jimmyref

Only 4 of these 16 made the sweet 16 last year-2017. Only 4 of these teams made it in 2016.

So the District Tournament starts next week. Here is the bracket and the leaders in each region on May 15th on KHSAA.org. These are not projections or predictions rather just the leaders in wins by each region today. https://khsaa.org/baseball/2018/statebaseballbracket.pdf 1st Round-Thursday June 7th 16th Region- Greenup County 29-5 vs Owensboro 4th Region 16-9-11 am 13 Region Whitley County 21-9 vs 14 Region Perry Cty Central 20-5-1:30 pm 6th Region PRP 22-5 vs 7th Region St Xavier 26-1- 6:00 pm 5th Region Taylor Cty 21-7 vs 12th Region Danville 24-8- 8:30 pm Friday June 8th 9th Region Covington Catholic 20-10 vs 23-6 North Oldham 23-6 8th Region-11 am 15th Region Lawrence Cty 27-6 vs Caldwell County 20-6 2nd Region 10th Region Nicholas Cty 21-6 vs 1st Region McCracken Cty 25-7 11th Region Scott Cty 24-6 vs 4th Region Russell Cty 21-7 Quarterfinals Saturday June 9th Semifinals Friday June 15th Finals Saturday June 16th at 7:00 pm All games at Whitaker Bank Stadium, Lexington, Ky

6th plays 7th 1st round so Trinity/St X vs PRP right off the bat. 8th plays 9th also. https://khsaa.org/baseball/2018/statebaseballbracket.pdf

It was a beautiful night and the honor to Coach Miller was emotional to many on both sides of the bleachers. They played his voice message accepting his enshrinement into the KHSAA hall of fame. It was eerie to see the reaction on the faces of the many PRP fans. As to the game, I was really impressed by the PRP pitcher, Garrett Schmeltz, his velocity and location was amazing but the Tigers have tremendous bats at the top of their lineup. Most baseball fans have heard of Scheler and Sweeney but Aric Lyons is just crushing the ball. Garrett Schmeltz probably has not given up 5 runs in a game in his life but the Tigers were hitting the fastball. Both teams didn't field well to their standards and some runs were unearned. PRP fell off big time from starter to relievers and the last 2 innings took about an hour as St Xavier just hit roped hit after roped hit. One of Cam Schelers hits just ate up the SS for PRP as it short hopped to the glove side of him and got past him before he could get his glove on it. Trey Sweeney looked solid in relief besides Evan Burnett. A couple of things I witnessed- St Xavier has good pitching and a lot of it but with baseball, overpowering pitching can stop a good offense. 2nd- they only have 14 dressed on varsity. Thin numbers but all are good. Go Tigers!

As a long time official and sports advocate, now is the time for the KHSAA to start seeding of tournaments. I just watched the baseball draw and the 6th and 7th region drew each other again in the first round. The 8th drew the 9th and potentially Simon Kenton, last years runner up.. You potentially could have the winners of 4 out of the last 5 state titles face off in the first round with St X and PRP, currently ranked 1st and 2nd in the state. In basketball, Trinity and Scott County faced off in the 1st round of the sweet 16,, ranked 1 and 2. While it makes for great drama in the first round, it puts the other 14 regions at an advantage by possibly not using their #1 until later in the tournament. The baseball coaches and Bluegrass preps put out a poll every week so we know who the top teams are. Even if you seed only the top four so they won't meet until the semifinals.

St Xavier- Nate Coombs - 2008 Army LB St Xavier -Jack Hilt-2008- Navy LB St Xavier-Nick Baisch-2009 WKU Mason King- 2014- P- U of L Brian Buehner- 2010- QB Arkansas Joe Montana- 2008- WKU

Here are a couple of reasons-1) the OHSAA, KHSAA, etc are not going to want some of their bigger gates to walk out the door. St Xavier and Trinity drew approx 9700 in the finals, x let's say $10 a ticket. That $97,000 for that game plus any of the broadcast rights and potential parking( I don't know if Kroger field allowed them the concessions and parking)revenues. Take St X and Trinity away and it is Scott County versus Central Hardin and it draws 3000. That's around $70,000 in lost revenue. Now I heard that St Xavier and Trinity are pretty good in Tennis, Cross country, basketball, golf, swimming, baseball, soccer, etc too so do you allow them to enter their non-football teams in the KHSAA sanctioned events if they don't bring football? Especially when Tennessee already has a separate class for football private schools? So 8 school league of Trinity, St Xavier, Bishop Chatard( Indy Cathedrals' rival), Lasalle, Moeller, Cincy St Xavier, Elder, and Cathedral. All private boys schools except Cathedral and Chatard. 7 league games. St Edwards and St Ignatius of Cleveland to make it a 10 team league. A lot of travel from Kentucky to Cleveland.

