Eagle3

With Owensboro Catholic taking 2 from Owensboro High on Tuesday night and Daviess County beating Apollo in a rain delayed makeup game on Tuesday as well, all 4 local teams finished with a surprising 3-3 record on the season. That leads to an old fashioned "Blind Draw" on Friday afternoon to see who will come out as the #1 v #4 & #2 v #3. Daviess and Owensboro were clearly the preseason favorites to battle for District honors. Plus, many predicted the two would battle each other in the 3rd Region finals. Both have balanced teams, top to bottom with good pitching depth. Owensboro Catholic snuck in and beat Owensboro with an 8th grader on the mound to close out the rain delayed game on Sunday then followed up with a gem of a game with a up and coming freshman in Hunter Small who went the distance in a 5-2 victory on Tuesday. Daviess won with a Homerun by Kirk Leibert in the top of the 7th to beat Apollo 3-2. Crazy things can happen with a blind draw, the 2 best could draw each other opening the door for Catholic and Apollo to play each other. Throw records out the door. Anything is possible with these 4 schools.

Great input by all, and yes I agree with the top teams. Don't sleep on on Breck Co. They probably have the most talented pitcher in the 3rd who's only a sophomore in Brock Lucas. Kid can flat throw the baseball with great secondary pitches. Very live arm with a ton of movement. Breck only has 1 returning Senior on this team, but, several sophomores who saw a lot of Varsity time last year as freshman. Baseball is different. Grade wise, if you're a player, you're a player, doesn't matter if you are a freshman or a senior. My take on the 9th District, for what it's worth, County and OHS appear to be the front runners. All four local teams have 1 pitcher who can win 1 game on a given night......remember the year OHS only won 5 REGULAR SEASON GAMES, yet, played in the State Championship game!!!! This season would be that same very scenario for Catholic, who know one is giving a snowballs chance in .... to win 5 games! They have 6 starting seniors returning, but, pitching will be fair. Daviess County will be solid in all phases of the game, pitching, hitting. But, like OHS, coaching will be their biggest crutch. If Dennis would just let the kids play baseball and stop all the headgames he plays with the kids, DC will be fine. Totally agree with the OHS comment earlier, Logan Johnson is playing several kids in wrong positions. Its funny how the "average" baseball fan clearly sees it, but, coaches refuse to acknowledge it. Apollo is going to be a different team without Hopewell in the lineup. Plus, the fact Ryan Mantooth is no longer with the team, he's at KWC. He was a huge part of Apollo's success. Interesting to watch how "Pops" will steady the ship without his man in the dugout. Only time will tell. Bring on the sunshine!!

Meade Co travels over 2 hours to play Muhlenburg Co in a 3rd region game. Plus, going from Eastern time to Central time zones.

With 2 of the stronger 9th District schools running deep in Boys basketball in Catholic and Apollo, all teams have enjoyed some spring weather for practice. Who's the front runners to compete for the 3rd Region title in May?

Sportscenter in Owensboro is a GREAT venue for High School basketball. Seats about 5000 people with every view right on the floor. Fans and players love the atmosphere if the place gets crowded. Plenty places to stay in Owensboro, great local restaurants and only 1 hour and 30 min from Louisville and 2 hours and 15 min from Lexington and under 3 hours from Covington. Fans wont be disappointed.

Covington Catholic will win this game. Against Owensboro Catholic in the 3rd Region finals, AHS shot 73% from the field in the 1st Quarter and 70% for the 1st half!! For the game, Apollo shot 62% overall from the field. With 2:20 sec to go in the game, Catholic was down by only 4 points, but, came away empty on 3 consecutive possessions. Apollo tacked on FT to push the final score to a 10 pt victory. This team can shoot the lights out from the guard play in Shelton and Boyle. Their range is comfortable from 21 to 24 ft out with great accuracy. If Cov Cath lays off and gives this shot uncontested, Apollo will real off 7 or 8 in a row. The point guard is suspect. Plays out of control (Saldonia). Streaky shooter who loves to penetrate and kick out to the wings. James Graham is the big inside, 6'5" who's lefthanded shooter. Nice soft touch from 4 to 8ft away from the rim who's go to shot is the baseline jumper. He's sneaky quick with a good defensive first jump at blocking shots in the lane. Prone to foul trouble though. If Apollo gets in foul trouble, they have NO BENCH play whatsoever. Barker plays 5 guys a full 32 minutes. Perimeter shooting is their strength. If they are cold, it will be a quick game with a long drive back to Owensboro on Friday. If they shoot 63% overall like they did against O Cath, Apollo will keep it close. These guys are sneaky good, eye test tells you it wont be a game. But, if Boyle and Shelton get hot, they both can drop 24 to 26 pts on a dime. Dont let the 16-15 record fool you. You will know the outcome of the game in the first 3 minutes. Apollo will shoot 6 or 8 three pointers right out of the gate. Should be a fun game to watch.

