Unrivaled97

I’d throw Garyon Hobbs in there. He’ll see more reps at RB this year and not just on defense at safety, which will help get him into the discussion.

In Northern KY, yes.

I’m not sure how well Trinity would do in 3A. Better they stay in 6A where the competition is easier. ?‍♂️ I see all the comments on this thread & other topics from the Trinity faithful about CAL needing to prove themselves, needing to earn the right to play T, etc. For a little ol’ 3A school like CAL, you all sure do spend a lot of time talking about them. I’m starting to think the Trinity fans have a CAL complex. In fact, I’m going to say a member of the Trinity faithful will find the need to respond to this post, further proving my point. ?

Yep, sure could. Went to Franklin College for baseball then played a little semi-pro ball. 2003-04 was a great year for Seneca athletics. Football won 10 games, a district title & was ranked #1 in the final regular season poll. Basketball won 25 games & the LIT. Wrestling won the Region 4 title. Baseball won 20+ games & had some good wins over quality programs like St X that year.

I think you meant Garry Williams, but we had more dudes than that. Jerome Blincoe, Jermaine Haskins, Robbie McAtee & Greg Embers were some others that could flat out play.

Remember each & every one of those games well. We had 7 turnovers vs Ballard in the playoffs which was our demise.

They were the DII runner-up in Ohio last year. They would have easily been the best team in the Lexington area outside of maybe Boyle County if you would consider them to be in the Lexington area, but I think they were better than Boyle County. In the Louisville area, I would say 2nd or 3rd best team behind Trinity and possibly / probably CAL. They beat Cooper by a similar margin as to what Manual beat Cooper by last year.

As of recent, yes it has.

I'm not being disingenuous at all. It's an honest and sincere question. The first part of your statement said when do we talk about moving CAL up; when they reach 7 or 8 in a row so obviously we're more concerned with how many state titles and not just regular season wins. If Boyle County, the team many considered to be the best team in the state last year, doesn't lose to Covington Catholic last year in the quarterfinals, then we're currently talking about them winning 6 titles in a row in 4A. The question still remains....would we be having the same conversation about them? Since 2012, CAL has lost to many teams, even some that are below class 3A (LCA three times, Newport Central Catholic and Mayfield).

If Boyle County doesn't get upset by Covington Catholic last year in the quarterfinals, would we be having the same conversation about them?

As far as I'm aware, G Reid isn't coming back to CAL.

I think to a certain degree, this is a very fair assessment. No, Trinity does not need further validation. 30 state titles and even success on a national stage speaks for itself. However, I think there are a couple of points that need addressed: First, if Trinity beats CAL by a little or by a lot, I don't think you'd have many critics saying of course why play CAL or what's wrong with Trinity. CAL is widely viewed by many to be the second-best team in the state of KY so beating them, in many aspects, would be viewed as being a better win than St. X or Male currently is. Just because a team in 3 classes lower doesn't make them any less of a formidable opponent for Trinity. Boyle County went up to Cleveland and knocked off the multiple time, defending Division 1 state champs in Ohio last year and Boyle County is only 1 class above CAL in 4A. Would it be the same sentiment if Trinity played Boyle County? Second, "Playing top tier schools in other states, any of which would be seen year in and year out as a top 5 ranked team in Kentucky 6A. The type teams that cause the Rocks to face top talent, top coaching and O line and D lines that are big, fast and physical. Even though those games are not helpful for RPI purposes, they are extremely helpful more many other reasons. " If you don't think this applies to CAL, you are sadly mistaken. CAL would widely been seen as a top 5 ranked team in Kentucky 6A. They have top talent, top coaching and have OL & DL that are fast and physical, as well as having some size. People need to stop thinking that just simply b/c teams play 6A football, it automatically makes them better. It doesn't. All it means is they have a bigger pool of kids to pick from typically not necessarily a better pool. I've said that top talent vs. top talent, CAL goes toe-to-toe with Trinity, at least in recent years. Where Trinity would prevail over CAL is depth or numbers. CAL has 50-55 kids in their program. Trinity has 25 more than that in their Freshman class alone. The real problem with why Trinity won't schedule CAL is Trinity does have everything to lose and they do know that it is a possibility they lose that game to CAL. Sure, they probably win 80% of the time if the teams played, but Trinity very well knows that CAL is one of the few teams in Kentucky that can beat them. Fifteen years ago, we wouldn't even be talking about this. But now, CAL is widely seen as a great alternative for a private school education with top tier athletics in the Louisville area. For now, Trinity can go on talking about 30 state titles, beating St. X consistently, the tough scheduling, etc., all of which is true and quite impressive. But maybe, just maybe, if you schedule CAL and the small chance they do beat Trinity, you couldn't even talk about being the current best in your own city, let alone your own state. Well, that's a risk that is simply too big to take even if the chances of CAL winning the game are slim. It doesn't mean Trinity is scared or anything of the sort. Trinity is not scared to play anyone, in their own state or otherwise. It simply means the risk isn't worth the reward.

