Red Shift

Thanks from up here on the hill in Russell. Keep the updates coming.

I would like to respond to that. Now, I am not happy the game is moved at all, but there is absolutely nothing I can do about right now. What further upsets me is that there is hardly a mist falling right now and for as good a stadium as Putnam is, I am surprised that the game was moved (especially on a long weekend). However... We must keep in mind that Ashland is probably the best team remaining on Russell's schedule. To drop this game (and win by forfeit) then they would lose their best measuring stick for this season. Now I can not say that this is the truth, or even that this is likely the thinking of Mr. Sparks, but I believe it could have played into his decision to not fight what seems to me to be a little rediculous. All this aside, there are some positives. Likely, for Ashland, they will get a bigger gate. Both teams will play a little more safely because the field will be a little bit drier. But to me, a lot of atmosphere will be lost. First, both fan bases will hurt a bit and it is much more fun (and a better atmosphere) when both schools' masses show up in full force. Also detracting from the atmosphere is the fact that both bands, cheerleaders, etc. likely will not show up in full force. Things go on and people make plans around schedules that are supposed to be locked in and no matter what some of us (mostly a constituent of die- hards say) everybody can't change plans in 36 hours. I don't think this will do a whole lot to the ballgame itself, but as a fan, I like being in a football atmosphere (and a little rain never hurt that for me).

:thumb:

Well folks, I hate to say it, but it shouldn't be only fair after a Tomcat loss, so here it goes... "Where's GIAT?"

I correctly predicted that last play of the game (which I too would have gone for) and figured the Ashland defense did too, especially with the outcome. However, I hadn't heard the rest of the game and thus didn't know the game Mays was having - it might have influenced my prediction... maybe.

I really think this was a good score for the first week. Greenup's score came with less than 2 minutes in the ballgame, and to be honest I thought this game would have turned out closer than it did because the last few years it has been, well, closer than it should have been. But sure, there is definantly room for improvement.

Number 32 I believe scored the Red Devils final td. I am also pretty sure that Clark scored one through the air and one on the ground. The Russell o-line was pretty impressive tonight. They seemed to hold their blocks (without much holding, except for maybe a play or two) and looked exceptional for the first week. The Red Devil defense played pretty well tonight in shutting down the Greenup offense. They stopped most of the running game - their biggest weakness seemed to be containment of the Qb. Lewis had a huge run on the 2nd offensive play of the game (I'm thinking about 65 yards, though I'm not sure). Jones ran the bootleg pretty well, and he threw a pretty touchdown pass in the third quarter but I like him in the backfield too, he adds a little more power back there. Sizemore is pretty good back there too, but I think he may serve better as a receiver. The Devils are going to have to work on the screen play for it to be effective because I believe it was blown up at least twice in the ballgame. There also seemed to be a few too many arm tackles later in the game, probably a result of fatigue, but certainly something that should be looked at by the coaching staff (this was primarily the reason for the success of the tuck and run up the middle for the Qb, in my opinion). A Huge game next week - I expect a full crowd at (I'm sorry but I have to say it) The Holy Grail. It should be a great one. I am excited.

Do I smell a catch phrase coming on? And I'm not joking.

An interesting battle of two teams that few expected to be 1-0. I think I'll take Raceland in this one. Rowan County appeared to get alot of breaks in terms of turnovers last week. (Whether those were because of the defense I do not know.) Even though Raceland didn't get as many breaks they beat a somewhat lost Ashland team. With that being said, as we saw from last week, the favorite certainly isn't the team that always wins. Good luck to both squads.

"AND HERE COME THE DEVILS!!!!" Chuga-chuga-chug Chuga-chuga-chug Chuga-chuga-chuga-chuga-chug Well, that's what I'll be thinking when I'm at Greenup County anyway. I can't wait! What must be said in terms of the game itself is that Russell hasn't exactly run away with the last couple of meetings when they've had what was clearly the better ball club. If Greenup Co. can play as they did in the first half of Friday's game it could get very interesting. It will be interesting to see how the this year's Devil line will do against what proved on Friday to be at least a decent Greenup D-Line that held the Raiders to minus four yards through the first quarter. We shall also see if the Musketeer passing game behind Eric Craft can continue a balanced effort against what I feel will be a pretty good Russell secondary. I can't wait. It's football. It's Friday. Go Devils!

This topic was beaten to death last year. As it was explained by one of the Boyd Co. posters last year Boyd Co. had only 3 home games just a few weeks before the season started. They wanted a fourth, but no team (except Bracken Co.) would play them at home. Thus Bracken scheduled them for the first week of the season. Apparently last year, the two schools scheduled two games to be played. (From this point this is all speculation and opinion, I certainly could be wrong.) Now here I think the blame should be put on both schools' AD's. I can see if you are desperate for a 10th game with only a couple of weeks before the season, but both schools new what was going to happen last year, both schools new what would happen if they played again this year, both schools should have had a year to fix the problem, neither school did. Once again, I do not know all there is to know, so most of this is supposition but I think something could have been done to keep this from happening again.

Thanks, I was about to ask.

7-6 Belfry

Keep it comin' 98NCC!

Fully intended Aunt B. :thumb: The classic Eastern Kentucky understatement, I really considered adding ain't and dropping the h- from had.

