Dino

No apology needed, Flipper. I don't always say things as clearly as I could. Another factor to consider about the Royals' defense is that Mason County has played a tougher schedule than Johnson Central. That makes their defensive numbers even more impressive. However, looking at Johnson Central's stats, many of the points scored against the Golden Eagles have come with the second and third string defense in the game. My gut feeling is that the Golden Eagles have a better defense than the Royals, but it is really hard to compare them on paper. There is no doubt which team has the best offense, but Mason County's defense has kept the Royals in games when its offense has spit and sputtered. If Johnson Central can put up a lot of points on the Royals' defense, it will bode well for the team's playoff chances.

I agree with most of what you are saying. It is very possible that Danville was over rated in the polls and it is also possible that they will dominate their next game against Frankfort. All I am saying is that the BGP panel was convinced that Danville was #1, so a 7-2 team with a win last week over the #1 ranked team has a pretty good claim for the #2 spot over any team with an equal or worse record. I expect that Beechwood will be ranked #2 and Frankfort will be ranked 3rd or 4th, but I would give them the nod for the second spot myself - if I had previously ranked Danville the best 1A team in the state.

So, it's quit[sic] apparent that I haven't seen any of the games, is it? I never claimed to have seen either team play and I did not realize that was a requirement to make a prediction. Maybe you can get a moderator to delete the post for me. Thanks ever so much. I didn't realize this was a private thread. Sorry.

NCC has been "knocked off" five times this season. Last season's championship is irrelevant to this discussion. I said that Beechwood does not have a recent win over an opponent of comparable quality to Danville, which is currently the BGP top-ranked 1A team. Based on the rankings, which is what is being discussed here, the Danville win trumps Beechwood's win over NCC. I agree. I think that Frankfort should be #2 and have so stated. Being a defending state champion counts for nothing when you lose five regular season games the following season. NCC will have to prove that they are worthy of this year's title on the field, just the same as Frankfort will. So far, NCC has done nothing to show that they are serious contenders for a repeat title. I am not counting out any of the teams that you mentioned. However, aside from preseason rankings, on field performance is the only criteria that should be used when ranking teams. After all teams have played 9 or 10 games, there are enough game results that nobody should be ranking teams based on last year's results.

33 Beechwood 16 CHC

I never said that Johnson Central does not have a solid defense. They have a great defense - but Mason County may have the best defense that the Golden Eagles have faced this season. Mason County held undefeated 4A Lafayette to the fewest points that it has scored all season (21). Lafayette is averaging 31 ppg and scored 25 points in its win over previously undefeated Henry Clay last week. I hope that those who are predicting that Johnson Central will score 40 points or more against the Royals are correct, but that would be a pretty amazing accomplishment. I expect a much closer game than most people outside of Mason County expect.

My earlier post said that Frankfort should jump to #2, but my follow-up was not as clear. I would not jump them over Bardstown. However, Frankfort has the same record as Beechwood and they now have something that Beechwood lacks - a convincing win over the team that the BGP panel believed was the best 1A team in the state only a week ago. Mayfield has been struggling recently and NCC has a losing record. There should be no question that Frankfort deserves a higher rank than those two teams.

Mason lost to Ashland.

Frankfort has lost to in-county rival, 3A Franklin County (7-2), which has been ranked among the state's top 10 3A teams much of the season. Frankfort's other loss was also to a 3A team, Mason County (7-2), which has been solid defensively all year, by a 14-12 score. (Lafayette scored 21 against Mason, the most of any opponent this season.) Now Frankfort has beaten Danville in convincing fashion. Beechwood has no recent wins of similar quality. There is no way that Frankfort should not leap frog Beechwood, IMO. Frankfort may not win another game this season, but the proved that they were better than the BGP #1 team on the field Friday night, and its record is too good to think that the game was a fluke. Frankfort deserves to be ranked above Danville and Beechwood because they earned the position on the field.

Frankfort should jump to #2 - but I don't look for it to happen.

Byrnes, SC did get beat, but they were the #2 team. De La Salle was already #1. Warren Central won its first round 5A playoff game over Richmond by a 61-0 score. The Warriors are currently underrated at #7 in the USA Today rankings.

Good luck next week, marooncat. I think that Ashland and Johnson Central are the two best teams in the district and hope neither gets upset next week. Whoever emerges as the district champion, I will be supporting them in the regional title game. I hope that the Tomcats' fans will do the same, along with all of the other teams who are eliminated short of winning the district.

In the many years that I have followed BGP, the Ashland fans' (at least the more vocal ones) organized boycott of the pregame thread was the only one of its kind that I can recall ever seeing. I give GIAT an "A" for originality if nothing else.:thumb:

Old Hillbilly was correct. The game in question was played in 1976 and Belfry won it 14-13, as Johnson Central posted a 6-4 record that year. If Matney graduated in 1976, then he did not play in that game.

