CoachStew

We don't have a prevent. We continued to do what we do. There were some kids who got out of position by alignment which is a credit to Collins in how they lined up. When Collins got down to the red zone the chess match was in the timeout with I think a minute and some change. There was still time and our Offense proved they could score quickly and we were going for two then. We told our kids to let them score. Collins anticipated this and did what they should have by inching forward and keeping the clock moving knowing we were out of timeouts.

He had several D1 schools contacting him/us and quite a few in the building talking to him. Obviously his size and natural arm strength stand out. His mediocre numbers this season were put up with a patchwork O-line, hardly a run game to speak of, and against one of the toughest schedules/best competition in the state. Unfortunately he may be a victim of higher level D1 schools using portal/NIL. Wherever he lands they will be getting a great QB and expect to see him be part of that transfer portal moving up early.

Collins did some really good things to jump on Woodford early in game one. Credit to Woodford there was no panic. Having one or two better athletes in the trenches and secondary/receivers gave Woodford the edge. Although after the way they lost to Woodford, and leaving Dixie having nearly the same result in the same way, we can expect a much closer contest. If I recall, Collins QB was just coming back off injury as well so there was some rust to knock off. If Collins can force Woodford to run more, shorten the clock, and get some pressure, they have a real good shot here. I'm going to take Woodford in a nail biter. I'm thinking 38-28 or in that range.

Congrats to Collins on the win. Coach Lucas and his staff were class acts prior to and after the game. Big shout out to the crowd that was on hand, I loved that environment tonight. More than anything I am so proud of the way our kids battled back into this game. Nothing to hang their heads about at all, they went down fighting to the very last second. Heartbroken for the seniors this group has been a really good group to coach. This one stings for sure but you love to coach in games like this. Best of luck and health the rest of the way to Collins.

Because as soon as we did, he read it, and it was Q keep and he ran right by us. Hope that answers your question.

Any updates or links to live streams for this one?

Having seen these two up close and personal, I am in agreement with how you have them rated. I am also in agreement that Coopers win over Ryle was a massive one for them this season which should give you a moment of pause but I do believe in that contest Ryle had a few key players out.

I sure did not have this on my bingo card. Wow.

The bye week was not good to us. Preparing for a physical team with size to boot is damn near impossible. Ryle is the real deal. Unfortunately we limped into this game, and limped right back out. As physical as Ryle was tonight I am glad we sat a few kids in preparation for next week. I'll call my shot now, a healthy Ryle will be playing for a title. I do not get a vote, but I will say this... Savage would get my nod for Mr. Kentucky Football. Playing both ways and still doing what he does, fun to watch as a casual observer, a nightmare from the other sideline. The schedule we play allows me to have see some of the best athletes in NKY if not the state over a lot of seasons. Savage is the real deal and the best we have seen this season by a mile. Congrats to Ryle and best of luck and health in the coming weeks.

So I think that means the final standing were... please correct if wrong 1 - Highlands (10-0) 2 - Covington Catholic (8-2) 3 - Dixie (7-3) 4 - Ryle (5-4) 5 - Beechwood (5-5) 6 - Cooper (5-6)

I wouldn't say CovCath dominated, but they did the little things right to control the clock and keep the sticks moving like good teams should. Two of their scores were on deep passes where our secondary was in great coverage. First one our corner tripped on his turn, second was under thrown but the receiver made a great adjustment back to the ball to grab it and run it in. Some of their drives were extended by unforced errors on our end like a LOT of missed tackles and penalties but we were in good spots. The Blue Colonels had a a great day running the ball. Proud of the freshman squad for not giving up and continuing to battle. We felt as a staff the physicality we have been showing in weeks past didn't really show up tonight, it was only in spurts. Lots to clean up. Congrats to CovCath and best of luck and health against Highlands next week... Go get it.

Rex, the issue with that is in NKY we all play on Saturday mornings... except for Scott High who inexplicably stopped two seasons ago and started playing Mondays.

District 5/6 matchups are almost set I believe. The Collins/South Oldham contest will determine the last two spots. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong... I am not sure where Round 2 matchups land after this. Round 1: #1 Woodford will host #4 Boone County #2 Scott County will host #3 Connor #1 Cooper will host #4 Collins/South Oldham #2 Dixie will host #3 South Oldham/Collins

21-13 Dixie.

Start with a mid level 6A team, an Ohio top 25 team, Beechwood, CovCath, Cooper, Ryle more than half of Dixie's schedule is pretty rough. Believe me, it's a gauntlet. Then the sister district having Scott County and Woodford.... brutal.

Screaming this from the mountain tops! Not all schools have the depth of the blue bloods. In some cases the best 11 ARE out on the field they just might not match up well with a bigger faster stronger kid. Talent is cyclical in most schools outside of the usual suspects. No need to blast a kid, and sometimes understand some of the best coaching is going on at losing programs where these volunteers are doing the best they can with they got (facilities, equipment, admin support, etc.)

