DearToday

Yes.

1A: Pikeville and Paintsville will both be tough. Would love to see NCC get back to the level they once were at.

2A: Somerset will be the favorite and be tough again. As will LCA. Breathitt loses some studs but will be in the conversation.

3A: Belfry is always in the conversation at seasons end.

4A: Johnson has to be the favorite. Boyle will be good but will fall off from this past year. Wayne will be extremely tough with Sloan back. Corbin will be good but will have to replace key defensive pieces, which makes me think they'll be second to Wayne again after allowing them to score 63 to end the year.

5A: FD, Cov Cath, BG, South Warren, your typical 5A powers.

6A: Trinity, Male, Dupont had a nice season.

Yeah I don't disagree with it being IMG but timing when he decided to go there wasn't good.

Also agreed.

Kid seems like a great player. With him leaving FD a few weeks before the season started does that cause any issues with coaches/players welcoming him back? There is no doubt about what he brings on the field just wondered about the locker room.

I understand the question. But I also think the players would understand because he went to IMG Academy, not another local school.

Congrats to Chris McNamee from Pikeville on Coach of the Year.

Michael Mayer from Covington Catholic also named Mr. Football.

Congrats to Michael Mayer from Covington Catholic on Mr. Football.

Chris McNamee from Pikeville also named Coach of the Year.

Interesting.

 

Well there is some recent precedent for a junior to be included in voting. In the 2015 AP Mr. Football voting, junior quarterback Riley Hall from Pulaski County was among the finalists.

If you can add juniors in then Bradeon Sloan needs to be mentioned. Kid had a video game numbers kind of year.

6A Trinity 7-3

5A Cov Cath 7-3

4A Johnson Central 6-4

3A Belfry 8-2

2A Mayfield 6-4

1A Pikeville 10-0

Thought that was a gutsy call on fourth and 2. Everyone's thinking a run or pass to the sticks, and they run the double move. Great throw and run after. Should've ruled it a TD he was in.

Completely deserved. Dominance.

Agreed. So many questionable coaching decisions. After the false start I think you have to throw the ball on 4th and 6. Clock is stopping anyway. I understand bad things can happen i.e. Patriots-Seahawks but you have a very smart QB, go win the game. They had also blown 2 timeouts at very questionable times so they didn't gave any for their defense at the end. The team HAS to know that with 28 seconds and 86 yards to go with no timeouts you CANNOT get beat deep and funnel everything to the middle of the field so the clock can't stop. You have to go at least 3 deep there if not 4 and I mean DEEP. It was a total meltdown.

 

First class in the past ten years for Mayfield to graduate without a ring. Feel terrible for those kids. They went 3 straight years and come home empty handed. And to lose like that their senior year.

 

On the other hand you have the first class to ever win a ring in 100+ years for Somerset. Has to feel awesome for them and every Briarjumper that came before them.

 

One more thing that has been pointed out several times but can't be understated is the wonderful sportsmanship displayed by both teams the entire game.

I felt the same way with the fourth down. Looked like the fourth and 6 call was the same thing the fourth and 1 call was going to be. Why not run the RPO stuff they had been running that seemed to work. That's insane though.. first class in ten years without a ring. Says a lot about their dominance they've had.

After watching the state games, how would you rank the 12 teams playing this past weekend?

1. Trinity

2. Male

3. Cov Cath

4. Johnson Central

5. Frederick Douglass

6. Boyle County

7. Belfry

8. Pikeville

9. Somerset

10. Bell County

11. Mayfield

12. Paintsville

Thought about flipping 2 and 3. Also, the 7-11 range was tough. I know Pikeville beat Belfry, but Belfry was also without Isaac Dixon.

I disregard the PI because it could have went either way. I get going on two.. but why not run your best players and trust your guys to get one yard?? Then the last drive.. how do you get beat deep twice when you know they're going deep? Why do you have a QB spy with a kid who got two sacks the prior drive? If he runs he runs.. a lot of questionable coaching decisions on Mayfield I thought during that last minute of the game. It looked like Mayfield's first time in the situation, not Somerset. Crazy game on a day that was full of three great games.

