futurecoach

If that is how the board falls. I would want Peter Woods then.

What are the days and times of the games?

This score is shocking! One of the big reasons IMO for why Cooper won the region these last few years, is because of their defense. If their offense had an off day, their defense was always still great. This year, they haven’t been bad but the defense may not be playing as well as previous years. With that said, I still believe Cooper has a very good chance to win the region. Which quite honestly a beat down like this may be what they needed heading into the region, and get them focused to go win it again.

Agreed! Them hitting on almost all their free agents in 2021 paved the way to that Super Bowl. They need to be able to do that again.

I think Walton wins this one. They revenged an earlier loss to Grant tonight, and I think they will do the same against SK. Should be another great game!

Until the Steelers actually get the QB situation figured out. They will continue to not be a team that is a threat to win it all. Good enough to where they don't blow it up, but never good enough to win it all. Essentially the worst spot to be in as a pro team, which is where the Bengals hung out a lot during the Dalton years.

The main time the Bengals actually draft well is when they have top 10 type picks, so trading back isn't a great move for them. As they almost need to get those can't miss type guys to hit on draft picks. The only way they should trade back, is if the 9 picks in front of them literally take almost every top defensive guy. In that case, then yeah might as well trade back if they can. The key though is for them to do what they did in 2021 and actually try to fill a lot of those needs in Free Agency. This way they don't have to use the draft to fill needs, and focus on getting best player available.

If they go into the MAC tournament undefeated, even if they lose they are in. With where their NET ranking is currently, they won't be left out for slipping up one time in the conference tournament. Which to answer your question in another post, yes that would mean they would take two teams from the MAC and another teams bubble would be popped then.

Oweh has missed a lot recently on layups, but until this recent stretch he had always been really good at finishing layups, especially tough ones. The guy never seemed to be able to make a layup, which stopped him from being really good was Ashton Hagans, because he could get to the rim but never finished and quite honestly wasn't even close to making it most of the time lol.

While there are a lot areas that didn’t improve like a lot of people thought once Calipari left. Which I admit I’m not very positive on if Pope can be the guy we need to win at the level that is expected. One area that I do believe Pope has been very good at, and is a clear upgrade from Calipari is out of bounds plays. Pope has been great out of timeouts with out of bounds plays. The play he drew up tonight may have won them the game. South Carolina cut it to 2 with a minute and a half left and had the momentum. Pope drew up a great play after a timeout to get an easy two and sparked the 13 to 5 run to end the game. Nicely done coach Pope!

While I like Downs and think he will be a great player. If the Bengals have a chance to get a stud pass rusher, that is more valuable than Downs IMO. All these good defenses have good defensive lines. Much like how the Ravens have one of the best safeties in the NFL in Hamilton. Their defense wasn't good this past year, because of not having a good defensive line that could rush the passer. For me if they could get any of the top 3 pass rushers, I would take them over Downs. I would even strongly consider Woods, because I think he is going to be a stud DT in this league, and finding a good DT is hard to find. However, at that point Downs is more of a can't miss than Woods, so you have to take Downs.

With where their NET ranking is. If they only lose one game, they will be in. Honestly I think they would slip in even if they lose 2.

The focus for the Walton-Verona Bearcats heading into the 2026 season is simple: start faster and finish stronger. Through two seasons under Coach Gary Pence, the results have been steady but not yet a major jump in the win column. The Bearcats have gone 5-6 and 5-7, compared to 4-6 the season prior to his arrival. While the overall record hasn’t dramatically improved, the postseason trajectory has. Walton-Verona missed the playoffs the year before Pence took over, made the playoffs in Year One, and then won a playoff game last season before falling to Beechwood in the second round. A clear trend under Pence has been slow starts. The Bearcats opened 1-5 in both seasons before rallying late. Injuries played a role, but every program deals with adversity, so they must do a better job overcoming that. In 2025, Walton-Verona held halftime leads in three losses but couldn’t close. If this team wants to take the next step, finishing games will be critical. Personnel-wise, the Bearcats lose five starters on offense: QB Avery Howe, WR Brayden Donato, WR Michael Oldfield, OL Shawn Sinkhorn, and Bryce Swanson. Defensively, only two starters depart (Donato and Sinkhorn), meaning the strength of this team should be on that side of the ball. Key returning players include Seniors. AJ Yutze, Cooper Burch, Samuel Koester, Juniors Andrew Lynn, Lucas Engel, and Sophomore Wesly Simpson. With experience and depth returning defensively, Walton-Verona has the pieces to be solid. The biggest question mark will be at quarterback. The competition is expected to come down to junior Andrew Lynn and sophomore Braxton Parr. How quickly that position settles could determine the ceiling of this team. Year Three is often when programs begin to show clear identity and growth under a new coach. If Walton-Verona can avoid another slow start and learn to close out tight games, this could be the season they push forward and reestablish themselves as a consistent contender as they were in the 2010's under coach Barth. 2026 Schedule Scrimmage #1 – at Dayton (vs. Dayton and Lynn Camp) Scrimmage #2 – at Pendleton County Week 1 – at Bishop Brossart Week 2 – Bye Week 3 – Ludlow Week 4 – at Boone County Week 5 – at Harrison County Week 6 – Bracken County Week 7 – at Beechwood Week 8 – Gallatin County Week 9 – at Owen County Week 10 – St. Henry Week 11 – at Grant County

If they do away with districts, then I think this would be the correct way to go. However, even if they don't do away with districts and keep the normal seeding for the first two rounds. Then I would like to see them use Maxpreps, or Calpreps to seed the teams from the third round on.

