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OK, maybe the status quo is a little bit strong as there was some ranking movement, but for the second straight week the top 5 teams are the same, each team having taken care of their business advancing unscathed. 9 of the top 10 teams remained the same, as only North Oldham dropped out after a frankly stunning 38-0 whitewashing by Elizabethtown, the #8 team in 3A. The Mustangs managed only 14 passing yards and 163 total yards offensively against Elizabethtown. It was a stunning reversal as the predictions had been heavily on the side of North Oldham, state semifinalists last year. Probably the most significant result in the class came right from the top. By a margin of 31-17, Bluegrasspreps voters picked Lexington Catholic, then the #3 team in 3A, to knock off top-ranked Johnson Central. That likely would have caused a change at the top, with South Warren waiting in the wings for the slightest waver. No worry, Johnson Central was more than up to the task in a 42-28 victory that was arguably not as close as the final score, as Johnson Central led 42-14 in the third quarter. The Golden Eagles racked up over 440 yards on the ground while not gaining a single one through the air. When you manage that kind of offense when the other team KNOWS you’re going to run it, that’s dominance and total control of the line of scrimmage. Connor Ratliff (113), Bryce Skaggs (111), and Bryce Workman (101) all gained over 100 yards on the ground. It’s a virtual certainty that Johnson Central will be unbeaten through their last two games of the year, and it will be all but impossible to knock them off the top line until then. Ashland got a measure of revenge for an oh-so-close loss the year before to George Washington (WV). In 2014 the West Virginians knocked off Ashland by a score of 27-26 after a late touchdown return put them up. Different year, same score by Ashland, but they managed to survive a late two point conversion attempt that would have given the exact same score as the previous year. This time with 2:20 remaining in the game, Ashland got the stop it needed on the two point pass, and won 26-25. During the game, Quenton Baker became the all-time rushing leader at Ashland, and may top 5,000 career rushing yards in their next game. He toted it 29 times for 236 yards and 2 TDs against George Washington, just the kind of performance we’ve come to expect. Scott and Hopkinsville continued their rapid rise of the ranks this week, with each team sliding up three spots. Scott knocked off Newport 61-6, and have still not allowed more than 7 points in a game. They’re averaging 35 points per game and an average margin of victory of four touchdowns. Hopkinsville, for their part, struggled a little early on against Fort Campbell, trailing 7-0. They reeled off 50 straight points to move to 3-0 for the first time in more than a decade. The Tigers are a team that have faced adversity that no program should have to, and the troubles have continued as Chris Jung of the Kentucky New Era reports that senior backs Vincent Brown and Rakeem Chambers are likely done for the year with separate injuries. There are three games to really keep your eye on for the upcoming week. The first is the aforementioned Hopkinsville Tigers, as they face off against a Murray team that was humbled last week by Graves County. Hopkinsville rolled over Graves County week 1, but they’re already a different team now than they were then. The game also has trap potential as they have rival Christian County on deck. Second is John Hardin at Pleasure Ridge Park. The Bulldogs have rebounded nicely following their opening loss to South Warren, and perhaps the panic buttons have not been pressed quite as much in the past week. But PRP represents a good measuring stick for just how much progress has been made. The Panthers are ranked 9th in Class 6A, and so far this season the state’s largest class has absolutely owned the lower classes. Which brings us to South Warren hosting 6A #10 Central Hardin. The Bruins likely represent the largest hurdle between the Spartans and an unbeaten regular season. South Warren has been nigh-unstoppable, but have never faced a ranked team from the state’s largest class, and Central Hardin has already proven their mettle in a narrow loss to state power Boyle County, coached by South Warren HC Brandon Smith’s father Chuck. Central Hardin likes to run – South Warren LOVES to stop it.

