PtownDude

The ol' rope-a-dope! Caldwell once won a regional softball championship by throwing an eighth grader against Christian County during the regular season then bringing out the ace in the regional final. Murray probably figured it had one shot to beat Caldwell, no sense wasting it during the regular season. Even with everything that went wrong for Caldwell, it still had chances to pull this one out, just didn't get it done. Murray had more players that played hard and executed than did Caldwell. Plain and simple. You win games by making plays.

If I'm Murray, I take a page from the Union playbook. I hold as many Caldwell receivers as I can and hope to get away with it enough to make a few stops. If you can do that, and mount enough time-consuming drives to limit Caldwell's total possessions in the game to only 9-10 — and finish drives with touchdowns — then Murray can make a game of it. My final this week: Caldwell 49, Murray 28.

Murray held Caldwell to its lowest point total of the season in the first meeting. I'm not sure that means anything, other than Caldwell's offense is really, really good!

Caldwell didn't play well the first time the two teams met and still won 57-20. I saw the film of the OCath game with the blatant holding on Union that was never called. Funny thing was, OCath got called for pass interference a couple of times on what looked like clean plays. I'm never really sure what high school football officials are watching during the game. Union may want to worry more about holding Caldwell's running backs. The Tigers ran for 388 yards the first time the two teams played. And, strangely enough, a Union team that likes to run the football, had much more success passing against Caldwell the first time. Union had just seven yards rushing but threw for 353. Union also picked off Sindelar twice in that game. I think Union's best chance would be to get Caldwell on a muddy field, but the weather forecast looks pretty dry this week. I'll say Caldwell 70, Union 28.

College coaches are looking at Jaylen Boyd as a DB from what I can tell. Some of the kids on the team say he is the best DB on the team, but Caldwell obviously needs him at RB and they aren't real keen on playing him both ways. He has good speed, hits the hole well and is elusive in the open field. I think most colleges just don't think he's big enough to play RB, at least at an FBS school. I do think he'll eventually start getting offers. With so many people watching Sindelar, the other kids on Caldwell's team certainly have a nice stage to show what they can do as well.

He picked up the Murray State offer week before last. He may also have an offer from Bowling Green. I think Sindelar eventually gets offers from Louisville, Purdue and Tennessee, among others. Purdue is the sleeper in my opinion. He really liked his trip up there and Purdue is in need of a QB (and is a great engineering school). Sindelar could get offers from Ohio State and Alabama, but from what I can tell he is their backup option at this point. He may also want to play baseball, so that could figure into his final choice.

Eli Pepper is a junior. He's drawing a lot of basketball interest. I think Stanford is even interested, Southern Miss, Rice, Tulsa. Lots of interest, but I haven't heard any offers yet. He had quit football because of a leg injury and didn't play last year. I think his older brother joining the coaching staff this year was a big reason he came back out for football. And it probably didn't hurt that Caldwell was going to be really, really good. I think his future is basketball. He's also a pretty good pitcher on the baseball team.

Curious how you came about the 5300 number. We "guessed" around 5500.

It's Sindelar's second SEC offer. He has several other offers (couple of MAC teams, WKU, Murray State).

What a hard-hitting ballgame! Incredible atmosphere at Tiger Stadium. It was like being at a college game. I didn't believe the game could live up to the hype, but it may have surpassed it!

I think the score of the game will dictate how long Caldwell's starters stay in. Which, come to think of it, has pretty much been the case all season, I guess.

IMHO, Mayfield has always been good because they are so good up front. To me, that's Caldwell's biggest challenge this week, not any of the other stuff that keeps getting bandied about. If Caldwell's offensive line can give Sindelar time he will find receivers and the Tigers will make plays on offense. Caldwell's O-line is pretty good in its own right, especially pass blocking. Defensively, I don't think Caldwell will get a ton of pressure on Guhy, but the Tigers do need to slow down the Mayfield run game and make a few stops here or there. Caldwell's defense will give up some yardage, but seems to get better as the field gets shorter. This Caldwell team is leaps and bounds ahead of where it was last year at this time. Sindelar is not the same kid that got off the bus at Mayfield. Will that be enough to beat Mayfield? We'll find out Friday night. I have to admit, I really want the teams to put on a show! I want to see 5-6,000 crammed into Tiger Stadium and I want to see a football game we'll talk about for ages. We can all get serious about things again in the playoffs.

