thegeneral

Agree. I haven't heard this one, but I've heard others do it. They need to remember it ain't radio, and it ain't about them. We can see the game and the plays; just tell us who the players are. Less is almost always more.

Story and stats from the first meeting from amnews.com, FYI: Turnovers doom Mercer in 34-6 loss at Lexington Catholic

Dec. 6 (1A, 3A, 6A) Dec. 7 (2A, 4A, 5A)

Here's an early story on the game from amnews.com: Mercer stuns previously unbeaten Boyle 31-30 in Class AAAA playoffs

This is why I think it goes to VII. But what do I know? I didn't even consider the possibility that those three Danville opponents would win.

Not so fast, my friends. I assumed some losses that didn't actually occur, and as gchsuk9 points out, Danville and Somerset remain tied for the No. 2 seed at this hour with 15 points each. However, I read Application VI to apply to ties involving more than three teams. If that's true and it doesn't apply, that would take us to Application VII: the Board of Control. The stakes are high here, as the difference is a home game vs. Shelby Valley for the No. 2 see and a long, long trip to Betsy Layne for the No. 3 seed.

My bad, I looked for a thread and didn't see one. Still don't, but please delete this if it's a duplicate.

Final from Danville. Frankfort finishes the regular-season 8-2; Danville finishes 5-5. The game had playoff implications for the Admirals, who finished in a three-way tie for the District 2A-7 title and needed a win to get one of the top two seeds. They finished third in the tiebreaker behind Middlesboro (1) and Somerset (2) and will play a first-round playoff game at Betsy Layne.

And now, a word about Jawan Grey. Admiral. You could describe Grey as a talented player, a hard worker, one of the leaders of his team. But in a season in which Danville is attempting to redefine itself, perhaps the best way to describe him is to say that no one has defined what it means to be an Admiral quite like Grey. Grey, a senior running back-defensive back, isn’t the only player who has done good things at Danville this season, though he has been one of the most productive players for the Admirals. And he probably isn’t the only player who has a grasp of the history and tradition of Danville football and his place in it, though he surely does. But Grey seems to be as good an ambassador for Danville football as anyone on the current roster, someone who appreciates what the Admirals have done in the past and is doing his best to make sure they are still relevant for the forseeable future. Consider, for instance, what Grey said Sept. 27 after what might have been the Admirals’ most important win of the season, a 48-34 victory at Green County 48-34 that followed back-to-back blowout losses and an open week during which half a dozen or so players left the team. “We needed to send a message that Danville football is not dead,” Grey told The Advocate-Messenger after that game. “We’ve all heard the talk that this is not like past Danville teams. Our seniors are not going to let this thing collapse.” Certainly, nothing has collapsed at Danville, though it seemed before that win as though it might. The Admirals are 5-4, and tonight Grey and his fellow seniors will play what could be their final game at Admiral Stadium, a game against Frankfort that will determine whether they open the Class 2A playoffs at home or on the road. Grey and everyone else on the team must have been apprehensive about what lay ahead for them last winter when longtime coach Sam Harp resigned and Clay Clevenger, one of Harp’s former players, came from Henderson County to take his place. Grey said before the season that the changes Clevenger introduced required some adjustment on the part of the players, but he also embraced the discipline and commitment the new coach required. Clevenger said after the win at Green that Grey had taken ownership of the team, citing him as an example of “players who want to represent the program the right way and will play hard.” Grey, a three-sport star (football, basketball, track and field) made some of the biggest plays in that game, rushing for a career-high 297 yards and four touchdowns, catching a couple of passes and getting an interception. And he has made some of the biggest plays all season long. He surpassed 1,000 rushing yards last week and currently has a total of 1,047 yards and 14 touchdowns, with two games of more than 200 yards, he is the team’s No. 2 receiver and has two touchdown catches, and he has made a number of big defensive plays as well. It’s impossible to know what the future holds for Danville, either in the remaining games of this season or in the years to come. Grey won't be on the field beyond this fall, but if the Admirals continue to thrive and contend for championships, he’ll deserve at least some of the credit for helping the program stay competitive during an important time of transition.

That makes a lot of sense, and 4,000 might be stretching it these days. The Boyle-Lexington Catholic game didn't even fill Boyle's stadium this year.

Mercer is bidding for its second consecutive winning season; Dunbar is trying for its first since 2005.

Garrard tries to clinch a winning season, West Jessamine tries to get to .500 in the first meeting between the teams since 2010.

