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Belfry Stomps Ashland for First Semifinal Bid since 2016 One of the premier games in the commonwealth on Friday night was over almost as quickly as it began. Two Belfry touchdowns in the first quarter and another two in the second put the Pirates comfortably ahead on their way to a 41-7 victory over Ashland and a state semifinal berth for the first time since the current seniors were freshmen. For Belfry coach Philip Haywood, the victory showed the Pirates were capable of putting it all together. "We haven't been able to really put it together all season long, and I felt like it was time" Haywood told the Williamson Daily News. "It had to be tonight or it wasn't going to happen. I felt like that tonight we came close to the way we have been capable of playing all year. Our injury situation is much better. I'm just really proud of the way our kids played tonight." (Belfry blasts Ashland 41-7, advances back to state semifinals for first time since 216 | Special Sections | williamsondailynews.com) Belfry opened the ball game with a 1-yard touchdown run by Peyton Hensley. Later, a 76-yard touchdown pass from Brett Coleman to Isaac Dixon gave the Pirates a 14-0 lead. Hensley would score his second and third touchdowns of the evening, both on short runs, to give Belfry a commanding halftime lead. Dixon would score on the ground in the third quarter and Belfry would complete their scoring with a 47-yard interception return by Isaiah Birchfield, his second of the season, which initiated a running clock. Ashland would finally crack the scoreboard on a fourth quarter touchdown pass from Jake Gregg to J.T. Garrett. For Ashland, the loss halted the efforts of one of the state's winningest programs to make it back to the state semifinals, a place they've not been since winning the state championship in 1990. For Belfry, the Pirates get back to a round that was once a birthright, having played in the semifinals in thirteen of fourteen years between 2003 and 2016. DeSales Continues to Roll Sevens on Way to Semifinals For a third consecutive week the DeSales defense has allowed merely seven points in a game. Because of the that, for the first time in four seasons the Colts will play in the state semifinals. DeSales rolled Bardstown, 41-7, in a game many expected to be closer. In fact, Bardstown opened the game impressively, taking a 7-0 lead on a touchdown pass from Brady Clark to Gray Clark. From that point forward, however, it was all Colts. DeMarcus Avery passed for two scores and ran for two more in the victory. James Johnson also got in on the act for DeSales, carrying for 142 yards and two touchdowns on his own. The story, though, is the dominant defense. Bardstown, who entered the game averaging 363 yards total offense per game, was held to 113 by DeSales and negative-14 on the ground. That follows a theme, though, as DeSales has allowed only 469 rushing yards all season. Goodin Plenty as Taylor Returns to State Semifinals Postseason football is still something of a novelty for Taylor County but thanks to Tre Goodin the Cardinals are advancing to the state semifinals for a second consecutive season. Entering last season, Taylor County had won only four playoff games in school history (three of which came in their first state semifinal run in 1999), but after making it to the Class 4A state semifinals in 2018, the Cardinals dropped classes but are still having the same success. Much of that success came on the back of Tre Goodin, who completed a 25-yard pass on a fake punt on the opening drive then ran for 228 yards and three touchdowns as Taylor knocked off Paducah Tilghman, 38-28. The game started slowly with both sides hampered by penalties and turnovers. Wes Oliver put Taylor on the board first with a 9-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter. Tilghman would respond with a 32-yard Jonathan George touchdown run to tie the game in the second quarter. A controversial Tre Goodin touchdown run just before halftime, in which the referees debated for an extended period before signaling a score, sent Taylor into halftime with a 14-7 lead. A slow first half led to a wild third quarter as the two teams combined to score 35 points in the third frame, including a pick-six from Tilghman's Turner Humphrey and long touchdown runs from Goodin and Tilghman's Damien Ford. The final score was set in the fourth quarter and Goodin again used a fake point to his advantage, scoring from 34 yards out. Daniel Vasquez's 38-yard field goal with just over two minutes to play sealed the Cardinals victory. "They're a heckuva football team," Paducah Tilghman coach Jonathan Smith told the Paducah Sun. "Coach Marple's done a great job. They're extremely well coached. Had a great game plan. They outmatched us doing what we do to us. That's honestly the best way to say it. They lined up, and it was no secret that they were going to