Spartandad

Final South 51 - CC 20 Christian County's QB was surprisingly good. South's Defense got caught off guard early. CC is a better team than what their record shows.

51 - 13 South with 6:54 left in 3rd. Running clock

South 44 - Christian 13 9:42 left in 3rd

South 37 - Christian County 13 Halftime

2 kickoff returns for TDs for South so far. South's defense looks horrible. 23-13 with South in the lead. 10 min left in 2nd quarter.

Well, the stats (against BG and other similar opponents) say that South is as good or better than Boyle. So everything doesn't point to Boyle being the better team. Boyle might actually be better in reality. Either way, the two teams aren't that far apart. Unfortunately, the two teams are never going to meet. So we will never know who is better. Again, I want to see how Frederick Douglas does against Boyle. That is going to be a big indicator of whether South has a chance against them.

You're correct, South has not faced a power offense, besides Hendersonville. However, I can only compare stats that are out there with common teams. The closest comparison that can be made is how well South did against Central vs other KY teams. South's defense was comparable to Trinity and Dupont Manual's against Central's offense. South held Gibson Southern to 5 rushing yards. They average around 170 per game. They also held them to 92 pass yards, when they average about 300. Granted, they are a smaller school from Indiana. North Hardin played against South and Boyle county. South's defense allowed -6 yds rushing and 92 pass yards against North Hardin. Boyle allowed 18 and 59. North Hardin also played Dupont Manual, who allowed 35 yds rushing and 125 passing. If you just look at stats from similar games, this says that South's defense should be comparable to Trinity, Boyle's and Dupont Manual's. Am I saying these team's defenses are the best in the state? Not necessarily, but I would argue that those 3 teams probably have defenses that are in the top 10.

I completely agree that the outcome of the FD vs Boyle County game will be a big indicator of how good FD actually is. I'm watching that game closely. If FD blows out Boyle, then South probably has little chance of beating them. I'm not sure how you can say that Boyle county is better than SW though. The stats don't say that at all. Bowling Green played both teams. Although they scored on South, South's defense did a better job than Boyle County. South only allowed 10 Rushing yards and 48 Passing yards. Boyle gave up 63 and 96, respectively. South's offense put up more points against BG than Boyle as well. If anything, South and Boyle might be about equal. I'm saying that because I don't know how good Boyle's offense actually is. I have no idea if South can beat FD. If they meet, I do know that FD will have not faced a defense as good as South's this year. And South will have not faced a defense as good as FD's.

People are saying South can win because of their defense. I will say with confidence that South's defense is the best in the state against the run and that they most likely have more tackles for loss than any other team. They put the offense in a position where it's easy for them to succeed. It wouldn't be unusual for South to have a game where they scored 35 points and had under 250 yards of total offense. In fact, if you look at South's stats for the year, you wouldn't think they have any elite players on offense. They spread the ball around in the air and on the ground and never have to go many yards to score. Their QB, Veltcamp is unquestionably one of the top players in the state. Unfortunately, South's offense has never really faced an elite defense. They've done ok against good defenses. However, the O-line is just good, not great. A strong pass rush could easily wreak havoc. On defense, their biggest weakness is pass coverage. Unfortunately, South has been without their best player most of the year on that side of the ball. Nobody has been successful passing though, simply because South's pass rush typically doesn't give the QB time to throw. I think FD definitely has more individuals that are more talented. They are probably bigger and faster than South. South probably has the better coaching staff and more above average players. This would be a very close game.

I'll agree that Greenwood has had a very easy schedule this year. It's about to get a lot tougher though, with Bowling Green and South coming up. Their one loss so far was to Glasgow, a 3A team. Glasgow has always been pretty tough and underrated. They're currently ranked higher than BG in the state by maxpreps, with their only loss to the undefeated Woodford county. Honestly, I believe that Glasgow would be able to beat Bowling Green this year. So, I wouldn't just look at that loss and discount Greenwood's chances. Nevertheless, I think that Bowling Green will come out on top for a few reasons. First, I think BG's defense will stifle Greenwood's running attack. I also don't think that Greenwood's defense will be able to apply enough pressure on BG. I think the main factor that is going to play to BG's favor is psychological though. Greenwood is going to go into the game with the sense that BG is better than them, regardless of whether that is reality or not. There is just so much history of BG destroying Greenwood that they will not be able to get over it psychologically. Final score: BG 21 - GW 14

Based upon past performance of both teams, I would expect South to have a running clock by the middle of the 2nd quarter. I think South puts the JV in the entire 2nd half and McCracken gets a score. McCracken will probably have less than 10 yards rushing against the starters, but may get more in the 2nd half. South typically does not try to intentionally run up the score. So, I would look for a final score around 41-7. I have underestimated a few teams and overestimated others this year. It's hard to predict scores unless both teams have played similar opponents. I know South will win, the question is by how much.

