Bronco99

IMO it is not what you know about a sport that makes you a bad,good or great coach. It is how you get the kids to respond to what you are coaching. I know many football coaches who know as much about the Xs and Os of the game of football as anyone in the game but they just aren't very good coaches. If you can get your players to believe 100% in what you are doing and they are willing to do what ever it takes to please you and they have this attitude because you have earned their respect through your hard work as a coach and because they know you really care about them as players, students and people. These are the qualities that make you a great coach. Anyone can learn the X's and O's however the strategy of the game does change and just like a player the work ethic of a coach goes a long way into whether they are a good coach or they become a great coach. Anyway these are just some of my thoughts on the subject.

All I can say about dirty play when it comes to athletes is that this is the "pot calling the kettle black". In the last 15 years of having my kids in sports Somerset players have been the dirtiest by far and the fans the rudest. However, the fans were very well behaved last night! Well done! Sorry I got off topic! The game was a very physical game but games only go how the refs allow them to go. If you looked at total fouls they were right at even and both teams got in the bonuses right at the same time. I know all of the players from McCreary and they are good kids who were playing in a rough environment and were just doing what was necessary to survive and win the game. As far as MC having a football team (ouch), yes they do thanks for asking. Actually # 22, 32, 21 and 23 were starters for the MC football team but sorry #10 did not play football. It's funny, someone from Corbin was just asking me the other day if Somerset had a football team. Well, I guess it is the way with life, you live it and learn from it. Good luck to the Raiders and the Jumpers in their district tournaments next week!

I totally agree that a coach should do anything that will encourage their players and make their players confidence as high as possible. I also agree that coaches should try to please their fans (the players and the fans (in that order) are why coaches coach) and in doing so is in no way saying that the fans run or control the coaches decisions. Just remember, without players and fans you have no program and there will always be coaches ready to step in and coach. I applaud coach Jones and i especially applaud the Raiders basketball players on a great season so far and all of the accomplishments they have. I am a huge McCreary Central Raider fan and I support the players 100% and I also support the coaches 100%. I think the Whitley Co coach needs to look at himself as a coach and ask himself what he could do as a coach to make sure this doesen't happen again, because good coaches use bad situations to create stronger teams. I would like to wish Whitley Co. all the luck in the world. I would also like to wish my Raiders good luck for the rest of the season and I hope to see you guys in Lexington this year (I have all the confidence in you gus, go get'em)!

I agree. My daughter has wrestled for several years now. She wrestled in several USGWA tournaments as well as KY middle school and elementary tournaments. I took her to Michigan for the USGWA Nationals and there was atleast 500 girl wrestlers there. With the rise of the sport in colleges around the country it is just the maater of time before it becomes huge. I have also heard that KY may only be A few years away from sanctioning girls wrestling as an association sport. I personally think that would be great and would take care of a lot of title 9 issues which may result in more school starting up wrestling teams for the guys.

McCreary County has 3 times the kids in the weightroom than they normally have and they are working hard. Plus they have most of their defense returning and their big play maker will only be a Jr. I say look for a much improved team in the 2008 Raiders from McCreary County.

In my experience kids are the reason coaches coach (atleast the good coaches) and one should never blame the kids for the bad situation of a program. This situation and more so this post reminds me of a great saying: "Attitude Reflects Leadership" I wish madison Southern all the best in their efforts to hire a good coach that fits their program. It sounds like they have a good coaching pool to make their decision from. The only recomendation I have is: put the kids first, who ever is the best fit for your kids is who you should hire. Don't hire because of politicts!

OSU played Illinois and Michigan played Wisconsin!

I know for a fact that Mccreary's game plan was to go all out with the passing game just to do something different and see what happens. They have been working on this game plan for about 4 weeks. The head coach said that this game plan would either work a little and allow them to to move the ball some or give bell the opportunity to score 100. The bottom line was, they had nothing to lose. I was at the game and McCreary's defense played much better in this game making bell use 7-10 plays to score for much of the 1st half instead of just 2 or 3 like in the first game but the offensive game plan gave Bell many more opportunities to score (which they most graciously took advantage of). I don't disagree with the game plan because it's the playoffs and you have to let it all go. getting beat 40-0 is not any better than getting beat 72-0 both ways your season is over so you might as well let it all hang out! The school system as well as the community is pleased with the football teams success this year and are supporting them with the hopes of a return trip to the playoffs in 08. I personally want to thank all of Bell Co for their hospitality on Log Mountain (they in no way tried to run the score up) Coach Hilton, the players and the fans were nothing short of a class act and the Raiders from McCreary Co had an awesome first ever playoff experience (it would have been much better if they could have been cinderella). We all in McCreary Co will be pulling for Bell to win it all because it is always nice to say that you were put out of the playoffs by the state champions. Until next year, good luck and God Bless!