run the ball downhill." (Taylor topples Tilghman in region title tilt | Local Sports | paducahsun.com) Unheralded Bell Just Keeps Ringing Opponents With just three seconds remaining the first half of play, Bell County led Fleming County by 12 points but was far from out of the woods. However, a 23-yard touchdown pass from London Stephney to Jason Jones just before the halftime buzzer sounded proved to be the decisive blow in a 48-12 Bell County victory. Bell had scored three times and converted three two-point conversions in the first half but a first quarter Jonathan Maher touchdown pass to Buddy Morgan and a second quarter Maher run kept Fleming in the game. The Jones touchdown just before halftime send Bell into the break with a 20 point lead that would be stretch further in the third quarter with another Stephney touchdown pass, this time to Cameron Burnett, and a 50-yard interception return by Jonathan Lankford. The loss ends a terrific career for Fleming quarterback Jonathan Maher, who passed for 208 yards and a touchdown and rushed for another 87 yards and a score. On the season, Maher accounted for 3,579 yards of total offense and was responsible for 42 touchdowns. For Bell County, the win maintains their status as the only undefeated team in Class 3A, and they'll now host Taylor County in the state semifinals. The semifinal berth is the first for the Bobcats since falling to Boyle County in 2010. Class 3A State Semifinals Preview Belfry (9-3) at DeSales (10-3) What to Know... This marks the first ever meeting between the two powerhouse programs. However, there are still connections, most significantly that of Belfry head coach Philip Haywood and DeSales assistant coach Ty Scroggins. Scroggins was the long-time head coach at Louisville Central and his Yellowjackets faced Belfry six times in Class 3A state championship games, winning four and losing two. Scroggins' son Jayden splits time at quarterback and has passed for twelve touchdowns on the season. DeSales Wins If... The Colts can continue to dominate the line of scrimmage. DeSales is at their best when running the football. James Johnson has rushed for 1,361 yards and eighteen touchdowns on the season and as a team the Colts are just shy of 3,000 rushing yards. Of course, Belfry likes to run the ball as well. If DeSales can establish the run on their side and prevent Belfry's trio of rushers to get untracked, the Colts will play for their first state championship in five years. Belfry Wins If... Stop me if you've heard this, but if Belfry can control the line of scrimmage, they'll win the ballgame. Belfry has rarely played a game this season in which all key contributors were healthy, but that has changed in the postseason. Peyton Hensley leads the team in rushing with over 1,000 yards and thirteen scores, but Youngstown State-commit Ben Bentley is right behind him with 929 yards and another thirteen touchdowns. Isaac Dixon serves as the Pirates' best home run threat, having scored touchdowns rushing and receiving, as well as a punt return and kickoff return. If Belfry can get ahead early and control the clock with their run game, the Pirates will have a chance to play for their seventh state crown. 3A Notebook Pick... DeSales 24 Belfry 23 Taylor County (11-2) at Bell County (13-0) What to Know... Two programs with vastly different histories. Bell County is making their eleventh state semifinals appearance, but are only 2-8 in final four games. Taylor County is in this round for the third time in school history but has never advanced to the finals. Bell County head coach Dudley Hilton was head coach at Taylor County in 2014 and 2015, while Taylor County coach Sam Marple came to Taylor after serving as an assistant at Bell from 2016-18. Bell County Wins If... They continue to make stops defensively. Bell County is allowing only 10.2 points per game but will be seeing a multi-faceted offense with several weapons for the first time all season. Bell has proven capable of running and passing the ball with success. Can they match the athleticism of Taylor County? And how will they respond if they fall behind? Taylor County Wins If... They continue to get big plays from Tre Goodin and Wes Oliver and continue to hit hard on defense. The 3A Notebook has seen Taylor in person twice this season and has been extremely impressed with how hard they tackle, especially considering they aren't a physically dominant team in appearance. If Taylor can mount drives on the ground behind Oliver (2,093 yards/27 touchdowns) and Goodin (1,196 yards/14 touchdowns) and hold Bell's explosive offense in check, they can get to their first ever state final. Bell County kicker Jason Jones is just 10-for-19 on extra points and Bell often chooses to go for two, while Taylor kicker Daniel Vasquez is 29-of-35 on extra points and has made three field goals. That could be significant. 3A Notebook Pick... Taylor County 23 Bell County 20