How are the folks in the 2nd Region tourn. loving the great officiating they're getting from the .....AWESOME....3rd Region???? HaHa!! We feel for ya!

How are the folks in the 2nd Region tourn. loving the great officiating they're getting from the .....AWESOME....3rd Region???? HaHa!! We feel for ya!

I watched the Eagles play Friday night in the district finals against Catholic and the we boxed and 1 the Hayden kid from Catholic and he still tagged us for 16 points, plus the big shot to send the game in OT. Seems like Riley did more to get Hayden open looks, which he did. As far as last night, Matthews seemed frustrated the entire game waiting on his players to make something happen for him instead of he (Matthews) trying to create offense for himself. You could witness the confusion from the start. Credit Apollo, they played well. Meade shot terrible. As an observation, it seemed that Meade was starry eyed about playing Apollo. Im not 100% sure, and can use some help on this, but, Meade played Catholic & Daviess this season outside their own district and were boat raced by both teams. I assume they played more of an eastern time zone schedule to coincide with their own travel and chose not to schedule west. It showed. They were completely out manned. Going to be an interesting finish for sure.

Daviess County had NO ANSWER for Luke Hayden who scored 25 points for Catholic. I was at the game, Tim Riley was superb! The man can flat out coach.

I graduated High School in 1980 and Barry Barnes was officiating then!! He officiated my 4 years of playing, which takes him into the late 1970's. Sadly, he cant keep up with today's players. I give him credit, he tries to. But, when you combine him with Kenny Wilson, who's not far off in age from Barnes, it's a complete disaster. Good games are ruined by bad officiating. They physically cant get into position to make correct calls. They often anticipate the call before the play actually plays out. But, when you're not far from 80 years old still trying to run the floor with 17 and 18 year old thoroughbreds, the results are subpar. This only takes away from what could be a great contest. Exactly what results came from OHS vs Apollo in the 9th District opener.

Officiating is TERRIBLE in the 3rd. Barnes, and the Wilson brothers need to pick up their fishing poles and see if the crappie are biting!! Please hang your whistles up guys!!!

I stated earlier emotions on the OHS side got to them. 2 technicals in the 1st half on players running their mouth! I know emotions get high in a game like that, but, you expect more from your upperclassmen. As far as the charges go, Alex Gray should win 9 Oscars for his roll in "FLOPPING". Ive seen it way too many times. The moving screen on Creamer was completely legit, he did it a couple of times in the 1st half and wasn't called. If you noticed Bridges talking to Andy Thomason at the start of the 3rd quarter........the bug was put in his ear. I know that first hand. IMO, the turning point of the game was the bogus "goaltending" call when Douglas drove the lane. That was a clear block by both Boyle and Graham. That puts OHS up by 3 with just under 3:00 to go. Here, Embry and Drake start to "hold" the ball and try to kill clock which was a huge mistake that cost them the game. Hats off to the Eagles for a great game plan. BTW, Lewis never took a shot in the game. If he did, I dont remember it. I just remember seeing Shelton facing him the entire game. The crazy thing about this Eagle team, they could end up in Rupp or lose the first game to Ohio Co. Who's going to show up.

I think ApolloFan98 will agree with me. Look for the upset tonight. Ive seen OHS play on several occasions. Good team. But, they are beatable.

Head to head, player to player, Apollo has more talent. I'm even going with the coaching staff. Barker is a stronger coach making game time decisions. Front court of Angel and Nathan Boyle, plus throw in Shelton, that's a recipe for disaster. Boyle is a stronger more consistent shooter than Lewis, can do more off the dribble. Shelton is every bit the player of Gardner, a better long ball shooter, IMO. If Shelton gets hot, look out. You have a stronger coaching staff in Barker and Bridges over Drake and Embry. More basketball knowledge and in game adjustments, easily. OHS tends to get a little emotional at times on the sidelines leaving the players to make the adjustments themselves. This will be a huge bonus and plus for the Eagles. As I see this, Apollo puts it all together on the Red Devils home floor and leaves with a 6 point victory.

You are correct. They would be better off not having a ranking system all together. But, as long as parents continue to pay $185 a pop for a Saturday showcase at 90 kids a head, PBR will have these every weekend. This is a nice ROI for them. Still, the kids who get spotted by the bigger summer league teams are the ones seriously getting looked at by higher DI schools. They are going to the Atlanta's, and Jupiters of the world to find their players, yet, PBR and PG are just venues to get them started. The parents with the deepest pockets are getting the above average players on schools radars.

