TomLandry

That would appear to be true, but the number of strong teams does not feature Highlands, Johnson Central, Ashland, Covington Catholic, Bowling Green, etc. Sheer numbers make the next level game with Lex Cath or Boyle as the major obstacle.

With this in mind, it would appear that the lower half (East?) bracket is loaded with traditional 3-A powerhouse teams. Rockcastle County, Bell County, Boyle County, Lexington Catholic. It would appear that in any given year these teams were in the top ten in state in 3-A. Now in new brackets and classes, they will possibly be in top 5 in state in 4-A.....yet they will have to slug it out playoff time and could eliminate possibly two of the best teams before they get out of districts and regions. Winner of these brackets should be favored for state title IMO.

I certainly agree. QB Nelson returns for his fourth year as starter. TR Christopher, Senior RB will be in his third year as starter. Spencer Greer has emerged as a force both ways. Zachary is becoming a big-time receiver. Special teams play with Merrick K/P give Bell huge field position advantages. The Rockcastle rivalry continues, and Bell will certainly be looking to avenge the two losses in '06 by a total of 17 points. Larkey and Hilton will continue the "chess match" in '07. With the realignment, many of the strong opponents up the ladder will be in other classes than 4-A. The winner of the Bell/Rockcastle duel will have a much better road to the carpet than ever before IMO.

Rock's biggest rival, Bell County returns nearly their entire team. Five starting Seniors graduate. Brent Slusher will be a big loss, but overall Bell's defense will still be good. Bell loses very little on offense: QB Nelson returns for his fourth year as starter. TR Christopher, Senior RB will be in his third year as starter. Spencer Greer has emerged as a force. The rivalry continues, and Bell will certainly be looking to avenge the two losses in '06 by a total of 17 points. Larkey and Hilton will continue the "chess match" in '07. With the realignment, many of the strong opponents up the ladder will be in other classes than 4-A. The winner of the Bell/Rockcastle duel will have a much better road to the carpet than ever before IMO.

Some of these misses you referred to should have not been counted. A miss is either wide right, etc. or a block. The kick must take place. A bad snap that the holder falls on, or picks up becomes a rushing attempt for the holder and does not factor in with the "misses." The Ray Guy camps have produced some great kickers in NCAA and the NFL. Bell Co.'s young sophomore kicker was well ranked in several catagories and is #1 in nation in two catagories and #2 in the other for Class of 2009 kickers this year at Guy's camp. The 2005 camp leading sophomore from Texas moved up to #1 in nation in his junior year this year. Will be interesting how the returning Kentucky kickers fare at Ray Guy next year. FYI, one of the kicking instructors at Bowling Green camp was the Michigan State punter who is a semi-finalist for the Ray Guy college punter of year award in 2006. I wish the kickers still in the hunt great success in the finals!

Seber's numbers in high school(Knoxville Central) rivaled Popham's in many respects. He was recruited by Tennessee, but they pulled his scholarship after an injury. He was then picked up by UK over Tim Dougherty (who went immediately to Purdue). He was the MVP of the City/County Bowl and destroyed Bell with three long field goals and five touchbacks in his senior year. HE IS TRUE FRESHMAN!!! Remember the miss is the kicking unit...snapper, holder, and kicker....as well as whole line, etc. High school kickers kick off a block tee....NCAA requires the ground only. Seiber is doing pretty well for a freshman to quickly make the adjustment. He has had to kick a lot in his first games. He has done well. He rarely misses....something was amiss...probably not just his kick today. IMO. Kickers are rarely recruited. You really have to market them through the camps, former kickers, etc. to the coaches. I someone in blue had had enough sense to call a time out....AAAAHHH we would not be picking on Seiber. He WAS and is a GOOD kicker. He was a big time high school kicker and WAS offered a full scholarship, as I understand!

This may be somewhere else on this massive thread...but where can we hear game tomorrow night...we are out of state? Internet link? Wish both teams well, but will be pulling for our Regional Champ, The Eagles.