Final from Harrodsburg. Boyle wins a defensive struggle to take the district title in 4A-5. The Rebels had the ball only twice in the first half and led 7-0, then scored again with under 4 minutes left. The Titans contained Boyle's running game but couldn't take advantage of their chances on offense. Boyle is first, Mercer is third in their district. Boyle will host Clay County and Mercer visits Knox Central for first-round playoff games, both for the second year in a row.

The Somerset win makes for a three-way tie, which might give Danville a shot at No. 1 if it beats Frankfort and can count Frankfort's wins in the tiebreaker.

Levi McKinney is one of those guys who doesn’t miss too many plays. And he’s one of those guys who wouldn’t have it any other way. That, of course, does not make McKinney unique. On any given Friday night, at almost any game in Kentucky, you can find plenty of players who play both offense and defense. Even at schools like Boyle County, the Class 4A school for which McKinney plays, two-way players are commonplace, even necessary in a year such as this when the Rebels’ roster is smaller than normal. And while a number of them have helped the Rebels get to where they are this season, McKinney has been as valuable as any of them on both sides of the ball. McKinney, who plays tight end or wide receiver on offense and linebacker on defense, has had a big year both on offense and on defense for Boyle, which is 8-0 and ranked No. 2 in Class 4A heading into its final district game Friday night at Mercer County. The senior is the Rebels’ co-leader in receptions with 17 catches for 304 yards and two touchdowns, and he shares the team lead in tackles with 77 — 9.6 per game — and leads the team in interceptions (three) and fumble recoveries (two). “It’s my senior year, and I’m trying to go out with a bang, trying to help my teammates the best I can and just play my heart out,” McKinney said. He was a key contributor on both sides of the ball last season, when he had seven receptions for 111 yards and one touchdown on offense and 47 tackles and one interception on defense. “I just used that as motivation,” he said. McKinney started for about half of the 2012 season on defense and rotated in as a reserve on offense. Now he’s on the field for almost every play, and he said he much prefers that to the view from the sideline. He is one of several players who have excelled on both sides of the ball this fall for Boyle. For example, Seph Burke is the leading rusher and shares the team lead in tackles, Josiah Robbins is a threat to pass or run at quarterback and has made several big plays in the secondary, Aiden Stewart-Hoskins has been valuable at linebacker as well as in the offensive backfield, and some linemen such as Austin Bell and Justin Roution also play both ways. “It’s the Boyle County way. You have to work your hardest, just do the technique you’ve been taught, even if you’re tired,” McKinney said. “It’s not about us; it’s about who played here before us.” Many of those who came before the current crop of players and who helped the Rebels win or contend for championships were two-way players as well, but such players might be even more important this year, as the Rebels are dressing just over 40 players. Boyle doesn't have the market cornered on two-way players by any means, and a number of other schools in the higher classifications make good use of them as well. One of the keys to making that work, of course, is conditioning, and Boyle has done a good job over the years of developing and conditioning players who can make plays in the fourth quarter as well as the first. “We condition all summer, and we’re still conditioning after practice,” McKinney said. The Rebels build up much of their endurance at Jabez, where they sequester themselves every August at a 4-H camp near Lake Cumberland for the most intense week of the season, and Boyle players and coaches often shout “Jabez!” when the time comes to suck it up for a critical play or series, especially late in the game. “It’s pretty hard, but whatever it takes to win, and its amazing to come together as a football team down there,” McKinney said. And if that’s what it takes to prepare players like McKinney to be on the field for almost every snap, he says that’s a price worth paying. “I love it. It’s amazing,” McKinney said of being able to play both ways. “I may get tired out there, but the ability to play the game is just amazing.”