Physicality and game plan are often the cause of turnovers. Hence, why I believe JC will have success against Boyle.

Great game by both squads. Yesterday was a great day for football.

Michael Mayer is a BAD man. Should be your Mr. Football hands down.

No chance at a running clock but this is the game I would feel most comfortable with betting on. Not having Grant or Harris will hurt Paintsville this time around. Pikeville will pull away in the third.

Well.. alrighty then me.

I’m not going to judge an entire fan base off of one ignorant persons comments. But, you better believe Matney will use that as fire for those boys and that the boys will watch it and feed off of it. What an idiotic move. I bet Smith is furious.

There was also a bang-bang call on what would have been a Pick 6 that played a huge role.The official ruled Defensive PI, had they not called it Belfry would have had an early three score lead.I want to say Boyle ended up converting that drive into points of their own.

 

I felt Belfry kind of shocked Boyle at first but the Rebels acclimated and adjusted and realized Belfry could not stop Reese Smith and went to work.

 

Nonetheless, that was a game that was probably much closer than the score indicated.

 

If I am not mistaken, didn't Smith play with an injury the next week against Corbin?

Yes he did. He played with it hurt, then later in the game.. third quarter I believe got knocked out on a pretty hard hit over the top.

If I had to put money I would certainly pick Belfry, but I do believe Bell will give them problems. I believe the QB will be able to make enough plays to keep this one close and give them a chance in the end.

Think any of the OC's or DC's from the area make the move over? Pikeville or Paintsville coordinators?

I think Pikeville pulls away in the second half, but if Paintsville is going to have a chance they have to ride the legs of JW and play turnover free football.

I think it will go:

1A Pikeville (Highest margin)

2A Mayfield

3A Belfry

5A Cov Cath

6A Male

4A JC (Lowest margin)

Last years Boyle/Belfry game would be a better comparison than the Corbin game. JC and Belfry run a very similar ball control power offense with little or no passing.

 

As for the physical aspect, my son played defensive end for Boyle and on the offensive line on certain sets. He said the Belfry game was much more physical and hard hitting than the Corbin game and took a toll that lingered into the next game for several of the Boyle players.

That game would have been a lot closer had Belfry not laid the ball on the ground multiple times. I do think this will be the best game out of the six over this weekend. Can't wait to watch.

It's hard to find a completely apples-to-apples comparison to Douglass in Cov Cath's schedule, but the closest you'll come by is Cincinnati LaSalle.

 

LaSalle's total yardages are lower than Douglass' are over the course of the season, but that's completely a product of strength of schedule. LaSalle's schedule is much harder than Cov Cath's schedule, and it's much harder than Douglass' schedule. This season, LaSalle's overall offense has been 63% run 37% pass, and Douglass' overall offense has been 68% run 32% pass. Similar to Douglass, LaSalle also has six D1 recruits on their roster, including a D1 running back (3-star Northwestern commit Cam Porter). Like Douglass, LaSalle has a quarterback that is more than capable of running the ball himself - both Douglass' quarterback Josh McClurg and LaSalle's quarterback Zach Branam lead their respective offenses in rushing rather than the D1 running back lining up behind them. So yeah, LaSalle is going to be the best comparison you're going to get.

 

LaSalle (OH) 2019 Season:

3400 total yards offense (243 per game)

2144 yards rushing (153 per game)

1256 yards passing (88 per game)

 

Frederick Douglass 2019 Season:

5095 total yards offense (364 per game)

3480 yards rushing (249 per game)

1615 yards passing (115 per game)

Thanks for the info! Sounds like Cov Cath should have a good look then.

I know Cov Cath's run defense is spectacular but have they seen an offense that runs it like FD?