Too bad you will not have to face Rockcastle next year or an older, more mature Bell County team that also will be in 4-A as I understand JC moves up to 5-A. Rock will have to "retool" will all the great players they lost. Another Bell vs. Rockcastle rivalry awaits in 2007. I look forward to it. Next year Bell hosts the regular season game that will determine home field for playoff. Nelson will be working hard to avenge the loss and the defensive pressure he had to endure at the Rock. Go Bobcats and Rockets.....the rivalry lives on to play another day!!!

Is there a link to broadcast?

MEGA-DITTOS!!!

I would like to add another one to the mix.....At last week's District Championship game at Rockcastle...the Bell Co. kicker had all the balls to be used approved prior to game as usual. Only this time one of the officials disallowed one ball as being too worn....and another ball, the primary ball to be used for kick-offs as having too much air. He had the kicker let some air out of ball. THEN when Bell won toss and deferred to second half...Bell kicker's ball was taken out of game by the official.....saying that it did NOT have ENOUGH air in it!!! Can you guess which ball??? LOL You got it. It was the one that the other official had him take the air out of LOL. The official then quickly approved a replacement ball that he grabbed up from the Bell sideline....YOU GUESSED IT!! The previously disallowed ball that was too worn....was brought into the game by the official! The Bell kicker than proceeded to drill the kick out of the endzone for a touchback, and unfortunately the only kickoff of the night for scoreless Bell.

I am sorry that you feel that Coach Larkey is not well known around our state. I guarantee they know Coach Hilton....okay...all jabs aside...the point I was making- I commented on to 3-Wishes. The Rockcastle and Bell programs are known around the state. They may not know where we are...but come playoff time they have heard of these schools and coaches for years. Dudley even has a state title at another school as well as Bell. If these officials did not know who Hilton and Larkey were....then that just proves they were inexperienced. Never did I imply that they were "cheating" or trying to help either side.....but the way the game was called certainly leans to what I said to 3-Wishes.

Thanks, 3 Wishes. You always seem to have a balanced response. I enjoy your posts. I was on this site for a long time as on "observer" before "pay'in up" and throwing in my two cents worth. I was not trying to imply that the officiating was bad, just not together as a team. They should never enter a game of this stature without beanbags and use flags to spot ball. That inflames and confuses the crowd. It is your responsibility to control the field and in turn the crowd as well. But when a coach of the status of Hilton or Larkey is in the mix, the officials do call the game differently. It may not even be intentional. That is also why if they had seen Larkey do what Hilton did (by the way I have never seen Dudley react that way) they would have tended to react same way as they had to Hilton. I have refereed over 500 games in other sports (never football, due to an old football injury) and I understand how it works. They are going to be conscious of the home coach and crowd. They wanted to let the players play....something in most cases I agree with...therefore, a lot of no-calls. However, you lose control of the game and crowd when you allow certain types of "hits", etc. like that no-call on the pass interference. It was after that "hyped up the crowd" that the students began that disgraceful chant against a class athlete. They were angered by the no-call and took it out on him. I have stated on other threads my opinion of how I feel about Louisville's poorly timed (and one that will haunt them in future) decision to not KEEP THEIR WORD to one of our Mountain kids! I wish Rockcastle the best and hope they get to go to the carpet and bring home the title to the mountains! Go Rockets!

If Johnson Central beats Rockcastle next week then I might agree. If not....then in District 7/8 region....the best two teams will have eliminated one of them prior to the regional championship, unlike the past where truly the best two teams in the Region meet for the title.

I agree that Rock truly won the game as you say. Just my point, they did not need the assistance from the officials that they had from before the first whistle. If you think that they were not going to call things Larkey's way in his house then you haven't been around mountain football very long. It is the same thing at Log Mountain. These two coaches and teams rate highly with the officiating crews and they are not going to alienate the home coach at either field. It has been that way for years and will continue. Let me qualify know how the officiating crew was together last night. They approved the game balls. One of the kicking balls was declared to have too much air....so the referee had kicker take air out of the ball. Then when Bell started to kickoff the game....the same ball was rejected by another official...BECAUSE IT DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH AIR....!! LOL! They then proceeded to approve a ball to be used to replace that one that they previously had declared "too worn" for game play prior to game! Rock clearly won this game, as I said earlier. They were the bigger more experienced team. Coach Hilton has been around a long time and is as good sport as you will find. He, as Larkey, will reprimand players for unsportmanlike conduct. He lost his cool....only after a complete series of incidents including a dangerous early hit on a WR going across the middle. He finally boiled over. Rockcastle had a player that held constantly in game #1. The officials were asked to watch him this game....to no avail. Players that strong and size don't need to hold! The officiating crew was not together from the beginning. I've had my say.

