jpa2825

Starters returning from 2012 (recognizing that the lineup changed depending on various factors) C - Murray SR (Hennigan SO when Murray P) 2B - Allen JR SS - Whitford SO 3B - Schultz SR (Gesenhues JR when Schultz P) LF - Lester SR CF - Molina SR RF - Heck SR DH - Hennigan SO Pitchers (in no particular order) Schultz SR Jones SO Cochran JR Murray SR Liggett SR It will be interesting to see others who will contribute in 2013. JV team ripped the cover off the ball last year. I have heard rumors of a few Birds returning to "the nest" and some new contributors that have not played in the past. Not sure who has been showing up for voluntary workouts, who will show up for "less" voluntary workouts or who will announce "present" when they line up on FEB 15th. I guess we will just wait and see. Big hole to fill at 1B / Cleanup with the graduation of Meyer. Hergott JR injury will hurt OF depth and Noe SO injury will prevent us from finding out in 2013 what he could have contributed as a LH arm at the varsity level.

Unless the CovCath game is on FRI night.

Trying to get the discussion back on track, is the schedule below correct? If so, appears Week 0 or Week 7 are the open and available dates for The HHS Stairway to Seven. (Not considering whether other, more complex changes might be possible (e.g., move Campbell to Week 0 if they don't have a game and have Week 1 open, etc.)). I am confident that Dale would prefer NOT to fill the Week 7 slot and play 10 straight weeks (with a Week 0 open date), but if he had to do so to find a qualilty opponent, having District games against traditionally less demanding Harrison Co. and Holmes on either side of Week 7 might make it easier to swallow. A Week 0 open date might make for some SERIOUS practices following the Trinity scrimmage. -1 - Trinity Scrimmage A 0 - Open ? ***Was Boyle a 1 - Campbell h 2 - Bryan Station h 3 - John Hardin a sat 4 - Paducah Tighlman a sat 5 - CovCath a 6 - Harrison h 7 - Bye 8 - Holmes h 9 - Elder a 10 - Warren Central h ***Was Ryle h

Over. Of course, the answer is they will do it until the defense shows that they can defend it.

In a sport where everyone makes the playoffs, and for HHS the regular season doesn't even impact seeding for the District Tourney, is the W v L as important as the progress being made? I know everyone wants to win and it feels much better to do so. However, if Houliston throws up a prayer as he is / is not being fouled and it bounces off somebody's head and into the basket as time expires, does that mean HHS is better than Dixie? Even if it did, what does that get you? At this point in the season HHS should focus on getting better each possession, quarter, half, game, week, etc. Suspect they progressed much more in this loss than they did in their win over Bellevue (no shot at Bellevue intended and teams need those games on the schedule for lots of reasons). Sounds like they are ahead of schedule and an exciting team to watch. Looking forward to seeing them play when they have their next home game. I think it is in late February!!!

Although it seems bizarre, it is actually shorter to take 71 all the way into Louisville and then 65 S from there. Spaghetti junction is no fun at the wrong time of day and Gene Snyder is easier driving, but it is longer.

An additional factor, which should not be discounted, is that rather than having 90 kids competing for 11 spots on Offense and 90 kids competing for 11 spots on Defense, you have ~45 kids competing for 11 spots on 1 or the other. That gives real optimism to the younger kids coming up through the ranks that they can play and contribute. With more kids having that optimism, more kids stay with the program. With more kids in the program, you keep the opportunity to 2-platoon. It is a wonderful / vicious circle -- depending on your point of view!

There is a familiarity among crews that makes them work better as a unit. Each knows the strengths and weaknesses of the other and where his crew mates are focussing. The KHSAA obviously believes it is better to have what they believe are the best 5 officials rather than the best crew assigned to the games.

HHS O had 9 possessions. 1 fumble on the 1st play of a drive started by a LC int (by Cochran) & 1 kneel on the final play of the game. When your TD efficiency is 9/10 or 9/11, you are not going to lose many games. A key play was LC's decision to go on 4th down with about 1:00 left in the first half down 28-14 but getting the ball to start the 2nd half. Blame goes 3 ways: 1st to the coach for trying it. Some will call it aggressive. I think it smelled of desperation (and said so at the time). 2nd to the QB for not running for the 1st down and out of bounds to stop the clock. I realize he is a soph, but you have to know the important play is to get a fresh set of downs. 3rd to the RB who dropped a perfect pass that could have been a TD. Just a physical mistake. HHS scores with :01 on the clock and the game is never really in doubt after that.

Crew was bad both ways from the jump. They made poor calls substantively, which is bad enough, but they let the game get out of hand which was worse and could have resulted in injuries or ejections keeping players from playing in a state championship game. The ball did blow off the tee. The fumble was correctly overruled as an incomplete pass. Not sure if the sideline warning is MANDATORY on a first infraction, but if there was ever an instance that warranted 15 yds rather than a warning, this was 1 of them. Failing to call penalties at the end of the game was bad. It allowed frustrated 17 yo kids seeing their season come to an end to take those frustrations out on backups without any recrimination. Swallowing the whistle in a blowout to get the game done is one thing, but you must maintain control. Also, when the refs don't control it, it is incumbent on coaches to do so and use it as a learning opportunity for these young men. Disappointed in LexCath coaching staff for not intervening.

PP -- you follow them much more closely, but I was surprised to see the stats in the LexCath v. Boyle thread showing LexCath rushed 40x for 155 yds and only threw 25x for 238 yds. Were the stats skewed by 4th Qtr rushes by LexCath trying to run clock while ahead? What has their season run / pass split been?

