All Play No Work

Uh-oh for Bluebird and Colonels fans. Owensboro is solid. Details in a few.

I say he's banking on Dayton improving and Beechwood pretty much remaining as good as they already are. The question would be could Dayton improve that much by the playoffs? We don't know that yet and we don't even know if they will get the #2 seed yet.

Having seen both teams multiple times I give the Greendevils the edge especially playing at home. Bellevue could win, but some things would have to happen the right way. I'm thinking nerves play a big part in this one and it might get sloppy at times. Breakdown of The Battle for the Paddle: Bellevue run D: Pretty good actually especially when not against a larger team. Sometimes can give up the big play, but pretty solid overall. Bellevue pass D: Average. Not really a shutdown type secondary against an accomplished passing attack, but they can handle the average passing attack. Bellevue run O: Fairly consistant although a good run defense can shut them down. Backs aren't real big or fast and have put it on the ground, but the o-line usually gets them positive yards. Bellevue pass O: Not very developed and not effective in obvious passing down and distance. Dayton run D: Slightly above average if front seven is not over-matched. Some quickness and blitz schemes that work. Dayton pass D: Slightly above average but will give up some yardage to a well-developed passing offense. Dayton run O: I really like the emerging fullback although they don't use him enough. The rest are tough runners but sometimes teams stack the line and can take the run away. Dayton pass O: Getting better although the QB gets too much pressure and is not as experienced since he hasn't started all year. Most of the passing yards come from the yards the receivers gain after catching the ball, not on the actual pass. Special teams: Neither has much of a kicking game. PATs are not automatic, and the punting is about average at best. Dayton punt and KO return rates a slight edge. Bellevue kick cover rates a slight edge. Home field might be huge in this one and if the weather holds I'll predict this might be the most fans in attendance in quite some time.

X keeps on winning. CovCath gets Elder later on.

Dayton was down 14-6 and looking very flat early on. Four big turning points after that: 1. Dayton sideline and fans jump all over Ref for a facemask call on a Dayton kickoff return with Dayton down 14-6. That prompts a sideline warning followed by a 15 yard unsportsman-like on the next play. Fans suddenly fire team up. 2. Lloyd throws an INT with 1:25 left in the half while up 14-6. Dayton returns it to the 26 and then gets the TD. Goes for 2 and ties it at 14-14. 3. Lloyd throws a bomb with 15 seconds left in the half and gets down to the Dayton 14. They get off 4 plays but do not score. Final play was with 1 second left and the pass went out of the endzone. 4. Lloyd returns the second half kickoff to the 35 but star receiver Herthel is injured and misses the series. Lloyd goes backward and fumbles punt snap which Dayton recovers on the 18. The floodgates opened from there as Dayton scored 3 TDs in the third quarter. Herthel returned but was re-injured with Lloyd down 35-14 on a 4th down play they tried and failed to convert.

Final

The big question would be did 2 writers out of 20 vote Brossart #10 or did one voter put them at # 9??? Inquiring minds want to know.

Newport very handily. Brossart will improve as the years go, on but jumping to varsity play against established teams is almost too much to ask at this point.

Newport fully loaded? The team that was picked 3rd or last in the 2A district? Paris a tough team? The Paris team that might miss the playoffs in a 5 team district? Ludlow was picked to be in a battle for the 2-4 spot in the district and give Bellevue credit there because that was a good road win. Those teams are a combined 2-12. No one thought Bellevue would be 4-1?? I did. At worst I thought they would be 4-2 after the first six games and at best 5-1. Again they can't help it that Newport, Paris, Bracken, Brossart are all at the front of the schedule. But be impartial for a second. You have to admit Dayton has played a schedule much better to this point of the year. That may even out a little as Bellevue gets into the tougher part of their schedule.

Actually in 2005 Bellevue got smacked by a very good Indian Hill team in a non-district game and I think that helped prepare them for Beechwood who they beat. They got drilled in the playoffs by NCC but they are 2A now so that's taken care of. The Indian Hill game was the type of game that will help them prepare for Beechwood or whoever in Class A. In Bellevue's defense they can't control how good the teams that are on your schedule are in a given year. Newport, Paris, Bracken, Lloyd are all struggling.

First, I never said they were disappointing. I said they regressed from Week 1consistency-wise. I say that because they started out well by beating Newport although Newport is not a good team (0-4), but they played good defense and the offense did enough. Then they beat Paris (0-5) after only leading by 1 at the half and 7 with 2 minutes to go as oppossed to what LCA did to Paris the next week. Then they beat Ludlow (2-3) and played okay in that one, giving up a lot of yards but getting the important win. They never showed up on offense, defense, or special teams against NCC in a game they should not have won, but should not be down 35-0 with 7 minutes to go in the second quarter. The Brossart game is not even considered this year. So they will be 5-1 after this week but facing three teams all capable of beating them in the next three weeks if they still don't have the consistency. If they get a little more consistent they can win 2 of those games.

But the Bellevue starters will not have had a meaningful game in three weeks prior to the Dayton game. That is not good IMO. How much rest do they need? Plus they aren't getting any good game experience.