Listening to the Collegiate Raceland game. Raceland scored 15 points in the first qtr but Collegiate came back to within 1 at half. Potter from Raceland got in foul trouble and Collegiate forced them out of their offense. Collegiate leads by 8 in the 4th qtr.

As a referee, I can't speak for specific calls or decisions. However, the warning rule put into place this year allows every one in the gym to know the coach is treading on thin ice. Last year, you could extend arm and whisper : " that's enough" . You can do that still but the warning has proven to be more effective in keeping coaches in accordance to the rule book. On fast breaks, if an offensive player has a clear breakaway and the defender pushes, grabs, or holds in an attempt to prevent the goal, it is by rule an intentional foul. It is a point of emphasis this year to give intentional fouls to any foul at the end of the game not playing the ball and grabbing the offensive player. 2 shots and the ball is the penalty.

First of all thank you Coach Wolford for everything you've done for the program and the school in leading Project X. 2nd- let's not make assumptions on the reasons he resigned. I don't know his reasons, it could be he told them that he'd stay on for 5 years after Glaser and he completed that mission. Saying that if you can't beat Trinity, means you should resign doesn't know much about Will Wolford and the character of the man. You are talking about an all-pro OT who played in numerous Super Bowls who has a successful business and wonderful family, all of which may be a much higher priority in his life at this time. If you want to measure his wins and losses, check back with the kids from Charles Walker ( his first year) to Jack Albers( this year) in 10 years and see if they are winners as dads, husbands, brothers, doctors, policemen, etc. By my count 107 seniors played in a St Xavier game uniform the last 2 years. All 107 are either enrolled in college or the military or scheduled to be after graduation. I would call that winning.....

I don't quite get the comments about Nick Bohn on here from the Trinity faithful. " He didn't start freshmen year" "less than d1 arm strength" wide open receivers underthrown for an interception" . You realize that his year was the best completion % not only for Trinity, not only for KY but the highest completion % EVER in the United States High School! NOt just better than Brohm, Brohm, Stein, and Petrino but Couch, Montana, Marino, Unitas, Favre, Elway, Michael Bush, Chris Redman, Lamar Jackson, Baker Mayfield, Johnny Manziel, Everyone ever in history that has played high school QB! Show him the love because he took the projected 4-5 losses to undefeated. Trinity had about a 2 to 1 in passing versus running. St Xavier tried to shade Rondale in the regular season and Nick threw 4 TDS to 4 different receivers. Show him the love!

Let me ask you-What do you define as much? MR Football, the best completion QB in the history of U S high school, A division 1 offered WR, a lot of your offensive line and linebackers, at least 2 of your starting Dbs but that is not "much"?

Will Stein's brother transferred and started at DE/OLB for St Xavier. But what does that prove?

So, are you saying the game was not competitive? This game was even more competitive than the 24-14 game last year- just the final was wider spread. If you didn't watch the game, just say so.

Transfers are up all over. T or X don't have the corner on that market. Try following some of the talent that was at Doss basketball a few years back and see where those players went. Kids get yelled at by coach or loses playing time, kids want to transfer, happens more and more today, especially in urban areas.

First of all, a heartfelt congrats to the Trinity faithful on the Championship. They earned it on the field and went undefeated through 15 games. Personally, I don't care if Trinity or St Xavier gets players from Argentina for their swimming or tennis or football teams, they are wearing Trinity or St Xavier on their uniforms and so they represent the school. St Xavier has enjoyed the best fall sports of any school bar none. 2nd in football and Golf, 1st in soccer and cross country. Different priorities to be discussed in a different thread-Not here. What is the difference that I saw yesterday? Not scheduling, not working harder, Take Rondale Moore away- same talent. It comes down to 9 plays. 8 plays for St Xavier inside Trinity's red zone in the 2nd half and no scores. 6 runs, 1 fade incompletion and 1 sack. 0 TDs. Same as Vic Anderson in 2005 tackled by Dane Spoelker Same as St Xavier unable to score in 4th quarter on a fumbled snap in 2007 Same as St Xavier unable to score in OT in 2007. St Xavier has had more time of possession and ran more plays. 2017. St Xavier has out gained in yards in 2014, 2007 St Xavier has had more talent, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2014. St Xavier stopped Trinity's offense 7 times forcing 5 punts and 2 interceptions yesterday but time after time, year after year, St Xavier has been unable to score inside the Red Zone. If St Xavier scores TDs there, then could of been different winner. Please don't respond by saying coaching is better on every play- Trinity coaches didn't jump offsides in 2007 or fumble the snap in 2007 or overthrow a wide open Crum in the end zone yesterday. Trinity yesterday 3-4 scoring in red Zone, St Xavier 1-3. Oh the 9th play difference? For the umpteenth time in St Xavier Trinity history, a Trinity ball carrier/QB is in the end Zone and escapes without a safety. St Xavier defenders extended their streak to 0-5 in the finals for Trinity ball carriers getting a safety when the play call obviously put them in harms way. Rondale on the jet sweep that snapped from the 2 (again, why?)just went around our defender and got out. No 2 points for St Xavier, 7 points later in the drive for Trinity. Time and time again, year after year. Once again, congrats to the Trinity faithful and prayers once again to the King family.

