EKU_05

You can't have Thanksgiving without some "wing" or "wishbone"... Happy Thanksgiving all!

It also doesn't hurt to keep a team in the game when you turn the ball over... especially at the goal line. I think the fact that Belfry and Russell devoured the Ocath defense isn't something to lean on. Russell gained decidedly less yards last year than Belfry the previous year and it ahd nothing to do with talent level... it was more of Edge making adjustments knowing he had a great runnign team to play. As I said in the earlier thread and will repeat here... after two straight years of watching his teams getting carved up I have a feelign Coach Edge made it a personal off-season goal to research better way to shore up his run defense, and also critically analyzed what they did wrong last season. Mercer 28 OCath 14

http://www.amnews.com/public_html/?module=displaystory&story_id=27097&format=html It seems the Danville Advocate-Messenger thinks this won't be much of a challenge for te Titans....

So what's the injury report in Flatwoods? I knwo for the better part of the season the Devils were missing a fe wplayers... have they all recovered?

I can't find this week's Lit Ratings on-line.... I found an article talking about how Male was #1 still..but no official ratings

Agreed... it is also obvious that West Virginia is looking for more athletes than anything..players who can play multiple roles. Somethign I found funny when UL played WVU was that WVU had more starters from the state of Kentucky than from the state of West Virginia

Is it irony...or is it optimism?

I generally would put it: 1. BGP (best cross section, more informed, no computer to take into effect and no "magic number" 2. Massey (Most tried and true computer ranking) 3. AP (This is variable depending on who/how many vote) 4. Cantrell (The magic number is always there, but considerably better than...) 5. Lit (Horrible....)

May mapquest give excellent directions to the Purples.... and may the bus driver go the correct way on Broadway following the game!

Side note, I do agree with you. If nothing else OC has painted themselves into the pictures of being the giants... from all indications on this site the 2003, 2004, and 2005 OC team was the greatest thing to happen to football since goalposts!

Westsider what is a good barometer? In our other discussion you discounted the Lit Ratings as being unreliable..now the AP ratings....

Belfry and Highlands had some great games in the 80's to early 90's... it's a long haul but from what I gather, Belfry has been having a hard time filling all their new non-district games. I wonder if the powers to be at Highlands have tried to contact the powers to be at Pond Creek.

OC's season has ended the past two seasons at the hand of two very good rushing teams, Belfry in 2004 and Russell in 2005. Coach Edge has seen his defenses get absolutely devoured in those two games. Belfry ran for over 500 yards in 2004..Russell ran for alot last year but it was considerably less than 2004... What this tells me is that Coach Edge will not allow himself to settle for a bunch of state runner-up trophies,, and he knows that in order to win a state title you have to be able to stop a great rushing team. I have a feeling that many an offseason hour has been spent by Edge learning how to better prepare his teams for a dominant rushing attack. Yet,,, this OC team has overachieved and don't have the offensive firepower of the previous squads. I feel that OC plays Mercer tough,,, but just doesn't have the athleticism to pull the upset. Mercer 28 OC 14

I am not a Russell fan.. and don't know his precise stats.. but know he is around 6'1 200... I would venture to say he is in the upper 4.5 to upper 4.6 range. Clark has scored over 100 TD's for his career.. ran for well over 2000 yards last season, has ran for over 1500 this season in limited playing time. He was the 2A State Championship Game MVP last year after rushing for over 200 yards. He was a pre-season Mr. Football candidate... I know he led Russell in receiving last season and is either #1 or #2 on the team this season.

I agree... Mercer also has a true right of passage to win the state title. OC who has been to the state finals two straight years and is the reigning king of the west... and then the two most dominant 2A programs in recent years representing the East semi-state which has owned 2A. Numbers advantage, class, or not... if you can beat Owensboro Catholic and Russell/Belfry in successive weeks you have a darn good football team!

I think '03 had the most impressive run and was better as an all-around TEAM (much like this season).. but the best Belfry team of all-time ahd to be the 2004 squad we are talking about. They just absolutely demoralized teams that year! They defeated Pburg twice and Russell who I think both would have went on to defeat OC had they played them. They rushed for the second highest ammount of yards in State History behind Bryan Station and set the 2A Rushing record in the process. That Russell game looked like Belfry had it in hand on the scoreboard, but anyone that was at the game will testify that the two teams were pretty fairly even. What made the 2003/2004 teams so dangerous IMO was that if you made a mistake, they made you pay for it. We did that last week, we need to do it the rest of the year if we have title hopes.

And what if Russell's Kasey Clark makes it to the finals as well? He still first team All-State? Don't get me wrong, I would love to see this kid play, what I am getting is that Murray is a clone of Doug Howard from Belfry. Howard is the best high school running back I have ever seen in person (Never saw Alexander in HS). Doug averaged over 200 yards rushing in his two state championship games all the while splitting carries with David Jones who also averaged over 200 yards per championship game. Sadly, despite how impressive he was he didnn't get First Team All-State as well.

