vintage

These are great kids and you left one off the list.....Jayce Jordan Conner cornerback, turned down Union and a walk on invitation at UC, and signed with Kentucky Christian University at DB. They play in the same conference as Union and Georgetown.

Perhaps a clean field would make a difference...perhaps not. I only know what I saw. Take away the turnovers from both teams and Conner still wins by almost 2 touchdowns or more. Conner also turned the ball over inside the SK 5 when going in to score. I was just making the point that the opportunity for Conner to blow them out was there. The same opportunity was there for SK by the way. They were up 19-7 with time running down when they turned the ball over.

Conner's offense did a great job of over coming mistakes but it was the defense that won this game. Without the muffed punt on their own 15 and the kickoff return for a TD, they held SK to 7 points all in the first half. It was a wet game, so turn-overs are more likely to happen and there were plenty by both sides. Conner dropped 2 TD passes in the end zone. They had first and goal twice and did not score choosing to go for it instead. Hats off to SK defense there. Conner has an excellent kicker so maybe next time....(easy for me to say in hindsight). This could have been a blowout for Conner. Their offense could have put up another 20 points very easily. Just catch the ball and kick the field goals (again easy for me to say) but it is the truth. All in all both teams showed why they will be tough to beat this year and Simpson is a monster to tackle. Holding him to 115 yards on the ground is a great effort when you realise how good he is.

Yeah, Rocky does a great job.

Qucikslick is dead on. Jayce Jordan ran a 4.54 hand timed 40 at Tekulve Acceleration the spring of his sophomore year. He also had a sub 11 hand timed 100. He consistently beat Scooter in the running events at football practice that summer before his knee injury. I do not want to demean Scooter in anyway. He is a great kid with a hard working attitude and deserves all the praise he gets, but he was not the faster of the two at that time. Jayce was 5' 11" and 152 then and is now 6' 178. Despite his knee injury a number of colleges have shown some interest because of his size and former speed. They want to see him at their camps this summer to see if he has retained or imporved on the speed with his new size and weight. You really need both. His re-hab is now going very well and it should be interesting for opposing teams having both of them on the field at the same time. Can he return to his all conference 7 interceptions form he showed as a sophomore? Who really is the fastest now? I look for them to encourage and push each other to even faster times.

Conner Austin Pugh RB-break out year coming Jayce Jordan DB/WR-after starting as a spohomore at cornerback and leading Nky 6A in interceptions he missed his junior year with a knee injury. He is almost done with his rehab and is expected to be 100% by May.

Conner was missing one of their best LB's in Chase Bently. They did play 2 QB's.....Soph Qb's name is Nic West. Junior Jayce Jordan is out for the year for football and basketball. After running a 4.54 as a soph this spring at Tekulve, he blew out his knee in summer basketball and is recovering from knee surgery. The team is very young..many sophomores and juniors playing. The best thing about them is that they are really into team ball and are already playing so well together. The sum is greater than the whole. This coaching staff is doing a great job and they can only get better. If it was not for a young QB over throwing 2 wide open recievers, Conner would have had 2 more touchdowns instead of field goals. Couple that with the 3 long scoring drives, and Conner should feel good about their offense right now. The defense was okay...secondary needs to get better. Loosing an all-conference DB did not help but they can do it. Somone needs to step up.

For Conner in no particular order: David Mullins OL/DL, Chase Bently LB, and Jayce Jordan CB/WR

How many did he have last year?

Jayce Jordan from Conner. All conference and lead NKY 4A in interceptions last year as a sophomore. Great nose for the ball and he can fly.

Wow it was a great game to watch! Both teams played their hearts out. I am a Cougar backer but I will not make excuses for my team. There is never any good reason for bad langauge no matter how bad the officials are, and these were bad. I saw bad calls go both ways but it does not matter who got more bad calls. You simply have to overcome the calls. Conner wins the game without the T's. We gave them at least 4 points right there. Take those away and we are up by 7 when the ball is inbounded to Crews and it does not matter if they hold him or he steps out of bounds. We would still be up by 4 with a only a couple seconds on the clock when the "prayer" goes in (great shot by the way). Hopefully the young men will learn a lesson from this. After the call is made, keep your mouth shut! You cannot change it and it will only make matters worse. Let the coach do his job, the officials do their job, and you do yours. You cannot control the officials you can only overcome them. Control what you can control, anything else is wasted energy and wasted effort. Congrats to St. Henry. Conner- you guys are playing the best basketball you have played all year over the last three games. Keep it up! I'm looking forward to the Cov Cath game. It's time for an upset!

The schedule on paper appears to be harder overall. I was told changes had to be made due to the new class systems. The rumor is we couldn't get the 'Little sisters for the blind'....they didn't have any open spots left.

Actually, the schedule was already made before he was hired. He had nothing to do with the 2007 schedule.

I really do not want to dwell on a negitive but since you are accusing me of making a "untrue statement" I will respond and try to be nice. Let me assure you that it is a VERY true statement. If you do not believe me, then simply talk to the players who were not at weight training last year and ask them if any player approached them about it. A few will tell you they did, some will say once or twice, and many will say never. I am not the only one close to the situation that knows this truth. My purpose is not to find fault with the seniors but only to point out the truth in an effort to improve the team. I do not want to see the same mistakes made twice no matter what they may be and no matter who may make them. There are many areas this team needs to improve in and this is just one of them.

