St. Matthews Boy

Surprising result not because they won but because of how they won. A big night for the Yellow Jackets who seemed to have set the tone from the start tonight.

Final Stats:

Trinity gets the expected win. Was a running clock in the second quarter. A lot of kids got in the game tonight for the Shamrocks. Starting QB Zane Johnson didn't even play. Senior Brock Shoemaker was 5-for-5, 130 yards, and had 4 passing TDs. Brody Pfeiffer was 2-for-4 with 26 yards. Best news of the night, besides the win, was LT Nate Shields making his return. Played well and looks ready to go for playoff ball. JB Berry also back and had three carries for 19 yards. Chris Wilson and Benji Rice played most of the snaps at RB. On to Oldham County to close out the regular season.

Very much agreed. And Betsy Layne is 13th RPI in 2A as of this morning.

He is very much still at Trinity. Just an error in the Riherds system. Not the only team or player where I've seen such an error at this point.

Big district win for Shelby Valley. The Wildcats are now 2-6 with both wins versus district opponents. They beat Pike County Central 14-12 last week. East Ridge and Floyd Central remain for the Wildcats. Betsy Layne drops to 2-6 on the year and 1-1 in district play. Pike County Central and Powell County remain on the Bobcats' slate.

Have to think this is the week the Chargers get back on track. Has been a rough going for them recently. The Fern Creek loss was especially surprising to me.

The Trinity Shamrocks (6-2) make the trip down Shelbyville Road to play the Eastern Eagles (3-4) for a district contest. Trinity is coming off a 20-0 win over Ballard where the Rocks defense once again showed up big time. Trinity has not allowed a TD since the first half of the X game on Sep. 28th. RB Chris Wilson led the Rocks with 151 yards and 2TDs. Eastern is coming off a 47-0 loss to Oldham County. Its the second game in which they been held scoreless and third in which they failed to score a TD this season. The All-Time series between these two is 46-2 in favor of the Shamrocks. Those two wins for the Eagles in the series came in 1993 and 94. I hate to say it, but I don't believe there is much else to say about this one except ask the question of when the running clock starts.

Big win for the Crimson. The top of 6A felt open coming into this week but this makes it even more so. As many have said before, it is an any given Friday type of season.

Another performance where the Rocks' struggled to find its offense but a better day than last week. Defense once again showed up with the shutout. Rocks haven't allowed a TD since the first half of the X game. Getting JB Berry back to health and Nate Shields in there at OT should help this team a lot. Glad to see Chris Wilson continue to carry this team for a second week in a row from the RB spot. He had 151 yards and 2TDs. Performances like tonight will get this team over the hump in district play. But come playoff time it just won't cut it.

An intriguing district game going down on Kenwood Drive Friday night as Desales (5-2, with Valley forfeit) host J-Town (4-2). DeSales won this matchup 21-18 last season. The Colts had a big goal-line defensive stand to seal the win in the final seconds. Cameron Bischoff leads the Colts with 1,310 passing yards and 19 TDs through the air. The trio of Davon Martin, Silas Jones, and Kingston Merritt give the Colts plenty of weapons in the passing game. Martin and Merritt have 12 of the team's 14 receiving TDs this season. Levi Riordan leads the DeSales defense with 48 total tackles on the year. The Colts are coming off a 49-8 win over district foe Waggener, who is winless. Raymond Cornish is the starting QB for the Chargers for a second year. He's had 499 yards through the air and 199 on the ground. He has rushed for five TDs. RBs Jadon Logan (537 yards rushing, 3TDs) and LeeDrick Washington (288 yards rushing, 6TDs) have been two of their best offensive weapons. The Chargers have three times held their opponent scoreless. Albeit it to winless (without Valley forfeit) Shawnee and 2-win Iroquois. They are coming off a 26-15 loss to district foe Doss where they got run all over. I like the Colts in this one but could see another close battle between these two.

Has been a really good rivalry as of late. Have a lot of respect for both of these small school programs. KCD looks to be stronger this season than the Cougars.

