RVaughn

Hope it’s a 1st round match up. Keep adding fuel. @mercercountyfootball

Yeah hope you guys do great against them. West Carter was our 1st game. I am sure if we played them now or in November it would be a little different. Just a guess but I would say in order for us to beat CAL and Anderson County we might be playing better now than the 1st game of the season. We have more important things to worry about like Desales and CAL in our district. You know, the defending state champs and Desales who have also won a state championship in the last 5 years. You keep talking to us about your big matchup with West Carter though.

Ok I provided facts of the difference in the teams Mercer and Russell have played and you respond with no facts you are just being honest. Something else with your schedule to think about. That average West Carter team has the 3rd highest APR on your schedule. Thanks again for making my point. Good luck the rest of the season and in the playoffs.

Slow down there Bro, save some of that Hatorade for the rest of us. You have beat one team so far with a winning record and that is Fleming. Mercer has beat 4 teams with a winning record. Mercer's opponents so far 25-18 Russell's are 15-15. Mercer's only loss is to a top 5 team in the state. I like your enthusiasm but the numbers just don't back it up.

Mercer had an off game but shows where they are as a team right now to still be able to win big. After the CAL game Mercer had 3 weeks to work on their passing game with two of their easier games and a bye week. They kind of lost one week as they really didn't seem to work on it against Western Hills with 10 pass attempts. I think if Mercer can improve their passing offense and pass defense they can make some noise in the playoffs. If they don't they will run across a team in the playoffs that will end their season. They still have the bye week and another game before Desales to work on the pass offense and defense.

Looking at the total yardage for both teams it was pretty close. Desales had 270 total yards and PT had 238 total yards so only 32 total yards difference between the teams. Did PT get their yardage against Desales 1st or 2nd team? I was expecting to see a bigger discrepancy in total yards. 49 points is a lot for just 270 yards of total offense.

I know the tiebreaker could be complicated but how would it work with a 3 game tie as it pertains to these 3 teams?

This game should be a great environment. They are two teams that are similar in some ways in which they both have strong run games and both have strong defenses. Desales going to PT and winning like that was a huge win. The game with CAL this week will be huge. I think CAL could cause more matchup problems for Desales with their passing game.

Hopefully it will be a game Mercer can work on some things they may need to get better at for future district/playoff games.

I get what you are saying but there is such a huge difference just in the top 10 between who these teams have played and who they have beaten. How many of the teams in the top 10 if they had CAL's schedule would have 4 losses if they had played South Oldham, Ballard, Boyle and Mercer. Granted CAL lost 3 of those 4 games but if CAL has Bell, ETown or even Bardstown's schedule they are probably undefeated and still ranked #1 in 3A. This is a really hard class to rank at this point due to the differences in strength of schedule up to this point.

This one should be a good one. Desales looks to have a great run defense against PT with their high powered run offense. How is PT's run defense?

The rankings are fun for fans to talk about but don't mean a whole lot. Ultimately teams have to go prove it on the field. CAL is still a very good team and will be a tough out in the playoffs. They have multiple college football players with a huge line and a very good QB/receivers. I think it is still hard to tell about some of these teams in the rankings based off their schedules so far. Etown's opponents are 3-15 with maybe their best win being against 2-4 John Hardin. Bell's opponents are 4-18 with maybe their best win being against 1-5 Knox Central. Mercer's opponents are 21-14 with only loss to Boyle and wins over CAL and Anderson who at the time was top 10 in 4A. Is Belfry's win over LCA or Desales win over Butler the best win by any 3A team right now?

I would say there is no question. They beat a top 10 4A team in Anderson, played Boyle as tough as anybody has YTD and beat the defending state champs on their own field. The narrative always seems to be that the team they beat is not as good as everyone thought or overrated. I think the Mercer team loves being the underdog and not getting any respect. It gives them their edge. Mercer didn’t celebrate like they won the super bowl last night. The players fully expected to beat CAL. Which teams in 3A ranked ahead of Mercer have two better wins than CAL and Anderson?

45-42 hooowwwwww boutttttttt theemmmm Titan

35-35 halfway through the 3rd.

Take that back about 50 yard TD PASS from Drakeford to Warren. Drakeford has an interception on defense two TD runs and a TD pass. Yulee with a long TD run also for Mercer. 35-28 Mercer with the lead at half

Tied 28-28 half

He is good on both sides of the ball. Against Mercer they didn't block him at DT all night and he had the biggest impact on the game on the defensive side of the ball. Smith got the pick that game but Kelly caused it by hitting the QB as the ball was released.

This is a tough one to call. CAL has played a better schedule and they have one common opponent in Boyle. Based off the stats Mercer played Boyle better than CAL did. Mercer held Boyle to 131 rushing yards on 32 attempts. CAL gave up 376 yards rushing on 34 attempts. Bartleson played against Mercer and ran 11 times for 22 yards and he didn't play against CAL. Boyle's only touchdown of the 2nd half against Mercer was in the 4th QTR when both teams had JV in. CAL had 217 total yards of offense against Boyle only 12 rushing yards. Mercer had a total of 171 yards total offense against Boyle. You would have to think the Boyle game had to be a wake up call for CAL and they come out more focused against Mercer.

CAL ran for 58 yards against Ballard and while they scored 37 points only two offensive touchdowns. They could have a long night against Boyle's defense. Not having both Babin twins won't help but looks like Zimmerer has been their main running back this year.

It may not have but you want to walk out of there knowing you tried everything and not leave with "what ifs". One thing we do know is lining up and running the ball 33 times for 2.3 yards a carry doesn't work against Boyle or teams of their caliber such as CAL and Desales. The players after halftime didn't quit and held Boyle to one TD. From a play calling standpoint it seems Mercer gave up as they only passed 4 times in the 2nd half while down 35-7. The players are playing their guts out getting a stops only to run the ball 3 times and punt back to Boyle. If that was the game plan from a play calling standpoint to give up they should have subbed the starters to avoid any further injuries.

The good from this game for Mercer is the players came out aggressive, physical and played hard the whole game. I would say the frustrating part for the players and fans is that the game plan did not seem aggressive and was way to conservative. Mercer had 45 total plays and ran it 33 times with 12 pass attempts. Mercer avg. 2.33 yards per carry and 7.83 yards per pass attempt. Mercer's tailbacks ran it 17 times for 23 yards for 1.35 yards per carry. There were zero adjustments from the Boyle game last year to the Boyle game this year much less in game adjustments. Last year Mercer sat back in a cover 3 zone and had no pressure on the QB and got picked apart. Same game plan same result this year. Boyle has a good offense and defense and no matter what Mercer did it may not have worked but the problem is we don't know because we didn't try anything different and continued to be one dimensional both offensively and defensively.

Kaelin Drakeford Mercer County was 2nd team All State Courier Journal and 4A District 5 player of the year as a Junior playing in the same district as Goodin. Had two picks and two fumble recoveries against Anderson Friday Night.

Malachi Yulee from Mercer County is one to keep an eye on. He ran for over 1,000 yards as a junior. He already has a 200+ yard game this year and averaging close to 9 yards per carry.

Corley is a beast and while he has a lot of good offers I am surprised he doesn't have some bigger offers. Some college will get a steal with him as WR at the next level.