See Jason Frakes article on Chris Wolfe on his view.

I know. We held Rondale to 11 catches. Who do we cover? Trinity by 60.

Here's some more. Remember it is what is NOT said. "I don't really want to tailgate." "That Coverdale offense is so predictable." "Talent wise, both teams are pretty even. " "Coach Wolford doesn't really care about the regular season game." "What's Trinity looking like in swimming?"

Here is the Championship Program. KHSAA It lists the leaders in the state. Bohn is 5th overall in the state and the highest of the final QB. 5 th in yardage against the most out of state teams. Albers from St X has one more chapter to write. Too many running clocks for Cov Cath to run up some stats. I hope he does it for my Alma mater, Miami!

First time back on Kroger field in a while so not everybody is familiar. I haven't ever been there so here is the program for the games to help. KHSAA

With all of the things being said this week, I thought I would throw out some things to the crowd not said. Feel free to contribute your input. Trinity really needs to worry about ___________ from St Xavier! Do you think St Xavier will run up the score? It doesn't matter what side of the field we sit on. It doesn't matter whether you win the game. It's how you play the game. Boy, St Xavier's O-line looks tiny! That was a bad coaching decision. Rondale Moore doesn't look that fast! I don't want to stay for that whole trophy presentation thing for our team. Who are we playing again? What time do we play on Friday? Saturday? I am glad we are driving to Lexington for 2 Louisville teams to play while Papa Johns sits idle. Didn't St Xavier and Trinity play earlier in the season? Who won?

What a tremendous effort by Rondale on this run! St Xavier is in trouble trying to contain him. Unfortunately, some may look at this film and see other things. The national Federation adopted changes to blocking rules this year. “The NFHS Football Rules Committee’s actions this year once again addressed risk minimization, officiating, competitive balance and game administration,” said Bob Colgate, director of sports and sports medicine at the NFHS and staff liaison for football. The definition of a blindside block established by the committee is “a block against an opponent other than the runner, who does not see the blocker approaching,” and now results in a 15-yard penalty. The committee stated that the blindside block “involves contact by a blocker against an opponent who, because of physical positioning and focus of concentration, is vulnerable to injury. Unless initiated with open hands, it is a foul for excessive and unnecessary contact when the block is forceful and outside of the free-blocking zone.” “As has been the case for many years, the NFHS Football Rules Committee continued to place their main emphasis on risk minimization,” said Todd Tharp, chair of the NFHS Football Rules Committee and assistant director of the Iowa High School Athletic Association. “With this new definition of a blindside block and the penalty to be assessed, the committee stresses the importance of proper coaching techniques under the rules and accurate enforcement by the game officials.” So I ask you to look at the block at the 18 second mark by #47 white, the block by #10 at the 21 second mark, the the decleating block at the 30 second mark, one might think differently based on the federation rule change. Last year, those might be considered good blocks with "head in front". But the rules say the hands must initiate the contact on blindside hits. I am not a football referee currently and the crew had much better angles than we can see on video. If they are working a semifinal game, they are all outstanding referees. On this Friday night on this play, no flags were thrown. But with Trinity getting 200 yards in penalties the week before, don't be surprised to see a lot of flags in the championship game.

I can't predict any differences than the regular season outcome or the 2005 or the 2007 game or the 2012 game or last years game. Until we prove we do it on the field, then it is nonsense. Has our defense gotten better? yes. Have our Wide receivers been more of a threat deep yes. Have we gotten experience at the running back and QB position? yes. But Trinity is Trinity and if no one from Indiana, Florida, Ohio, and Kentucky can beat them, should you ever pick against them? Trinity has to beat Trinity by turning the ball over or making mistakes on defense. Santana Jones and AJ McDuffie destroyed us on defense the first game. Trinity by 60.

Just to clarify- "couldn't get a first down" = 9 "a few turnovers" = 5 Kentucky schools record besides St X= 51-54 including 5 wins against district foes that went 14-42. That is like saying St Xavier is averaging 34 points a game so 34 is above 28 so they'll win. Trinity by 60. Keep believing it. We're just honored to play on the same field.....