Whether its a flawed system or not, PBR & Perfect Game are the only two venues that these High School kids have in order to be seen by college coaches. Yes, its pay for play. I've seen the the number of schools at Grand Park in Indy lined with college coaches from coast to coast. If someone's son is fortunate enough to be selected to a Team Kentucky or whoever, they will be seen. These coaches are not coming to your local high school to watch kids play. These kids can build a resume for themselves with rankings, (even if they aren't the 5th or 6th best person on their local high school team), and still be seen. I've seen firsthand kids get offers to D2 and smaller D1 schools just through the PBR process. While the same high school team that had the so called 2nd or 3rd best player not get solid offers.

Flip a coin in the 9th District this year. All 4 are very capable of winning the 3rd region championship IMO. With the district runner up going in opposite brackets, there could likely be a 9th district showdown to win it all. Injuries are going to be a factor and a lot of luck as well. Every team has key people injured or playing with injuries. Catholic's Luke Hayden has been plagued with chronic patella tendonitis in both knees all season according to Catholic insiders. He's only been a fraction of himself all season playing in very limited minutes all season. The injury to Jeron Tinsley at OHS couldn't have come at a worse time. Word inside Owensboro's camp is that he will be available at District tourney play. I see the teams that can find a little magic in the bottle and get some of these injuries healed up to a degree, we should be in for some exciting basketball to close out the season.

OHS going to be a tough out in tourn. play. Hosting the 9th at home is huge.

Just an observation: the Catholic / Apollo game last Friday. How was Apollo at a disadvantage in practice time due to the weather?? Catholic was out of school the exact amount of days, as was, County and OHS...... just sayin'....

Luke Hayden @ Owensboro Catholic 1,500+ (active)

Chambers was indefinitely suspended (kicked off) by the schools principal after actions in the home game against Catholic. He had the chance to return, but, was spotted by school officials in attendance at the Apollo/OHS game, with Chambers sitting in OHS student section cheering against his own team. Straw that broke the camel's back. This was given to me by a school official who wishes to remain anonymous. He won't be back.

I wish the kid nothing but success. Good Luck at Santa Fe!

Sorry Dad ... Gillim. Without a doubt, Blain will have success in the 3rd region next spring. Daviess County looks to be the only team to give the Eagles a serious threat. But, DC has a nice lefty in their group in the Whiteker kid who will give Blain a good outing if they meet. Im still sticking to my guns. NICE high school pitcher who has some skills. He doesn't have the body or work ethic to sustain a 90+ fastball over 5 to 7 innings of work, just stating the facts. Ive seen it too many times. His 2 seam FB, 4 seam work great. Can spot any pitch, seen it. Demands the inner third of the plate in 1st pitch situations as well as 1-2 counts and 0-2 counts. Has a hammer for a curve ball. Starts it on the outer half getting outer third red zone strikes (many called for 3rd strikes) because high school kids can't recognize the spin ratio from a lefty. Looks like its going to stay out, ball hits on outer third of plate for strike 3. Most high school umpires aren't even good enough to recognize this pitch. I think his best pitch is the traditional over the top curve ball or "drop ball" that is thrown in 2-2 counts that lands just in front of home plate. Lots of high school kids chase this pitch, but usually end up on 1st because the catcher cant handle or block with the counterspin that sends the ball back to the 1st base side when it hits the dirt. Gillim also needs to work on his change up which he needs to add to his arsenal at the next level......Just stating the BASEBALL FACTS here Dad. Zero DISRESPECT to Blain. Like I said, seen him pitch numerous times, from his youth to High School. Has a bright future if he changes his work ethic and works on the mental part of the game. I hope he finds success after TJ, several do but several dont.

Solid list on top 10. I have to agree. Questionable on why Dylan Decker NOT even mentioned as HM???? Ok, I'm an Eagle. Actually, wear both Eagle jerseys. So, I'm a little biased here. I've seen all these kids play for many years. Dylan is a flat out stud and will handle the full load for the Eagles this year. He has a tall task with losing his inside help to graduation last year. Schools will key on him harder. As far as the Hayden kid at Catholic, I DONT KNOW what games you saw this kid play, but, to say he fell off, you need your head examined. He killed us whenever we went against him , plus, every school Catholic plays knows that's the one guy they have to stop in order to have a chance. I think he's the only kid to make All Region player as a Sophomore and a Junior. Pretty tall task in my book. Wish he was on our team. Alex Gray could have easily been your #1 returning player in the 3rd instead of Boswell (IMO). Harder worker, more consistent and he plays better defense. If DC can get Boswell to "buy in" on the defensive end he "shares" the ball more to Owens and Coomes, DC will be a tough out.