ACESfan

1. Mercer Co 2. Russell 3. Belfry 4. Western 5. Middlesboro 6. O catholic 7. Caldwell Co. 8. Fort Campbell 9. Sheldon Clark 10. Breathitt Co.

I agree somewhat but it just seemed like the team was rolling and sometimes you see teams come out of a bye week flat after playing so well previously. note: I have never seen Catholic come out of a bye week flat.

Owensboro, Apollo, and O Cath are all on a bye week. I think this is good for Apollo in that they struggled against Dc and could use it to refocus. Catholic was starting to play at a high level and might have preferred to keep rolling. They will need to practice hard though as the long trip to Tompkinsville is in two weeks against a solid Monroe County. Owensboro would probably just like to get out on the field, they will have two consecutive Fridays with no games with the Male game getting cancelled. Daviess Co. 24 Ohio Co. 21 I think Dc comes away with a victory in this one. They played better against Apollo and Ohio Co. is really not that good. I expect a close game the whole way and a field goal late to decide it. Henderson Co. 49 Grayson 7 Henderson will be way too much for Grayson.

This was the first Aces game I have missed in three years so I am kind of going on what was in the M&I this morning. They said Catholic lead 42-0 at half and didn't play but a few starters early in the third. It seemed like Walker and Holland are becoming quite a combo with three more TD's in the first half. The defense held Todd to something like 22 yards in the first half and Todd didn't manage to score until the fourth quarter on two TD passes. Hopefully the Aces use this bye week to get 100% healthy and get ready for a Monroe team who just blasted Edmonson for over 500 yards rushing.

I was very shocked by this score. From what I saw from both of these teams when Catholic played them Apollo should have won by 3+ TD's. I can't imagine them having to score in the last moments to beat a poor DC squad. I imagine this bye week is going to serve them really well and they will get refocused.

Very much agree here. My big concern for this team is stopping a team that has the ability of pounding it at them. I don't see anyone in the district capable of doing that so it might be a few rounds into the playoffs before we know how good the Aces are.

I understand what you mean. I thought I could have been pushing it to put 28-7. I hope noone sees this as disrespect for the devils more as a respect for Male and what they are capable of doing.

Apollo 35 Daviess County 6 Apollo continues to impress me every week. They are a tough team and they showed a lot of heart pulling out the win last week against John Hardin. DC is having a major problem stopping the run and I just don't think it will get better against apollo. O Cath 49 Todd Co 7 Now that Catholic is into district play they are starting to look like the team that we thought they would. They are running the ball more effectively with Ward and Ijames. Walker and Holland seem to have a great chemistry through the air as well. I think Catholic will jump out early and cruise to the final gun. Owensboro 7 Male 28 The stout OHS defense will get a huge test against Male. They have not and will not face a team with this type of athleticism all year. I expect them to hold their own early but Male will be to much in the end. Also I don't expect OHS to have much success moving the ball. Male will key on Hall and force someone else to beat them and I don't know if there is anyone esle that can do that.

The Aces are starting to look better. With Holland and Ijames out there this offense rolled. Walker looked much better and the line blocked extremely well. The defense continued to improve but the 8 minute drive the aces gave up to start the 2nd half was kind of discouraging. All in all I am very happy and hopefully this is a sign of things to come in the district.

Apollo 7 John Hardin 28 John Hardin returns to Owensboro this Friday to play undefeated Apollo. John Hardin did seem to move the ball against OHS, they just couldn't score, and if they can move it against OHS they can score against Apollo. Daviess Co 7 Warren Central 49 WC will be ready to pounce on an outmanned opponent after losing two weeks in a row to fall to .500. DC is obviously better than they were last year but they are still a long way away from being competitive. O Cath 35 Butler Co. 14 Catholic seems to be improving on both sides of the ball after a slow start. They were able to run the ball against DC and managed to stop the run. They also had slightly better success through the air even without Holland, I know it was against Dc but it was still a start. I don't know much about Butler but I do know they beat Todd by 21 last week and seeing as I know nothing about Todd I have no clue what that means. OHS 42 Ohio Co. 7 This game looks like a complete mismatch on paper. The only way this is close is if OHS is looking past to Male. I expect Hall to have a great game and the OHS defense will continue to roll.

