flyin'intheflag

Many that said it were probably right. But as Yogi once said "you got to play with what you've got to play with!" I hope the freshman that are being rushed into action stay safe this season. Congrats to Coach Brown and the Comets for another postseason birth!

If memory serves the bigboy correctly I wouldn't think that the Rams care much for either Carter County team based on last year. People can talk injuries all they want for the East game last year but how in the world does one explain the defeat at West? Needless to say the Rams will be looking for revenge on Carter County this year.

When I was a youth Ft. Knox was a football power. Now I don't hear much from them. What kind of program do they have now? Is it true that Coach Combs, formerly of Lewis County, is coaching there now? If so, in what capacity and how is he doing?

Great start for Coach N. McPeek. He has his boys playing hard. This bigboy has seen his fair share of football games but saw a first tonight. East Carter did one of the running rugby type punts from inside their own 10. The punter ran 3 or 4 steps to his right and punted the ball about 3 feet off the ground directly to a Fairview defender just yards away on the 25. Most all of East Carter's cover people had released and ran right by the kid from Fairview as he caught the ball. Not knowing where the ball was the East coverage kept running down the field and all the Fairview player had to do was get past the punter and he scored! Strange play for sure! I was told that East lost one starting linebacker to a warmup injury and lost their middle linebacker on the third play of the game. Don't know if it is true but if so that may help to explain how Fairview ran all over the boy's from Grayson. Fairview appeared to be quite a bit faster than the Raiders.

This was a very close game. East fumbles inside the 5 with a chance to score and tie before half. Boyd takes advantage of deflated ECHS team and drives 97 yards to lead 14-0 at half. East had a long TD called back in the 2nd half. Boyd won because of their advantage in speed and conditioning/depth. East looks like they play about 14 kids.

Judging by both teams performance in scrimmages it will be Boyd County in a walk; however, based on series history East will win in a shutout.

Final was something like 33 to 0. Fleming Co. with the victory. East Carter never threatened to score from what I was told.

What about the first game of the night between W Ccarter and Fairview?

I wouldn't read too much into this performance by the Raiders. Greenup was pretty much lying in wait for East Carter to come down to Lloyd to avenge their defeats from last season to the Raiders as evidenced by those on the mound for the muskies. The Raiders pitched some youth. East looks to be giving the opportunity to some of their older players that have played sparingly in their careers to earn a position as the younger possibly more talented youngsters are swimming like sharks. Also, don't underestimate the impact that the field improvement project is having on the East Carter squad. I went by the field a few days ago because of all the talk of the town and it was torn all to hey! Infield grass was ripped up with white piping all over the place. I was thinking isn't baseball around the corner? Where are the Raiders going to play? Does anyone have a report on what the field looks like now? With all this rain I am afraid to look again. This would be a great year for East to go somewhere to play...anywhere south, as long as there is an actual field.

Thinking strange thoughts tonight after the lackluster performance of the Raiders under the limelight. Most folks would have thought a Raider victory would be certain had they known beforehand that only 53 tallys would end up on the Elliott County side of the board...but alas, where did the East Carter offensive production go in the game. We picked a bad night and a "superbad" opponent to play like that. No chance tonight. We were never in the game. Back to the strange thought...maybe a name change is in order for the Raiders...something like the East Carter "Cicadas". You know, the locust that shows up every 17 years and creates a lot of noise initially but quickly disappears only to show up again in another 17 years. East Carter High School "16th Region Runner-up 1974, 1991, 2008" (Go ahead, do the math!) Thank goodness for 1986. I am no entomologist but I will make a prediction...the Raiders will be back on more than one occassion during the next 17 years. Coach Brandon Baker will lead us back real soon! Great year for the boys in Red, White, and Blue. Hold your head high.

How big is the gymnasium at Kentucky Christian University? I can remember watching the old preseason elementary tournament there years ago, probably in the 1970's and East Carter also held graduation there years ago. I don't think the gym is big enough to host a regional tournament. If it was, that would be a central location not affiliated with a high school. Maybe as the school continues to grow they will build a new gym but right now they are supposed to be building a football stadium.

Good game to see. East went up by 11 early. West made a 12-0 run to take lead. East displayed the mental toughness that the Fabulous Baker Boys have become known for and didn't flinch...instead they answered back with a 12-0 run of their own and never trailed. Many that I talked to agreed that this could have very well been Kyle Bair's best game as a Raider. Kyle is not a "pure point guard" so to speak but he is developing into a much better lead guard. He played very well. Also of note was the play of Chris Barker from west. He was tough down low. I would think that he has to be a small college player. Too bad for West. Most any other year a team like West would go to the regional tourny no doubt. But the 62nd district is tough this year. Elliott Counties gym was crowded but could have held more. Many of the fine folks from Carter County were a little over the top I believe with their outlandish predictions of 1000 people being turned away... Elliott Co. did just fine as the host. The crowd situation will get interesting on the night of the Elliott Co. games though.

East won by a nice margin against a very good Kitten team. You would think that this meant that East played really well all the way around...think again. It is hard telling how many turnovers the lady Raiders had. I would guess more than 25. But they did play hard on D and shot pretty well when they didn't turn it over. Congrats to the girls from East. Strange game but a big win!