Everyone in Mccreary Co is very glad that the top 4 go to the playoffs. McCreary co plays in maybe the toughest district in 4-A and making the #4 spot isn't easy and with the Raiders working their way up it will become a challenge year in and year out to make that #4 spot. Mccreary is making a big deal of this game and the playoff atmosphere. They will show up in a charter bus and will be dinning at a steak house along the way. The boys are excited and the coaches are glad to get the extra week of work. As far as playing Bell Co the first week, what can you say: you kick it off play hard for 4 quarters, shake their hands and enjoy the charter bus ride home. I am sure the Bell Co fans will give the McCreary team and fans a great reception and make McCreary's first playoff experience a great one.

Watts from mccreary Co. he has made some phenomenal plays on offense this year and will lay the leather to anyone he can while playing defense. he has to be considered one of the top sophmores in the state. No matter who Mccreary has played he has received high compliments from the coaching staff of the opposing teams, such as: Bell, Rock, Leslie, Campbellsville and Knox just to name a few.

I guess I view it a little different. Campbellsville is a very good team and Mccreary played very well. The coaching staff new there was no way to totally stop Campbellsville so their game plan was to play a bend don't break defense which they did very well until they gave up the long run in the middle of the 4th quarter which sealed the win. Offensively the game plan was to get the ball to Watts as much as possible so he could make some plays and he did. So, I think the Raiders had a great game plan and they executed it very well and if they would had gotten a bounce or two this game could have easily went the other way. Total yards doesn't always mean total domination. Anyway, I haven't found one person who was at the game that didn't find it as one of the most exciting games that they have seen this year. Even the referees said it was probably the best game they had been apart of this year. To that I say thank you to campbellsville for such a game, good luck in the playoffs and we will see you next year and hopefully put on another good show.

I am real good friends with this family and I can tell you that the move was legitimate. They are originally from that area and have a lot of family that still lives there. I would be the first one to stand up in front of the KHSAA and tell them that this kid should be okayed to play for JC. We definately miss him in McCreary Co. but me and this young man's father is real good friends and I have talked with him extensively about this move (before the fact) and his wife's parents live in the area and they wanted to move close to them. I tried to find a reason for them to stay in McCreary Co. but there is nothing more important than family. If the KHSAA doesn't release this young man and rule that there was no infraction then they are ignorant of what a just ruling is all about. I will just say good luck to this young man, his family and to Johnson Central.

McCreary has 16 kids that are Varsity players. There are some JV players that get playing time on Fridays on one side of the ball and get most of their JV playing time on the other side of the ball. In order for kids to get better they have to have game time situations. So there might be 4 or 5 players that those refs may have seen on the field Friday and then again on Mon. but they are all under-classmen and all need to get playing time on one side of the ball or another because they don't get it on Friday nights. As for the refs, well their opinions on anything doesn't concern me because they are terrible, just terrible and of course from Pulaski Co. or they would not have been talking to the fans about stuff like that anyway. As for the 1st meeting, you are partially correct, a coach not coaches got very upset because the PC coach was calling reverses and such with less than a minute to play and the score being what it was. He is an assistant coach for the jv team and he reacted to what was perceived as lack of class coaching by acting in a way that was lacking in class. I don't agree with what the coach did, I was raised that two wrongs never make a right. He is a good coach and a nice guy but got upset and said something he wished he wouldn't have. Just remember that every coach and every fan of every team feels the same way about their players and team as you feel about yours so they wil get upset when they feel that the players or team is being done wrong. There is nothing wrong with being upset but as I have learned here on the BGP you must express yourself in a respectful manner. As far as we are concerned in McCreary Co. It has been a good season and we will look forward to the tough game against PC next year. Good luck in the finals PC and good luck to your Varsity team as well.

What is everyone's thoughts on this game. I haven't seen Campbellsville play since the 1st game of the year and from what I have read they continue to improve as the year goes on. I hope this one will be a war in the mud.

I will agree, PC dominated the scrimmage and it really helped the Raiders to play against a very talented team. I new after watching PC in their scrimmage against the Raiders that they would shock some people this year. Thanks for the kind words Maroon Fan, I know the coaches and players are working very hard to build their program where they can be competitive. They will be losing a few seniors this year and only have 3 or 4 juniors so they are a relatively young team with 19 freshmen and 12 sophmores. So they are really optomistic about the future.

Whether maroon fan wants to admitt it or not the Raiders had the same team in the 2nd game as they had in the first with the exception of 1 player. The Raiders JV team has worked hard to get better and the first game wasn't a run away unless you want to count those points they scored against the 13 to 1st year players with the starting running backs still in the game for PC. We could go back and forth all day but the fact of the matter is: McCreary played a good game with their normal jv team +1(the Raiders always dress 30 + for JV) so just accept that fact.