Agreed. I don't see anyway of them being able to avoid 6 team districts in any class besides for 1A and 6A.

Would have to feel bad for Scott and Boone County in this scenario. As they finally got out of being a 6 team district in this current alignment, which now allows one of them to make the playoffs based on who wins their game against each other. However, with it most likely moving back to 6 teams with CovCath moving up. That means the chances of them making the playoffs again go down drastically.

I agree.

Based on these teams, I put it on ChatGPT to see what it said. Initially created a 7 team NKY district, which it didn’t like as there is only a small chance the KHSAA would have that. So if showed two scenarios. One with it having two NKY districts including Bracken County, and one where Bracken County got moved East and left one 6 team NKY district. The Two NKY District: District 1 Mayfield Caldwell County Trigg County Todd County Central Fort Campbell District 2 Owensboro Catholic Hancock County McLean County Edmonson County Western District 3 Somerset Monroe County Green County Metcalfe County Clinton County District 4 Danville Campbellsville Sayre Kentucky Country Day District 5 – NKY North Beechwood Bishop Brossart Holy Cross (Covington) Bracken County District 6 – NKY South Walton-Verona Gallatin County Owen County Bethlehem District 7 Lewis County West Carter Morgan County Jackson County Breathitt County Prestonsburg District 8 Belfry Pike County Central Shelby Valley Knott County Central Martin County Leslie County Class 2A – Projected District Alignment (Bracken Moved East) District 1 Mayfield Caldwell County Trigg County Todd County Central Fort Campbell District 2 Owensboro Catholic Hancock County McLean County Edmonson County Western District 3 Somerset Monroe County Green County Metcalfe County Clinton County District 4 Danville Campbellsville Sayre Kentucky Country Day Bethlehem District 5 Beechwood Walton-Verona Gallatin County Owen County Bishop Brossart Holy Cross (Covington) District 6 Lewis County Bracken County West Carter Morgan County Jackson County Breathitt County District 7 Prestonsburg Magoffin County Knott County Central Martin County District 8 Belfry Pike County Central Shelby Valley Leslie County

Agreed!

If counting the Covid year where fans weren’t in the stands and players on the bench were spaced out, then yes that is correct. I don’t like ever counting that year as nothing about that year was normal. However, ever since things got back to normal it still hasn’t been great. Calipari had a couple of really good teams after that, but then went and got upset in the first round twice. Not including the Covid year here is the records the last 5 years including this year. Calipari 26-8 third in the SEC (lost in 1st round) 22-12 third in the SEC (lost in 2nd round) 23-10 second in the SEC (lost in 1st round) Pope 24-12 seventh in the SEC (lost in sweet 16) 17-10 ninth in the SEC currently We are looking at finishing 7th or lower in the SEC again. Which for reference Calipari only finished worse than 3rd in the SEC two times, once was a 4th place finish and the other the 8th place finish Covid year. Mark Pope did get us out of the first weekend last year, but overall it hasn’t really been good under him.

They better make sure they beat South Carolina on the road. Or else there is a good chance we have a 7 game losing streak heading into the SEC tournament, and being very much on the bubble for the big dance.

Ugh, that is all I really have to say about this game.

A player does not have to be living in the district to be eligible, as public schools can have transfers. Especially those who transfers in from out of district heading into their freshman year. Now if a player played a varsity sport, and then transferred without a change in residency then they would be ineligible. However, even then that ruling has been inconsistent by the KHSAA.

If they are going to follow through with this multiplier for private schools, then I honestly believe they should do this scenario for public schools too. If you are going to do the multiplier to private schools, because of possible "competitive" advantages in regards to who you can pull. Then the scenario you mentioned should be used for public schools too, who pull kids from outside their attendance zones. As a lot of the top public school football programs, do also typically get more out of attendance zones kids to come in, which gives them similar "competitive" advantage that is being used against private schools with this new plan. As you see some of the top public school teams like Boyle, Beechwood get guys from outside their district. Which even just 5 good players from out of district, can make a big difference. So in Beechwood's case 5 players from outside of district, if you times that by 3 that makes their enrollment go up 15. Which does make a difference and could possibly put them in 3A then.

While the KHSAA may like having 4 teams per district. They have also shown, they will do the scenario I mentioned, as currently in 1A in District 7 they have 5 teams, and District 8 they have 3 teams. The fifth place team in District 7, becomes the 4 seed for District 8 for playoff purposes. So they have shown that they will do that scenario, that is why I don't believe they will ship Ludlow out and make them travel south for district games, when they have a district they can just make 5 teams and all schools within basically 15 minutes of each other. With that said, I completely agree on being excited to see what the actual realignment will be.