Dino

Covington Holy Cross - Buy. With a road win over NCC, HC would have to be an ever so slight favorite to win a rematch. Beechwood is the favorite, but HC is definitely a contender for the title. Harlan - Sell. Harlan is the third best team in its region, but I don't like its chances of beating both Somerset and Pikeville. Bethlehem - Sell. Bethlehem is a solid 1A team, but it is the third or fourth best team in the toughest 1A region in the state.

Ugly early. Uglier later.

Johnson Central - Buy. Lack of depth has cost JC shots at several regional titles in the past. This is the deepest JC team ever and an injury to one or two key players in the playoffs will not be a deal breaker in the playoffs for a change. Louisville Central - Buy. Their region is down and they have as good a chance as anybody of winning it. Better, IMO. Franklin County - Sell. FC is no better than the fourth best team in their region. It will take two upsets for them to win the region. Valley - Reversals of 36-0 same-season losses happen - but not often. I just don't see Valley turning the tables on Central in a rematch.

I think that when a fan of a team with the 111th ranked SOS questions the weak schedule of a team with the 118th ranked SOS (Massey's ranks, as of today), it is fair to ask the following questions: 1. Do you think Rockcastle's weak schedule will hurt their chances of winning the region? ...and... 2. If not, then why do you think that Johnson Central's schedule places them at a disadvantage? Note that had a CovCath or Highlands fan raised the question, the thought of researching their team's SOS would not have occured to me. I don't think that JC's schedule will hurt them at all through the regional finals (if they make it that far), because your district schedule is just as weak as the Golden Eagles' district schedule. Whoever wins the region this year will be challenged in at least one or two playoff games, so to me the whole strength of schedule question is a non-issue. Both Ashland and Bell County are playing a schedule that is marginally stronger than either Johnson Central or Rockcastle County. Do you believe that the difference is great enough to make Ashland a favorite over JC or Bell over Rockcastle? I don't.

Watterson hosts DeSales on 10/6.

Watterson hosts DeSales on 10/6.

Maybe JC can schedule Raceland next season and find out how good it is early in the season. Ashland has played some good 1A and 2A teams this season, but I am not conviced that either Russell or Belfry are the same strong teams that ended last season. Belfry is typically a slow starter that struggles early and peaks late. Johnson Central has played some athletic teams and some excellent passing quarterbacks. Pass defense has traditionally been a weak spot for the Golden Eagles but that no longer is the case. JC has also developed a solid kicking game that has been missing from most previous teams. I hope that Paintsville does not sign the Apple Bowl contract and the Johnson Central adds another strong team to its non-district schedule next season. However, JC's strength of schedule will play no role in the Ashland game. If JC loses, it will lose because Ashland is a better team - not because the Tomcats played a marginally better competition. I just don't see any district team staying within 2 touchdowns of the Golden Eagles on their home field this season.

Senior leadership or the lack thereof is a reflection of the coaching staff. I am not familiar with the situation at Boyle, but some of the symptoms described here sound very similar to what went on at Johnson Central the year after Bill Musick left the program following an 11-1 season. JC seniors were blamed for not exhibiting leadership, not playing with heart, not running on and off the field, etc. In short, the seniors became scapegoats for turmoil on the coaching staff. Many parents and even several assistant coaches could often be heard viciously criticizing the new head coach behind his back and in front of the players who were expected to show leadership skills. The fact is, any player who is unwilling to put forth his best effort should be benched to make room for boys who want to play football. However, I don't believe in going into rebuilding mode and penalizing seniors who have no "next year" in their futures, provided the seniors are playing hard and are the best players at their positions. I hope that Boyle County regains its bearings and the sniping at coaches and senior players comes to an end. It is much easier to bring a good program down than it is to build the kind of program that Chuck Smith left behind.

You're welcome. It's all yours. I look forward to reading more Tomcat fans bashing the Golden Eagles' schedule. The avatar may help them convince themselves that Johnson Central is overrated. I think some of them are having a difficult time believing it. This time next week, we will have the score of the JC vs. Greenup and Ashland vs. Greenup scores to discuss, which should give us a little bit of insight as to what we might expect when Ashland comes to town. I expect JC to handle Greenup County easily and then "upset" Ashland a couple of weeks later by at least a couple of touchdowns.

You are welcome to use it if you want. Here is a slightly fatter Underdog, scaled to a 150 x 150 px size with a transparent background. (I have temporarily made it my avatar, but will remove it in a few minutes.)

I think that Johnson Central will win by a comfortable margin. However, if the Golden Eagles win by a larger margin than Ashland did, it will only be because of the whoopin' that the Tomcats put on the Musketeers. :lol:

Some Ashland fans are determined to give the underdog role in their upcoming game to Johnson Central. After losing to 1A Raceland and being forced into overtime to beat two 2A teams on its home field, one would think that the Tomcat fans would be happy to play the underdog role for a change. It just doesn't seem fair to allow Coach Matney to play the underdog card during the two weeks that he and his staff will have to prepare for its home game with Ashland. Barring any injuries during next week's Greenup County game, Johnson Central should be at full strength when it plays Ashland. Starting quarterback JK Ratliff will have had three weeks to ease back into the lineup, running back Chase Richardson will be on hand, and Blake Johnson will be on hand to punish would-be Tomcat tacklers again. The Paintsville team that Johnson Central dismantled Friday night is really not much different from the Tiger teams that so often gave past Golden Eagle teams fits in the annual Apple Bowl. Daniel Pugh is one of the top quarterbacks in the mountains and Paintsville has several other outstanding individual players. Johnson Central is beginning to realize the potential that has always been there. Johnson Central should be better next season than this season, and may be even better two seasons from now. It is really sweet of some Ashland fans to let the Golden Eagles hang onto its underdog role, but I cannot imagine this year's JC team losing a home game to Raceland. But, if you insist.... 2006 Johnson Central Golden Eagles

