jpa2825

Some commentary added. Thanks for the list: Hennigan Sr - varsity experience as a 5 yr. letterman (the days of lettering as a 7th grader are gone); C Whitford Sr - 4 yr.; SS Ramey Sr - 2 yr.; 3B Martin Sr - 1 yr.; P / 1B Mills Sr - 1 yr.; 1B / 3B Ball Sr - 1 yr.; 3B, C, DH, P (knuckleball) Murray Sr - 2 yr.; LF Venneman Sr - 1 yr.; CF Jones Sr - 4 yr.; P Martin Sr - DUPLICATE Bunning Sr - 1 yr.; P / 1B Noe Sr - 1 yr.; P / OF Ball Sr - DUPLICATE Heck Sr - 1 yr.; 2B Schoepf Sr - new; ? Orne Sr - new to Varsity; played JV previously; did not play last year, I don't think Raisor Jr - ? (pitched 2 Varsity games last year including 1st game of district tourney was a no-hit 5 inning run rule and also the Regional Championship game against Conner in which he pitched very well); P Mark Walkenhorst Jr - 0; P / 1B (I think - the JRs are not as familiar to me) Austin Mayhew Jr - 0; IF? Conner Kreeger Jr - 0 (1 Varsity start against Mason in which he pitched very well); P / ? Jared Dougherty Jr - 0; OF? Austin Beal Jr - 0; OF? Eric Miller Jr - 0; OF? Conner Welsch Jr - 0; ? Ricky Raisor Jr - DUPLICATE Trent Casebolt Jr - 0; ? Elijah Miller Cox Jr - 0; ? Evan Ling Jr - Not trying out; played JV last year; LHP John Penrod Jr - 0; ? Brad Broering Jr - 0; ? Ethan Doty Soph - 0; P / C I have heard conflicting reports on Cain. Have not heard anything on others. For those above marked P / X, I think they will be primarily P only. That will allow JB to carry a larger roster than you would normally expect from a HS team. Since a modified Varsity / JV group of ~24 is going to Myrtle Beach 3.30 - 4.3 and planning to play 9-10 games (5 Varsity & 4-5 JV) during that time, I suspect you will see a big fight to make the roster and another big fight to make the "post-MB" Varsity roster. Even after that "post-MB" Varsity roster is "set," I could certainly envision both position players and arms that play JV occasionally being brought up to Varsity based on injuries, slumps, matchups, schedule, etc. Any kid who goes to MB and then is told to show up at the JV game the MON after Spring Break and does so with his head hung and / or a bad attitude is likely to spend the rest of the year at JV. The kid who is told to show up at the JV game the MON after Spring Break and asks Coach Reynolds, "What do I have to do to get back up to Varsity right now and make sure I get to go back to MB as a Senior? Do I need to take extra BP? Do I need to take extra ground balls? Do I need to shag extra fly balls? Do I need to do extra bullpens?" is the kid that is likely to get called back up when he is needed and for postseason. For example, did Raisor hang his head when he was pitching well at JV and never got the call to pitch Varsity? Nope. He kept getting better so that when he WAS called, he was prepared for the amazing postseason opportunity that was presented to him. Should be fun.

I still think weather is going to be a huge factor in the first 1/2 of the season. If they get good weather, you will see a ton of arms, defensive alignments and opportunities. If the weather is bad, you have to make sure your "knowns" get their work in -- Jones, Martin, Bunning, Raisor, Noe, etc. get their innings / pitch counts; Mills, Martin, Whitford, Ramey, Murray, Venneman, Hennigan, Ball, etc. get their AB and innings in the field. Time to show themselves on the mound, 2B and RF will be short and those given a shot will need to make their mark. Alternatively, some highly skilled players will have to tear it up at JV and demand to be "brought up" a la Ramey in 2013. Once you get to May 1st, rotations and lineups will probably be set and reps will go to those guys. Good news is that unless it is a complete washout or lots of lightning, Varsity + select JV will get 60-70 innings in 5 days at Ripken in MB to show what they've got. With full turf fields (other than pitching mound and home plate), great drainage and a quality grounds crew running a professional organization, anyone that wants to show that they belong on Varsity / in a starting role, will have an opportunity to be seen. Should be fun. Already wish I was going!!!

