JacobCarey5530

SHELBY COUNTY ROCKETS

Aug 19, 16 Garrard County away 7:30 PM LPFAA Hall of Fame Bowl Farmers National Bank

Aug 26, 16 Grayson County away 7:30 PM

Sep 2, 16 Oldham County home 7:30 PM

Sep 9, 16 North Bullitt home 7:30 PM

Sep 16, 16 Bullitt East away 7:30 PM

Sep 23, 16 Franklin County home 7:30 PM

Oct 7, 16 North Oldham home 7:30 PM

Oct 14, 16 Spencer County away 7:30 PM

Oct 21, 16 Collins away 7:30 PM

Oct 28, 16 South Oldham

For Shelby County, several come to mind..

2007 6A Regional Finals vs. Boone County.. only lost by 10 and had been looking forward to dethroning Trinity the next week. This was the year Alex Matthews and Jordan Burk broke several records for passing and recieving, respectively.

2009 6A Regional Semis vs Trinity.. this was the last game Shelby Co. played as the only high school in Shelbyville, with a bulk of this team's talented underclassmen bolting to Collins the next season.

2012 5A Regional Semis vs J-Town... had finally recovered and posted its first winning season since 2009, coming within 1 point of upsetting state runner-up Collins (on the road, mind you) and had been seen as a potential state finals threat if they could get past John Hardin and Bowling Green.

2015 State Semis vs South Warren... dream season, defeated Collins for first time in program history (twice, one being a shutout and the other being in the playoffs) only to have State title hopes crushed by the Spartans. Achived #2 State 4A ranking, briefly over Johnson Central, so legitimate title hopes were there.

John Hardin will be a very.. intriguing team, to say the least. After moving down to 4A and finally bypassing the Bowling Green roadblock, they should be contenders just as they were in 5A. Question is, have they ran into a different roadblock a few miles away in South Warren?

1. Anderson

2. South Oldham

3. Simon Kenton/Oldham

4. Shelby County/North Oldham

Lot of parity, and all teams being good teams, not great, really down region, however with the youth in the region has a chance to be really good the following year

Shelby's freshmen team won the 30th District tourney this year. Spencer and Collins also showed some good flashes with their frosh. Outside the 30th, Walton-Verona has some good underclassmen as well.

U.S. Army Bell Bowl

Location: Robert Doyle Stadium, Shelby County High School

Sponsors: U.S. Army National Guard and Shelby County Historical Society

Game 1: Shelby County vs. Jeffersontown

Game 2: Collins vs. Henry County

Game 3: John Hardin vs Franklin County

Rebuilding year for Collins (losing top two scorers) and Shelby County (losing arguably second-best player in region with Manica graduating as well as Ewing and Hatter). Young studs look to shine in Shelbyville. Spencer County might make it back to regionals this year as well.

If viewed purely from a high school football standpoint, noting their relatively weak regular season non-district schedule, I'd say a B is fair, considering their monster district and brutal later round playoff opponents they had to face including John Hardin and South Warren.

If we take into account the adversity they had to overcome, going from being predicted to finish last in a stacked district to being State Semifinalists, beating Collins for the first time (twice), and offering a beautiful dual threat style of play, I'd say they are very worthy of a B+.

Only reason Trinity would play either of them is if they had no choice because of district play. Honestly the big programs in Cincinnati and Nashville are closer to Trinity than either Mayfield or Belfry anyway. The only small schools that are close to Trinity that might be worth the trouble are DeSales, Central, and maybe (big maybe here) CAL. CAL drops a bit because they have had limited playoff success.

That is true, but what about the public schools and/or relatively new powers (South Warren and Fern Creek, for example) that don't have the funds or mutual benifits to schedule out-of-state teams? I understand they aren't 6A, but still big schools to make a point.

I'd give it a shot. If I'm Trinity, I'd play Mayfield or Belfry 12 times before I'd even consider playing a Seneca or a Doss.

To quote Kyle from South Park, "Either it's all good, or none of it is."

