St. Matthews Boy

The Trinity Shamrocks (11-2) will welcome the Fredrick Douglass Broncos (9-4) to Marshall Stadium on Friday night for what should be an exciting 6A semifinals matchup. T and FD have had a exciting series over the past two seasons. FD visited T twice last season, winning the regular season meeting before the Rocks knocked off the Broncos in OT in the semifinals. The Rocks beat the Broncos on the road during the second week of the season this year by a score of 23-13. Looking back at that game, is was a pretty even matchup where turnovers for FD made all the difference and gave the Rocks the advantage. Both, however, have seen a lot of football and are different teams since then. Trinity comes into Friday's meeting after taking down Ballard 35-21 where they had to comeback from a slow start and being down 21-17 at the half. The Rocks defense held Ballard off the board in the second half and the running game with JB Berry (3TDs) helped lead the way for Trinity. Fredrick Douglass comes into Friday off the back of a 36-6 win over Madison Central where the Broncos controlled the game from the get go. Game was called with 2:11 left due to injury of MC player. The Broncos' reliable weapons of Talbert, Smith, and Chenualt were on full display. The all-time series is 2-1 in favor of Trinity. Fredrick Douglass will look to get payback for last year, and earlier this season, when they step on Harry Jansing Field Friday night. Expecting a close one and possibly another classic between these two very talented and athletic programs.

Taking a page out of @ChickenWyngz book with his schedule of important dates in the 10th region, here are just a few (but certainly not all) the important dates I'd circle in 7th region competition. Friday, December 6th: Trinity vs Male. Another early-season meeting between these two region powers. Could be a preview of multiple other meetings between these two (LIT, 7th Region). Expect Steinhauser gym to be rocking for this one! Monday, December 16th: Ballard vs Manual. Many have high hopes for both the Bruins and Crimson this season with the latter being a top 20 team (per, CJ) in preseason. The former looking for a bounce-back year. Can learn a lot about these teams in this early meeting. Dec. 19-22: King of The Bluegrass at Fairdale. The regions top three teams of St. Xavier, Trinity, and Male will all be there. Week of January 13th: LIT. A seventh region team has won the tournament more times than not over the past decade-plus. That includes four of the last five. 7th Region has won 18 of the last 20 years. January 24-26th: A big weekend in the seventh region with St. X hosting Male on Fri. the 24th. Trinity and St. X play on Sunday the 26th at Bellarmine. In non-region matchups, Male plays Great Crossing on Sat the 25th while Trinity has Covington Cath on Fri. 24th. Friday, January 31st: Male vs Ballard. Friday, February 7th: Ballard vs St. Xavier. Tuesday, February 11th: Trinity vs Ballard. Friday, February 21st: Male vs Manual. The Bulldogs host arch rival Manual Crimson in what is likely to be an important and big test for both as they gear up for postseason play.

Saw the end of that Boyd-GC game. Early, obviously, but kinda surprised by that score. Although, Boyd should be very tough this year. Spurlock and Hicks help create a solid core for the Lions.

Link to Stream: https://fox56news.com/video/fox-56-news/adstPZWVgQPkdzX5/

Maybe not as high up there as "most accomplished" for an overall career. But Dayvion McKnight and KyKy Tandy, both of whom are still playing, could be added to this list. McKnight (Collins) was 2020 Mr. Basketball. Was an absolute beast in high school and finished as Collins’ all-time leader in points (1,897), rebounds (1,040), assists (600) and steals (329). In college he was a three-year All-CUSA player for WKU and is now in his second season at Xavier where he is their starting PG. Has over 1,000 points in his college career. Tandy (University Heights) had over 3,000 points in his HS career and is top 10 in all-time scoring. After four years at Xavier where he has some success (338 points and Big East All-Freshman honors) but dealt with some injuries, he transferred to Jacksonville State where he started 32 games last season and put up 17.8 ppg. He is now at FAU and has 11.7 ppg through six games. He shredded Oklahoma State with 21 the other night.