But how much money would Boyle be giving up by not playing Danville? Wouldn’t you potentially be losing money twice?

Previous poster said it would be a different outcome, which is very different from being out of question before it started.

Has Simon Kenton ever just lost a ball game?

Country Day has been playing football since the early 1980s.

What did you think? I’m on the other end of the bleachers and couldn’t tell. I didn’t like the long conversation before making the call.

Two safeties would be something to see!

Legitimate see the floor, pass-first point guard. All of the guys mentioned above were very good but probably were score first.

Space shuttle explosion

If you're going to be at a game in Paducah would you expect the rain to be gone by game time?

I’ve seen both teams. This will be ugly. Boyle in a second quarter running clock.

Thanks for posting. I’m planning to go down to Lindsey Wilson this weekend. Should be a great game. FYI, it’s technically not a bracket but is reseeded each week with regards to winners and geography.

Thanks. I appreciate you reading and your comments every week!

District Championship Week Turns into Blowout Friday When the KHSAA implemented intra-district postseason play in 2019 it was guaranteed that the first two rounds would be rematches of regular season games. Six of the eight district championship games played Friday pitted a one seed versus a two, and the two three seeds that won first round games (Union County and Christian Academy of Louisville) were hardly surprises. If you expected round two to be more competitive that the regular season game, you had another thing coming. Average margin of victory in the first meetings between Friday's district championship competitors was 15.6 points. This weekend: 28.5 points. What brought on the wide margins? It's hard to say for certain. But what is true is that Class 3A has a gorgeous setup of quarterfinals games this coming week. DeSales 30 Christian Academy of Louisville 7 Perhaps the most complete domination came in District 4 where DeSales used four touchdown passes from Jayden Scroggins to roll over Christian Academy of Louisville, 30-7. It was a far cry from the double overtime thriller these two played on October 11. And it could be a sign that DeSales, after three consecutive years of falling to CAL in the postseason, is primed for a championship run in Class 3A. "I think it could be the most complete game we’ve played," DeSales coach Harold Davis to the Louisville Courier-Journal. "This is a tremendous sign." (Kentucky high school football: DeSales beats Christian Academy). After a scoreless first quarter, Scroggins threw his first of three touchdown passes to Demetri Scott to start the second frame. CAL would tie the game before DeSales took the lead for good with another Scroggins to Scott touchdown pass with just two minutes remaining in the half and cemented their lead with another touchdown pass with forty-three seconds remaining. Paired with Elizabethtown's loss to Bardstown, DeSales is assured of at least one more home game this season. The Colts will host Bardstown this Friday night. Bardstown 51 Elizabethtown 27 One of two road teams to win district championships on Friday, Bardstown used a second quarter defensive stop to change the flow of the game then rolled to three second half scores to best Elizabethtown, 51-27. E'town led 27-21 midway through the second quarter but chose to go for it on a fourth down in their own territory and came up short. Bardstown would score a touchdown and then a field goal to give the Tigers a 30-27 lead and all of the momentum heading into the break. "I can’t say enough about that effort by our defense," Bardstown coach David Clark told the Elizabethtown News-Enterprise. "At that time, it made a huge difference. We were back on our heels a little and E’town had a ton of confidence. It says a lot for those kids to accept the challenge to get that confidence back." (PREP FOOTBALL 3-A PLAYOFFS: Bardstown wins second half, eliminates E’town | Sports | thenewsenterprise.com) The game was an offensive showpiece completely different from the 20-14 overtime game played in October. Bardstown rushed for 199 yards and passed from 222 in the victory. Even in defeat, Elizabethtown piled up 345 yards of total offense. For Bardstown it sets up a second consecutive road game in a challenging environment as they travel north to DeSales. And for Elizabethtown, its five consecutive seasons of playoff wins but not able to make it to a state final. Taylor County 20 Glasgow 14 Staying in the west and keeping our theme of turning tables in the playoffs, Taylor County topped Glasgow by six points four weeks after losing to the Scotties on a last second field goal. Tre Goodin, who didn't play in the first meeting, returned the second half opening kickoff 95 yards to give the Cardinals a 14-7 lead. Later in the period, Wes Oliver, who has rushed for 1,971 yards on the season, scored from sixty yards out to give Taylor a two score lead. A fourth quarter Glasgow score wouldn't be enough as Taylor County advanced to the quarterfinals for a second straight season. "We wanted to do the things to get back here to be able to have a shot again," Taylor County coach