I know it wasn't. A number of players have told me it was rare for accountability from other players to happen last year. I prefer to dwell on the positive. It seems the players have learned a hard lesson and are in the weight room in much larger numbers with renewed vigor. Keep it up Cougars! You are your brother's keeper. Push each other to improve today and it will show in the fall.

Several players have mentioned a large increase over last years numbers in the weight room and a new intensity. I've been told if somebody does not show up, the players look them up and want to know why. That's a good sign.

Our new coach looks good to me. I mean here we have a guy who has been at the next level, on the recruiting level even. He may have contacts, he knows what a college player has that a high school player does not, and when he talks to a kid about what he needs to do to improve, the player knows this coach, OUR coach, knows what he is talking about. Welcome coach Trosper! I'm here to support you. To the players: A coach can only do so much. He will only be as good as the effort you give and that effort starts now! If you are not in a winter or spring sport, and you are not in the gym now, SHAME ON YOU!! You call yourself a part of this team? You should be working your rear off now. Don't just show up and go through the motions. If you are doing that, save the coach the trouble of sitting you and quit now. The success you will have tommorow is in direct proportion to the amount of work you do today.

NKY YouthCoach, Great points as usual! :ylsuper:

Good defense played by both teams made for some sloppy offense. Conner had their opportunity in the first half but missed too many open looks, in the second half those open looks were gone. There was a 3 minute stretch in the third quarter where Conner turned the ball over 5-6 times and CCH converted each time down the floor. The 4 point CCH half time lead became 11 and then 19. Conner made a run to bring it back to 9 at one point. Conner did not shoot well against Simon Kenton but I would not be suprised to know they shot worse tonight. Good defenses will do that to you. Conner got away from the team ball that has been serving them so well. There was a lot more one on one with a lot of the gaurds standing around. Congrats to both teams for leaving it all on the floor.

No every team does not get better, only a few improve as much as Conner over the course of the year. They won the district the last 2 years with teams ranked outside the top 10 during the regular season. They found a way to improve beyond most teams. With the coaching they have, they should improve like that again. Conner was predicted by most people to loose to PC and to loose big, instead they lost by 1 and were up by 16. They were also suppose to recieve a beating from Simon Kenton, and only lost by 5. They are 3-2 and could easily be 5-0 with a win against the #1 team. They are better than anyone thought they would be and I believe are deserving of being in the top 10 in the 9th. Yes Dixie beat Pendelton by a much larger margin and I did not have Conner ahead of Dixie. I said 8th right now and MAYBE 5th (why maybe 5th, because it's too early to tell yet). It's just as premature to say they don't belong. Finally, you are dead wrong about playing a team close meaning nothing. I've seen many teams move up in the rankings after being unranked and playing a #1 team close.

Are you saying Conner is not a good team this year or just hard to find?

Since when are rankings based on the score at halftime? :lol: It's the score at the end of a game that matters, in the Beechwood game it was a 20+ margin and that was playing JV and 4 freshman players most of the 4th quarter. They were within 1 point of beating probable #1 Simon Kenton at one point in the 4th quarter, and Simon Kenton's own coach said Conner out played them. :eek: They have lost two games this year both because they are young and made mistakes in the 4th quarter. In the Beechwood game they started 1 senior, 3 juniors, and a sophomore, and often during the course of a game there are 4 juniors and a sophomore on the floor for extended periods. This is not to take away anything from the seniors who are good, it's just a reflection of their depth. This team is much better than recent Conner teams of the past so it's understandable that people are skeptical, but the results speak for themselves and I believe they will continue to do so. This team will only get better and you can take them lightly at your own peril.

I agree but I would put Conner just ahead of Highlands for now and maybe as high as 5th. They are not getting any love from anyone right now but they will.

Conner tried to full court press in the first half. Big mistake against excellent guard play. Conner was down by as much as 15 points at one time. The second half was a different story. There was no let down by Simon Kenton from the Holmes game Conner simply out played them in the second half with an excellent half court man to man defense. Conner had the ball down by 3 with under 2 minutes to play. Hestor made a nice play on defense, Simon Kenton converted and the Cougars had to start fouling...game over. Be suprised by the score all you want but this is a very good Conner team. They have speed, athletes, and depth (they can play 9 guys effectively), but most importantly they play unselfish team ball. Young (they often have 4 juniors and a sophomore on the floor) and unproven, the Cougars have to believe. Now they know they can beat anyone. If they would have gotten out of the press earlier, I believe they win this game. If Conner keeps up the unselfish team play, they can beat anyone. This was the first game of the year for Conner's senior point guard and last years district mvp. When he gets a little more practice time, he will help greatly. Hestor had 21-23 points and Courtney Anderson had 21 for Conner.

Conner lead by 5-9 points the whole game. Pendelton sarted fouling with under 2 minutes left to try and stay in the game. If Conner hits their free throws the game is over but Conner missed around 10 in the last 2 minutes. Conner did a great job on the big man holding him to 11 but Pendelton would not go away. Great job on the final shot with excellent defense by #32 from Conner, made him change his shot, but #21 made it anyway. Heartbreaker for Conner.