For the first time all year Catholic actually had a few sustained drives. Ward and Ijames ran the ball very hard along with Walker on the Qb draws. Walker wasn't great in the passing game as he had one INT that was very very bad but he did have two nice TD's one was a beautifully thrown ball to Tipmore. Norcia was more involved in the passing game which opened up more for the other receivers. Holland tried to play tonight but was limping so bad he was useless. If he were healthy Catholic wold have wore out the DC secondary. Defensively catholic did a better job of stopping the run as a few times we even managed to bring the big RB down on the first hit. They also did a good job of containing the rollouts and forcing the QB to make a play with his arm which he was not capable of doing for the most part. Catholic did have some blown coverages in the secondary that resulted in big plays for DC but we got the win and that is all that matters. This should calm this team down heading into competition that is not near what they have faced in the first three weeks.

Apollo 35 Grayson 0 Apollo is not a great offensive team they have only put up 55 points this year in the three wins. Their defense on the other hand has only given up 21 points. I think they have better success against Grayson on the offensive side and I expect another good defensive showing as Apollo goes to 4-0. Catholic 34 Daviess Co 14 According to the stats on the khsaa website DC has given up an astounding 743 yards rushing in their three games. This might be a game where Catholics struggling running game will get some confidence. The passing game should also see a big boost with the return of Holland. With Ijames, Norcia, and Holland all out their at the same time its hard to imagine this offense at least not having a little success. Owensboro 28 John Hardin 14 I expect OHS will be very pumped about the return to a new and improved Rash Stadium. John Hardin is a solid ball club and should give the devils all they can handle but I think in the end Hall will get at least a couple big runs and that defense will continue to show they are one of the best units in the state.

The Aces defense looked a lot better and the guys played a lot harder. Ijames at safety was awesome. That is the big hitter this defense is lacking and he could spell Winckleplek who goes out every third play with injury. Walker did struggle but he needs to look at Norcia more often. That kid has good hands and with his size should be unguardable. He was open a few times and was just missed. Holland seemed to have an ankle injury and hopefully will return next week. With Holland and Ijames this offense should be able to move the ball.

Apollo 35 Catholic 7 Until the aces show me something it will be hadrd to pick them. Apollo ha splayed pretty well and I expect them to win this one pretty easily Henderson 42 Daviess Co 0 This one will be over very early. OHS 31 Meade 7 It is very tough to move the ball on this devil defense and if that offense can play well they will win a lot more games.

I don't know if I have ever been this disappointed in a Catholic football team. I am pretty sure that half of these kids could care less whether or not they play. They just want to say that they are on the team so they can impress people. Well I have news for them; the reason people were, I emphasize were, impressed with Catholic football players was because they played hard and they had respect for the OC on their helmets. These kids just sit on the sidelines and whine the whole game when Edge raises his voice to them. Speaking of Edge, he catches a lot garbage for his in your face attitude. All I can say is that he shows more restraint than I would. I would send half of these kids packing for the effort they show. I have said this a few times already this year, this team has the talent to compete for a 2a state title but if they don't get tougher they will continue to have results like what we have in the last two games. My message to these players is that you are not playing this game for your little girlfriend sitting in the stands you are playing this game for the experience of a lifetime and for all the past and future players who will suit up for the green and white, now cowboy up and play the game the way it supposed to be played!

I wil hold off on a long comment about this game because I am so disgusted by the performance but I will say this team is very SOFT.

Apollo 28 MNH 7 Apollo seems to be a pretty good team this year. I am glad to hear that because the people I know from Apollo have spoken so well of Coach Carlberg and what he is doing. Daviess Co. 7 HCC 21 DC should be in this game the whole way but I expect HCC will pull it out late. Catholic 7 Owensboro 27 What I saw last week doesn't have me to excited about this game. Catholic will have trouble scoring against this tough OHS defense and the inabilty of Catholic to stop the run will give them fits all year. OHS' speed will hurt Catholic more than anything in this game.