No, not last week, though there was some movement, but this week will be moving week. After weeks of playing other classes, we finally get to see almost every team mix it up with someone else in Class 4A, , and that includes a pair of top 10 matchups from District 4. The marquee game will be #6 Shelby County at #4 Franklin County. Franklin County was more or less expected to do well, starting the year at #6 and moving up slowly behind their 5-0 record and 43 points per game offensive scoring output. They come in off a strong victory over 5A #8 Anderson County, 33-30. Shelby County, meanwhile, was not in the picture. AT ALL. Theirs has been a meteoric rise, following a 31-30 win over underrated Garrard County in the season opener with 4 more wins where no team has topped 7 points and combined they don't match Garrard's output. This will undoubtedly be their toughest test thus far, and it is their misfortune to be on the road. The top matchup on the undercard will be #10 Collins at #7 Spencer County. Collins comes in off of two straight losses, and the 2013 state champs will be looking to stake their claim in the district race. Spencer County will just want to keep doing what they're doing, which is scoring. And scoring. Aaaaaaand scoring. Spencer County averages 52.2 points per game, hasn't scored less than 40 in a game all year, and just dropped 77 on then-unbeaten Bullitt Central. It's been a good year for the Bears, and they'll want to get the win they didn't last year against Collins. A slightly off-the-radar game that matches up out of class opponents is Bourbon County's visit to 1A #2 Paintsville. Bourbon County started the year strong, but has limped to a 2-2 record. Paintsville is a much smaller opponent, an Bourbon County could really use the win. The week that was featured all but Hopkinsville managing to stay unbeaten, and the top 4 have been ultra-locked in for weeks now. Hoptown couldn't maintain through the injuries, falling behind in the second half against bitter rival Christian County, and dropping their first game 42-38. John Hardin faltered against a county rival as well, as Central Hardin picked themselves back up after the beating South Warren gave them to knock off the Bulldogs 28-21. One of the only teams moving in a positive direction was Franklin-Simpson, which may get themselves back into rankings contention after they knocked off 2A #10 Monroe County 21-14. The Wildcats began the year in the #5 spot, but dropped like a stone after a blowout loss to Caldwell County, and remained out of sight after dropping a 35-21 decision to Greenwood. The bad news for the Wildcats? South Warren is in their way this week. Ouch.

It seems like many of our 4A headlines are about the relative lack of movement in the class and ranks, and this week is no different. The class has by and large stabilized, with only minor movements. The top four in the rankings has remained the same since Week 1. Scott has now nestled into the 5th spot, and spends their second straight week there. In all, nine of the top ten teams remained the same, and seven of them are in the exact same spot this week. The closest we came to introducing a bit of instability came via District 4, which had four of our top ten teams last week. #4 Franklin County hosted #6 Shelby County, and it was a nailbiting 31-28 victory for the Franklin County Flyers. Senior kicker Seiver Tandy hit the game-winning field goal with 21 seconds left in the game, and then the Flyers weathered a 52 yard field goal attempt as time expired that would have sent it to overtime. Franklin County rolled up 468 yards of offense, keyed by Denzell Vance’s 200 yards on the ground. Shelby County was led by Malik Manica’s 153 yards. The win puts Shelby County behind the 8-ball in their attempts to grab the #1 seed, but should still compete for a home playoff game, and only dropped one spot in our ranks. The other big District 4 game was #1 0 Collins at #7 Spencer County, won by the Spencer County Bears 35-14. But with seven minutes left in the game, it appeared that the Titans would be grabbing the crucial win. They led 14-13, but JR Lucas was picked off by Kadin Smith, who returned it 40+ yards to the house for what ultimately was the game-winning score. The Bears would get two more touchdowns in the next minute and a half for a 22 point flurry that left the Titans stunned, and 0-1 in the district. Spencer County continues their best-ever start in moving to 6-0. Elsewhere, Warren Central moved back into the top ten this week, replacing departing Collins, after a 22-0 shutout win at Allen County-Scottsville. It was the first shutout of the year for the Dragons, holding Allen County to just 132 yards of offense, and forcing four turnovers. Knox Central got back on track in their candidacy for a top ten ranking with a 41-0 whitewashing of Russell County. The Lakers gained only 49 yards on the night, while Knox Central grinded 450 yards on the ground, led by Donavan Arthur’s 165 yards. They’re likely heading for a showdown with Wayne County, another team looking to move into the ranks after improving to 4-2 after a 64-0 win at Clay County. The Cardinals have won four of five, and will have to take care of Rockcastle County before looking forward to an October 9th showdown with Knox. This week on the Quenton Baker watch finds him with merely 171 yards on 18 carries, five of which were for TDs. That yardage, which some teams would love to have, put him over 1,000 just halfway through the year. This week is a little lighter on the marquee matchups, but there are a few to eyeball. #4 Franklin County hosts Collins in a District 4 matchup, and North Oldham will host #6 Spencer County in another key matchup from that district. North Oldham is a very dangerous opponent for the Bears, and could catapult themselves into legitimate district contention with a win. Hopkinsville/Madisonville lost a little luster after the Maroons dropped a decision to Calloway County, but could still be the deciding factor in the winner of that district. Warren Central takes on Franklin-Simpson in a traditional rivalry game that will likely decide who ends up with the 2 seed there.