Being a Spartans fan, I found this game to be very surprising. I expected a lot more out of Bowling Green's defense. Central Lousiville offered a significantly harder challenge to South. Not sure what that says about how good Bowling Green really is this year, but Central definitely seamed to be a better team. I honestly thought this would be a much closer, lower scoring game. I also wasn't expecting South's offense to shine as brightly as it did. Veltacmp was excellent. South's defense is phenomenal. I honestly believe them to be the best in the state. There are so many amazing kids on that side of the ball. And South has been without their best player for 4 games. Nobody seems to be able to run on them at all. BG and SW will meet again. South cannot take BG for granted. I remember the first time the two teams played. BG embarrassed South in the regular season, only to be upset by them in the Playoffs. The same thing could happen this year. As far as South being the dominate team in Warren county going forward, I wouldn't count on it completely. South is loaded with senior talent and there aren't that many stars, besides Conyers that will be around next year. They will lose a lot.. Anything can happen though. The coaching and atmosphere at South is what really makes them contenders each year.

I pick South to win this one, but I don't think it will be a blowout. Even though South has done well this season, their offense is not as explosive as you would think. I'm going to throw out some stats. Through the first 5 games, South's offense has rushed for 527 yards and passed for 783. This averages just 105 yards rushing and 156 yards passing per game. Yet, they have outscored their opponents 156-53. How can this be? One answer, the defense. South's defense has put the offense in position to score multiple times, every game. As a result, the offense will often find themselves starting inside the opponent's 40 yard line. The D has also provided some points as well. Here is what South's Defense has allowed so far this year: North Hardin Rush: -6 Pass: 92 Hendersonville Rush: 257 Pass: 87 Gibson Southern Rush: 5 Pass: 135 Eastern Louisville Rush: 38 Pass: 11 Central Louisville Rush: 9 Pass: 116 The average so far is 60.6 yards rushing and 88 yards passing a game. This is with the JV playing around 4 quarters so far and South missing multiple top defensive players over multiple games. That's pretty good, but if you exclude Hendersonville, which was an anomaly, the rush yards per game allowed goes down to 11.5. Eastern and Central Louisville have 2 of the top rushers in the state. The bottom line is that no team in Kentucky can run on South and haven't been able to for years. The defense is built to stop the run and it shows. They've also had 51 tackles for loss in 5 games. Jackson, Burton, Snell and Hudson wreak havoc at the line and in the backfield. South should have 4+ sacks and 8+ tackles for loss against Bowling Green. I don't think BG's offense can overcome that. This is going to be a defensive battle. I think you will see the stars of the game on that side of the ball. South will have a big night there, but I also think that Jeremiah Lightfoot will be a major factor. Bowling Green's pass rush is going to disrupt Veltcamp's passing game quite a bit. Nevertheless, he will connect with Willingham and Bell for a few incredible passes. I am looking for a final score around 20-10.

South did not look nearly as good as expected on offense. The Spartans' O-line struggled against heavy pressure, just as they did with Hendersonville. This will be their biggest weakness going forward. Realistically, the only competition that they will have the remainder of the regular season will be BG. I think that is going to be a true defensive battle. Lightfoot will wreak havoc. Central was definitely a tough opponent. Their defense is truly stout. Fortunately for South, the Spartans' defense continues to perform exceptionally, making it much easier for the offense.