This aces team just needs to get tougher. They failed 4 or 5 times on 3rd and 4th down and under a yard to go for a first down or a TD, that is just inexcuseable. The OL did a nice job of protecting Walker as I don't remember him getting sacked but they generated absolutely zero push on any run play. In my opinion that boils down to toughness and some of these kids just don't have that mean streak in them. The receivers also need to start catching the ball. It seemed to me they were more worried about the hit that was coming instead of the ball that was bouncing off of their hands. Again I think that boils down to toughness. The RB's need to be more productive as well. On the occasion there was a hole to run through they were very tentative. They just to lower there shoulder and get that extra yard. On the defensive side of the ball just look at what Radio Guy said, "start hitting people". Its that simple! I only saw a few times where a ball carrier was hit and taken down by the first contact. On a positive note though Walker did do well for a soph who is starting his first varsity game, as was already stated, and Neil Holland is one special player. This kid can take it to the house whenever he touches it. When Ijames gets back we will have that tough runner who can get that extra yard. Also there were a couple of other guys sidelined who would've helped out a lot, most notably Logan Bell who is a mammoth lineman. This team will get better and has the potential to be a 2a state title contender by the end of the year. But they just can't get to down by the this week or whats going to happen next week.

Apollo 27 Hopkins County Central 7 I expect Apollo to roll in this one. There are some good vibes cominbg out of this program so we will see what that translates into. Daviess County 14 Marshall County 42 DC is a long way away from being competitive. Lawson and the Marshalls Owensboro 21 Mater Dei 14 This might be a stretch to think the devils will win two in a row from Mater Dei but you never know. The devels defense is going to carry this team all year and they will prove that in this one. Catholic 28 South Spencer 21 This catholic team will struggle early without a proven RB until Ijames gets out there. I expect the aces to pull out a closely contested battle but this prediction relies on the defense stepping up and making some stops.

Apollo I have talked to some people around this program and they feel that they are as good as O Cath and Owensboro. I am not sure about that but they do have a solid group of players and they will be tough to beat. As was pointed out Ben Duvall is solid and he might be the best player in the city by season's end.6-4, maybe 7-3 Daviess County I don't see any way around another bad season for the panthers. They will struggle early trying to make up fpr lost time because of the extremely long time the DC admins waited before hiring Krimble. I do expect them to be better in a year or two but not now.2-8, maybe 3-7 Owensboro This is Prince's team, the one he was waiting for when he first got hired. I think it would be an extreme disappointment if this team is not in the top two in their region, let alone winning the city-county championship. At the high school level speed is something everyone wants more of but at OHS this year they have more than enough. I along with the OHS faithful expect this team to be very good, no reason for anything under 7-3, I think 9-1 might be a stretch but it is possible.8-2, maybe 9-1 Owensboro Catholic I have heard some people around Owensboro saying this team is going to be down. They might not be going to a third straight title game but they are still very good and who knows maybe we can make it three in a row. I do expect some early season struggles but by midseason thie team could be rolling like the last couple of years. They need to fill the holes at RB and LB but I believe they have some capable players. Walker is more than capable of continuing the great at QB we have had since Lawson and then Edge took over. They should finish second in the city and roll over the district again this year.8-2

In 2a look for Owensboro Catholic to make another run, I don't know if they can win it but they will come close again. They return a lot of talented players on both sides of the ball and there are some young kids who have a lot of potential and can step in and fill the holes.

I think heart makes a difference but I don't think it made a bit of difference in this game. In the chamionship game everyone wants it the same so what it comes down to is keeping your emotions in check and executing your gameplan, which is what Russell did much better than the Aces.

It sounds as if you are saying that your son wanted it more than the Aces, you couldn't be further from the truth. Like was said earlier, at this point in the season everyone wanted it the same, so I kind of take offense to the fact that you would say that you all wanted it more than the Aces. That had nothing to do with why you all won. You won because you executed your gameplan better which is what champions do. I hope you don't see this as disrespect to your son because he is great player and deserved to win. Anyway congrats to you and your son and I hope his injury heals 100%.

All I am going to say right now is congrats to Russell, you all deserved it. I am so angry with our performance on the best stage that it would be best for me to take some time off.

Nobody would go with me and I had stuff I had to take care of.