Among the teams in Louisville that may not be on a ton of folks radar but could possibly make some noise. CAL went 16-12 last season and was 5-7 in region play. The Centurions ended the year with a loss to Ballard in OT in the 28th district quarterfinals. CAL had wins over Ballard and Manual in the regular season. Also hung in losses with Male, Trinity, and St. Xavier closer than many may have expected. The Centurion's lose their top two players who are both now playing college ball. Jackson Washington at FGCU and Nolan Wahl who's at Centre. Top returners are Connor Hodge and Jayden Washington. Hodge was their third-leading scorer. An ECU football commit (WR), he has stepped into the QB role for CAL this fall. He averaged 10.4 points per game last season. He was one of multiple multi-sport guys for CAL last season along with another returner in sophomore Garyon Hobbs (4.4 ppg). He's a big football talent on both sides of the football and already holds offers from UofL, UK, and others. Haven't heard any rumblings that those two won't be back out this winter but you never know. Washington had 226 points last winter and averaged 8.1 per game. He's arguably their best pure basketball talent back from last season. Could CAL be a serious contender in the 7th region? Probably not. But certainly a team that could make some noise and especially so after putting together a solid campaign a year ago.

Ballard's win over Trinity in 2022 was the Bruins' first in the series since 1995. One of just three Ballard wins over Trinity since 1990.

I'm right there with you. Can pick out 1-2 drives a game where they looked good to great but that's it. Won a lot of ugly games this year.

Trinity (5-2) will welcome Ballard (2-4) to Marshall Stadium on Friday night. Trinity is coming off a defensive battle versus Cincinnati st. Xavier in which the Rocks on 7-3. Ballard comes in after dropping their last contest 43-42 in Overtime at Simon Kenton. The Bruins have had some more competitive contests versus the Rocks over the past five or so years, which includes a 14-9 Ballard win in 2021. But the Rocks do just have that one loss to Ballard since 1995. Trinity will be heavily favored in this one. This game is the start of the district stretch for these two squads as they each play district teams each of the next three weeks. After a scoreless week one versus South Warren, Ballard has been able to put up double digits week in and week out. Junior Qb Larry Irvin is the signal-caller for the Bruins with JR slot WR Daelen Thompson being his top target in the passing game. JR RB Lamar Hockersmith has led the rushing attack while QB Irvin can also use his legs. Can this offense, which does have some speed and athleticism, give the Trinity D any fits? Especially in the secondary? For Trinity, we know it has been a defensive led team all year. The past two weeks have been especially rough for the Shamrocks' offense. The Rocks have just two TDs since the Male game and the passing game has gone bye bye since the win at Carmel. Johnson has seven INTs on the year with five of them coming the past two games (2 vs X and 3 vs Cincy X). Sophomore star RB JB Berry came off the field late vs St. X with an injury. He missed last week versus Cincy X. We shall see what this week holds for the T running game which also has two proven options in Zach Floyd and Christopher Wilson. Sophomore Benji Rice (recent transfer from Cincy Moeller) has also entered the conversation to an extent. Can't lookahead ever, but from what we've seen this year, the Rocks should be able to handle the Bruins, even if it might not be the prettiest win. Use this week to hit the rest button on offense. Get the gears rolling on Friday the push towards the playoffs intensifies.

A battle between two good defenses in this one for sure. Neither offense could find much breathing room at all. Trinity had 163 yards of offense while Cincy X had 112. T was riddled with the turnover bug. Johnson threw three picks. Rocks defense with a couple big stands to stall X drives. Including in the fourth quarter when X got within striking distance and had to settle for a field goal. To the question from @fatsnbul, JB Berry left the game vs St. X last week with an apparent lower-body injury late. Christopher Wilson led the rushing attack tonight. Wilson had a couple of big ones late to help the Rocks run that clock down.

Yes. I haven't seen much more than clips and a little bit of that Moeller game. I am sure he will give the T D-Line some trouble. Not sure about the rest of that O-line. If they are even close to as big as the Center Grove (Ind.) O-Line I would be worried.

