Terp

Whoever said the Catlett did not have paid assistants at Ballard? This is not true. He had 7 or 8 paid assistants. A big problem for Catlett was that he was the only coach on the staff that worked in the building at Ballard. The others were paraprofessionals. By the way, he was a "capable and quality head football coach" at Ballard. If we start firing everyone who can't beat Trinity, there will be a lot of vacancies.

Demarcus is currently playing basketball. When that is over, he will have to really study the offense. Again, very talented, but will need to put in the work to realize his potential.

Whether this looks to be one of the more talented squads in recent memory depends on whether you can remember 2003. If so, they're not there yet, but heading in that direction. Hopefully doing things right this time so that it will last. There are 3 Juniors competing for time at RB, Nick Greene, Devin Mitchell (Boobie), and TJ Sadler. All are talented. If they all have a good offseason, look for the team to try to find ways to get all three guys touches. If one doesn't work this offseason, he will find himself on the outside of the rotation looking in. Don't count out 2 sophomores (to be) Tyrrome Lott and Daquan Garth, both should be involved in the offense especially towards the end of the season.

This team only lost 5 seniors. They started 6 sophomores and a freshman QB on offense last year. The defense included another freshman and 4 sophomores. The future can be very good, if this group will stay together. They need a productive off season in the weightroom.

I wonder whether regular season ticket sales were impacted by the scheduling of intradistrict playoff games. In many cases, teams played late in the season and again in the first round of the playoffs. I wonder if this had the affect of reducing attendance at the regular season meeting and if the khsaa can/will take this into consideration. For example, by the time Eastern played Ballard in the 9th game, everyone new they would play again 2 weeks later in the playoffs. I would imagine attendance was affected. I am certain interest in the game was reduced significantly. In the long term, interest in the game = more money.

There are less than 10 teams in the optimist league. Not even one for every public high school in the county. If you include the Ali league, there may be one little league team (7th & 8th graders) for each public high school. How many teams are in the CSAA? Most of those kids go to T or X. I'm not sure the CSAA teams are individually much better than the other youth teams, (in fact I'll bet the Yellowjackets were the best youth team in the county this past year) but collectively the CSAA is a much better feeder system for X & T.

For what it's worth . . . I think the crowds (ie. revenue) for playoff games will be better for a game against an opponent from another district. Repeating games played a few weeks earlier lessens the appeal of the game. It may save on expenses, but I think it will hurt the bottom line overall to start the playoffs back in the district. Penny wise, pound foolish. IMHO

Leatherneck - "a meeting of all parents of kids attending the public schools" This is just not realistic. The parents that need the meeting won't come. That's the point. It's a tremendoud advantage to have families that care, that are willing to sacrifice, etc. A previous post mentioned kids transferring to Trinity for disciplinary reasons in response to the argument that publics can't kick kids out like the privates. The fact is those families recognized the problem and took action to solve it, possibly at great personal sacrifice. I wish all of our kids had this kind of support, but they do not. Publics (at least here in Jefferson County) can remove the very worst students to alternative schools, but those placements are very short term. Nearly all of these placements only last a semester or two. Then the problem student returns to the public school. Let me be clear, I do not believe these issues are the fault of the private schools. Those schools are great. Parents must believe this or they wouldn't pay that kind of money. I will send my children to private schools. I choose to work with public school kids becuase I think they need me more. I'm just saying it is overly simplistic and condescending for private school supporters to say "we just work harder" or "our coaches are just better".

It is often pointed out on this board that parents/families of kids at T & X make significant sacrifices for their children to attend private schools, including those who receive some financial aid. There is no way to argue with that point. I think this is a significant factor (not the only one by any means) that leads to the success of private schools in football. The families of these kids a very involved and supportive. When Trinity decides to lift weights before school, the parents get the kids there. Supportive and involved families that are willing to sacrifice for their children must help those children succeed. Having been involved with kids in the public schools for a few years now, my experience is that such families are in short supply. (I'm not saying there are none, but there are alot fewer.) Those types of families are special. That is a big part of what makes private schools great at football and otherwise.

What do you all think about a Head Football coach being the Director of Admissions for a private school? What if he is making public appearances promoting his school? What if some of those appearances are to address a youth football team?