Old Hillbilly said that the game was played in '76. I was thinking '75, but I wasn't sure. I do remember that Brian Taylor made/missed the winning field goal. JC started its wrestling program in '74 and we started competing in matches the following year. Matney was Belfry's top wrestler at the time (the Pirates had a weak program but three very good individual wrestlers). I remember Matney rattling off a long list of titles that he had won, beginning in junior high school. Maybe you could ask him opinion about the field goal attempt and report back to us.

I was thinking that Matney graduated in '75 or '76 - I didn't realize that he played in that game. I wonder if he will dust off the film of that field goal and use it to motivate the players when they play Belfry?:lol: Matney was an outstanding football player and wrestler. He made a lasting impression on me as we stood in line to weigh in before a wrestling match. I don't think that I have ever met anybody with more self confidence than Jim had, but he was always able to backup his talk. I was just glad that one of my UK roommates was in his weight class instead of me.

28 Ashland 6 Boyd County

With all due respect, you really don't know what made this possible. The sudden rise of Johnson Central's program from the ashes has been a team effort. Eddie Blair has done an outstanding job as a middle school coach, but so have all of the other people who have coached there over the years. Johnson County's administration finally realized after playing musical chairs with the head football coaching job that it takes time and patience to build a program and it requires some continuity at the top. This seems to be common sense, but it apparently took many years for the Johnson County administration to reach this conclusion. Johnson County has always produced great players at the middle school level, and success has not always followed those players to the high school. No one person deserves all the credit for building Johnson Central's program, but three people warrant special mention. First, current superintendent Steve Trimble broke the long standing pattern of head coaches with one and two year tenures by hiring Bill Musick and not firing him after the team posted an 0-10 record in his first season. Bill Musick brought respectability to the program, including its first 4A district title and undefeated regular season in 2000. After some missteps, in which the administration failed in its first attempt to hire Jim Matney, which indirectly resulted in three dismal seasons under two coaches, Steve Trimble and the administration persuaded Coach Matney to take the job three years ago. There are plenty of other people, including Eddie Blair, that deserve much thanks for their hard work, but Trimble, Musick, and Matney are the biggest factors in the program having reached its current level, IMO. There is no substitute for having a talented head coach at the high school level. None.

Excellent point, Eagle Pride. I would add another pair of scores for the common opponents of Lafayette and Henry Clay to xyience's list: 21 Lafayette (9-0) 6 Mason County (7-2) 25 Lafayette (9-0) 13 Henry Clay (9-1) Johnson Central fans who assume that they are going to Maysville to watch the Golden Eagles rout the Royals may be in for a big surprise. Worse yet, fans who stay home because they think that the Eagles are a lock to win the game may regret not making the trip to support their team. Mason County has a solid defense and if Johnson Central does not prepare for this game the way that it did for Ashland, the Golden Eagles could find themselves making the trip to Maysville two weeks in a row.

In the last game that I watched at Belfry, there were several horrible calls, including a couple of pass interference calls. The official who made two of the worst calls was a Paintsville native who calls a lot of games in Johnson County. He probably cost the Golden Eagles the game, but I know that he called the game to the best of his ability. Bad calls are part of the game and I think officials sometimes let an enthusiastic crowd effect their performance. Some rise to the occasion, some buckle under the pressure. At least the controversial field goal in last season's Ashland game was close by all accounts. Hopefully, Johnson Central's next few games will not be decided by the width of a football and the players will decide the games instead of the officials. Fans seldom remember the names of refs who call great games. They are generally remembered best for their perceived screw-ups. People have to be a little bit crazy to agree to wear stripes and blow a whistle in front of thousands of screaming fans.

Those would be great additions to the schedule. You are probably already aware of this fact, but Belfry used to be our biggest rival aside from Paintsville. Ironically, the reason that the game became such a rivalry was a controversial field goal call back in '75 (I think I know that it was '75, but I could be mistaken). Johnson Central fans at the game swear that a would-be game winning field goal split the uprights and was called no good. For years afterward, Johnson Central coaches played a video of that game before taking the team to Pond Creek. It will not take much effort to make Belfry a rival once again. There are many people still around, including Johnson County's school superintendent, who played in that 1975 game.

I think you responded to the wrong post. MBWC41 was taking BADCAT74 to task for complaining. I think that BADCAT74 is the only Ashland fan who has complained about the PA announcer and music.

Yes, but it is getting old. We need to be playing more games where our starters can play into the fourth quarter. It's great to be able to play everybody, but key players need the reps in game conditions. You can't give them those quality minutes when you are up 49-0 at the half.

:lol: Have you read this thread? If so, you might want to read it again before accusing me of not recognizing the significance of this win. Or to paraphrase your own words, say what you know and not what you think you know (or what you don't know, for that matter).

I agree, especially with the widening gap between Johnson Central's football fortunes and those of our cross creek rivals. I would like to see an Apple Bowl doubleheader each year, with Ashland and another district opponent visiting Johnson Central in alternating years. The Tomcat faithful travel well it would give us a chance to watch a couple of good football games in peace with friends and family from Paintsville.