This week we will pass the midpoint of October, and suddenly there are only three weeks left in the regular season. Many districts have started to have their playoff picture come into focus, while a few are still quite clouded. District 1 is pretty cut and dry, as we expected it to be. #7 Hopkinsville continues to roll, gaining a 42-8 victory over Logan County to improve to 7-1. They have yet to score less than 21 points this season, and have topped 42 points four times. This week they will play a district title game against surprising 4-3 Calloway County, which played themselves into this position with a 20-12 win over Madisonville-North Hopkins back on September 25th. The Lakers have now won four straight, but will have to take to the road to face the Tigers at the Stadium of Champions. District 2 is now a mess thanks to a round-robin between Allen County-Scottsville, Franklin-Simpson, and Warren Central. ACS knocked off Franklin-Simpson 21-20 this past Friday, one week after Franklin-Simpson used an 18 point comeback to take down Warren Central 36-31. The week before that, the Dragons beat Allen County-Scottsville 22-0. That leaves us with a likely tiebreaker scenario, where Franklin-Simpson is currently the heavy favorite should it come to that. As it stands now, Franklin-Simpson would be the 2 seed, Allen County-Scottsville the 3 seed, and Warren Central the 4 seed. The only constant is #2 South Warren, which posted their third straight shutout 52-0 over district mate Warren East on Friday. No one in the district has scored on them, and they’ll need only to survive mini-district title games against ACS and Warren Central to claim the district. Either of those teams could likely stake their claim to the 1 spot if they pulled the megaton upset. District 3 is exactly as we expected, with John Hardin the clearly dominant team. The #8 Bulldogs may not have been quite as high as we expected at the beginning, but in district play, they’ve got that district on lockdown. They beat Breckinridge County 48-6 before their bye week, and should roll over Valley and Western for the #1 spot. Valley grabbed a crucial 38-32 victory over Western on Friday, which puts them in the driver’s seat for the #2 seed. District 4…. well District 4 has been the most interesting thing to watch in 4A so far this season. Four of their teams are in the top 10 this week, and the one that isn’t (North Oldham), is still quite dangerous. #4 Spencer County is in the midst of their best season ever, and held off a late rally attempt by then-#8 Franklin County 47-42 on Friday to move their record to 8-0. Spencer County needs only to beat #6 Shelby County on the road this week to claim the #1 seed and a perfect district record. Should Shelby County get the win, they’ll have their own shot to wrap up the top spot the following week vs. #10 Collins. With the way the results have played out, only those two teams can claim the top spot, as it is impossible for Spencer County to have more than 1 loss in the district, and it is also impossible to have a three way tie for first due to the other two one loss teams (Shelby County and Collins) still to play. If Shelby County wins over Spencer County and then loses to Collins the following week, Spencer County will grab the 1 seed thanks to the head to head tiebreaker over Collins. Meanwhile, there is still much uncertainty around who will be the odd team out and miss the playoffs. Right now, that’s North Oldham, which fell 24-7 to Shelby County on Friday and 13-0 to Spencer County the week before. They’ll have two road games at Collins and Franklin County for them to try to grab a needed district win, but last year’s state semifinalist could be on the outside looking in this postseason. It’s also possible that Franklin County, a team that started 6-0 and spent much of the year as our #4 ranked team, could miss the playoffs if they were to lose to North Oldham on the 23rd. A lot has to play out for clarity here. District 5 has been a quiet one, as they have spent the year on the fringe of the rankings. Mercer County has a stranglehold on the district, winning their three district games by a combined 104-19 after starting the year 0-5. They’ll host 3-4 Taylor County on Friday to try to finish the unbeaten district slate. If Taylor County were to win, it would force a three way tie between those two and East Jessamine, which fell 19-0 to Mercer County but knocked off Taylor County 26-14 last Thursday. That would put Mercer County in a terrible spot, as they have no out of district wins to use. East Jessamine would likely grab the top spot in that event. District 6 had what will most likely serve as their district title game in one of the last two weeks. It’ll be either when Wayne County took down Rockcastle County 21-13 or when they beat Knox Central 35-24 last Friday. Winless Russell County is all that stands between Wayne County and the 1 seed. Wayne County has been mostly overlooked this season, but have gotten out to a 6-2 record and have quietly won 4 in a row. There’s an excellent chance that they’ll be hosting a state semifinal game in November. Meanwhile, Knox Central will host Rockcastle County on October 23rd to determine who will get the other home playoff game for the district. District 7 has been the Scott show this season. The #5 Eagles are 6-1, their lone setback coming by a single point to 6A Conner (itself 6-1). They’ve held five opponents to 7 points or less this season, and only once have scored below 27 points themselves. This week they’ll host Bourbon County as they come off a bye, and likely will wrap up the district title with a win. Should Bourbon County pull the upset, they’d have to clear Harrison County on the 23rd to wrap up the district and avoid a three way tiebreak. Harrison County fell to Scott on October 2nd by a 43-0 score. Scott is the heavy favorite, and figures to be hosting the Johnson Central/Ashland loser on November 13th in the second round of the playoffs. Speaking of Johnson Central and Ashland, we’ve been crawling towards that marquee District 8 matchup for what seems forever. It’s still another week away, as the #1 Johnson Central Golden Eagles tune up with 4-4 Rowan County, while #3 Ashland puts their 7-0 record on the line at home against Greenup County. Both teams are heavy favorites, and would set up a battle of unbeaten on October 23rd for the District 8 title. Many expect that one to be the first of two meetings. Meanwhile, Greenup County has likely wrapped up the 3 spot with a 20-6 win over Rowan County back on October 2nd, while Rowan County likely secured passage into the playoffs with a 34-16 victory at Boyd County this past Friday. The weather is finally starting to change, so get out there and enjoy some football weather and playoff atmospheres! Some of these games this week will be competitive games that will have teams jockeying for playoff position. Our marquee 4A game will be the aforementioned #4 Spencer County at #6 Shelby County matchup, a potential district title game!