Trinity (4-2) welcomes Cincinnati St. Xavier (3-2) to Marshall Stadium on Friday night. It will be the 14th meeting all-time between the schools with Cincy X holding a 6-7 lead in the series. Meeting each of the past three years, Trinity has won each meeting and hasn’t lost to the Bombers since 2010. The Shamrocks are coming off a hard loss versus arch rival St. Xavier. The Bombers are coming off a 22-17 win versus Elder (Ohio), who beat St. Xavier on a last second field goal the week prior to their Trinity win. The Bombers won on a last minute TD. Trinity has been a very poor first half team each of their last two games. The Rocks trailed Male 21-6 at the break before coming back to win. They trailed St. X 16-3 at the break before losing 16-10. The Shamrocks Defense has been its strength and especially the D-Line as that group has come up big this season in key moments. Offensively, Trinity looks to still be trying to find an identity. The passing game has been tough to materialize most games. Sophomore QB Zane Johnson’s most reliable target is senior Jeremiah Lynn. He had the only TD last game vs St. X. Sophomore RB Jamaurion Berry has been great in the running game and been the Rocks’ most consistently reliable offensive weapon. All said, need to see a complete game from Trinity. The Rocks have yet to put one together and have looked pretty sloppy even in wins. A fast start to set the tone early would be wonderful. The Bombers are led by QB Chase Herbstreit (yes, Kirk’s son). He leads them with 816 passing yards on the year with eight TDs. He is also the team’s leading rusher with 437 yards and six TDs. Juniors WR Cam Taylor, RB Jake Britt, and QB/ATH Daniel Vollmer are the other weapons Trinity will need to stop. Judging by defensive stats, looks like Cincy X has been balanced but have had some games where the opposition was able to throw all over them. Also have some really good games vs the run. Their stud DL committed to Notre Dame is out for the year. Junior Linebacker Kobe Clapper leads the team with 45 tackles. He’s a 4-star per 247 and holds offers from the likes of UofL, UK, Cincinnati, Ohio State, Michigan, ND, and plenty of others. Trinity does not shy away from competition ever in scheduling. This can be expected to be another tough one for the Shamrocks. And especially coming after that loss to St. Xavier. I’ve said it before this season but we will get to see how this team with many younger guys comes out and responds.

X set the tone from the get-go with that Marlon Harbin 80-yard TD run on the first play. At their place, that is exactly what the Tigers wanted to do. Harbin carried the Tigers and Trinity couldn't stop him. The X D-line was solid all night it seemed. Constantly rattling Johnson and forcing him to run. Also gave the T running game a lot of trouble. Trinity once again came out looking flat. Another bad start and they couldn't come back from that. Second half saw them get some rhythm and the defense did a much better job holding the Tigers. Looked for a minute like it might have a finish similar to the Male game but the Rocks couldn't finish. The Rocks have not put together a complete game yet this season. Offense still needs to find an identity. Can't rely on Berry to come to the rescue every game (he left tonight with an injury late in 2nd half). Passing game was horrible tonight minus a couple good passes, including the Jeremiah Lynn TD. Had multiple clear missed drops that could've been big momentum changers. At the end of the day, if you remove Harbin's game-opening TD this was a pretty even game. Both sides struggled at times to move the ball. X was able to get the momentum early and made more explosive plays and it made all the difference. If these two do indeed meet again in the playoffs we shall see what will transpire. For now, the series sits at 50-41-2 with Trinity leading. The Tigers' win tonight snaps a two-game losing streak against Trinity.

Caught the end of the third quarter and entire fourth of this one. Back and fourth game all the way judging by the score updates. 20-20 entering the fourth with Paintsville driving. The Tigers got within inches of the end zone and on fourth down was ruled to have come up short. Leslie Co. takes over and after a false start penalty on the first play attempt the Eagles throw a 98-yard TD pass. PAT attempt hits off both uprights. 26-20 Leslie with 6:32 left. Paintsville, riding the back of RB Cedric Stewart looked to be putting together another strong drive. A fumble on the handoff with 3:17 left inside Leslie territory essentially ended things. Leslie was able to run the clock down to just seconds left when punted away. Paintsville, in the shadow of their own end zone, with just seconds left couldn't get any luck. Stats per the broadcast: Landry Collett was 11-for-21 and 305 yards passing for Leslie Co. Paintsville had 245 yards on the ground. 153 yards on 19 carries for Stewart. Leslie County moves to 4-2 on the year. Had winless Danville up next. Paintsville drops to 1-5 with East Ridge coming to town next week.

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You are correct. Had forgotten they met twice that year as well.

Fourth time actually. 1961 at T, 2020 at X, 2023 playoffs at T, 2024 at X. The game even in the the yearly years was played at the Fairgrounds, as well as at Manual Stadium for a lesser amount of time. Manual Stadium actually was a "home" for Trinity for a number of years before they started playing on campus.

100% agree. Was no reason to postpone. We shall see how things go tomorrow. Will be just the third time the Shamrocks and Tigers have met in an on-campus game.