Talent and depth are there. Intangibles (willingness to listen, willingness to learn, enthusiasm for the game, do the small things, weather adversity with character, respect the game, etc.) will determine whether the team is underachieving, good or great. I am hoping for great. If NKy gets a long stretch of good weather, their record will be much better. Many of the 1 v. 1 and 2 v. 2 matchups will be tossups. I like their chances in 3 v. 3 and BP games. (Of course, even with good weather, your 3 can matchup against someone else's 1 and you have a big hill to climb.) For the same reasons, if they are fortunate enough to win round 1 and round 2 of the 9th, they would have a good chance in the finals. That said, only 4 regular season games really matter and they should comfortably avoid the 4 or 5 seed in district play which means you need to win 1 game to get to the 9th. If they can secure the #1 seed, that 1 game would be against the winner of the 4 v. 5 game. They would love to win the district (4th in a row?), but getting to 9th is the 1st goal. They knocked on the door to state in 2012 and 2014 (lightly tapping with a 1st round exit to a solid arm from St. Henry in 2013). It is time to kick the door down in 2015!!! Go Birds!!!

And, as the announcer reminded us a few years ago when HHS played there, "lighted by the power of COAL!!!"

He must have had a really good coach when he was in 5th grade in the FTJFL! Solid player. Good kid.

Would love to see this. If you classify baseball, you could move to a system like that used in the CWS - 4 team, double elimination "pods" that can be conducted over a weekend (7 games max at each pod site, max any team could play is 5 games to win out of the loser's bracket). Assume you use 8 "pods" to generate Elite 8 and then 2 "pods" (East / West) to generate finalists and then have those finalists play best 2/3 for the Championship, you could have 32 teams in each class make the playoffs (total of 128). How to determine those 32 in each class? That is where it gets tricky. Would certainly put a premium on "depth" of pitching rather than 1 or 2 studs at the top of a rotation.

You are not mistaken. 4th & 8 at a critical juncture of the game.

Commentators thought the flag was waived off because the ball had not been "set for play" by the white hat, so nothing happened (whether procedure, fumble, TD pass, etc.)

Trying not to repeat: 1 - Defense: what I saw in the 2nd half was HHS generally splitting their DEs wider to allow the OLBs to be wider as well. In a triple option, that formation typically dictates the dive to the FB b/c the NG is by himself. HHS countered that by "crashing" 1 or both of their MLBs at or just prior to the snap on most occasions. This gives the QB a pre-snap read of a 3-4 defense spread really wide. At snap, however, it plays more like a 5-7 man front with the 2 MLBs playing effectively like DTs to stuff the run. A "pop pass" to the TE, if OHS had that in their playbook, is a great way to defeat MLBs "crashing" like that every play. 2 - Offense: much more efficient in the 2nd half. To anyone that doesn't think OHS was "gassed" in the 4th qtr, watch HHS's final drive. #10 for OHS was repeatedly laying on the ground deciding if he wanted to get back up and take some more of what HHS was dishing out. I am not sure if they passed the ball at all. In fact, it almost looked like the RBs were diving forward after 5-7 yds. to make sure they could methodically move down the field with the maximum # of plays / clock usage while still not jeopardizing converting 1st downs. They did not milk the play clock the full 25 seconds after in favor of keeping the tempo & pressure on OHS. Even on the TD, Hoge looked like he was almost "reluctant" to go ahead and score. The big boys up front were simply pushing the LOS downfield 3-4 yards before contact. Easy to get 7 yds. a pop with that kind of surge. 3 - Not sure how I feel about OHS crashing the C when in victory formation. As it turned out, HHS had to run a couple of plays to run out the clock, so probably a legit play but always looks suspect. Great leadership by SR Bunning (LT) to take JR Richardson © aside during a timeout and get him under control after he was crashed on the 1st 2 victory formation snaps. I am sure he was explaining the need to keep calm and do your job and not take the bait. Need guys like that in the huddle. Congrats HHS. Never give up.

Are there 2 Richardsons? I was pretty sure Evan Richardson played C the entire season.

BTW -- is replay, slo-mo or regular speed, such a difficult production item that they cannot pull it off? Frustrated me during the HHS game as well.

