Nathaniel Bryan

Although there are a couple of districts with ranked teams and a couple of districts with multiple 2-0 teams, Class 1A District 8 is the only district that didn't take a loss in the first two weeks. Pikeville is 2-0. Hazard is 1-0. Phelps is 1-0. (3 team district)

Also his sixth school overall in six years. 2018-19: Marshall County High 2017-18: Adair County High 2016-17: Bowling Green Middle 2015-16: Tennessee Middle 2014-15: Maryland Middle (first year of middle school) 2013-14: Maryland Elementary (last year of elementary school)

Manual, which has a D-I running back in Aidan Robbins, had a nice performance in Week 2 but was decimated in Week 1 by Central. I've seen two top-flight defenses back-to-back in Central and Male. Hard to pick for me.

Neither Ballard nor Male has its top running back. Ballard's Warner got hurt against Highlands. Torn left ACL & MCL & Calf. Said it will be a year before returning to any sports. Warner has an offer from Kentucky. Male's Vestal got hurt in second quarter. Apparent right ACL. Good thing that Male has a running QB in Garrett Dennis (who had 150+ rushing yards against Ballard last year) and a D-I receiver in Izayah Cummings. Geremiah Edison also solid receiver, while WR Michael Warner Jr. is a state track medalist. Male's defense swarms. Ballard has seven first-half possessions. Six were three-and-outs. Seventh was just one play (last play of first half). Ballard had zero first downs in first half and only one play went for more than five yards. Ballard was supposed to have the Preseason Metro Quarterback of the Year and he had NEGATIVE yardage in the first half with a sub-50 percent completion percentage (with a D-I received of his own at his disposal).

Trying not to be a hater, but I doubt I'm the only one who thinks last year's LCA team was/is much better than the 2018 version. Not only did LCA graduate a bunch of skill guys, but at least three would be starters jumped ship to Frederick Douglass. That's awfully hard to replace.

Here is the class by class ranking and overall down to No. 82 for those who want to go deeper. I also suspect if Trinity beats Moeller that the Rocks will jump to No. 1.

@MaleBulldogs leads @ballard_Sports , 21-0 Male has turned it over twice, but has forced 6 three and outs Male: 30 plays, 238 yards Ballard: 19 plays, 1 total yard, 0 first downs Male's Henry Vestal hurt his leg on a 2nd quarter carry and has not returned

Mickey Pearson announced today that he will play for national prep power Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia. Hargrave also produced two notable names to Louisville fans -- Terry Rozier and Montrezl Harrell.

Louisville commit ANTHONY ADKINS ran for three of LaRue County's first four TDs last night on runs of 42, 63 and 70 yards. With 6:54 left in the FIRST half, Adkins already had 208 rushing yards.

F-S senior Carlos McKinney had 224 yards and three touchdowns on 22 carries. F-S senior Tre Bass had 210 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries. F-S had 493 yards of offense without completing a pass. F-S led by 3 scores at halftime. "Elizabethtown started the third quarter with a 13-play, 81-yard drive that cut the deficit to 27-13, but never got closer." And all of this was with F-S turning it over 3 times (INT, 2 fumbles) to E'town's 1 (INT). WEB: etown-franksimpson WEB: etown-franksimpson | Sports | thenewsenterprise.com

According to the KHSAA scoreboard, no player named Jennings had a single carry in 2017 for Ohio County.

Rocco Addesa is the new coach according to the KHSAA school directory. Believe he was/is a football assistant.

Elizabethtown is YOUNG folks. Not much back stat wise on either side of the ball. I like Coach Brown and have a respect for him, but this is a rebuilding/bridge year. Plus, the Panthers have CAL and Franklin-Simpson in their first three games along with 6A North Hardin. The Panthers would do well to start 1-2, but 0-3 wouldn't shock me. I'd be absolutely floored if they open 2-1 or 3-0, though. Feed me some crow if that happens.

I don't think moving girls soccer to spring has anything to do with favoring other fall sports. Because moving GSOC to spring would hurt lacrosse or softball or tennis or track teams which also rely on girls who play soccer. This lack of officials situation is real. Several games were canceled last year because of no available. Others were mischeduled and had to be postponed. Still others were used to getting seasoned and respected refs were suddenly getting newbies who weren't prepared for an intense game. I know several refs who prefer USSF and club compared to KHSAA because of the stuff that you don't have to deal with. Even worse, many games had to go with two-man crews instead of three because of the shortage. Or teams were forced to play on Fridays or Saturday mornings just so they could have somebody to ref them. Paying them more isn't going to go over well when budgets are getting slashed. Getting rid of half the games gets rid of part of the problem, like it or not. Telling the refs to toughen up is NOT a viable solution.

I was the one that posted the tweet that started this whole thing, but I also said all of this was early and possible and in no way official. Some people read right over those words. Here's the thing: I had a referee from the 4th Region, a player from the 5th and a coach from the 6th all tell me the same thing ... BEFORE I tweeted it out. This very discussion was brought up at the 4th Region/SKY referee assignments meeting. There was also a survey last school year about it. I'm trying to get a copy of it to get the exact wording. The KHSAA might not be actively pursuing it, but that doesn't mean ADs, officials or coaches' associations aren't either. Three different people from separate sides of the state all heard the same thing and there is absolutely positively nothing to it? I'm not sure what it is, but SOMETHING is there. Some guy also wanted to go after me for not doing my due diligence. One, we know the KHSAA is not gonna offer up comments any time anybody wants one (see transfers). Second, it was a tweet discussing scuttlebutt around this, not a bylined article.