Kudos to Ballard. The Bruins were prepared and came into Marshall Stadium tonight much improved from the last time these two met and ready to wreak havoc. They gave Trinity as much trouble as any team has all year. That is true in both games. Ballard has a very good head coach in Matt Kuehn. Trinity tailed 21-17 at half and all the momentum was going Ballard's way. Two early turnovers and busted coverages on D killed the Rocks early. However, Trinity goes on to outscore the Bruins 18-0 in the second half of play and wins it. A ton of credit to that T defense for stepping up. D-lineman Frost and Vance made an impact late. Sophomore Myles Howze with the INT to end Ballard's last drive and seal the game. JB Berry with three rushing TDs and had the last two-point conversion to get them to 35. Another big game for him and the Trinity rushing game, which seemed to improve as the night went on (just like the team as a whole).

Off the top of my head thought you can add Pikeville to that list as well. Lost to Corbin, Johnson Central, and LCA to start the year. Beat Raceland, lost to Belfry, and beat Hazard. All five of those teams will play tonight.

Some say the greatest high school football game ever. No snow in the game, however. But it was very cold.

Butler under Reynolds was 6-17 and 2-4 in district play. Both district wins came versus Iroquois. 2023: 4-8 (1-2) 2024: 2-9 (1-2) The Bears have been either a middle of the road or bottom tier team in 5A for a number of years now. In 2025-26, their district (5A, D3) will include Atherton, Iroquois and Seneca, who moves in. Fairdale moves out to 5A, D4. Previously, Gary Wheeler went 47-42 from 2013-2020 as the head man on Crums lane. The Bears made the 6A semifinals in 2013 and did so as well in 2011. Butler may not be the strongest public school in Louisville but does have a fairly decent athletic tradition overall. Has a pair of football titles from the program's stronger days in the 1970s. Have produced some very talented players, most recently Jordan Watkins who is doing fairly well at Ole Miss. Will be interesting to see who gets this job and whether or not they can get this program back to the competitiveness seen from them in the mid 2010s.

I believe Spencer County runs an offense that, at the very least, has Wing-T concepts. Central Hardin has been very run heavy in the past years with an offense that, as I remember the last time seeing them play, has some Wing-T and wishbone-type aspects. I know there are some teams outside Louisville and the surrounding counties that run similar offenses that are or have been run-heavy and have aspects of the wishbone, flexbone, and wing-t. Think Belfry, Scott County, Johnson Central (if my memory serves correct). Concerning the smaller Louisville schools, not sure how that would work out. Have to have the coaches who know how to coach it. Isn't by any means a system you can implement tomorrow and instantly gain wins.

The sixth region seems to be very wide open this year. I'll take J-Town and Fairdale as the two favorites. I think that is pretty clear. I said months ago that J-Town was maybe the most intriguing team for me coming into the season. Fern Creek and Evangel should be dangerous as well. This is maybe the one region where you could say for every team "I want to see some results first." because there has been so much movement for so many teams.

Exactly. The standard at places like T, X, and can add Male to that as well, is very high. I think a lot of fans and supporters, while they should have high expectations, forget that even some of the worst at those places is the best at others. IMO, X has been down in recent years and should have been better. Second round exits each of the last three seasons (albeit two were to Trinity and Male) is not want Tiger fans want to see at all.

Yes in 2021 and 2022 Trinity advanced to the state semifinals and quarterfinals, losing to Male and Bryan Station in those contest. But the Rocks record in those years were 6-8 (2021) and 8-5 (2022). That 2021 season was Trinity's first year under .500 since 1995. Prior to that, the Rocks last losing season was 1971 under Jim Kennedy. Dave Moore, Roger Gruneisen, Dennis Lampley, and Bob Beatty never had a losing season in their careers at Trinity. The Rocks only have, if my math is right, eight losing seasons in 69 years of varsity football. The standard is extremely high at Trinity and the same is true for our friends at St. X, as well. Championships are expected.