Mid-season musings: 1A Dayton: Maybe a little better than I expected although I thought they would be #2. But wins over Holmes/Scott were good points. Still can't come close to handling that 1000 pound gorilla in Ft. Mitchell. Bellevue: I think they played well Week 1 against Newport and then might have regressed from there at least consistency-wise. Should have crushed Paris but didn't, did okay with Ludlow, and did not do anything against NCC. I think the schedule isn't helping them. Ludlow: Didn't play well against Bellevue and then could not last versus Dayton. Now injuries and a likely first round bouncing. About as expected. Beechwood: Played fairly well to this point which was expected. No one in the district can touch them and it will be interesting as to how they tune up the rest of the way especially in games against non-district teams. Brossart: As expected. 2A: Lloyd: Little inconsistant, but maybe about as expected. Defense may be a little better than I thought, and offense might be a little more inconsistant than I thought they would be. NCC: Maybe a little better on offense and defense than expected. But not in that well-oiled mode yet. Newport: Thought they would be better on offense than they are. And the defense has been average which was expected. Holy Cross: Thought they would be better than they've shown on offense, but the defense is better than what I thought they would be. 5A: Highlands: About as expected, nothing stands out but offense, defense, special teams all contribute as expected. Dixie: Thought they might try and outscore teams and the heck with defense but that hasn't happened. Might just be a cut below in a year that Highlands is pretty good. CovCath: Thought before the season that they would struggle early and get good at the end. Offense suffered a blow with losing RB, but the defense is not bad and they will improve too. Needs to avoid Highlands in the first round and then take their shot if they get it. Holmes: Up and down as expected with new staff. Missing the playoffs would have been unexpected though at the start of the season. Scott: Win over Holmes was big especially after starting season badly. About as expected except they won the one they had to. 6A: Conner: Thought they would be better. Campbell Co.: Thought they would be better than they've shown, and it still might happen. Ryle: Thought they would be good which they are, but thought they would be more balanced. Boone Co.: Thought they would struggle early but they have not. Now they need to finish it off. Simon Kenton: Thought they would be fairly tough in 6A but they started much worse they I thought they would. But may have turned it around with win over Ryle.

That should be a really neat thing. Post pictures.

Bellevue by whatever they want. Bellevue really has not had any luck with the schedule this year and it is doing nothing to prepare them for the Dayton game. Two weeks ago game over by midway thru the second period trailing 35-0 to NCC. Last week game over early crushing Brossart. Same thing this week. Meanwhile, Dayton had a close one with Ludlow, a close one with Lynn Camp, and should have a good one with Lloyd this week.

As opposed to a "little better" or just "better" I think " a lot better" speaks volumes.

Can the Holy Cross defense keep Ryle from controlling the ball? Can Ryle avoid the turnovers and just pound the ball? Will either team complete 5 passes? And more importantly, should they both work on the pasing game if they want to go anywhere in the playoffs? Thoughts?

Well this looks to be a dandy and its Saturday night so why not attend? Will the week off dull the Boone County offense or will the rest allow even more pounding on the ground? Owensboro is certainly no stranger to the running game either so will they be able to run on Boone Co.? Who wins?

Well the cardiac Greendevils make a trip over to Erlanger for a match-up with the 2A Lloyd Juggs. Lloyd has been a tad inconsistant on both offense and defense this year, and along with coaching situation, can the Juggs pull this one out? Dayton seems to have games come down to the final minutes or be over early. So is this another nail-biter? Dayton won last year at home but will the Juggs get revenge? What say you?

This issue was debated here in past years. IMO it has nothing to do with conditioning etc. It does have to do with 135 pound Sophs and Frosh getting plowed by 250 pound players all night long becaue the roster is so depleted to begin with. Seems every year Bracken Co has less than 20 players for some games and three or four of them are in casts or heavy braces. Kudos to the kids that carry on, but I would like the KHSAA to set some sort of minimum roster size of healthy kids.

CovCath's 14 points today came on a short field (37 yards I think) after a bad punt and a shorter field (5 yards) after the KO return. So I don't think they will have that easy of a time moving the ball on Beechwood. And maybe the other way too. But it will be that "night" atmosphere and Senior night and all that so Beechwood is walking into a tough spot. With that, I think Beechwood pulls it out.

I'm not sure he would have scored because everyone stopped on the whistle but he would have had a nice gain. An incorrect whistle happened in a game I saw last month. A D-lineman batted the ball thrown by the QB and the ref blew the whistle ......too bad that the ball went right to the LB who returned it 30 yards. They had to replay the down. No INT, no return.

I'll say this. ** Never really got the feeling Highlands was in trouble or that they could lose. ** Highlands makes plays when they need to. Whether it is just out-jumping a DB, or running with a bad snap etc. they make plays. ** CovCath killed themselves on the 3rd and inches plays when they turned and handed off 4 yards deep. Highlands was basically willing to give them 6 inches on a QB sneak by not having anyone directly over the center. ** The CovCath INT is the endzone was a good play by Highlands by I thought the CovCath receiver must have lost sight of the ball because he never went for it. ** Where are the soccer players or CovCath kickers that used to put the ball 8 yards deep in the endzone? Line drive kickoffs to the 15 will get you beat. ** If CovCath ever gets Buckley back, they could get a lot better on offense. ** Don't think Highlands showed everything on offesne today.

I believe he is referring to the coaching staffs in regards to offensive play calling and defensive schemes and not the players. And that isn't uncommon in these district games probably even more now since all you are playing for is home field advantage.

I can't answer your questions. The first series HC ran the ball twice for -1 yards and then threw a nice pass that the NCC defender went for the pick but didn't get it and HC picked up 12 yards and a first down. Then they ran it 3 straight times for a -4 yards. I don't think they threw another pass other than on the punt in the first half. And I believe they had 32 yards at the half and 22 came on the punt/pass. They only threw 8 passes all night and 1 was on the punt. That would be okay if you were winning or if your running game was producing but it wasn't at all. Then again to be fair sometimes when the QB goes back it could be a pass or a designed draw but NCC was usually in the backfield before you could tell which it was going to be. HC defense played well considering their offense wasn't doing anything. Drops sure helped, but it wasn't like NCC was ripping off chunks of yards in the running game. I would estimate that NCC only used about 50% of their formations and plays. Why that was I don't know. Strange game.