With respect to both of you above, it's a little bit of both really. It's fair to say we are middle of the road but that is still no excuse for the train wreck this past Friday. It's also fair to say no coach out there calls a perfect game, and there are other contributing factors. We are still running back by committee due to injuries and our run game is stagnate at best. Our O-line is still young yes and we lost our starting center to Winton Woods days before the season started. We know what Mason is capable of and he showed that time and again last season (with no protection). He's been great all summer and his bad first half against SK along with no running game hurt us in that contest. We wished we could get that one back. Friday receivers were in some really good spots wide open and just dropped passes. Then the turnovers were very uncharacteristic of Mason... also give some credit to Badin as they are a top 20 team in southwest Ohio. As far as talent we do have a few dudes in the locker room and in the pipeline for the first time in a long time. Bottom line... there is plenty of blame to put on our staff and I for one don't duck that. Any criticism comes with the job and right now is warranted. Would I like it to be based with at least some objectivity sure. Claims like "no halftime adjustments" just make you shake your head. Sure it's catchy when you watch CBS on Saturday but any coach out there will tell you adjustments are continuous throughout the game. If you are not doing that you are in dereliction of your duties as a coach. We make them, and just like other teams, they don't always work. Couple that with kids having some kid moments as well and you get 0-2. So we take a look at what we got, and where we can make changes, we do. Where we can improve, we try. Our team doesn't have any room for error. We want to win, I know the work these kids put in for us every single day and they deserve to feel that. I'll close with saying we have a solid staff doing the best we can with what we got. And we have a great group of kids that play hard, play for each other, and the Diva issues of the past have been weeded out. Nobody in Dixieland is happy right now, least of all our locker room.

He's been our biggest fan for a few seasons now. I think we are finally starting to win him over.

I love this job. I love these kids. I really love our Team. Last week we felt we beat ourselves. Tonight, we got our (butts) whipped by a really good team. Nobody is happy about it. I certainly make no excuses for it. You can’t give good teams short fields. You can’t play inspired defense for 3 downs and blow assignments on the 4th. You can’t blow coverages and get caught looking in the back field. You can’t have false start penalties that take your offense backwards. You can’t have 6 or 7 dropped wide open passes that would have extended drives. You can’t turn the ball over 6 (I think) times. Special teams being 1/3 of the game did us no favors… like at all. In short, we had our chances tonight early as we started to claw back and then shot ourselves in the foot. We got some key stops on defense and then again…. shot ourselves in the foot. Another way to put it, undisciplined and really sloppy. The unforced errors tonight killed any chance at making this a game. However, I love these kids, and I really love our Team.

Couple opinions on anyone who is on a sideline for a game is pretty simple. As a coach, the sideline is sacred, but not off limits. I just want them to stay out of the way, don’t be a distraction, stay out of the water and try not to take pictures of kids on the trainer’s table after an injury. Photographers: If you are a photographer/videographer from the other team, stick to your side of the field, goal post to goal post. Very few exceptions for photographers who actually take pictures of the game for all participants involved (Granger comes to mind). Most of the professionals who do this week in and week out know when and where to be, have lenses that can see into the future, and do it for the right reasons and not just one student athlete. Student Photogs: It’s a big pet peeve of mine to have “student photogs” who are weaving in and out of the kids right up next to the chains, officials, and coaches to get a good shot “For the yearbook” and look at you like you are in their way, not the other way around. Then the kids on the sideline all start to pay more attention to their next pose instead of where their focus needs to be… on the game. Parents: The parents taking pictures are in similar boats but at least after a talk, have a better understanding of when and where to be and why. * Parents from the other team should know there is no reason to be on the opposing side taking video but it does happen. Example: Without using names or schools we had a parent literally up and down our sideline taking video of their son during a game. After a cordial discussion the parent would not leave our side of the field. I am fortunate to have that Schools AD as a neighbor and after a phone call the issue was resolved without incident and it did not escalate. And I think that is my biggest concern, any escalation or “misunderstanding” that jeopardizes the safety of our student athletes.

Another positive for Coach Lefors in the new role is that he inherits two Kentucky boys on his roster. So he should feel right at home as he gets settled in. Jacob Hundley from Jackson County and my son Brayden Stewart from Dixie. He met with the staff and team after the news went public and was well received by the team. He gets an enthusiastic group of kids who just genuinely love the game and want to play. He got a chance to check out the new At&T 5G football helmet that made its debut last season. Staffing can be a challenge there because of the communication. Recruiting can be an issue too because it's hard to find deaf kids that are good at football. But due to the fact they accept not only deaf, but also hard of hearing and CODAS, the numbers aren't bad. Super stoked for him to get to work on his next chapter.