End of regular season I wouldn't put Middlesboro in the top 5 and agree... but the post I made abotu Belfyr beating the #3 Middlesboro was refrring to when they played them. FWIW, Middlesboro may be the most talented group of athletes in 2A... but they are far from being the best team in the state. And, though they had very few quality wins (A mediocre Somerset, a decent Breathitt, an above average Leslie County, an average Powell Valley) they still did not lose to a Kentucky team in the regular season which is more than can be said about anyone else in 2A aside from Mercer, they also defeated Corbin (albeit a 5 loss Corbin) who advanced to the regional finals. It's also worth noting that since the regular season ended Middlesboro made a much better case for their ranking over Western. The fact that Western lost 2 of it last 4 games proved they were overhyped. The blowout defeat Larue suffered at the hands of Mercer also makes one question just how good this district really was and if maybe they were overrated from the start (or if Mercer is just that good). I think it's safe to say that the polls are off because no matter who you choose between Mboro, Larue, Caldwell County, and Western... the playoffs definately weeded these teams out as pretenders instead of contenders.

I am sure the kid is an excellent running back... but which All-State team would you put him on with great backs like Anderson from StX, Beaumont at Male, Clark at Russell, Kramer at Highlands, etc?

We have to disagree as usual because I think it would be delusional to rank Western and Larue ahead of Belfry and Middlesboro.

One thing that would hinder quite a few teams is just the shear lack of great facilities in certain parts of our state. To host a semi-final game the stadum must first have ample seating dispersed between SEPERATE sets of Home/Visitor bleachers. That in itself would cut out the many staidums in kentucky that have capacities less than 3000. Secondly, the majority of teams who are fortunate enough to have nice facilities seem also to be teams who perenniallyplay deep into the playoffs. Barring weather, and the lack of turf stadiums in the state, the number of potential fields are further pigeonholed. Let's take the Belfry vs. Russell game this week. Where else cold you play it? Lawrence County (a definitive drop in facilities compared to these two schools)? The only other stadums I can think of that are about midway between theschools would be Pbur (one side seating), LC, Sheldon Clark (Seating), Paintsville (seating), Betsy Layne (seating) The only possible neutral fields you could have played this game would have to be designated WELL before the season according to geography between the two regions.. that wouldn't have worked because you may have had Middlesboro vs. Corbin @ Morehead... or Belfry vs. Russell being played at Pulaski County (Somerset). You also would have had Belfry fans clamoring how it was unfair to play ona neutral field when they have possibly the nicest HS facility in Kentucky and had to travel just last year to Russell. If we are going to change the system the first thing you must do is put it in place at the most opportune time (The move to 6 classes would be a good time) but secondly you have to get away from this revolving district plan so that you have clearly defined regions and a clear understanding of which schools will only be able to host two games maximum on their field before being forced to hit the road. Then you can pre-determine qualified venues that could be chosen and not already occupied by college football games. (I am sure that Georgetown College wouldn't be too happy to have a high school game at Rawlings Stadium on their grass field the night before they would host a playoff game). The West Virginia playoff system is very flawed. They have 3 classes and the playoffs are determined by taking the top 16 teams in each class depending on a computer poll and pretty much say, "Go at it. Thus you find first round matchups with teams travelling upwards of 5 hours to play their game.. and if they win maybe travelling another 5 hours the next week. BUT, the one thing that WVSSAC does that I like is they pre-determine which high schools CAN host playoff games on their homefield. If they do not have the facilities or the field was muddy,,, quite simply you don't get to host it and must find somewhere else to play.

Belfry won't stack the box.. they will stay in their base 5-2 all game. You may see Belfry move their safeties closer.. but you won't be seeing no 10 man in the box junk defense.

Last year versuses Belfry really exemplified Clark's ability to manage his emotions and it was the most impressive thing I saw. Save a big run and big pass Belfry contained him pretty well last year... and in the second half for all intensive purposes shut him down holding him to under 20 yards.... as Belfry continued to gain momentum and dominate the second half Clark could very have easily have folded mentally... but instead he steps up and makes that big interception to seal the game. That play itself spoke volumes about this kid...:thumb:

I know you aren't that forgetful to negelect to remember the SC vs. Highlands State Semi-final against Lorenzan and Smith? :eek: Or the district upset versuses Tim Couch and company? I also think it's comical to see Matney weaving his tangled web. If Matney was playing the Kentucky Scool for the Deaf he would hype them as being a Multiple National Title Winner and have the folks in Painstville believing an "upset" would be the greatest thing ever. Please take no offense to this JC fans..it is no shot at you...just comical on how Matney perennially uses his expert motivational skills to put his team in the David roll versuses Goliath. The man is brilliant... his ability to motivate is genious! The one thing CCH needs to make sure they do is give as little lockerroom material as possible via the media this week. In most cases I think the whole "Billboard Material" is overrated..but when it comes to Jim Matney he can twist anything you say and use it to get his team pumped.

If they can do it then it will shock me and prove that this may be one of the greatest teams of all time.... I don't think it will happen though. How many cumulative rushing yards does Mercer now have? Is Bryan Station's record still a possibility to fall? If not, how about Belfry's 2A record set in 2004 (the 2nd most all-time)