SKINPIG

A defensive player shall neither run into the kicker nor holder, which is contact that displaces the kicker or holder without roughing; nor block, tackle or charge into the kicker of a scrimmage kick, or the place-kick holder, other than when; A. Contact is unavoidable because it is not reasonably certain that a kick will be made. B. The defense touches the kick near the kicker and contact is unavoidable. It's sort of a judgement call by the official after a kick has been touched by a defensive player as to weather or not the contact was avoidable.

Yes, the Clay defense allowed 68 points, but many of those points were as a direct result of a call on the field. It's difficult to explain some of the calls because they were not explained to the fans or coaches during the game. I'm going to explain one call, and one call only...Not that one call made the difference, there were more than one like it. Close score late in the game, Clay almost scoring at will (as is PCC), Clay has them held at 3rd and about 15 near mid field, if they make PCC punt Clay will more than likely go down and take the lead. PCC snaps the ball and hands it off (I don't know if it's a broken play or not), Clay stuffs the play at the line of scrimmage, the play takes no more than 3 seconds from start to end, a play we see several times in every game...The white hat throws the flag before, repeat, BEFORE the 3 second play ends, signals personal foul without an explanation (the only foul in the situation that gives PCC a first down). It was a one in a 100,000 play call. It's a call you would NEVER make in such a battle. Both teams were fighting for the win. The players would have been satisfied to determine the winner without the phantom flags. It was nothing other than a call to give them a first down and it could very well have made the difference. I can't be 100% sure, but I think there was 5 or 6 personal fouls called in the game, all on big plays. Sadly, this stuff exists, and the Clay fans are no different than any other fans...When it is this bad, we will complain. Honestly, it was obvious. I confronted some PCC fans on our sidelines and although they said nothing, I could see it in their faces. I'm not talking screaming mothers, I confronted 10 grown men alone, they said nothing. I will give those guys some credit, they showed some class by letting me know they understood my frustration, without saying a word.

You've done your fair share of Ref complaining my friend. I hope you're not another one making insinuations ("Karma") that kids deserve to be cheated. Some of the posts on here seems to point that way. Oh! If you don't have a dog in this fight...Why are you running around nipping at our heels?

I worry about guys on here that would insinuate ANY kid deserves to be cheated. "what goes around, comes around"????? Come on! I don't think kids should be cheated under any circumstance, much less payback from what a few adults did in the past. You "held on to win the game" at Clay, and you're on here complaining????? If it was that close and the refs wanted to take it, trust me, they would have. It happens everywhere guys. Sometimes it just gets ridiculous and that's why the Clay fans are raising cane on this one.

Trust me guys, if you didn't see the game with Clay at PCC you really don't have a worthy comment to make. You had to be there. If you go back to the Kieth days at Clay, you can most certainly recall some "official favoritism" on the hardwood. I don't think any Clay fans will deny that. Without going into specifics, what went on at PCC last night goes much further. Intimidation and just plain out cheating are two different things. Incompetence and cheating are two different things. What that crew did last night is a travesty to the game. Weather you are fan of Clay football and their staff or not, I hope the people of Clay County never forget what happened to those kids at Perry County Friday night. If most Perry fans would be honest, I'd say most of them would call it a tainted victory. PATHETIC! The biggest mistake Clay made in the game was letting it get close enough to be taken. As Forest said "that's all I got to say about that".

Clay must figure out how to get the other team punting more than once or twice a game. Clay is very capable of winnig the district title if they'll bear down and go to work.

I just hope you're not seriously calling Clay's JV game with Whitley a real preview. Clay's JV is merely spotted with what Whitley will see down the road. Good win though.

Clay comes out looking sharp. The Tigers go up 30-7 in the first quarter, and from that point on they sputter on both sides of the ball. Letcher got ole MO on their side and didn't let up.

Final

I don't have any stats at this time but you might want to look up Clay's rushing average this season. This matchup should be a good one.

I thought the score was very indicative of the game. NL won the special-team battles or the score would have been more like Clay 48 NL 10.

I see it totally different KyCAT. I thought Hazard was a very good mountain team. Their team speed was top notch and their power players were impressive as well. Hazard is one of the most athletic teams I've seen in a while and can beat several 5A teams. With that being said...Clay went on their field, in their bowl, with their zebras and still had an opportunity to win the game. To me, that speaks volumes for Clay. I will agree that Clay should have won. Had they not give up the kick return, in spite of it all, they may have pulled it off.