I was going to sit back and be quiet until now. Bell truly lost to a bigger, stronger team. The plays that you are referring to was one of the two most blatant no-calls on pass interference I have ever seen on any level. It happened right in front of me. The player was hit and driven out of the path of the ball and the ball sailed by where he used to be! Slusher has a 38 in vertical leap....rivaled only by Dudley's. This was on a critical play. Several times flags were picked up and waved off when Rock recovers fumble....would like to see the penalty stats? Referees did not lose the game...but Rock did not need that kind of help...takes it away from the players. Hilton is usually pretty calm when it comes to officiating, but that no-call happened right in front of him. You guys are worrying about whether or not it was a catch...a judgement call...this one was unbelievable..watch the films and check it out before you criticize the second most winning coach in Kentucky history.

Bell Co. over Rockcastle Co.

Apology accepted. I really think that this will make Kentucky players think twice about a verbal to U of L in the future. This is certainly one-sided. They would throw a fit if a player did not sign after a long verbal!!

Were you not aware of the situation? One of the Rockcastle coaches brothers has a strong comment on the college thread regarding this. I think it is a valid to bring up such a situation for discussion and the distraction that it brings with this huge game looming. And I still think it is "classless" of Uof L to do this to this outstanding recruit during the KHSAA playoffs in progress! He could have spent the last several weeks entertaining other offers, etc.

Coach T. I was only repeating the discussion on another thread in the college area linked from this site. Did they NOT withdraw his scholarship this week? If they did it was poor timing and most coaches are saying it was not good timing, and classless to do this to an instate recruit. Is this information not correct? I also think Durham is a great player and have much respect for him and the Rockcastle program. Can you clear this up????

Thanks, OFFSIDE! So you are saying that the ball that is approved for first down must be utilized for all four downs in that series. It seems the kicking balls I mentioned were approved game balls utilized by the kicker. They are not worn out, but probably more "broken in" than newer passing balls, etc. They would need to be inserted at the beginning of the series if a field goal was the main strategy, I guess.

How will the "classless" U of L dumping of Durham impact this game? How is the team handling this. Cannot believe that they would pull a scholarship from a KY player in-state during the playoffs. Hope he goes to another rival school and come back to "haunt" the Cardinals for years to come.

I will have to agree LMB, this should be a great game. Last year's loss at home in Regional Finals to Rock has weighed heavy on Bobcats. Even with the great game that Miller had in Game #2 this season the Bobcats nearly pulled off the upset. Bell's defensive lapse early on allowing Miller's 97 yard return after a punt backed up Rock on the three, was huge. It still was a four-point loss. This time the Bobcats are playing better on defense and their offense has matured. Bell has a couple of key players out with injury and young players taking their place. Could be a factor. If Bell plays it smart and Nelson is on.....Bell meets JC in week three!

Thanks, OFFSIDE. Why do the referees require the kicker to have the kicking game balls approved and marked prior to the game? Is the issue here only that the ball cannot be changed during the series? I know that they have allowed "K" marked balls in for other FG attempts in other games. Were they wrong? Can you help here?

I have a question with a different slant. In the finals, I believe that the game balls have to be used by kickers. Is that true? It also is permissible, I believe to use the marked kicking balls during the early round of the playoffs. In the Bell County game, the kicking ball was taken in by the kicker for an attempted 53 yard field goal. The referee refused to exchange the ball, (which they did do on PAT attempts). The kicker was told that the ball was "already set and in play." The problem with that is that Bell had stopped play with a timeout at the time! Play had not resumed until the snap, etc. Instead of the warm kicking balls that most usually try to have ready on sideline, a cold game ball was used. Naturally, the kick fell short at 53 yards, though in the kicker's range all year. Was the referee wrong?