Watching Veltcamp the last 2 games, I don't think that there is any way that South doesn't have a running clock against Central before halftime. He has been able to pass at will and his receivers are making incredible plays. He's much better than advertised, when he has the time to pass. The only caveat is if somehow Central has some incredible pass rush. Hendersonville dominated South's offensive line and put enough pressure on Veltcamp that he couldn't do anything in the 2nd half of that game. South's defense is top notch, for sure. Gibson Southern, who was picked by everyone to beat South, couldn't do anything until the JV went in and South was without their top tackler for that entire game, Burton. Eastern had arguably one of the top rushers in the state. They couldn't move the ball at all against South's starters. Central had 30 passing yards and 139 rushing yards against Fern Creek. There is no possibility that they will be that successful against South's starters. Central's defense has had 8 total Tackles for Loss so far this season. South has had 41. There shouldn't be that much pressure on Veltcamp, which will translate into a big win for South. My guess is that the final score is going to be somewhere around 44-7. Smith will put in the 2nd string guys as soon as we see a running clock.

Unfortunately, I think this game showed that South might not be as good as advertised. They're definitely no where close to where they were in 2018 when they shut out one of TN's top teams (Ravenwood) and ran the board on everyone else. The offensive line allowed way too much pressure on Veltcamp. Will they be good enough to advance through KY 5A playoffs? Maybe. I really hope that Hendersonville is much better than what everyone had previously thought. South was unsuccessful in stopping the run, which has always been a hallmark for the Spartan's defense. They gave up several big runs up the middle. The offense just couldn't perform to the level that they should have either. This is going to be an interesting season. South has its toughest schedule in memory and it doesn't look like its historical rival (Bowling Green) will be its biggest challenge, based on the Purples performance so far. South is set to play Bowling Green, McCracken and Paducah Tilghman this year. I was expecting all those games to be tough. The question that I have is how can weekly performances by teams vary so much this year? Paducah Tilghman beat McCracken pretty easily in week 1. Bowling Green just nudged out a victory against McCracken last week. But, Tilghman lost to Graves County in week 2 and Graves County lost to Mayfield in week 1, a 2A school. And they aren't doing that great this year either. Most everyone expected South to dominate Hendersonville. Nobody expected Highlands to beat BG. I feel like there is a tremendous amount of uncertainty in how good teams really are. There will be some big surprises across the state.

North Hardin's O-line was able to control the line of scrimmage much better than expected. Their size was a major factor for South's D-line, preventing some of the big play makers from getting into the backfield. My guess is that North Hardin's front 5 out weighed South by about 50-70 lbs on average, keeping Jackson, Hardesty and Hudson occupied most of the game. This translated into outstanding performances from Burton and Snell at LB though. Although South won very convincingly, I do think North might be a little better than what some people think. They were effective with screen passes and should be able to run the ball on most defenses fairly easily simply due to their O-line size. North put a little more pressure on Veltcamp than was expected as well. I think North should have a winning season. They definitely have the potential to make into the 2nd or 3rd round of the playoffs. One thing that North is going to have to focus on is their special teams. They couldn't punt well at all. They didn't even react to an onside kick which South's kicker was able to recover. South is going to be a powerhouse, but there is definitely room for improvement.

South has had an opportunity to play two scrimmages so far, Allen county and Central Hardin. They dominated in both, but had some difficulties during the first few minutes. It took them some time to shake the rust off. Going into a high profile game like this without taking on another opponent yet this year will make it hard for North Hardin. Central Hardin outsized South at the line of scrimmage on both sides. South has a lot of talent, but they are generally undersized, as they have been every year. At the 2018 state championship, Covington Catholic was noticeably larger than South, but it didn't make that much of a difference then. There are going to be 2 major challenges for South. Will their O-line be able to handle North's D-line? If they can't block for Veltcamp and he has to scramble the entire game, then it will be a mess. If the O-line can keep the pressure off Veltcamp, then South's cadre of extremely talented receivers will have a field day and South will pull off the victory. How will South's dominating D-line, particularly Jake Jackson, match up against the 6'7" 345 Tre Alexander? There's 7 inches and 100 pounds difference between the two players. If Jackson gets neutralized, it's a different game. This is a matchup to watch. If South can't stop the run, then there's going to be problems. I think this could be a much closer game than some expect, but South should win. Regardless, I think it will be a very good indication of how the season is going to go for both teams.