A weekly notebook focusing on Boyle County, Danville and Mercer County, with additional info on other nearby teams: LOOKING BACK Middlesboro 42, Danville 17 Danville (4-4, 1-1 District 2A-7) turned the ball over four times in the second half and five times in all and lost to Middlesboro (7-1, 2-0) in a battle for first place. The Admirals were within 14-10 before the barrage of second-half turnovers, which included two interceptions and a fumble at the Middlesboro 1-yard line. The Yellow Jackets recovered one of their own fumbles in the end zone late in the third quarter to start a run of 21 straight points that put the game out of Danville’s reach. Danville had less than half as many offensive yards as Middlesboro, 257 to 522. Jawan Grey rushed for 96 yards — 60 of them on a fourth-quarter touchdown run — and Zack Dampier threw for 69 yards on 2-of-10 passing. Boyle County 50, Taylor County 7 Boyle (8-0, 3-0 4A-5) gave up a touchdown on the first drive of the game, then scored on its first five possessions to throttle Marion (3-5, 1-2) for the third straight year. Quarterback Josiah Robbins accounted for more than three-fourths of the Rebels’ offensive yardage, completing 12 of 19 passes for 232 yards and two touchdowns and rushing eight times for 131 yards and three TDs. Six different Boyle players caught passes in the first half, led by Joe Shewmaker with four catches for 83 yards. Marion drove 80 yards for the opening touchdown, but the Knights were outgained 466 yards to 202. Mercer County 44, Taylor County 7 Mercer (5-3, 2-1 4A-5) may not have scored 77 points as it did last year against Taylor (3-5, 0-4), but the Titans’ won easily behind their defense. The seven points scored by Taylor was the lowest total allowed by Mercer in its last 12 games. Lincoln County 21, Southwestern 20 Marvin Robinson scored a game-tying touchdown on a 2-yard run as time expired and Boone Baird kicked the extra point to win it for Lincoln (5-4, 2-2 5A-7), which rallied from a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter to defeat Southwestern (1-8, 1-3) and effectively clinch a playoff berth. Dalton Godbey threw for 177 yards on 15-of-28 passing for the Patriots. Garrard County 8, Western Hills 7 Garrard (4-4, 3-1 3A-5) managed only a second-quarter touchdown, but that was enough to edge Western Hills (1-7, 0-4), which scored on its first series. Jacob Smith caught a 31-yard touchdown pass from first-time starting quarterback Jacob Foley for the Golden Lions’ only score, and Smith intercepted a fourth-quarter pass for one of three turnovers forced by the Garrard defense. Metcalfe County 29, Casey County 6 Casey (1-7) was shut out until the fourth quarter in a non-district game despite outgaining Metcalfe (4-4) 212 yards to 207. Luke Patterson threw for a career-high 117 yards on 8-of-15 passing for the Rebels. LOOKING AHEAD (All games Friday) Boyle County (8-0, 3-0 District 4A-5) at Mercer County (5-3, 2-1), 7:30 p.m. Mercer takes its best shot in several years at Boyle in a game that will decided a district championship. The undefeated Rebels would take the title outright with a victory; a win by the Titans would likely create a three-way tie. To pull the upset, Mercer’s defense will have to put the clamps on a Boyle offense that has been rounding into form recently, because the Rebels have allowed fewer points (93, or 11.6 per game) than any team in Class 4A. Boyle averages 35.8 points per game, while Mercer averages 31.0 points and allows 27.3 per game. Boyle has won the last five annual meetings between these neighbors separated by only 11 miles, and none of those games has been closer than 24 points. The Rebels won 59-19 last year and have outscored the Titans 233-36 in those five wins. Mercer’s last win was a 34-17 victory in 2007. Danville (4-4, 1-1 2A-7) at Lexington Chrstian (1-7, 0-2), 7:30 p.m. There is much at stake for Danville against LCA even after its loss to Middlesboro last week. The Admirals will finish second in their district if both they and Middlesboro win; they will be in a three-way for first if they win and Somerset knocks off Middlesboro. LCA, which has lost six straight games, has struggled mightily to score points this season. The Eagles are averaging only 12.8 points per game and haven’t scored more than eight in any of their last four games (Nelson County, Frankfort, Middlesboro, Somerset). The Admirals beat the Eagles 38-21 last year; LCA beat Danville 14-13 in 2011. Garrard County (4-4, 3-1 3A-5) at Estill County (4-4, 3-1 3A-5), 7:30 p.m. Two teams with identical records will fight it out for second place in their district and the opportunity to host a first-round playoff game. Injury-riddled Garrard has won three of its last four games, as has Estill. Both teams lost to Bourbon County during that stretch. The Golden Lions whipped the Engineers 59-6 last year. Madison Southern (7-1, 3-1 5A-7) at Lincoln County (5-4, 2-2), 7:30 p.m. Lincoln faces Madison Southern and star running back Damien Harris in its regular-season finale. A win would give the Patriots their first winning season since 2008. Harris rushed for 214 yards and five touchdowns last year in the Eagles’ 47-19 win over the Patriots. Casey County (1-7, 1-2 3A-4) at Corbin (6-2, 1-2), 7:30 p.m. Casey faces Corbin and its high-octane offense, which was averaging 43.0 points per game before being shut out by Bell County last week. The Rebels are averaging only 8.1 points in their seven losses. RATING THE TRACE 1. Boyle County 2. Mercer County 3. Danville 4. Lincoln County 5. Garrard County 6. Casey County

Boyle (8-0, 3-0 4A-5) and Mercer (5-3, 2-1) meet in Harrodsburg. Boyle would win its district outright with a victory; a Mercer win would likely lead to a three-way tie.