I am wondering the same thing about Rockcastle. Massey has Rock's SOS ranked 117th vs. JC's 119 ranking. That should give Rock a huge edge come playoff time!:lol:

Paintsville will not be competitive with Johnson Central as long as the Golden Eagles have a coach as good or better than Paintsville. All else being equal, JC's talent pool is too deep for Paintsville. However, we all saw how quickly the pendulum swung back in the Tigers' favor when Bill Musick returned to Raceland. Until Matney leaves and JC hires another incompetent head coach, the Apple Bowl is a waste of time for both schools. A 20-13 all time edge in the series will do nothing to help the Tigers win in the future. All that can help the Tigers compete again is Matney's departure followed by a blunder by the JC administration in hiring a replacement. Hopefully, neither of those events will occur. Congrats to Coach Allen and his wife on the new arrival! Good luck to the Tigers in the rest of their games. I think that they will be hosting at least one playoff game in a few weeks.

I had not driven by the field after the new visitors' stands were installed until last weekend and I was really surprised at how small the stands were. The seating is adequate for every other game on Paintsville's regular season schedule, but not for a large Apple Bowl crowd.

My guess is that JC would not lose much at the gate if it scheduled an Apple Day weekend with Belfry or some other team whose support "travels well." Paintsville fans will not continue to turn out in large numbers to watch the Tigers get blown out by halftime by the Golden Eagles. However, JC fans found out the hard way how fast a team can go from an 11-1 record to a 2-8 record. Hopefully, when Coach Matney decides to call it quits in a few years, JC will find a capable replacement for him. Otherwise, the Tigers will eventually once again be competitive with the Golden Eagles.

Paintsville's new stands do not comfortably accomodate the number of fans who normally attend the Apple Bowl. The seating is adequate for the other games on Paintsville's schedule, but if the school planned on hosting every other Apple Bowl, Paintsville should have installed more seats. How was the crowd tonight and how many people were without seats? If playing a tougher opponent would better prepare the Golden Eagles for the post season, then JC should drop the Paintsville game. Maybe the two schools could take turns hosting the Apple Bowl to allow them to schedule a home and away series with a couple of teams on their own level.

I think that the time has come to pull the plug on this series. Three straight blowout wins by the Golden Eagles and the future looks like more of the same. The Apple Bowl used to hold some suspense for fans of both teams, but Matney's arrival pretty much ended that. Games like this one do neither team much good.

I am not sure how good Ashland is, but you will get a close look at the Golden Eagles soon enough. JC is much improved over last year's team. It will be nice to see how Ashland plays against a good 3A team.

I meant to quote Jim Shue in the post above - not westsider.

If I understand Massey's system correctly, he would predict his #1 3A team, Covington Catholic, winning over Johnson Central by about a 33-15 margin. In other words, the Colonels would be a solid favorite to beat the Golden Eagles, but not a prohibitive one. Every computer ranking system that I have seen has JC somewhere in the top 10, as does every poll. As westsider said, I believe that JC is a legitimate #4-7 team at this point in the season. If they meet Highlands or Catholic during the playoffs, the Golden Eagles will probably lose the game - but I would not bet the farm on it.

If you will reread my post, you will see that the point that I made is not that JC would give those three a good game. My point is that if JC is good enough to win its region, then it will be good enough to give any team in the state a competitive game. If JC does advance to meet Covington Catholic or Highlands, I am pretty sure that I will be reading posts claiming that the ony reason the Golden Eagles won the region was that Bell and Rockcastle were "down" this season. I really expected Rockcastle and Bell to be top 5 teams this season, but both have stumbled past teams that IMO, JC would have breezed past. JC has exceeded my expectations so far, but I agree that we will not know how far the program has come until playoff time.

Thanks. I stand corrected. JC beat GRC 35-7 before falling to Tates Creek in the second round.

Based on the number of key players returning from last season, there is no reason to believe that Rockcastle County and Bell County would not be competitive with either CovCath or Highlands if they meet in the playoffs. IF JC wins its region, neither the Colonels nor the Bluebirds will need to call off the dogs to avoid hitting the century mark. JC's 2000 team was good enough to split with 4A semi-finalist Tates Creek - spoiling the Commodores' Homecoming before losing in the first round of the playoffs. By all indications, this Golden Eagle team is better than the 2000 team because of its greater depth. JC has been winning by big margins while playing without some key players. While it is , IMO, to say that Johnson Central would beat any of the teams ranked ahead of them, it is equally ludicrous to assume that any of those teams is capable of scoring 100 points on them in Paintsville or that JC is incapable of upsetting those teams at home. If Johnson Central is fortunate enough to get by Ashland, Rockcastle, and Bell and has an opportunity to play Covington Catholic or Highlands at full strength, they should at least be competitive. I know that there are a lot of "if's" in this post, but every team that has ever one its first state title enjoyed a breakthrough season where all of the pieces fell into place. This may or may not be that season for the Golden Eagles, but anybody who really believes that any 3A team is 100 points better than Johnson Central may be in for a rude awakening.

Maybe most JC fans really believe the old adage that two wrongs don't make a right. It is far easier to understand fans from a small 1A getting carried away and talking trash before, during, and after a win over a much larger school. Most of us have always believed that the Golden Eagles should dominate the series and now that Matney is at the helm, we are not surprised to see that expectation met. I think that we "should act like we have been here before," although truth be told, no Golden Eagle team has enterred a season with more potential than this one. Respect for a football program is earned by winning on the field and by one's reaction to winning on the field The team is doing its part and the fans need to do their's.