This sounds like an interesting stat. However, what % of the population in KY meets this criteria? Given how the state boundaries are drawn, I suspect it is a pretty high %. Only major city outside of this criteria is Lexington, right? What % of the population in TN meets this criteria?

Any chance we see Urlage playing defense in the 2nd half? Others?

Odd first 2 sentences. First sentence suggests they "can" stop them. They just are not doing it very often.

No reason not to go for the onsides kick after the facemask penalty. Kicking from the 50 (although I think they set it at the HHS 45 now that I remember it.)

Why is it not a touchback when the bal is caught at the 2 yd. line and carried into the endzone by the punting team gunner?

Is there anything in football like the "played under protest" rule in baseball? If a HC in baseball wants to protest application of a rule (not a judgment call), they need to do so before the ball is put in play again and there are some formal things that go along with it. I know there is an expense to the school for processing the "protest," so there is some minor disincentive to doing it all the time. My recollection was that a protest was actually upheld in MLB this year and the game replayed. Had something to do with field conditions and maybe involved CLE? Obviously, the George Brett pine tar incident was the most famous example. I recall a story that when they resumed the game Billy Martin challenged that Brett missed 1 or more of the bases on his HR trot. Different umpiring crew working the resumed game, but they were ahead of Billy and had a notarized statement from the prior crew that he touched all of the bases!!! I say pick up the game from where the misapplication was made.

How many OHS players go both ways? For those that do, will they play MOST snaps on both sides of the ball, HALF of the snaps on the non-dominant side of the ball (e.g., a primarily offensive player will play half the defensive snaps) or only OCCASIONALLY on non-dominant side of the ball? Last year, I would say Collins had a few players that OCCASIONALLY played on the non-dominanat side of the ball. Given HHS' desire to play tempo on offense (zebra sets the ball, ball gets snapped pretty quickly thereafter), if OHS has several 2-way players, they will get worn down.

I had a great view of this one. Great hit by Beal. i was just starting to try to decide if it was a catch & fumble or an incomplete pass when Noe swooped in to snatch the ball out of the air. Guess we will never know. Great play at a critical time.

Same is true for both McCoy and Houliston. 3 yrs. of starting for the Birds would have created huge statistics for any of the 3. But that's not how the system works. Wait your turn and make the most of it when you get there. Bring home the title next week and start a new streak.

Any kids on this HHS team when LexCath was at DCM 2 yrs. ago (I think) and had the player take the cheap shots on Joe Paolucci which kept him out of the state game his Senior year? (Was discussed quite a bit on BGP.) If so, or if the films from that game are being used to prepare for LexCath, could be additional motivation (as if any additional motivation should be necessary).

I go back & forth on this. Do you get more benefit in the 4th quarter by the constant drumbeat of snapping the ball as quickly as it is set and imposing your will on the other team ("don't care if you are ready, here we come")? Conditioning and substitutions clearly make this the mantra in the 1st 3 qtrs. OR Do you run your play, wait for the ball to be reset, listen / watch for the white hat to signal the ball ready, wait 24 seconds and then snap the ball? Would have shortened the 4th qtr by 10-20 plays. If you have a multiple possession lead, it is an easier call. The last thing you want to do is take the air out of the "building," fail to execute on a play and end up having to punt the ball after only 2:00 of possession. Coach Weinrich obviously had faith in his players allowing them to go on a 10-15 play drive to end the game instead of a 8-10 play drive. CCH's best play once HHS crossed midfield would have been to let the runner score. Throw deep a couple times, get a score and then try an onside kick.

Correct. *Rounds 1 & 2 are based solely on better seed hosts (like seeds cannot play each other) *Round 3 is based on better seed (CCH is #2 seed, so #1 seed HHS hosts) but if same seeds play, home field alternates between districts each year (#1 HHS would have traveled to #1 JC if JC would have won). *Round 4 alternates by region regardless of the seeding. (CCH/HHS winner hosts in 2014. LexCath hosted in 2013.) *Round 5 is State.

Congrats! Good kid and a family dedicated to advancing the program.

Given the HS rule (missed FG treated like a punt) and the proven leg of the JC K, I think it is a good play. Assume the same or similar chance of a punt getting blocked and returned for a TD, there is at least the upside of 3 points if he hits it well.