Danville (4-4, 1-1 2A-7) plays at LCA (1-7, 0-2). Danville could still finish first, second or third in its district, with a win creating the possibility of a three-way tie; LCA could move up to the No. 3 seed with a win.

Madison Southern (7-1, 3-1 5A-7) meets Lincoln (5-4, 2-2) in Stanford. Southern will try to clinch second place in the district; Lincoln will try to clinch its first winning season since 2007.

I was told there would be no math. :ohbrother:

Above, Boyle County wide receiver Joe Shewmaker gets a foot down inbounds after catching a touchdown pass in the end zone during the second quarter Friday. Shewmaker was the Rebels' leading receiver with four catches for 83 yards, 25 of them on this play. Above, Boyle County quarterback Josiah Robbins (15) is congratulated by Shewmaker after Robbins scored on a 31-yard run during the second quarter Friday. It was one of three rushing touchdowns for Robinson, who also threw two TD passes.

Final from Danville. Boyle improves to 8-0 overall, 3-0 in 4A-5 and has clinched at least a tie for first place in its district. Marion falls to 3-5, 1-2 but has clinched a playoff berth with Taylor County's loss to Mercer County. Marion scored on the first series of the game, but Boyle scored on its next five series to take control. The mercy rule kicked in when Boyle scored on the opening drive of the second half.

Final from Stanford. Lincoln improves to 5-5 overall, 2-2 in 5A-7 and greatly improves its playoff chances. Southwestern is now 1-8, 1-3 and a longshot for the postseason in their six-team district.

Mercer County quarterback Chris Crawley-Goodman warms up as injured starter Drew Davis and coach Chris Pardue look on prior to the Titans' game against Marion County last week.

Offensive coaches have always tried to get the ball in the hands of their best athletes, and sometimes that means the best athlete has to play quarterback. Craig Yeast did that years ago in his senior season at Harrodsburg, when the Pioneers had no viable options at the position. He couldn’t throw passes to himself, but he could cover a great deal of ground in a hurry. Chris Crawley-Goodman isn’t the same type of player as Yeast, but he is filling the same role for Mercer County, albeit on a temporary basis. And in two games at his new position, he has proved to be a very quick study. Crawley-Goodman is a wide receiver by trade, but he has started at quarterback in the Titans’ last two games in place of injured Drew Davis, who was sidelined by a high ankle sprain he suffered several weeks earlier. Statistically speaking, the results have been mixed. In start No. 1, he was 2 for 9 for just 33 yards against Lexington Catholic. In start No. 2, he threw four touchdown passes and went 9 for 14 for 231 yards against Marion County last week. No one would dispute the difference between Lexington Catholic and Marion, and it would be easy to say that accounted for the difference in Crawley-Goodman’s performance from one week to the next. It would also be wrong. That was certainly one factor, but not the only one, and probably not the most important one. Mercer had its open date between those two games, giving Crawley-Goodman time to get comfortable at his new position and giving the Titans’ coaches time to broaden his knowledge of it. The result: Crawley-Goodman made better decisions, threw better balls and did a better job running the offense. Two of his first four passes went for touchdowns, as he hooked up with Layne Peavler on scoring plays of 50 and 71 yards, and he even executed a nifty reverse. “We did some more things. Obviously we threw the ball better than we did against Lexington Catholic a couple weeks ago,” Mercer coach Chris Pardue said. “Chris has grasped that position, he’s decided to take that position and make the best of it, and I’m really proud of him for what he’s done.” Crawley-Goodman said he wasn’t sure the play-calling was that much different, but his comfort level was. “It was just the timing of the handoffs and the snaps, just being comfortable with it, kind of feeling the flow of the game,” he said. It’s hard to find an athlete who makes the games he plays look as effortless as Crawley-Goodman. He plays baseball and football, and on both fields he moves with an ease that sometimes belies how good he can be, and he backs it with a wide smile that tells you he’s enjoying every minute of it. This spring, he was one of the leading hitters in the state baseball tournament, where he went 5 for 11 to raise his overall batting average by 23 points to .309 and help Mercer reach the championship game. This fall, he was one of Mercer’s top receivers through five games, with 16 catches for 304 yards and two touchdowns, before he was pressed into service at quarterback. He’ll be back under center Friday, when the Titans host Taylor County, and perhaps for some time after that as Davis, who was wearing a boot cast on the sideline last week, tries to heal his injured ankle. Crawley-Goodman is the fourth person to play quarterback for Mercer since its projected 2012 starter was injured days before last season began. And while he may not keep the job for the long term, and while Mercer’s coaches may be weary of trying to find someone new to play that position, his performance last week would seem to indicate that the Titans’ offense is in capable hands for the time being.