Not all states that separate public and private list the private schools. For example, there is no listing in Maryland for private schools. Those schools do not compete for state championships. Most compete for conference championships (in conferences consisting totally of private schools).

The weather was a real problem for both offenses. Too bad, because the kids didn't really get a chance to turn it loose and show their abilities. It's impressive that Matthews was 13 for 20 under those circumstances. For the east, Broderick Green (Seneca) and Bracken (Fern Creek) stood out. Green had a couple of good catches and ran good routes even in the icy conditions. Bracken is just plain quick! All 3 St. X players were impressive for the east defense, which gave up only 59 yards.

The East's head coach is Louis Dover from Seneca. Coach Lucas was scheduled to be the head coach for the West team, but given the developments at Butler this week, I'm not sure about his status. Maybe someone else has more info. about that situation?

I heard rumors that there were alot of kids who quit last year. However, I talked to one of the Butler assistants at the finals and he said they had 75 players signed up for the offseason program. If that's the case, it sure doesn't seem like Lucas lost his team. I wish the best to Coach Lucas, his staff, and the kids at Butler.

East has made every effort to have 2 from every team. As mentioned above, there are several problems with getting players to participate: travel, coaches nominations, basketball, long seasons, etc.

Daniel Bracken - Fern Creek Alex Matthews - Shelby County Justin Cloud - Atherton Steven Ferguson - Eastern Broderick Green - Seneca Anthony Knott - Seneca De'Sean Patterson - Nelson County Leon Carter - Fern Creek Marquis Howard - Moore Tony Bartlay - Nelson County Justin Stewart - CAL Travis McClanahan - Henry County Nate Hanson - Bullitt East Deon Chaney - Fern Creek RD Reynolds - North Bullitt Trevor Knight - Southern Richard Scott - Waggener Phillip Rutledge - Bullitt East Chris Riggs - Spencer County David Beckham - Fern Creek Skylar Cervantes - Ballard Joe Cross - Eastern Zuhdija Mujagic - Southern Brandon Lyon - Oldham County Laron Sloan - Seneca Taylor Paden - Shelby County Corey Downing - North Bullitt Deshawn Ross - Ballard Vincent Biller - Spencer County Corey Minnis - Shelby County Jacque Morris - Waggener Jordan Burk - Shelby County Julian Edwards - Seneca Jacque Vinson - Oldham County Nate Combs - St. X Cari Dunaway - Henry County Gavonni Sanders - J-town Nick Heuser - St. X Zach Larson - Fern Creek There may have been a couple of changes since this roster was printed, but this is pretty much it. I think they added a DL from St. X yesterday.

The east team met briefly yesterday. No one from St. X or Trinity made it. If they've had other things on their mind this week, I think we can forgive them. Hopefully they'll be at practice today. I'll try to post something tonight or tomorrow when we have a better idea who'll be there.

None of the assistant coaches worked in the building at Ballard.

In answer to the question above, Danny Herby was still coaching at Ballard until this news broke. Not sure if he had the title of offensive coordinator or not, since Catlett made most of the play calls, but he was the top offensive coach. He's a good person and a smart coach as well. No idea whether coach Redman would be interested in the job, but if he takes the job, you can bet he will be able to get a significant number of out of district players into the school.

I've been critical of Trinity running up scores in the past v. Seneca. No such complaint this time. JV's finished the second quarter. Starters played one series on offense (another TD) and one on defense in the second half. Trinity's coaches handled this one with a great deal of class.

Trinity scored on a pass on the final play of the game. That play began with 2 seconds left. As a remember, the backup QB was a senior who started at wide receiver. Here's a link to the game updates from that night: http://www.bluegrasspreps.com/showthread.php?t=103465

Last year, Trinity called time out with 2 seconds remaining to throw an additional touchdown pass v. Seneca. The final score was 55 - 21. Draw your own conclusions.

7 - Manual 5 - Central 3 - Oldham 2 - N. Bullitt 1 - Meade TB - Oldham

7 Male 5 Manual 3 St. X 2 Bullit East 1 Holy Cross TB - Male

7 Seneca 5 Manual 3 Eastern 2 CAL 1 Doss TB - Seneca