I think you might see that the next cycle. Not a particular school in mind, but definitely a strong possibility. CAL did schedule the 3A state champs in Indiana in 2024 (Heritage Hills) and running clocked them. I would love to see them schedule a team like Bishop Chatard or Roncalli out of Indy.

Garyon Hobbs has transferred back to CAL.

Yes, this is true.

Allen Evans is staying home and going to Louisville.

Garyon Hobbs is joining Ja’Hyde Brown at Indiana next year! Looking forward to watching him play this fall.

Allen Evans will be making his college choice today.

Ja’Hyde Brown commits to the Indiana Hoosiers today. Congrats & looking forward to watching him play another season at CAL!

Someone check me if I’m wrong, but does that mean that only Fairdale & Atherton have had their current head coaches longer than 3 or 4 years in JCPS?

Starting a wrestling program is much different than starting a football or basketball program. You typically start a program at the youth of MS level first, then work it up to the high school level from there so by the time the MS kids are in HS, they have a few years under their belt. Regardless, you jump right into varsity competition year one. A coach might try to pick and choose his spots carefully depending on what he has in the program, but it's varsity competition none-the-less. I've started two high school wrestling programs in Kentucky from scratch and the hardest part is simply recruiting kids to come out for the team and sticking with it. If any of those schools can have one or two kids have some early success, it definitely helps drum up interest from other kids who might be willing to give it a shot the next year. As far as SOKY teams, I haven't seen any BG area teams at any meets this year, but we're traveling down to Greenwood for a dual tournament this Saturday, so we'll finally get to see at least one. I anticipate most of the teams in the area will be there, but we'll see.

Coming off of a successful 2024 campaign, which saw CAL complete a state championship three-peat, the Centurions had a lot of questions to answer with the loss of 3 D1 commits and 3 more high D1 recruits. The 2025 version did not disappoint by being Kentucky's only undefeated team and capturing the school's 4th straight 3A state title. As is the case with almost all teams, CAL will have some production to replace from a senior class that went a perfect 20-0 in the state playoffs and ended each year of their high school career at Kroger Field, hoisting a KHSAA state title. ?LB - Jacson Settle, RB - Jeffrey Vazzana, RB - Tyree Stoner, DB - Stone Perkins, OL - Zach Wampler, OL/DL - Jason Hilliard, TE/DE - Micah Akin, LB - Chapman Russell, DB - Trey Hardin, DL - Brody Cherry & LS - Alex Glin ?WR - Ja'Hyde Brown, QB - Jackson Burke, DL - Kellan Hall, WR - Gaines Howard, LB - Micah Newsome, LB - Gabe Lumpkin, DB - Jayson Ruffin, DB - Eric Jones With the talent coming back in 2025, CAL looks to make another run at a 3A state title, bringing the consecutive total to five and putting them in elite company of Kentucky high school football history. CAL will need to replace almost all of their production in the offensive run game, however, that might not be a problem with the addition(s) coming in next year. On defense, CAL will need to replace 6 starters, but with leading tackler LB Micah Newsome and Rivals top 10 2028 recruit Kellan Hall anchoring the defense, CAL should be able to do so without much of a drop in production. 2026 Schedule (assuming all games complete the 2-year cycle) at Pikeville Owensboro at LCA Ryle at Central Hardin at Bowling Green DeSales Central at Western Fern Creek

Based on my conversation with him at the state finals, I do believe Lonnie Oldham was given an interview as well.

But why was 3A no sweat for CAL? 3A proved to have some very worthy teams after all but CAL running clocked all of the 3A teams they played nonetheless. Don’t forget, although it wasn’t a lot of players, heading into this year CAL did lose 3 seniors who went D1 & lost another 3 players to transfers who have multiple D1 offers & yet somehow found a way to go undefeated, running clocked 13 of their 15 opponents, including 2 state champs & were all around better than last year. Say what you will, but if that’s not worthy of being coach of the year, I’m not sure what is.

CAL scrimmaged Franklin County this year. It was a controlled scrimmage on special teams, but everything else was live and game scenario and it wasn't even close. If it had been a game, CAL would have running clocked them. To say that I was shocked when Franklin County went 14-0 and earned a spot in the state title game is an understatement, which is a testament to the job their coaching staff did, as well as the improvements their players obviously made.