Some additional info for those coming to the game. Caldwell's seniors, including 18 football players and 2 managers, will be honored before the game. Caldwell's 1963 state championship team will be recognized at halftime. Big night in these parts.

It's Sindelar. Or do I have to start calling Mayfield's quarterback Gooey! :lol2:

I would expect Caldwell's schedule next season will be about the same as this season. I don't see Caldwell playing Tilghman or McCracken anytime soon, unless Tilghman and Caldwell end up in the same district with the next realignment.

The only reserved seats are the chairbacks on the Caldwell side. I doubt there will be any advanced ticket sales. Caldwell doesn't usually sell tickets early, but they should probably think about it this week. If they don't, there are going to be some awfully long lines about 6:30. I don't think some people here comprehend how many people are going to be here, especially if the weather doesn't turn south on us. As far as tailgating, there are lots of places right around the stadium where you could set up shop. There is lots of open space behind the visitors side of the field. I think the Caldwell tailgaters were typically setting up around 5:00 this year over near the fieldhouse but I bet they'll be there earlier this week.

7:00

I'm already expecting a crowd of about 5,000 on Friday. If it's warm and dry, everybody might not get in!:clap: I'll be disappointed if this isn't by far the biggest crowd to show up at Tiger Stadium. Caldwell has had a large following all year, Mayfield travels well and I think a lot of people just want to see No. 1 vs. No. 1. If you're coming to the game, get there early. I'm sure there will be Tiger fans at the stadium tailgating Friday afternoon.

I would tend to agree that McCracken County is better than any team Caldwell County has played this season, and that Mayfield is the best team on Caldwell's schedule. However, I think some are discounting Caldwell's offensive prowess and strong kicking game. I don't see an advantage for Mayfield in those areas. A push at best. I do think Mayfield is the better defensive team. I would note though that a lot of the points Caldwell has given up this year has been with the JV on the field. Also, Caldwell could be averaging a lot more than 51 points a game this season if it wanted to. The only team I've really seen slow down Caldwell's offense this year is Caldwell. The Tigers will shoot themselves in the foot sometimes with penalties. As usual, the game will be won up front, IMHO. I think this is a great test for Caldwell, because Mayfield will be as good as anybody the Tigers will see in the 2A playoffs, again IMHO.

If you get to Pagliai's at 4 pm you may not get a table. I'm expecting a crazy crowd in Princeton on Friday, namely the largest crowd to ever watch a football game in our fair city! First team to 50 wins it. Caldwell 52, Mayfield 45. Good luck finding a seat at the game.

Caldwell ran 10 offensive plays in the first half. Scored 42 points and had 300 yards of offense, in the first half. Elijah Sindelar was 6 of 7 for 236 yards and 5 TDs passing, in one half. Time of possession in first half: Crittenden 21:44. Caldwell 2:16.

I was a little surprised at how Murray tried to defend Caldwell. If you leave the middle of the field open, you're just asking to give up big plays. And that's exactly what happened. Murray was able to control the clock with its ground game. But Caldwell still scored 42 points and had 439 yards on just 40 offensive plays and had the ball for just 14:02. I really thought Murray should have kept the ball on the ground more. I think they really out-thought themselves. In my opinion, Murray killed some of its own drives by trying to throw the ball. They actually threw it more times (17) than Caldwell (13). I wouldn't be surprised if we see Murray-Caldwell again in the playoffs.

I have heard both cusswords and the racial epithets during handshake lines, not to mention seeing players put stuff on their hands to slap on their opponents during the line. Not everyone is out there saying "good game" and I'm not speaking only about players. Pretty sorry, I know, but I knew it was just a matter of time before the KHSAA did something about it. Of course, about all the KHSAA did was say "we're not responsible" but it did at least address the issue.

Sindelar has played well this season but not great. He still has some mechanics issues as far as throwing off his back foot sometimes and sailing passes over his receivers. Overall, I think he has done about what was expected of him. He has very strong numbers and Caldwell County is 7-0. In other words, can't complain about his effort but he still has room for improvement.

When Caldwell County beat Calloway County 80-62 two years ago, I didn't think Caldwell had the game won until it got to 73!:lol2: I grew up thinking scoring 40 points was a bunch. I'm still not sure what to make of some of these offenses and some of the lopsided scores.