Good summation UKFAN1. I must admit the Bulldogs are a much better team than I expected. When Campbell gets back they will be more than solid. Hazard is loaded with team speed. What impressed me the most about Clay was the fact they were flagged for holding around 9 times during crucial drives (Hazard O-line not called for holding once), had a few key players out, not real sharp offensively, gave up a kick return and STILL had a chance to win the game. I'm not crying over the holding calls because it's something you have to overcome. If you're going to focus that hard on throwing the holding flag though, focus both ways, it can almost be thrown (legitimately) every play. The Lynn Camp & Hazard game should have the Tigers ready for district play when they go to North Laurel next week

I didn't see any great D last night by either team, BUT you must agree that the adjustments Clay made at the half slowed Roskoph down considerably. Clay tried to close the game out with about 9 minutes to go by playing a bunch of jv players on defense. Had Clay played their first team both ways all night like LC did it would have been even uglier. Clay at least had an answer for LC's offense in the second half whereas LC was overwhelmed all night long. It started out like a shoot-out with LC running out of bullets.

When was the last time you watched a pretty good high school team that features a prolific back #31 (getting over 200 yards and 4 TD's), and a very good back in #21, score 38 points and get beat by 25? I'm not labeling Clay as district champions yet but, their performance last night was impressive in a lot of ways.

If Clay is average, so is Corbin. Clay limped into this game with some KEY players banged up, therefore worked on some things (running game) while going full speed against an average team, something they can't get done in practice. I'm sure Corbin had a few watching from the sidelines too. My point is this; Why go all out to win a stupid scrimmage and pass up the opportunity to get in some valuable work where needed? Clay has a lot of key personnel that has to go both ways. The staff made a wise decision IMO in the way they treated the SCRIMMAGE. What exactly do you mean by the bolded comment about Greer? I hope it's not some kind of cheap shot toward him or Clay's QB's.

Clay Perry Central Letcher Central North Laurel Whitley County

He may have Jimmy, but it won't happen...Not this year anyway.

With Blair and Napier signing on, Stepp has solidified his staff for sure. "They will mainly work with Coach Napier, the old one,":confused: If you're talking about Coach Wayne Napier, I just never thought of him as being old Augustus...You must be very young. Maybe "older" or "senior" would have been a better choice of words.

I'm hearing from both coaches and players that Mr. Blair is fitting in real well. I'd say he'll be a BIG help to the team.

I know it's hard to do, but if you're old enough to rewind to the seventies, try and compare those teams with the teams you watch today. Don't just pick out one or two teams, compare them as a whole. When I go back to those years I see guys like Gary Gregory, Markus Mckissic, Glenn Bishop and Russ Corum. The teams that had these guys, ranging from 1974 to 1982 could smoke, and I do mean smoke, ANY team the 13th region has had in a loooooong time, and they never played a day of AAU. That's why I say it's not a must to play AAU year round. IMO a player is a player is a player, no matter how many AAU games he plays. Trust me, you can work on your game without playing AAU.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. Winning basketball has been synonymous with Clay County before and after AAU. I've been around a long time and I just can't see the benefits of AAU as a whole. Some players can benefit, but not enough for coaches to be making it sort of mandatory. IMO "players" 25 years ago were more plentiful than they are now. I'm not blaming AAU, it just hasn't proven to me that it's turning out anymore "players" these days. I'd like to see some stats if there were some way to compile them. Say...How many KY HS seniors signed with Division 1 teams before AAU became the money pit it is, compared to how many AAU can claim.

:confused: Please explain.

There's a couple of courts here in Clay County that has some good action going all spring and summer. Believe me, there's plenty of the older guys that will challenge ANY high school "competitive player". I'm talking games where if you don't bring it, you won't last long. As long as you win, you stay up...Lose and you sit. Sittin ain't no fun. Plus you don't have to worry about the ole coach harping at you when you throw that no-look behind the backer for the game winner. You could argue that the courts would really be A-Buzz if all the younger guys were encouraged to participate (when not working on footwork drills and lifting for football or basketball) instead of being tied up with AAU. I've watched many a Clay player grow up down at the ballpark courts...anyone on here from Clay can vouch for that.

"Basketball IQ" was very alive and well way before AAU basketball was even mentioned in KY. Most of your veteran/best coaches didn't even know what AAU was when they learned to play and coach.