The great debate, of course, is who should be at the top – Johnson Central or South Warren? Johnson Central was the preseason #1 , and even in other rankings was elevated above the Spartans to begin the year. The Golden Eagles have opened up 2-0, including a more dominating than the final 42-28 win over Lexington Catholic, currently the #4 team in 3A. That game saw Johnson Central rack up 441 yards on the ground without gaining a single one through the air. But they’ve been hampered in their defense of the top spot by a bye week out of the gate and a second bye week due to their opponent backing out on them. That has opened the door for South Warren, which played their two best opponents during the weeks Johnson Central was on the sideline. The first was an opening salvo against John Hardin, a crushing 43-12 result that immediately screamed the arrival of the Spartans on the scene. The second was a 24-3 win over then-#1 0 Central Hardin from 6A. That game showed off the defensive prowess for South Warren, holding the Bruins to just 98 yards of offense. South Warren couldn’t get much going with their QB hobbled, not gaining much offensively themselves, but won the day on defense and special teams. They opened the game with a kickoff return for a score, and later blocked a punt for a scoop and score by linebacker Devante Colton. Both Johnson Central and South Warren have been unapproachable so far, and each would make a fine #1 . They are considered the easy favorites for their respective sides, but until that potential meeting in the state finals, it appears we may be left with an “eye of the beholder” situation as to who belongs at the top. Speaking of Ryder Litten, the engine of the South Warren offense, he was one of several key players on South Warren to emerge banged up last week, and is considered doubtful for their tilt against North Hardin this week. This is likely a precaution to ensure his health heading into district play, but bears keeping an eye on. He is easily their most dominant playmaker, and in many ways the difference between the South Warren of 2013 and 2014, with the former featuring a smothering defense but an offense that combined for 10 points in their two losses. Quenton Baker kept up his Mr. Football candidacy with a 17/147/3 stat line on the ground against 3A #9 Russell. Baker has already rushed for 634 yards on 64 carries this season, with one out of every 7 carries resulting in a touchdown. Ashland is 3-0, and will likely roll to 8-0 before facing Johnson Central on October 23rd. Franklin County, Hopkinsville, and Shelby County also kept up undefeated campaigns, with each bumping up to 4-0. Franklin County blew out 1A Frankfort 46-15 while Shelby County handled North Bullitt 56-7. Franklin County is just two years removed from starting this well, but Shelby County only had three wins in the entire season last season. It’s the best start for the Rockets since they opened 7-0 in 2005. Hopkinsville has been waiting even longer, last starting this well in 2004 when they opened 13-0 in Curtis pulley’s senior campaign. The adversity has been constant for the Tigers, now dealing with injuries on top of the tragic death of Jay’von Quarles at the beginning of the year. This latest win didn’t come easily, a come from behind victory over Murray. They face a tough test this week against Christian County. It wasn’t a win this last week, but perhaps no team found a greater status in a previous win than Knox Central did. While they were beating Harlan County 35-25, Louisville Central was taking down St. X 20-17. Knox Central beat the Yellowjackets two weeks ago 28-24. The games to watch this week are the aforementioned Hopkinsville/Christian County tilt, where the Colonels enter as 5A’s #6 team, Franklin County putting it on the line against 5A #8 Anderson County, and a matchup of the unbeaten when Spencer County takes on 5A #1 0 Bullitt Central. A nice benchmark also might be seen when Collins hosts Boyle County, 3A’s #1 team.