Two seasons ago I would agree yes, we were a very good and very competitive team. The only team we felt “beat” us was Highlands. And full credit to them, two seasons in a row they dictated every facet of the games played against us. Any of our other losses we beat ourselves with a play here or there. The biggest game that sealed our fate was the Cooper loss. We felt that had we got their path in the postseason who knows what could have transpired. I appreciate the vote of confidence but no, this past season absolutely not a top 10. We just did not have the depth, health, or maturity to keep anyone close. I am very proud of the fight we showed even late in bad games, but we were too injured and young. There were flashes with those young ones which is why we expect to be better this season. I cannot stress enough despite the record; it was probably one of this staff’s best jobs. Armani was supposed to play both ways, but he had been fighting a lower extremity injury since week two and playing with one arm. His safety was more important. We are excited to have the numbers for a legit freshman schedule and a staff dedicated to them. Yes, we were able to get good teams in 3rd and 4th down situations. But as good teams will do, they exploited the areas where we were weakest and as I stated in my post, you look up and down the sideline and we just did not have the horses. A lot of fair criticisms and interesting observations here.

Scouting us was easy this past season. Undersized and inexperienced up front, stop Armani Gregg, and put the game on a QB’s shoulders we couldn’t protect. Defensively we lost a really good coordinator, and we had young players in key spots on the line and secondary. It was easy for teams to pick on the sophomores and when you looked up and down our sideline, we just had no miracle fix for our ills. And I won’t get into special teams my new year’s resolution is to drink less. If you were a Dixie parent, we as a staff sucked. If you were in our locker room, you know what a hell of a job those guys did day in and day out to field a somewhat competitive team with JV players. The schedule stays pretty tough sledding for us. We needed a good replacement for Hughes and could not pass an opportunity to play a quality team across the river in Badin. Also, after Highlands dropped us to go after bigger fish we had to go with who was available. Just so happens it was a 5A team in Henry Clay. As a team for the first time in a long time, there is no household name on the roster. Offensively we will be younger but bigger up front (possibly better). The size we have coming up the pipeline right now we haven’t had since the 2020-ish season. Still young but it’s exciting. The weight room has been good to us with several sophomores already in the 1,000lb club. We are cautiously optimistic about both sides of the line. We know we have something special at QB. If we give him time no question he will be a top 10 in 5A minimum. We also have a complimentary gritty running back and a stable at receiver. Defensively we have a lot of question marks but not necessarily a bad thing. I am excited to see how the competition for some of these spots will shape out. Happy with what we have coming back, excited for the younger guys who got significant playing time to show some growth and take the next step. Our secondary won’t be as immature and porous as this past season. In short, we expect to be competitive and if we stay healthy, be in a good position to win ballgames this season.

Not knowing anything about Great Crossing I have to say congrats on a great run. Great season for that squad by any measure. If they have a chance here it's that they have found ways to stay close with some good teams. I got into the Ryle film and here is why I am going with the Raiders. They have a really good defense. You know you are having a good season when your LB's and D-line are your leading tacklers. We (Dixie) had one of the best rushers in 5A and found it tough sledding against their box. They can and will make you one dimensional and the dimension they dictate to you, is not the one you want. I won't say their secondary is stingy but they are very opportunistic. Offensively Verax has gotten better with the turnovers that plagued him seasons past. He is shifty and can get yards if he needs. Obviously the Raiders can run the ball. Hands down one of the top O-Lines I had the displeasure of game planning for. Their interior O-line is not only good, they are exceptional. I know Coach Engler has had some ups and downs in Union but he put together a solid group of coaches and has the program going in a good direction.

Went back through the film of these two teams. My goodness they are really good at what they want to do. And they also have their kids in great spots to do it. I’m like most folks here I believe this will be a close game and a high scoring affair. The crap weather conditions lead to both teams slowing down and taking what was given in round one. This time around I fully expect both teams to go off. This will be an exciting game and whoever wins this contest (my opinion) will be hoisting the trophy. I believe that team will be Cooper this week. O’Hara has too many weapons at his disposal and not only can he make all the throws, his receivers can make all the catches. If not for Alexander being out a couple games he may have had 3 receivers in the top 15 in 5A. While everyone points to the passing game they have quietly ran the ball very effectively and have a top 10 rusher in Maher. This team is a match-up nightmare to plan for. For the Birds to have a chance they will have to find a way to pressure O’Hara and get him off the X. Clock management, and the run game has to show up for the Birds this week. The pressure is on Cooper for this one so by keeping close, maybe the ol psychological edge goes to Highlands. Litmer can pick you apart if you are not careful; this is why I think the game stays relatively close. Highlands is structured for a shootout like this, so if they prevail it would not surprise me. However, I believe that for as good as Highlands can be, they are still young, and a player or two away from competing with the Jags. *Bold prediction* Highlands will run the table next season as a top 5 team in this state. They have had some very nice contributions from younger players and will be stacked for 2025. I am glad we don’t have to be one of their victims.