My point about Watts was this, the Raiders were not trying to stack their JV team to win the game or they would have dressed watts. I was no way implying that Pulaski didn't have some great young players that play varsity that they could play on JV. I haven't seen muse play but I have heard he is awesome. As for saying one player is better than another, that is just a persons opinion. I grew up being a Dallas Cowboy fan (stop laughing) and have seen Emmitt Smith win the rushing title almost every year that he played. Did that make hime the best running back in the NFL? I have said 100 times that Barry Sanders was better. Barry didn't have the luxury of playing behind an all-american offensive line could you imagine what kind of yards he would have gotten if he played for Dallas. You said Watts was good against lesser opponents but he was on his way to 100 yards against Bell Co. last week (not sure exactly what his stats were) and is one of the top rushers in 4-A this year and Mccreary has a moderately tough schedule and plays in what is considered the toughest district in 4-A (just not getting the lesser opponents statement). Muse may be able to have a 200 yard game against Bell but what is the difference in the line play and with PC's passing game how many more possesion would PC get because of clock stoppages on incomplete passes ect.. There are a lot of variables in football that come into play when you start comparing player, even teams for that matter. As always these statements are just my opinion add 50 cents to it and you can buy a cup of coffee.

For the correct facts as usual you can't rely on who is just guessing about the facts! The Raiders have 33 JV players 3 were out of action and 1 SOPHMORE who playes TE for the varsity (#21) dressed for this game to get some work running the ball because he may be needed to do so in the Raiders last 2 games (I am pretty sure that is what the JV is for). He played 1/4th of the time on "D" just to give other players a breather. All the other kids were 100% present in the 1st game of the season. Now for that, the score at the end of the 3rd quater was something like 26-8 and then the Raiders took out every starter and put in an entire new group of kids like they did in every JV game this season so that everyone who practiced the week before got playing time (again that is what JV is for, it is not about going undefeated through a JV schedule.....IMO who cares). My next question is how many of the young Maroons haven't gotten any or very little playing time for the JV this season and that is the most important detail about JV football. I know in the 1st McCreary game after the Raiders put in all their young inexperienced players the Maroons did very little if any substituting and was running reverses and such with under a minute left in the game. I am just trying to figure out what is important here. Now, I will say this; since it is the playoffs the Raiders were definately playing for the win but still managed to play every kid they had somewhere during the game. Their safety was a kid that got overlooked the game before against Oneida TN and to make up for it he got to play the entire game at safety (he is a 4th string safety). Yes, Mccreary played one new face and it was to benifit the varsity program and the kid is just a sophmore. If the Raiders were trying to stack their JV team to win the game they would have played sophmore Aaron Watts and won the thing, but that would not have benifited the varsity program on bit so guess what? he didn't play even though he begged to play. I wish people would just have enough class to say good job Raiders you played a great game and your program is getting better. Now, No one has mentioned the refs and how many penalties McCraery had compared to those of Pulaski and i won't share those numbers either because IMO that is just the way football goes and you learn to play through the game no matter what! Good programs win despite those games where everything seem to go the other way. I hope I cleared up what has started out to be some wrong information from what is probably a devoted fan who just didn't have the facts straight. So, in closing I would like to congradulate the raider JV team for a very hard fought and well played football game and also congradulate Pulaski on a good win to keep their unbeaten season alive and to wish them luck in the championship game. The maroon football program is a great one at every level and I have the greatest respect for coach Hines. I wish the Pulaski football program all the luck in the world.

This is almost correct. The rule states that the free blocking zone extends 4 yards on both sides of the ball, not from tackle to tackle. Which means, if a team has foot to foot splits a TE could be in the free blocking zone. Every thing else that Ram said is correct. Everyone always says from tackle to tackle but the rule says 4 yards on both sides of the ball!

Thoughts and prayers from McCreary to the Jefferson Family, team and community. My God Bless and comfort you during this time!

The reason for the big offensive night was Rocks defense was so good they had a huge advantage in time of posession. Mccreary had only one 1st down in the first half. Also, as the game went on Rocks strength just wore-down the Raiders. No excuses they were the much better team and the Raiders know that they have a lot of work to do to reach that caliber of a program. However, I would be excited about lighting up anyone especially a team you are suppose to light-up. That just means your team is running on all cylinders. If you get to play your JV for a quarter and a half you should be proud of the way your team performed. Good luck Rockcastle!

Who ever said I was a coach? You seem to assume a lot Banker! I think you may need to go to some kind of manners and respect conference and pick up some tips. As far as the weightroom there was not near as many as was needed, apparently!

I don't know, Rock team had the flu or at least a key player or two out. Things like that. Don't get me wrong, Knox is a very good football team and they are very capable of winning games against top opponents but i can tell you first hand that Rock is a lot stronger (physically) than Knox even though Knox is very aggressive. I will just say this, I don't think Knox beats Rockcastle twice this year and if they do I will then be a believer but, Rockcastle is by far the strongest team postion to position that we have played this year (we still have Bell to go). Good luck to both Rockcastle and Knox!

I have a question, me and some of the McCreary coaching staff was wondering how Knox Central beat thje Rock? We have played them both and there is no way that the knox that played us could have beaten the Rock that played us. So, some of you Rock faithfull please elaborate on how that game unfolded because in the universe I live in there is no way Knox beats Rock without some special circumstances going on. I am sorry if this should be a new thread, if it should be would a moderator please do that and give it aproper title. Thanks!

I think this is a game that McCreary needs in order to feel good about themselves. I think McCreary will handle their business in this game. I know for a fact they are not looking toward Bell, after Thur @the Rock they don't want to even think about Bell! McCreary 48 Pineville 6