Recall that 2 KO return TDs by Seidl were huge in the game there last year. Expect a well-coached, disciplined, deep (no 2-way starters apparently) and balanced (run v. pass) team to show up at DCM on FRI night. Knights will have to overcome their usual sluggish starts and Birds will have to protect the ball like they did against CovCath (as opposed to early turnovers against Ryle & Ashland). Possession efficiency will be key. With respect to "let downs" or "trap" games, they are always possible. However, you don't typically find them in a state semi-final game where, regardless of result, this group of Seniors KNOWS this will be their last game EVER at DCM. Lots of these kids have been playing at least 1 or 2 games on this field since they were in 3rd grade. I think they will be ready to play. Looking forward to it.

While I am not alarmed, this is different from recent HHS teams. In the past, 4 turnovers from CCH would have turned into a freight train running downhill and a high 40's or low 50's point total. The reality is that HHS was never required to put the right foot back on the pedal on the right and they didn't. Whether conservative play calling & personnel packages or poor execution or solid defense (probably some of all 3), they gave a workmanlike effort and moved on. That is what they are supposed to do. Depending on what LexCath defense will give them, they have shown they can line up 2 TEs and a jumbo package and run downhill OR spread the field and sling it around all over the place. I would not want to be the LexCath defensive coordinator putting together a game plan this week.

Actually, part of that was on the Ashland coaching staff. After the penalty, the clock was correctly started on the ready signal (previous play was a run). Ashland called timeout before any clock ran and started the 3rd & 8 play with 1:50 rather than 1:25. Ashland called a pass, which was incomplete, and they punted with around 1:45 left. If they calll a run, they force HHS to call a TO if they don't make it. As it turns out, HHS scored with plenty of time left in the half, but I thought a reasonable strategy for Ashland would have been to run as much clock as possible / make HHS use their TOs. If they lead at half and get the ball to start 2nd half, I think you can "pitch" optimism / momentum to your team.

Just remember, when HHS moved to 4A things changed. In 5A (and for several years before that as well), HHS used to be in an ALL travel or ALL home in RD3 (assuming = seeds) and RD4 situation. Now in 4A, they have 1 home game and 1 travel game (assuming = seeds in RD3) and it alternates each year as explained by others.

The financial analysis of the # of charter buses needed v. # of yellow buses needed for a typical trip (whether to CovCath or Bowling Green) has been done. As you are aware, charter buses have storage areas. Yellow buses do not. Given the amount of equipment needed for football trips, it can easily be 1 or 2 more yellow buses needed for each trip (depending on roster size). Even if the price per bus is significant, once you add in 1 or 2 more buses, the difference is small or nothing. The typical "knee jerk" reaction of "Here come the rich kids in their charter buses" is facile and uninformed. You now have additional facts at your disposal. If you choose to ignore them, that makes you ignorant (note the root of the word.)

When did the 45 point running clock rule come into existence?

If you want to count the failure to handle the opening onside kick, 4 plays, 4 TOs. Can't imagine much worse. The defense, however, played very well considering they played all but 3 snaps in the quarter. (Of course, Ryle's offense, if you can call it that, contributed to that.)

I heard somewhere that there was a rule change in HS after the Murray game to turn off the "auto buzzer" when the clock hits 0:00 for just that reason. Any truth to that rumor?

Birds offense continued to click (after putting up 70 at CovCath & at Home v. Withrow as well as a big # at LexCath). Houliston looked good passing, OL gave him plenty of time early and Hayes had a 1 yd. plunge and an electrifying 69 yd. run on the 2nd possession. Venneman had a couple nice long catches, including 1 for a TD. Allen caught 2 TDs as well. Nice pick 6 by Noe as well. Defense played well against a surprisingly challenged Elder offense. They ran the ball OK, but passing game was out of sync. Good passes were dropped and other passes were off target. 1 TD on a nice athletic play by the QB (#1) and the 2nd TD was late in the game on a nice drive as HHS was mixing in some other personnel. I personally thought the decision by the Line Judge to rule Watson out at the 1 yd. line toward the end of the game was merciful. No need for another TD, the ensuing KO and passing tries by Elder. HHS Coach (Lynch) took the cue and took a knee on the 1st & goal to run out the clock. No intended or perceived "salt in the wound." Simply respect for an opponent that was beat and didn't need that point reinforced. Given the # of JRs and SOs playing at the Varsity level, the JV program suggests that HHS will continue to be in good hands once this season is completed.

OR go to The Pit to watch HHS JV v. Elder JV. Should be a fun game. If it is anything like the CCH (70-63?) or Withrow (70-58) games, pack a lunch!!!

#11 for Holmes reminded me of Randy Moss to the "nth" degree. If it was a run play, he LITERALLY would not move when the ball was snapped. No attempt to run off the CB OR block him. He simply stood there until the whistle blew. Maybe he has been coached to "conserve his energy" since Holmes doesn't have significant depth. That said, it looked awful and very "individual-oriented." When the "jump ball" pass route (if you call it that) was called, he would make a solid effort and get off the ball. Otherwise, he appeared to have no interest in the other 10 players on his side of the ball.

20-20 on XPs on FRI night and SAT morning for the Birds. Must be the holder.

But they are 2-0 in those games. Must be watching West Virginia!!!

Academic focus during NCC / CovCath week. Gotta love it!!!