As a Shelby County fan, I am very bitter against this team, but objectively point out just how difficult it is to go 15-0. Also, while they didn't play the gauntlet schedule that the Highland's and Trinity's of the world love to play against national powerhouses, they did play against some pretty good KY teams. Hopkinsville, Franklin-Simpson, Shelby County and Johnson Central were all top 7-ish in 4A this year, including 2 of the top 3, and South completely dismantled them all. Still, would've loved to see them play Bowling Green this year. Congrats to Coach Smith and the Spartans on their first state title.

In regards to Coach Marksberry at Simon Kenton, he inherited a program back in about 2000 that had not had a winning season in who knows how long, at least 25 years, and turned them into a strong (Northern Kentucky) competitive team that wins 9-12 games every season. 2 regional titles but haven't gotten over the hump yet for a state title. He also has 5-8 players every year that play at the next level at some level and his players are good kids and stay out of trouble. Sounds like accomplishments to me especially from where the program was before he got there.

Coach Shipley at Shelby County has a very similar resume. Took over legendary coach Tom Becherer in 2000 and has had a roller coaster in terms of winning (from as bad as 1-10 to as good as 12-2 state semis) Only has 1 region title, but has been to the regional title game twice, and really helped the team stay focused and rebuild after Collins opened with immediate success. I certainly hope that after next year he won't fit the "No state rings" criteria anymore.

I believe Louisville and Xavier, although I could be mistaken.

Is Franklin County 5A? If so, how do you like their chances in their district this year?

Franklin County is in 4A, with arguably the most tough district in the class with Collins, Shelby, Spencer and North Oldham. I can see the district being an arms race between Shelby, Collins and Spencer. However, to be fair, at this time last year Shelby was picked last and they only ended up winning district and region.. so anything can happen.

How?

If a young man wants to play football but also play a spring sport (I.E. Track or Baseball), he misses out on the spring football season which may hurt his potential playing time and skill development in the fall. The argument has been made before that "voluntary" practices/games aren't truly voluntary for serious athletes, but the argument certainly could also be made that it simply allows non-stars to shine in a less competitive setting. As for 8th Graders playing up, they lose the oppurtunity to practice/play during spring.. unless the KHSAA changes eligibility rules, but I don't see that happening.

Certainly shouldn't, hurts multi sport athletes and rising freshmen.

Spencer returns the most starters, Franklin returns most of their lineman but lose their QB and recievers, Shelby and Collins suffer major losses on their lines. I believe Shelby lost more when you factor in Manica and Perry. Don't really know about North they seem to be a program in transition. Who knows how this district will shake out, Shelby was picked last in the preseason last year. As stated it is a tough district no easy games.

I see this district as being a toss-up between Shelby and Collins. Collins did lose lot on their line, but maintain most skill players, who should mature as they enter their junior and senior seasons. Shelby loses a lot as well, but IMHO was a good team because of how well coached they were and should be just fine, JV team did pretty well last season.

Surprised at how low Wayne County is on these lists, but looks pretty unanimous across the board.

Who are the 10 early favorites in 4A this year? Will South Warren easily repeat? Or will they be upset this year?

I'm wondering how the new high school in Georgetown opening in 2017 might affect the Cardinals' desire to win, knowing it will be this squads last year together.

Anxious to see the rising sophomores and juniors from an underclass-heavy 2015 team.

When Darryl Hicks transferred from Shelby County to North Oldham-after playing varsity at SC as an 8th Grader- there was no problem. When he moved from North Oldham back to Shelby County-in the middle of the school year- there was no problem, and he played his Freshman season for the Rockets. But when he transferred from Martha Layne Collins (the then-brand-new school in Shelbyville that he would have attended) to Louisville Trinity- he had to sit out a year. Hmmm. Wouldn't the same rule apply to Sloan? Or has it expired since then? Someone get Horatio Caine on this case!

Also, genuinely shocked that Scott County is only 11th.

I'd love to see what Shelby County's weighted ranking would be if one were to account for district and regional titles by Shelbyville, Waddy and Bagdad, since their attendance zones would (for the most part) still be in the Shelby Co. district even after Collins High School was built.

Unless Wayne County, Shelby County or Johnson Central have any NFL-bound freshman or National Coach of the Year contenders, I seriously doubt South Warren will have any problem repeating in 4A.

The fact that CovCath makes number 35 after having the majority of their success in the past 4 years really does make me wonder where South Oldham might end up, if at all.