JV game. Any news there?

"In the ball game we got 3:25 Holy Smokes Alive, Dag Gummit', Jimminny Oh My Goodness...Oh boy 88" that is some great stuff! What a come back as well.

Maybe not BETTER than Fieger, but as good. He is definitely more atheletic and more of a dual threat than Roy. I think Roy is more of a pure pocket passer than can make plays when the pocket breaks down, but the Valley kid is a threat to do something whenever he has the ball, be it with his arms or with his legs. As of last week, Valley was ranked 1st in their region (out of 20+ teams) and 5th over all in their division. For what it's worth, i turn to calpreps.... Gave me nothing in return lol According to them on a neutral field: Paintsville 24 Valley (OH) 23 Belfry 27 Ashland 26 So one could argue that given the same conditions, and home teams getting a TD cushion for homefield advantage the scores go Ashland 32 Belfry 27 Paintsville 30 Valley (OH) 23 So, calpreps in essence makes your point if you take into account homefield advantage. But not by much. You know, it's amazing the depth of research we sometimes go through on these rankings, when essentially they mean nothing. But what do we has beens have to do?lol

I agree and disagree at the same time. Bekfry has shown consistent issues with turnovers, while I dont think Ashland would put up a running clock, I think Ashland would beat Belfry, As for Paintsville being better than Valley, idk about that either. If going off of Valley only getting the one score win over Raceland, Im not sure that if their WR had not went down with an injury, if we would have been within 3 yards of winning that ball game. We had no answer for him and their QB is the best will will see, possibly all season and thats including if we were to make it to the finals, though the kid from Pikeville has garnered my attention as of late. Like you said though, alot of this will shake itself out when Raceland and Paintsville duke it out. As for now, the Rams are focused on not being tied for 2nd in the district and beating Fairview.

Im saying jumping over Pikeville not Paintsville.

Without Young, its highly inlikely that Campbellsville gets out of the first or second round alive.