A year ago, Johnson Central was our preseason #1 team, and held that position for the first nine weeks. For nine weeks we had them pegged as the class favorites – then came Belfry. That made clear a truth that we had long denied, that South was the clear class of 4A, and then they backed it up in the state title game. But that was last year. This year, Johnson Central is on a similar, but even more impressive track. After opening with a victory over Capital High, the #2 ranked team in West Virginia, they doubled up Lexington Catholic 54-7, before notching another out of state victory over South Charleston last week, 30-6. As usual, a powerful ground attack leads the way, as the Golden Eagles are averaging nearly 400 yards per game rushing. Joe Jackson leads the way with 386 yards on 49 carries, while freshman Cody Rice has an eye popping 17 YPC on his 12 carries thus far, notching 204 yards. The offense is still fairly one-dimensional, but that may not be the problem it was last year as South Warren’s defense, while still formidable, is not the lights out run stopper it was. One issue that may hurt Johnson Central is the relative lack of opposition they will face between now and October 28th’s rematch with Belfry, so it remains to be seen just how different this year will be from last. But one thing is almost certain – Johnson Central is your #1 team from now until then. Speaking of South Warren, the deposed #1 needed a statement following their stunning loss to Greenwood, and they got it, via a 27-20 OT win over 6A #10 Central Hardin. During the week all the talk was about the myriad of injuries the Spartans had suffered, and would they be able to overcome the Bruins that were out to avenge a loss last season. Rider Lytten ultimately was able to go for the Spartans, and turned in a solid 11/18/134 line through the air, spreading out the ball to six different receivers in the absence of Hayes. Central Hardin ultimately outgained South Warren by five yards, but their regulation comeback was thwarted by a fumble in overtime, allowing the Spartans to escape with a needed win. They’ll have another difficult 6A opponent in North Hardin before they’ll visit Franklin-Simpson on September 23. As for Franklin-Simpson, they had easily the game of 4A last week, taking on 5A #4 Greenwood, fresh off that victory over Sparta. The game did not disappoint, as Franklin raced out to a 17-7 lead, but appeared to falter late, as Greenwood took a 20-17 lead with 2 minutes left. Enter a crazy ending, as a sure interception in the end zone by Malcolm Johnson bounced off his hands up in the air, and into the waiting arms of Hunter Janes, who had not given up on the play. The crazy finish gave the Wildcats a 24-20 win, and continued to announce this year is different. Franklin-Simpson is now 4-0 for the first time since 1996’s 5-0 start. Two more results of note were Mercer County’s narrow 28-26 loss to 5A #8 Southwestern, and Rockcastle County’s thunderous 42-14 win over 3A #5 Garrard County. Mercer County jumped up on the Warriors 20-6 by halftime, by could not hold the lead in the third quarter, giving up 22 straight points before getting a chance at a tie but failing on the two point conversion. Despite the loss, it adds to a decent starting resume, with wins over Anderson County and Bell County bookended by good efforts against Central Hardin and Southwestern. They’ll get formidable Wayne County this week, but look good to win out from there. Meanwhile, Rockcastle County continued a resurgent season, jumping out to 3-0 by plastering Garrard County. It’s the first 3-0 start in five years for the Rockets, and the win over Garrard County bodes well, given that the Golden Lions had already knocked off Shelby County earlier in the year. Junior Holden Barnett is off to a tremendous start for Rockcastle, with 256 yards and 3 TDs on 34 carries to key the rushing attack. A challenging three weeks awaits with a visit to Pulaski County followed by a homestand against Somerset and Wayne County, but the Rockets are proving that last season’s surge was no fluke. In all, Rockcastle has won 7 of its last 9 games. This week’s best game inside of 4A is the aforementioned Wayne County/Mercer County tilt, a rare inter-district matchup. A year ago, the Cardinals won by the skin of their teeth 21-14, kicking off a 9 game winning streak, while the Titans launched into a six game winning streak of their own. The two represent a potential region final matchup if everything shakes out right, giving us a mid-September postseason treat. But probably the best game, and almost certainly most intriguing, is #5 Hopkinsville against 5A #2 Christian County. The Tigers have been remarkably consistent this year, averaging 42.5 PPG while scoring between 41-44 points in each game. Most of it has come across a weak schedule, though their 44-22 win over Graves to opens the year stands out. No one else left on their schedule has a prayer, so this is all that stands between them and an undefeated season. Hopkinsville has beaten the Colonels just once in the past 8 seasons, and Christian County is no pushover again this year. Jalen Johnson has thrown 16 touchdowns in just four games, while both Stephen Cager and CJ Henangan have reeled in 7 TD receptions apiece. They have a very formidable, balanced attack, with just 18 yards passing more than rushing thus far. They have one of the most diverse and experienced attacks in the entire class. Now we get to see what it can do against an opponent with some teeth.

