Carl Spackler

South Laurel is much improved, and their quarterback runs their system well. However, this is a troubling loss for Somerset. If their defensive front didn't get a sack, their secondary provided little resistance. It seems like so far under Coach Clevenger, that the Jumpers provide a couple of head scratching performances early in the season: The opening loss to Perry County Central, and the Russell County game, (that required a miracle comeback), two seasons ago. The Russell County, Knox Central, and Garrard County games last season. It's like they don't come out quite ready for the season to start. The last 2 seasons have turned out pretty well when all was said and done. Hopefully this year will as well. Long way to go to get there though.

I'm at work, and had the sound turned down. I'll have to go back and see in the morning.

The wheels are falling off of the Breathitt County hype train earlier than normal this season.

Somerset has a long way to go to be any kind of factor in 2A. They are big up front, but don't look particularly physical, or fast. And their secondary is just getting gashed. Not a good looking team so far. Hopefully it is just inexperience. I expected this to be a bridge season, but they might be looking at a 5-5 regular season.

To say Somerset's pass defense is lacking would be a severe understatement. I mean, they are bad.

Julian Carroll, their sophomore kicker, is going to be special. He's the top ranked kicker in his class in Kentucky, and is nationally ranked as well. Did he kick it into the end zone after the field goal. He can reach the end zone pretty regularly, but some coaches prefer to try and pin the opponents inside the 20.

Who was winning when it was called?

They don't play until tonight. It's a Saturday game.

Bell County Murray South Oldham Ashland Paul Blazer Ryle Tiebreaker 61

South Laurel makes the short drive across Highway 80 to take on Somerset in the nightcap of the Alton Blakely Bowl on Saturday night. The Cardinals are coming off of a 6-4 season, and were much improved in Coach Johnny Hines first year at the helm. The Briar Jumpers finished 9-5 last season, and made their 2nd 2A State Semifinals appearance in as many tries under Coach Clay Clevenger. Somerset will be breaking in a new quarterback this season. It would appear from their scrimmage with Mercer County that Taylor County transfer Shannon Lofton might have a leg up in the competition with fellow sophomore Jacob Estep to be the starter. But both quarterbacks might figure into the equation. No matter who gets the nod at quarterback for the Jumpers, the offense figures you be centered around senior Kris Hughes, who rushed for 1651 yards, and 24 touchdowns last season. Higher added another 308 yards, and 3 touchdowns receiving. For the Cardinals, senior Mason Griffin returns at quarterback after throwing for 2199 yards and 18 touchdowns a year ago. South Laurel was very pass heavy on offense last season, as they only rushed for 819 yards, and 12 touchdowns as a team. This has the potential to be a good one. Hines presence on the sideline adds some extra spice to the matchup. Not only is he a Somerset alum, but he's coached against the Briar Jumpers several times over the years at Barren County and, most notably, Pulaski County. Who have you got?

12 points and 4 rebounds per game as a sophomore last season. Henry Clay graduated 8 seniors off of last season's team. He should have a chance to jump right in as a starter.

I have a relative that worked North Laurel's first scrimmage. They were pretty rough. He said it might be a long season for the Jags. But it was a scrimmage, so maybe they were getting things ironed out.

Somerset has a lot of younger girls playing for their 6th grade team. Are there any schools that have enough 4th and 5th graders that would want to play some games with just the younger kids? If so, let me know.

Very sad to hear this one. Like a lot of people in my age group, we grew up watching the Cubs on WGN and the Braves on TBS since ESPN didn't have games back then. I hope Ryno is having a beer with Harry right now.

I wasn't there. I heard quite a few scuffles. @RVaughn might be able to give details.

I heard that Pulaski and Boyle or Glasgow got pretty heated.

The Yankees have for sure. Catcher:Thurman Munson, Elston Howard, Yogi Berra(3) First Base: Don Mattingly, Lou Gehrig(2) Second Base: Joe Gordon Shortstop: Phil Rizzuto Third Base: Alex Rodriguez(2) Left Field: None of their MVPs played the majority of their games in left field in the season that they won the MVP. Some of the outfielders did play some left field. Center Field: Aaron Judge(2), Mickey Mantle(3), Joe DiMaggio(3) Right Field: Roger Maris(2), Babe Ruth(In Ruth's MVP season he played 68 games in left field and 73 in right field) Pitcher: Spud Chandler 5 games is all that keeps the Yankees from having an MVP at every position.

He'll have to wait for Noelvi Marte to come back from the IL to have a source.

De La Cruz is a way better baseball player than Samuel. But there are a lot of similarities to their games. Both made electrifying plays on offense and defense that other players couldn't even dream of making. And both could make just mystifying mistakes. With talent like that, you just have to live with the warts. The plusses outweigh the minuses.

That's 4 actors from the show that have passed: Johnny Hardwick (Dale Gribble), Brittany Murphy (Luanne Platter), Tom Petty (Lucky), and Jonathan Joss (John Redcord).

Elly De La Cruz accomplished the exact same feat last season. Except he led all of baseball in those 3 categories.

So much uncertainty given the newness of this law, and not having see it be administered yet. My Daughter In Law, who is a teacher in a school system in the same county as my daughter, asked if I could fill out a permission form so that she could text my daughter directly. She takes her to the water park, shopping, etc a lot. We couldn't find an exemption for In Laws, or tell for sure if her being employed by a different school system made a difference. We figured it would be safer to go ahead and fill out the permission and not need it, rather than finding out it was a violation.

Congratulations to Feldhaus. He had a great, great season last season. Really turned the MC program around.

Somerset being down 31-28 to Mayfield, on their own 16 yard line, with 28 seconds to go and no timeouts, and winning the game on a 20 yard touchdown pass on an untimed down in the 2019 2A finals, for their first State Championship would have to be their greatest comeback. There have certainly been larger deficits overcome, but no comeback meant as much.

That's a huge blow. It would be hard to imagine him being back anywhere near full speed in 9 months. You always hate to see that happen, it's even worse when it is just summer ball. Hope he can recover quickly and fully.