2018 7V7 & PASSING TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE COMPILED BY @NATEINSPORTS THURSDAY, JULY 12TH Louisville Western FRIDAY, JULY 13TH McCracken County Small School SATURDAY, JULY 14TH Elizabethtown McCracken County Big School (32 Teams) Woodford County TUESDAY, JULY 17TH Harrison County (also Lineman Challenge) WEDNESDAY, JULY 18TH Louisville-area site TBA/TBD THURSDAY, JULY 19TH South Laurel's third annual BSN Air Assault on the Bluegrass FRIDAY, JULY 20TH Western Hills Tourney 1 FRIDAY-SATURDAY, JULY 20TH-21ST Russell Independent SATURDAY, JULY 21ST Central Hardin Jeffersontown Kentucky Christian University Rowan County Washington County WEDNESDAY, JULY 25TH Louisville-area site TBA/TBD THURSDAY, JULY 26TH Bell County FRIDAY, JULY 27TH Western Hills Tourney 2

Pretty sure voting was done before The Decision III ever took place.

Maybe next year, but can't really do anything about this year's schedule as they are two-year home-and-homes. Beat: 5-A South Oldham (10-2) 6-A Eastern (5-6) 6-A Central Hardin (10-4) 3-A Elizabethtown (12-2) 6-A Meade County (5-6) 2-A DeSales (12-1) 2-A Shawnee (0-10) *Forced District Game 2-A Washington County (7-5) *Forced District Game 5-A Bullitt East (4-7) 2-A Carroll County (4-7) *Playoffs 2-A Walton-Verona (9-3) *Playoffs Lost: 2-A Newport Central Catholic (6-6) 2-A DeSales (12-1) *Forced District Game 2-A Mayfield (13-2) *Playoffs CAL was 6-0 last year against teams from larger classes and three of those won at least 10 games -- and all three were ousted by the eventual state champs.

Getting back to the current class, in case you missed it, Michael Mayer of Covington Catholic just committed to Notre Dame today.

Carr's listed on Ballard's roster on both HUDL and MaxPreps, so I'm fairly confident it's a done deal. One of the top-five transfers so far this year. Walker Parks (Notre Dame just offered) going from Lexington Christian to Frederick Douglass and Freddy Douglass also getting a D-I commit at quarterback (Cam Sizemore) were two others. Ballard has individual talent galore, but not sure of their team cohesion. Ballard lost to a Manual team that fell apart and Ballard got blanked by Central Hardin (went to OT with a Meade County team which lost 5-of-6 to end the season).

Here is Michael Mayer's twitter announcement: Twitter

My family's military history isn't as checkered as other's. My maternal grandfather (my mom's father) was a driver for General Patton, although I'm sure Patton had more than one driver. My oldest paternal cousin (son of my dad's sister) works at the Pentagon. Before that, he was in Hawaii, Japan and Germany (not in that order). And technically NOT related, the brother of my godmother (I'm Catholic and my godmother is my mom's best friend) is a sniper. He's been in Pakistan, Iraq and Kuwait among others. My mom's great grandmother was Native American. I've been told I have ties to Pocahontas' tribe, but never checked it how close or the truth of it.

The Clark of Lewis & Clark was William, NOT George Rogers. William and George Rogers were brothers, though. George Rogers had plenty of siblings, but no children. Still, being a descendant of William Clark of Lewis & Clark would be a heck of a family tree.

2017-18 AP KENTUCKY ALL-STATE BASKETBALL TEAM GIRLS COACH OF THE YEAR Chris Souder, Mercer County GIRLS PLAYER OF THE YEAR Seygan Robins, Mercer County, G GIRLS FIRST TEAM Mykasa Robinson, Ashland Blazer, G Blair Green, Harlan County, G Seygan Robins, Mercer County, G Macey Turley, Murray, G Macie Gibson, Owsley County, F GIRLS SECOND TEAM Taylor Clos, Campbell County, G Lexi Held, Cooper, G Emma King, Lincoln County, G Grace Berger, Louisville Sacred Heart, G Anna Clephane, Scott, G GIRLS HONORABLE MENTION Brittney Cupp, Bell County, C Keely Morrow, Bowling Green, G Savannah Wheeler, Boyd County, G Mackenzie Schwarber, Campbell County, F Trinitee Jackson, Christian County, C Whitney Hay, Elizabethtown, G Kennedy Igo, George Rogers Clark, G Danielle Waggoner, Graves County, G Rayven Peeples, John Hardin, C Mashayla Cecil, Lexington Paul Dunbar, G Molly Lockhart, Louisville Butler, C Ciaja Harbison, Louisville Male, G Kendall Wingler, Meade County, G Lexy Lake, Mercer County, G Emmy Souder, Mercer County, C Jillian Enix, Pineville, F Madison Darnell, Russell, F Amaya Lasley, South Warren, G Abbey Estes, Whitley County, G Delaney Enlow, Woodford County, F