How many home games does Ashland have this year? They certainly appear to have the most difficult non-district schedule in NE Kentucky, but they may pay for that. Raceland was more difficult than the Tomcats had expected and Belfry and Russell aren't going to be much easier. If Ashland only has two more home games after the first three weeks, they could be in serious trouble down the stretch. I listened to the game on the radio and it seemed that when Ashland went to the counter they found alot of success. I believe they ran it on three plays in their second half touchdown drive, but after that it seemed as though they went to the pass and the pitch and the option ceaselessly. Then when it came to crunch time, nobody seemed to take control for Ashland, which could be because of QB controversy. (And when they went to the air, they didn't find much success.) I must say congratulations to the Rams. I really didn't expect them to win this ballgame and I am totally happy that they did. Their defense seemed to stifle a lost Ashland offense, preventing them from even thinking out getting a consistent offense. I must admit they didn't catch many breaks in terms of the punting game, but they did come up with huge stops in the red zone and came up big with a punt return in the second half. I know its a cliche but bend but don't break seemed to work pretty well. Once again, congrats to the Rams on a great ballgame.

Red Devils win the 16th Region championship in a well pitched ballgame from both sides. Russell's Marissa Adkins pitched a seven inning gem in a game played between the raindrops and lightning.

Does this mean that Regional Titles no longer exist, or that regions extend from the city of Russell to Russell County, which are 216 miles apart?

No, Dragon Fire is correct with his math. On the first draw it does't matter what is picked (unless the order in which the districts are listed matters, which I presume to be no) because it has yet to be paired. On the second draw there is a 1 in 7 chance that whatever the first district was, it will be paired with the same district it was. (There are seven names in the "hat" and one has to be that district.) The next draw is similar to the first, it does not matter. The fourth is similar to the second, except only 5 names remain and so on. Thus the chance that one district alignment is the same as it was is 1 in 105. The chance that two are the same is 1 in 11025.

Let us reach back not 3 full years for Russell inspiration for the second of the big three. Many of the starting Devils next season will be bitter with the taste of a close Kiwanis Bowl loss in 2003. As always it's hard to repeat, but the Devils have just as good a chance this coming season as anybody. Talk of a perfect season is nice, but I have to agree with Jeepman that a loss to Boyd County really made the Devils hungry for wins the rest of the season. It may or may not be Boyd County this year (remember the Boyd County coaching staff just changed along with the loss of many starters if I'm not mistaken) but Russell will face at least one, probably more, regular season nail biter or loss. Hopefully however, Russell will continue to use the Boyd County loss, along with motivation of a perfect season and a second consecutive title, for another run. P.S. - Woody, those new jersies are terrible. Scarlet and... umm...

I too was typing my own novel on the subject (Well parts of it were on the subject...).

Shmacaba... Shomackataka... Shute Clerk... Shumba Clumba... Soot Clook... Sorry I don't seem to be able to do it. I believe we've already beat this one to death on BGP. First there are the logistics problems with gyms that aren't built for them, the cost, etc. If we're going to keep a single division for basketball we're going to keep from using the aforementioned device for many people feel that if a small school is going to win a state title in basketball, it will be because of ball control, similar to the style of Graves County this year. It seems that the only reason that so many people, and this includes many of us at Russell, like a timer is so that there are fewer ways to get beat or upset in a game. Come on folks, its high school basketball: games will be closer than they should be, last second shots will fall through, there should always be upsets. Give me a legitimate reason other than "It's not interesting enough without one," (which is not legitimate itself), but do it on the thread that already exists on the subject. As for Graves County, the source of all the controversy, congratulations on beating an exceptional team. With the style they play and the way they execute, they have as good a chance as anyone to win the tourny. This is not unprecedented for their coach, who has done well in the past. For Russell and South Laurel, they just went up a team that has a great inside presence, quick guards, and a team that simply was better, at least on the day each team played them. However, there is always next year. And Tubby, I love the way you play Devil's Advocate. Keep up the sarcasm buddy.:thumb:

Wow... I never thought the A-Team would garner so much attention on the basketball forum. I suppose all I can say is thanks from all of us, but this is the basketball forum, no matter how you cut it. (I believe the Governor's Cup thread still exists in the General Discussion forum.) Besides the fact that it has been a good year for the Russell school systems all around, I, along with most of the rest of the team, would prefer to stay out of this thread, and keep this one about basketball. (This includes all the snide remarks.) Echoing what others have already said: Am I proud of the basketball team? Most definitely. Do I think they could have performed better? I certainly think so. I thought this was true after the District final when they lost in similar fashion. But once again, after this game I still have not abandoned my support for the basketball team and my optimism for next season.

Was it not what we expected? Russell had problems with Greenup Co. earlier in the season. Why? They held the ball for long periods of time and played good sticky defense. What did Graves Co. do? The exact same thing. What was the end result? The exact same thing. Russell quite simply didn't have an answer for #10 on the perimeter defense and #54 inside. That was the difference. (The early technical didn't help things either. That really doomed any hope of early momentum, discussed later.) With that being said, I think the team vastly underperformed (understatement of the year candidate?). It was another frustrating game - I think everyone in the stands could see the Devils saying, "Here we go again..." After the first quarter it was as if any and all momentum that Russell had coming out of the region had been sapped away. But even so there is probably no excuse for scoring 27 points in a state tournament game. Last comment: for all the shouts of "Fire Dodd," look back hard on this season and you will discover not only did he do something that hasn't happened at Russell in 34 years, but he also did so after a series of bad happenings.

Being the resident astronomy geek, I have to admit, that was a good one. One good easily come back with, "But Scorpius will come and sting the life out of Orion and the Eagles with the three-ball." However that would be extremely nerdy and, more taboo, a prediction - something I would never do.