Sam Marple said to the Bowling Green Daily News. "I’m just proud of the kids." (Scotties can't repeat last-drive match against Cards | Prep Sports | bgdailynews.com) Taylor County will travel to Paducah Tilghman for the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, the loss was a difficult end to a terrific season for Glasgow. For the third time in as many seasons the Scotties won double digit games but it wasn't enough. "It’s tough out there for both teams," Glasgow coach Jeff Garmon said in the article linked above. "I thought both teams played really well. It got down to the last possession and we came up short." (Scotties can't repeat last-drive match against Cards | Prep Sports | bgdailynews.com) Paducah Tilghman 36 Union County 7 Four Damien Ford touchdowns was all it took for the Blue Tornado to roll past rival Union County in the district championship. Paducah Tilghman will host Taylor County in the quarterfinals this Friday, their first quarterfinal appearance since falling to South Warren in 2014. Ashland 33 Russell 14 One of the best regular season games in Class 3A was Ashland's 21-14 win at Russell on October 18. The Tomcats fell behind by two scores then clinched the win with a long touchdown pass from Jake Gregg to J.T. Garrett. Game two would prove to be much less climatic, as Ashland rolled the Red Devils, 33-14. "The kids were so dialed in this week on attention to detail," Tomcats coach Tony Love told the Ashland Daily Independent. "I thought it was our best practice week in a long time. Our guys had laser focus day in and day out." (Tomcat-apult: Ashland springs past Red Devils | Sports | dailyindependent.com) Ashland jumped ahead early behind first quarter touchdown runs from Keontae Pittman and Blake Hester. A second quarter touchdown pass from Gregg to Andy Layne gave the Tomcats a 20-0 lead, but Russell still had life. The Red Devils scored on a three-yard pass from Charlie Jachimczuk to Josh Griffith right before half and then on a Nathan Conley run on their opening drive of the third quarter, cutting the deficit to six points. It was all Ashland from that point forward, specifically Pittman and Hester, who each scored another rushing touchdown and combined for over 300 yards rushing on the evening. Now the Tomcats, new to Class 3A in 2019, will be on the road at old rival Belfry for a chance to advance to the state semifinals for the first time since their 1990 championship season. Belfry 60 Pike County Central 0 While Ashland was widening their margin of victory from the regular season to the playoffs, Belfry was doing the same in a domination of county rival Pike County Central. The Pirates scored early and often while holding Pike Central to negative first half yardage on the way to a 60-0 win. Belfry will host Ashland in the quarterfinals, rekindling a series last played in 2012. The two have met five times previously in the postseason, the last a 35-20 Ashland victory in 1990. Ashland leads the series 17-3. Bell County 39 Rockcastle County 0 Bell County continues to play dominant football, rolling Rockcastle County 39-0, the Bobcats' twelfth win in as many tries. Dudley Hilton's club, dogged by questions all season about their strength of schedule, lead Class 3A in scoring offense at 44.2 points per game and scoring defense at 10.1 points per game. William Dean scored two rushing touchdowns and caught a touchdown pass for the Bobcats. The catch was London Stephney's second touchdown pass of the evening; he also added a third quarter touchdown run to set the final margin. Bell will remain home for yet another week, this time hosting Fleming County in the quarterfinals. Fleming County 35 Mason County 7 In the first meeting between old rivals Fleming County and Mason County, it wasn't until a late pick six from Fleming's Carsen Gulley that coach Bill Spencer could feel comfortable that his Panthers were going to win. That comfortable feeling came much quicker on Friday as Fleming used a stellar performance from Jonathan Maher to dominate the visiting Royals, 35-7. Maher was a one-man wrecking crew, rushing for 182 yards and passing for 162, accounting for four of the five Fleming County touchdowns on the evening. The game was never in doubt as Fleming won their fifth district title in school history and hit the 10-win plateau for the first time since 2004. Fleming County will now travel to Bell County for the quarterfinals, but you'll forgive them for taking a few moments to glory in an accomplished goal. "We’ve talked about this since December. This has been our goal and what we set out to do. We knew if we played to our potential it was something we could do," said coach Bill Spencer to the Maysville Ledger-Independent. (https://maysville-online.com/sports/175063/dare-to-stop-maher-panthers-claim-district-title). Setting the Stage for the Quarterfinals Taylor County at Paducah Tilghman Paducah Tilghman comes in winners of four of their last five and having rarely been challenged. Meanwhile, Taylor County has won four straight but none by more than two scores. The long road trip could be a challenge for the Cardinals, but Tilghman has struggled to advance past this round in several previous tries. Prediction: Paducah Tilghman 28 Taylor