First time that I have seen Bath Co. play this season. Very impressed. The Metz kid sure doesn't look like a basketball player. He looks more like the 185 pound state wrestling champion...but don't let looks fool you. He is strong sure, but he can shoot from anywhere, defends hard, and rebounds like a wildman. He also seems to be a quality kid. The Clemons kid was unstoppable at the beginning. I think that was the key. He got in some shots at the beginning of the game that I have not seen anybody in this area do. It was just get everybody else out of the way and let him work. I think this discouraged East a little making them wonder how can we stop that? I think Bath had around 40 points on the board before anyone else besides those two scored for them. Great win for Bath. Took the lead early and was never in doubt. The Raiders played hard and cut it to 5 a few times but couldn't claw back into...expended a lot of effort trying but couldn't get over the hump. Both schools have had really good seasons. Both have the potential to do well in the tournaments.

Rumors of district meeting lasting 2+ hours to make about 4 or 5 decisions with numerous votes called for. Off the wall predictions of people lining up at noon to watch high school basketball. Reserving a theatre for overflow seating! Turning away hundreds at the door? How many people think that anything even close to this will actually happen or will it all be much 'ado about nothing? With the crowds I have seen at games this year I think everyone gets to see the games. The biggest crowd I saw all year was the Elliott/East game at Sandy Hook. It was crowded but more could have squeezed in. I don't see either school bringing much more than that. Plus, many of those that may have been a tad uncomfortable may not return to the districts. Sure it will be a little crowded but if I had a child playing I would love to see him/her play their district tournament in a crowded, noisy gym! I think WUGO's air waves will actually turn out to be more crowded than the gym.

That is a good point but many will still complain. I am personally in favor of the way that they set up the tournament. For the Carter County night on the district fightcard, folks from Grayson and Olive Hill will get to see both of their teams at the discounted rate of $7.00 per ticket plus only one trip to Sandy Hook. Had they done it in two nights it would have been $10.00 for the tickets and probably $15-$20 more on gas. Besides, I went to most of the East West games this year and if they don't draw any better in the tourny than they did in the regular season everyone should fit in just fine. I'm hoping the good folks from Elliott County don't want to pay $7.00 to watch East and West...that would help out a bundle. No guarantee for the folks from West Liberty though...better get there early and hope the fire marshall has skipped town for the week!

Good defense + patience on offense = low scoring victory for the Raiders. East shut down Rowan on the defensive end. If my memory serves me correctly Rowan was stuck on 6 points for about 10 minutes on the scoreboard in the first half with East up by nearly 20 during that stretch. There were multiple times that EC would run through their offensive set time after time and eventually get a wide open lay up. The Rowan student section would get restless and start chanting "boring, boring!" and then East hits an open layup. They did that a couple of times and the "boring" cheer was put to bed real quick. Pretty funny stuff. East is very disciplined and obviously well coached. They seem to be comfortable running and in the half-court game. And they block a lot of shots. Both big men, 15 for East and 44 for Rowan were in foul trouble. East in 1st half and Rowan's in 2nd. Rowan County coach did a credible job in the 4th quarter trying to get back in it. The game was never in doubt for East but Rowan did the old offense/defense substitutions down the stretch to get within 10 through pressing and fouling.

You are right about the slapping of hands on the shot before halftime. It looked like two guys running up and jumping to give a high five to each other, except one of them had just shot a basketball. No doubt that would have been a foul had it not been at the buzzer and 15 feet on the other side of half court. Over here in Grayson we like to refer to that as a good no call! (LOL) and besides that one was not near as bad as when Selby missed a crip shot in the second half, was visibly upset about it after having received his 3rd foul just before this. He went and grabbed the East Carter player who rebounded the miss on the other side of the lane in a bear hug from behind, which would have been his 4th foul...the call...jump ball. It reminded me of a no pad football practice where players are told to hit and wrap up but don't bring them to the ground. Jump ball? What a wet noodle call that was!

The game was as close as it was because of the play of Matt Thomas. I have not seen him play often; however, he was on tonight. If he had just a human performance the Raiders would have won by large margin. I really enjoyed watching Thomas play. Very composed, classy kid.

I was at the game. What was Dickie's complaint with the timekeeper?

May be a little off as my memory escapes me in my old age at times but the best I can recall West was up by 8 with around 2 minutes remaining +/- a few seconds. West appeared to have the game in hand. The big girl, Stephens, from West then fouled out. The Lady Raiders put on the press and in what seemed to be about 1 minute on the clock East was up by 2. They hit the free throws down the end and won. Had to be a tough L for the Lady Comets in a game that they very easily could have/should have won. East/West trivia for someone more in the know than I...I think that East Carter swept the regular season from West on all basketball levels (varsity, jv, and frosh both boys and girls) this season...is that true? If so has that ever happened before for either team in the rivalry history?

I may have mentioned this before in a previous thread? For years East and West would have paid handsomely to get the district seeded. Now it is seeded and there is a possibility with a West win tonight that East and West could end up as the 3rd and 4th seed in the district. For those longtime 62nd district fans that almost seems unthinkable. Hats off to Elliott Co. and relative distict newcomer Morgan Co. for making things a bit more competitive.

Correct me if I am wrong but don't the Lady Raiders play the Lady Comets tomorrow night at East Carter. No predictions? No discussion?

East and West for all those years wanting to seed district play. Finally get it done and they are looking at a possible 3 and 4 seed. Unbelievable! I would have never seen that coming in a million years.

I did not notice where goradio said anything about RH having sub par guards. I interpreted this post as being highly complimentary of Elliott's guardplay and not being overly critical of RH's guards.