The week that was is not quite as exciting as the week to come, but there were a few big results to discuss before we get to what we’re really looking forward to. The biggest game of the week was undoubtedly #4 Spencer County at #6 Shelby County. Spencer County entered unbeaten at 8-0, and could have secured the district title with a win. Shelby County also controlled their destiny, needing a win in that game as well as the following week against Collins to secure the #1 seed, and it was they who exited the game still in control, gaining a 42-28 victory over the Bears. Shelby County was dominant in their ground game, accumulating 362 yards on the ground, but had to overcome an early deficit and were in a tie game at 28 all with 10 minutes left in the game. Malik Manica was the difference, scoring on a pair of runs for the final margin. Shelby County faces the ultimate challenge this week – beat Collins for the first time, and secure the #1 seed. Lose, and they could fall as far as #4. #7 Hopkinsville secured their district crown with a 37-0 whitewashing of Calloway County. It’s the first district title in 10 years for the Tigers, and completes their resurrection as a program. Quarterback Jalen Johnson was 8/15 for 150 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the game, adding a score on the ground. Hopkinsville had only 228 yards of offense, but were greatly aided by three interceptions, two of them by Tyler Graham. They still have to defeat Hopkins County Central for an unbeaten district slate, but they’ve clinched the district via head to head tiebreaker with Calloway. #5 Scott secured their first-ever district crown in a tighter than expected 42-35 decision over Bourbon County. Offense was the name of the game, with Scott rolling up 510 yards of offense while Bourbon County gained 488 themselves. It was quite a contrast as Scott was led by a trio of rushers for 456 yards on the ground. Roberto London led the way with 20 carries for 157 yards, Danny Fitzgerald was right behind with 12 carries for 154 yards and a pair of scores, but the most impressive effort was Deondre Pleasant who scored one TD ever two times he ran it, with 8 carries for 116 yards and 4 scores. Bourbon County for their part did damage through the air, as Bolin put up 309 yards. It was a game effort that saw the Colonels actually lead at halftime 21-20, but ultimately Scott secures the 1 seed. #1 Johnson Central (42-6 over Rowan County), #2 South Warren (40-7 over Allen County-Scottsville), and #3 Ashland (32-6 over Greenup County) all took care of business in big fashion to set themselves up to secure district titles this week with a win. #8 John Hardin (48-6 over Valley) is in the same boat, but likely would win via tiebreakers even if they were to lose to Western this week – an extremely unlikely event. Also, a special shout-out to just out of the ranks Wayne County, which moved to 7-2 and secured their fifth straight win and a district title with a 51-8 decision over Russell County. Which brings us to this week, and the game we’ve all been waiting for. #1 Johnson Central visits #3 Ashland, a battle of unbeaten and probably the most anticipated game since Week 1 when South Warren took on John Hardin. Johnson Central has not lost a regular season game since 2012, and hasn’t fallen to Ashland since 2011. Last year the Golden Eagles held Quenton Baker to just 29 yards on 10 carries, something one would figure would be hard to repeat as Baker enters this game averaging 11 yards per carry despite having carried it 158 times. That’s 1,728 yards he’s amassed, and he averages three TDs a game. Johnson Central is allowing only 88 yards per game on the ground. It’s a battle of strength on strength for both teams, with both featuring powerful ground attacks while the defenses have by and large shut down the run. Needless to say, if you are within shouting distance of this game this week, you should get your behind to Ashland. “The Battle For Shelbyville” is another big matchup, as #4 Shelby County hosts #10 Collins. As mentioned above, Shelby County has never beaten Collins, and that is what they’ll have to do to secure a district title. Collins can’t play their way up to the #1 seed since they lost to Spencer County, but they can gain a home game in the playoffs with a victory. Shelby County could drop to #4 with a loss and a Franklin County win. Speaking of Franklin County, they host North Oldham in a “play-in” game. The winner makes the playoffs while the loser stays home. Franklin County finds themselves here despite a stellar 6-0 start, and could still escape the trip to John Hardin with a win and Shelby County loss. For North Oldham, it’s #4 or bust – a big comedown from last year’s state semifinal finish. In one other game with significant playoff implications, it is #2 South Warren hosting Warren Central, the first meeting for the crosstown rivals. The Spartans figure to be huge favorites, and will secure the #1 seed outright with a win. If they were to lose, Warren Central would actually gain the #1 spot on tiebreakers, a dramatic change from the likely tiebreaker scenario that will land them in the #4 spot with a loss.