County 21 Bardstown at DeSales In what could be a beauty of a game, Bardstown will try to win a second consecutive road playoff game while a DeSales and a little bit of help could give the Colts home field advantage for the state semifinals as well. Bardstown has been undervalued all season and is highly productive on offense scoring over 43 points per game. The defense has proven a bit more susceptible in late season when the schedule stiffened. After a confounding loss to Meade County to end the regular season, DeSales has looked like their old self in the first two weeks of the playoffs. Coach Harold Davis likes how his Colts are playing. I do too. Prediction: DeSales 28 Bardstown 24 Fleming County at Bell County The 3A Notebook has decided that even though Bell County's schedule was weak, the results speak for themselves. Dudley Hilton's Bobcats have been impressive on both sides of the ball all season. They'll face a stiff challenge in Fleming's do-it-all quarterback Jonathan Maher, but that will only delay the inevitable. Prediction: Bell County 38 Fleming County 14 Ashland at Belfry The most exciting game in the mountains this weekend pits two of the most storied programs in Kentucky history against one another. Ashland will look to run the ball behind their two headed monster of Keontae Pittman and Blake Hester, while Belfry will counter with its terrific rushing trio of Peyton Hensley, Ben Bentley, and Isaac Dixon. Look for a classic at CAM Stadium. Prediction: Belfry 27 Ashland 20 One Last Look at the RPI Quarterfinals pairings were determined by the RPI. Semifinals will be determined the same way, although the next round will not separate into east and west but will instead include all four remaining teams. Below is the RPI for the eight remaining teams in Class 3A. The state semifinals will pit the highest rated RPI team remaining against the lowest, along with second versus third. The two best rated teams will host the semifinals. 1. Bell County (.703) Forecast: Bobcats are assured of hosting a state semifinal game provided they defeat Fleming County. 2. Paducah Tilghman (.665) Forecast: Blue Tornado are assured of hosting a state semifinal game provided they defeat Taylor County. 3. DeSales (.639) Forecast: Colts would need to beat Bardstown and hope either Bell County or Paducah Tilghman lose this weekend. If Bell, Tilghman, and DeSales all win, the Colts will make a second trip to Paducah Tilghman this season. 4. Belfry (.637) Forecast: Ashland beating Russell assured Belfry of a third home playoff game this season, but a fourth home game could be a tough task. First, the Pirates will need to beat Ashland on Friday. They would also need at least two of the three teams ranked ahead of them to lose. Worst case scenario from a travel standpoint for Belfry would be Bell and Tilghman winning and DeSales losing, which would mean a six-and-a-half hour road trip to Tilghman for the state semifinals. 5. Ashland (.632) Forecast: Tomcats would need to beat Belfry and hope two of the Bell, Tilghman, DeSales triumvirate lose to get a state semifinal game at Putnam Stadium. 6. Bardstown (.624) Forecast: Coach David Clark's Tigers would need a win at DeSales, along with losses by both Bell County and Paducah Tilghman to get a home game in the state semifinals. Bardstown has proven to be road warriors thus far and odds are they'll need to continue that both this week and in the future. 7. Fleming County (.603) Forecast: Fleming County can't host another playoff game in 2019. If Fleming can upset Bell, the best case travel scenario for the Panthers would be a Tilghman loss, DeSales win, and Ashland win, which would send Fleming to Ashland for the state semifinals. 8. Taylor County (.591) Forecast: Like Fleming, Taylor County can't host another playoff game in 2019. For the sake of travel, the shortest potential state semifinal route for Taylor would require a DeSales win and a Fleming County upset of Bell County, which would send Taylor to DeSales to play for a trip to the state championship.

Wasn't there another poor sportsmanship issue with Taylor County in last season's 5th region basketball tournament?

I’d think Trinity should win comfortably. I don’t think Oldham has the athletes to match up. But Oldham is a solid club.

Terrific season by both clubs. Really enjoyed seeing both teams progress. Nicholas will face a huge challenge at Pikeville but Even if they lose that district championship trophy will look mighty nice in the display case. As for Brossart, I suspect this is just the first of many district championship playoff games.

Central defense points allowed in their last seven playoff games: 0, 0, 0, 8, 19, 0, 7.

Every. Single. Year.

Impressive win. Dixie had been very solid the last month of the season.

Went to this game. Oldham County was solid. I was very impressed with Oldham's sophomore quarterback Sam Young. Kid threw five touchdown passes and made all kinds of impressive throws in less than stellar conditions. He's one to keep an eye on going forward.

By my records, Owensboro Catholic hadn't lost to a district opponent since falling to both Fort Campbell and Hancock County in 2009.

That seems about right.

Is this the kid who was injured early in the season?