westsider

Great move for Western. Let's face it ... this is the only circumstance in which the Hilltoppers would be able to hire a football coach of Petrino's caliber. I wish Kentucky would've hired Petrino ... he was, by far, the best coach available.

The Angels might be hard-pressed to match Hunter's 2012 production in right field for the next five years ... and will pay huge money to take the risk.

Actually, he's probably best suited for sixth in the order ...

Count me in the minority, I guess, but the Stoops hire doesn't excite me. Florida State isn't exactly dominating the SEC and the Seminoles' defense hasn't fared all that well against the top teams on their schedule. To be honest, the Stoops name lacks the cache it had several years ago. As for Jones ... good luck with that. Tennessee is becoming a meat grinder job.

I was of the feeling all season that Central was probably the best team in the lower three classes, with Mayfield and Bell County probably the next two in line. However, Central's series of close calls in the playoffs and watching the two teams on state championship weekend makes me think that Mayfield was, at the very least, Central's equal.

Jackson is a two-way player, which makes him much more valuable than a guy that plays on just one side of the ball. If we're rewarding the best prospect, then I am sure Quick is the guy. If we're rewarding the guy that accomplished the most on the high school level, Jackson has to be a serious contender for the award.

No "good clubhouse/character guy" is worth that kind of money. What the heck are the Red Sox doing?

I think they would get over it ... heck, they won a state title. Why nitpick over a mistake on someone's website?

ACS is about 30 miles away from Bowling Green and brought a ton of people. They almost filled the seats below the club level.

There is no such thing as a "select class" in any state ... no one in Kentucky wants it, either. Let's just go back to four classes ... the state title games, and football in general, were better then.

I saw Mayfield play both Beechwood and Fairview ... I would pick Beechwood to beat Fairview, without a doubt.

Amen ...

I'm sure Caldwell would benefit from a few key injuries, too.

Caldwell County runs the Tony Franklin system ... Caldwell's coach, David Barnes, is a good friend of Franklin's and has used the offense since he was at Daviess County. Elijah Sindelar is the quarterback, a 6-4 sophomore that is a good athlete, very mobile and can scramble and buy time for his receivers. Jaylen Boyd is the tailback and is also a sophomore. He's a quick back who can carry the ball 20-25 times a game or more if needed. Tez Sivels is the Tigers' best receiver and their money guy in the passing game ... he made a great one-handed catch in the end zone for a touchdown in the Murray game and caught a 70-yard pass that finally put away the game with DeSales. The Tigers have a young defense led by defensive end Cole Webster, the only senior starter on that side of the ball. Caldwell has a lot of sophomores and juniors at the other positions and a very talented and athletic freshman, Dee Cain, in the secondary.

Maybe yours are way off. The Paducah Sun had Jackson with 240. Mayfield's stats crew, one of the best anywhere, had him with 248.

It sounds like Marshall has a bunch of injuries, so they might get off to a slow start.

No one has beaten a healthy Mayfield by three touchdowns since Lexington Christian in the 2009 title game. Even Warren Central, a top-three team in 5A, only beat the Cardinals 42-28 and Jackson missed a chunk of that game with cramps. If it's not a reasonably close game, I'll be surprised.

Actually, I did ... you either chose to ignore it or you didn't catch it.

According to Monroe's stats, Wilson was 6-17 for 84 yards with two picks against Tilghman. Two of Monroe's three touchdowns in the second half came off a muffed punt and a fumble, as I understand it. And before I get accused of it, I am not disparaging Monroe. I am simply stating facts, and good teams have a way of making opponents pay for mistakes.

Central has played St. Xavier, Ballard and Pleasure Ridge Park, three of the last eight teams in 6A, and Evansville Reitz. I doubt that Monroe will show them anything they haven't seen.

Chelsey Shumpert of Paducah Tilghman has signed with Chattanooga.

I've never said anything bad about Monroe, either ... I don't know them well enough to have an opinion one way or the other. The two best teams Monroe has played, Warren East and Paducah Tilghman, put up 26 and 20 on the Falcons, both games in Tompkinsville. Do you think they're going to hold Central to half of that, in Louisville?

If Tilghman put up 20 points on Monroe in Tompkinsville, I'm going to have a hard time imagining Monroe holding Central to 10 points in Louisville.

Actually, Frankfort's non-district schedule was pretty good. Franklin County made it to the third round of the playoffs. So did Danville. Green County and Lexington Christian were ranked in 2A for much of the year. Rockcastle County is normally a solid opponent, especially for a Class A school, but they're in a down cycle right now.

Cabrera hit cleanup ... Trout hit in the leadoff slot. Of course, Cabrera is going to drive in a lot more runs. And Trout has Cabrera beat by a wide margin in areas like defense and baserunning. The MVP doesn't go to the best hitter. It's supposed to go to the best player. Personally, I'm dismayed the media made it such a rout. Trout deserved much more support.