As we head into the last couple of weeks of district play, it is a good time to reset our district races, and begin projecting where we’ll end up at the start of November. District 1 Logan County pulled off what most would consider an upset when they took down Hopkinsville 13-12 on the final play of the game in Russellville on Thursday night. It extended Logan County’s winning streak to eight straight games, still almost unfathomable after their 42 game losing streak that ended last season. That set up a district title game against Madisonville-North Hopkins. If Madisonville wins at home against the Cougars on Friday, they’ll complete a 4-0 run through the district and grab homefield advantage for the first four rounds of the playoffs. They’ve already clinched no worse than second place, so they’ll be home one way or the other. Logan County would likewise grab homefield advantage with a win – not bad for a team that hasn’t hosted even a single home playoff game since 1989. If they lose, they will still need a win or a Calloway County loss in one of the Lakers’ two final district games to clinch the #2 seed. Logan County could achieve both with a win over Calloway on the 20th. In all likelihood, both Madisonville and Logan County will open at home. The preseason district favorite Hopkinsville is trying to hold on to the #3 seed, and will host Calloway County on Friday. A win there for the Tigers will clinch a playoff spot and eliminate Calloway County from postseason contention. Lose, and all kinds of scenarios open up. Projected order of finish: 1. Madisonville-North Hopkins (4-0), 2. Logan County (3-1), 3. Hopkinsville (2-2), 4. Hopkins County Central (1-3), OUT – Calloway County (0-4) District 2 District 2 hasn’t had many intra-district contests yet, but it has had one big one in Franklin-Simpson’s 30-7 victory at Allen County-Scottsville. It is expected that those two teams are the best in the district, with Warren East as the dark horse. Warren Central will almost certainly finish the year winless and serve as the district’s #4 seed. Warren East will face Allen County-Scottsville at home before traveling to Franklin-Simpson on the 20th. Win both, and the Raiders win the district title. Lose to AC/S only, and likely we will have a three way tie. Lose to Franklin-Simpson only, and Franklin will win the district and East will place 2nd. Lose both, Allen County-Scottsville will be the #2 seed behind Franklin-Simpson. Simple really. The only true certainty is that Allen County-Scottsville’s only path to potentially being the #1 seed is a three way tie, while both Warren East and Franklin-Simpson hold their fate in their hands. Going by momentum and comparisons against common opponents, Franklin-Simpson is the clear choice for the district, while AC/S and East are a tossup for #2. Projected order of finish: 1. Franklin-Simpson (3-0), 2. Allen County-Scottsville (2-1), 3. Warren East (1-2), 4. Warren Central (0-3) District 3 Western felled the mighty John Hardin by a wide margin at the end of September, but nearly let it slip away from them in a 28-22 decision against Moore this past Thursday. But the Warriors prevailed, setting up an easy scenario for them – beat Valley at Valley on Friday, and they’re district champions, with homefield for regional play. Lose, and the likelihood increases greatly that John Hardin can play themselves back into the top spot. Western would finish 3-1 in the district in that scenario, while Valley would be 2-1 with a game against winless Breckinridge County pending, a certain win. John Hardin is currently 1-1 in district play, with a road trip to Breckinridge County before finishing at home against Moore. If John Hardin won those games, the three teams would be tied at 3-1 all atop the district standings. At this point, the schedule would be working against both Valley and Western for the three way tiebreaker, based on win totals of opponents that they’ve beaten. Valley has no current wins other than Moore and Breckinridge County that would qualify for this scenario, which the other two teams will have. Western would only have North Oldham to add to those. John Hardin could likely coast to the title on the strength of wins over Meade County and Daviess County alone. Valley beat Moore by the same amount Western did, so it’s not an unthinkable scenario, though not the most likely one. In all likelihood, John Hardin will gain a home game against tough District 6, while Valley and Moore will hit the road. Projected order of finish: 1. Western (4-0), 2. John Hardin (3-1), 3. Valley (2-2), 4. Moore (1-3), OUT – Breckinridge County (0-4) District 4 We don’t KNOW who is going to get the top seed in this district - *wink* - but we really do. Collins is the clear class of District 4, winning over both Spencer County and Franklin County by 38. Franklin County likewise stomped Shelby County by 27, and another vanquished foe of Collins – Oldham County – knocked off other district member North Oldham by 11. Nothing is guaranteed, but Collins is almost certainly going to be #1. So assuming that Collins wins out as expected that would leave Franklin County in the driver’s seat for the #2 spot and home game, with only their home game against North Oldham on the 20th remaining. A win there guarantees them a home playoff game regardless of what else happens, as they would hold a head to head tiebreaker with Shelby County, the only other team that could tie them. A loss would leave the door open for some three-way tiebreaker chaos with North Oldham and Shelby County. Shelby County took a big step towards getting the #3 seed with a 23-20 win over North Oldham this past Friday. With North Oldham facing trips to Collins and Franklin County, their backs are against the wall to get out of the #4 seed. Spencer County, at 0-3, have failed to get closer than 20 points in any district contest thus far, and face a must-win at Shelby County on Friday to have any chance of making the playoffs. Even with a win there, if Shelby County were to knock off Collins, Spencer County would still be out. Projected order of finish: 1. Collins (4-0), 2. Franklin County (3-1), 3. Shelby County (2-2), 4. North Oldham (1-3), OUT – Spencer County (0-4) District 5 For the second year in a row, East Jessamine took control of the district and gained what was viewed as an unlikely win in knocking off Mercer County 30-27 on September 29th. They followed that road win with a 28-20 victory over previously 5-1 