Admirals haven't won a game since November 4th of 2022. But still one of just seven programs in the state with double-digit titles at 11. The last coming in 2017 with that unbeaten season. Big fall off. Hope someone can revamp this program back to winning ways.

Friday night will be round two for the Shamrocks and the Bruins as Trinity (10-2) host district foe Ballard (6-6) in the Class 6A quarterfinals. Trinity beat Ballard 20-0 back on October 11th. The win was the start of the Shamrocks shutout streak of five games. The Rocks streak of not allowing a TD has been extended six games. Last TD scored on this Trinity defense came in the first half by St. X on Sep. 28th. Trinity comes into Friday night after beating Fern Creek 45-0. Zane Johnson passed for 237 yards and 3TDs. JB Berry had 2 rushing TDs while Chris Wilson ran one in. The Rocks' defensive effort in the game was headlined not only by the 0 on the scoreboard but also by three interceptions. Caleb Ricks had two while Myles Howze had one. T held FC to -27 rushing yards and 42 passing yards. Ballard comes into Friday night off of what is certainly the biggest win in recent history for the Bruins' program as they beat Male 23-17 in OT on the road. The Ballard defense was impressive in the win, holding Male to 96 rushing yards and 134 passing yards. Brock Santee led the effort with 13 tackles. Larry Irvin had 156 passing yards and 2TDs for the Bruins offense. Trinity has put a running clock on every team they've played over the last month. While I like the Rocks to win this one, you have to think that won't happen in this one. Ballad was able to rattle the Trinity offense early in the first meeting and they Bruins should present the Rocks with another challenge on Friday night. However, that was before T had a fully healthy Offensive line. Will be interesting to see how that battle develops.

Would be WILD!!

Looking at these first round matchups and judging by what we know at this point (preseason), I think we should get a lot of good games in those first two nights. I am wrong to think Ashland-Woodford County looks the most appetizing?

The bracket has been released. Should be another great tournament! What do we think of these matchups?

Was not at all surprised by the win but was certainly surprised by the running clock. Ryle set the tone from the get go and dominated. Congrats to the Raiders on a HUGE win!

An absolutely wild night in 6A. As many have said all year, this season feels different. It is a year where anyone can beat anyone on any given night. We have seen it time and time again.

Not surprised that the Rocks won. That was expected. Not even surprised that they won big. But this wasn't much of a contest from the get-go. I expected Fern Creek to bring more, at least defensively.

An 8-4 mark in their inaugural 2017 season and a 6-6 mark in 2023 were the high water marks of Hager's tenure with the Jaguars. The Jaguars are 7-26 over the last three seasons which all saw them compete in 2A after originally being a 3A school from 2017-2021. FC is at the .500 mark all-time versus both county foes Betsy Layne (3-3) and Prestonsburg (4-4). In 2025 and 2026 their district moves to five teams with the addition of Leslie County to the group that includes Knott County Central, Martin County, and Prestonsburg. All four of those programs will end the year with winning records. As @gchs_uk9 noted above, FC is playing third fiddle in the county with P and BL being pretty good right now. FC has had some decent seasons in a short history.

Add Trinity to that list

Should be a highly competitive region once again. Great Crossing the clear favorite and Moreno is the clear favorite for Mr. Basketball coming into the season. I am very interested to see how things shake out for Bryan Station with all they have back and after challenging GC at the end like they did, as well as Fredrick Douglass with a new head coach and no Boone. Madison Central is a program I always expect to put up a challenge and they could be improved this season.

A really tough job. When Gipson got there ahead of the 2021 season the Eagles had gone through four head coaches in as many years and had not had an actual win since their 2014 opener vs KCD. Their only mark in the W column in that span was a forfeit vs Carroll County in 2020. Gipson led them to at least two wins a season each of the past four years. Kudos to him for sticking around and at least improving the program somewhat. Believe Shawnee is the smallest high school in JCPS. Most recent enrollment number I found is 532. Western, Waggener, and Brown are the only other non-alternative schools with less than 900.