Good Analysis. Agreed that this is the best team South has had since the championship year and better than any upcoming class. Probably around a third of the seniors started as sophomores, so there is a tremendous amount of talent and experience. I'll go out on a limb and say the defense will be as good as 2018's. Burton and Jackson are probably the most under-rated players in the state. Burton is insanely quick and has a nose for the ball, while Jackson will have to be double teamed every play, by every team. There are a handful of other tremendously talented kids on defense as well, which should make South's D a headache for most teams. Veltcamp has the skills, but his success depends on the O-line. That is the big question mark for South. If they underperform, BG's defense will wreak havoc.

This isn't any different than how ticket purchases have worked all season long. The home team gets first dibs on a greater percentage of tickets. When South played at BG, tickets were limited to 2 per player, until sales were opened to the public. Tickets for this game went on sale to the public today and are still available. It has not sold out. Word is that BG has purchased just as many tickets as South fans.

It is extremely hard to truly evaluate any team based upon this season's limited play. South has played only 6 total games. The only competition that they've had all year long was against Bowling Green. BG has played a much tougher schedule than South for sure. I think the real advantage that this has is that BG's starters have been exposed to a full 4 quarters of play much more often than South. During the first game, you could see that South's defense was worn out by the 4th quarter. They started fading significantly toward the end. If you compare similar match ups (Greenwood and Christian), then BG has outperformed South. To be honest, I think that the Purples have a slightly more explosive offense overall. However, South has some depth that BG might have serious problems defending. Over the 6 games that South has played, they've had 8 different receivers and 5 different rushers score touchdowns. It's impossible to try to shut down all the options available. There might not be a lot of stars, but there are loads of solid players. Now that Dunn is back, the Spartan offense looks tremendously different than what BG saw the first game. Expect to see him rushing and receiving. It will be hard for anyone to cover him. BG's biggest opportunity is with different play calling. During the first game, they tried to run up the middle and didn't throw to Dingle enough. South's defense is probably the best in the state defending against the run. They are only slightly above average defending the pass though, in my opinion. Let's compare each defense's performance in the regular season against Greenwood. South allowed -24 yards rushing and 147 yards passing. BG allowed 50 yards rushing and 38 yards passing. I know this isn't necessarily a true picture since JV probably played 2 quarters for each team. Nevertheless, I think this is a good representation of the Spartan defense. The most important fact is that you are much more likely to have success passing against South rather than running. South has been preparing for Bowling Green since Oct 24, the day after their last regular season matchup. I think that you'll see them come into the game with a completely different game plan as the first meeting. At the same time, I think BG knows that they have to change their play calling as well. This definitely is not going to be the same defensive battle that we saw in early October. Both teams are going to score before halftime. I think homefield advantage and Jantzen Dunn will push South to victory. South Warren 21- Bowling Green 17

I wouldn't put much stock in the 1 sack in 5 games stat to evaluate the O-line. South Warren has given up 0 sacks so far this year. It all depends on who you are playing. Now Cov Cath's offensive line is probably better than SW. I won't argue that. However, I doubt they've faced a D-line as tough as SW yet. South has only allowed 96 total yards rushing in 4 games, with BG as one of its opponents. And that includes 3 quarters of JV play. Until the top 5 or 6 teams play challenging games, it's hard to really understand where you stand. Hopefully we'll meet in the playoffs. Good luck.

There haven't been any statements or rumors about any coach staying or going. That being said, I'm not sure what the motivation would be to leave, besides returning to your home town. South already has a great culture and will be a team contending for another state championship for a few more years. There are at least 5 D1 players that will graduate in 21 & 22. The school and parent support is tremendous. And Smith has a cadre of coaches that he knows and trusts. He might go, but I think that would be highly surprising to South's players and parents.

The upcoming Jr class at South Warren were middle school runners up in 7th and in the semifinals in 8th grade. At least 7 sophomores started at south this season. The Spartan pipeline rivals any in the state. Highly doubtful that Smith will leave.

I'm not sure that BG has more talent or not. They have a couple kids that are truly great. South has pretty incredible depth, but not a lot of superstars. Almost 1/3 of South's starters are sophomores. I honestly think that South's defense is better overall. During the first game, they held BG to 0 points in the first half. And the fact that South's offense turned the ball over 5 times and BG could only gain 2 touchdowns during the game speaks volumes. If South can get their passing game going, they will win. If they rely fully on the run, as they did in the first game, BG will probably advance.