Taylor County, putting themselves into position to grab the district’s #1 seed and homefield for the first four rounds of the playoffs. They get winless Marion County on Friday, and can grab the top seed in the district with a win there, regardless of what happens in their last game against rival West Jessamine. Mercer County and Taylor County have already beaten West Jessamine, meaning their game this Friday at Mercer County will likely serve as a playoff for the #2 seed and home playoff game. West Jessamine cannot realistically play their way up to the top seed, and likely cannot grab a home game at this point. A Marion County loss to Taylor County on the 20th would clinch a playoff spot for West Jessamine, or a combination of a Marion County loss to East Jessamine and a West Jessamine win over East Jessamine. But the scenarios are really likely clearer than that – East Jessamine win over Marion County clinches top spot, Mercer County/Taylor County play for the 2 with the loser settling into the 3 spot, and West Jessamine takes the 4. Projected order of finish: 1. East Jessamine (3-1), 2. Mercer County (3-1) [Head to Head gives East Jessamine the 1], 3. Taylor County (2-2), 4. West Jessamine (2-2) [Head to Head gives Taylor County the 3], OUT – Marion County (0-4) District 6 Wayne County followed up their 27-0 shutout of Rockcastle County with a 51-28 blowout of Knox Central, and with that, they raised their district record to 3-0 and clinched the district’s top seed. No matter the result they have against Russell County this Friday, they have homefield for at least the first two rounds. Rockcastle County has a tuneup game against Clay County this Friday, an almost certain win, before a heads up match at Knox Central for the district’s #2 seed. Both Knox Central and Rockcastle County have already beaten Russell County, meaning the Lakers have no path to the #2 seed, and would require Rockcastle County to lose out while Russell County wins out to be able to climb into the 3 spot. Clay County is no more likely to climb the ranks, but has a similar path of needing to win out while Rockcastle County loses out. Far more likely is that Clay County’s home game against Russell County on October 20th will determine the 4 seed. Projected order of finish: 1. Wayne County (4-0), 2. Rockcastle County (3-1), 3. Knox Central (2-2), 4. Russell County (1-3), OUT – Clay County (0-4) District 7 District 7 has mostly played in the shadows this year, with very little fanfare given to them. Which is a shame, because top to bottom, they have had some of the closest games between their teams, though the results have mostly come out as predicted. Harrison County has been eliminated from playoff contention, so the four playoff teams are known. Scott and Bourbon County lead the pack at 2-0, and they meet this Friday at Scott. Bourbon County is in better position to make this a real district title game, as a win over Scott along with the 56-34 win they gained over Holmes this past Friday would grant them tiebreakers over both – even a three way tie – meaning they would be the top seed regardless of their result against Harrison County on the 20th. If Scott wins, they would still need either a Holmes loss to Mason County this Friday or a win over Holmes on the 20th to clinch the top seed. Holmes can play their way to the top spot outright by winning out and having Bourbon County lose out. If they were to go into a three way tie, they are almost certainly going to finish last, with no current wins out of district except for Covington Holy Cross, who is winless. Mason County is in the mix at 1-2 in the district, with losses to Scott (in overtime) and Bourbon County, and a win over Harrison County in double overtime. Their three district games have been decided by 13 total points. The Royals could just as easily have been in position for the top spot or completely buried and out of the playoffs. They can still get a home playoff game in theory with a win over Holmes, a Holmes win over Scott, and either a Scott loss to Bourbon County or Bourbon County losing out. A three-way tie scenario with Scott involved would be far more advantageous, as Bourbon County’s wins over Somerset and Owen County (both with five wins) likely give them a dominating position over anyone in a tiebreaking scenario. Winless Harrison County will have nothing but pride on the line when they visit Bourbon County on October 20th, but came oh-so-close to a playoff spot in a 14-6 loss to Holmes and that double OT loss to Mason County. Projected order of finish: 1. Bourbon County (4-0), 2. Scott (3-1), 3. Mason County (2-2), 4. Holmes (1-3), OUT – Harrison County (0-4) District 8 Like District 4, we don’t “know” who will win this, but we really do. Unbeaten and defending state champ Johnson Central is 3-0 in the district with two games left to go, and hasn’t scored less than 50 points in district play so far. They’ll mow down Rowan County and likely do the same in what will most likely serve as a district title game with Ashland on October 20th. Ashland and Greenup County have an important game this Friday in Ashland which will likely serve as the playoff for the 2 spot. Ashland has recovered well from their 1-2 start with five straight wins, and of the two, is in a much better spot to challenge Johnson Central for the district title since Greenup County has already lost to the Golden Eagles. Those three have realistically clinched a playoff spot if not in actuality yet. Boyd County and East Carter will meet on Friday for what probably is an elimination game. It definitely is for Boyd County, as they cannot make the playoffs with a loss there, as the best they could do would be one district win and either East Carter or Rowan County would have two – the top three teams already have two district wins. If they were to lose to Boyd County, East Carter could gain a three way tie for the final spot with a win over Rowan County – so long as Rowan County loses to Johnson Central this week and Boyd County lost to Greenup County next week. I’m quite confident in how these spots will shake out, but thanks to the six team district, there’s not much that is officially official yet. Projected order of finish: 1. Johnson Central (5-0), 2. Ashland (4-1), 3. Greenup County (3-2), 4. Rowan County (2-3), OUT – Boyd County (1-4), East Carter (0-5) BONUS PREDICTION As we sit here still about six weeks from region title games, my postseason predictions are: Region 1 – Franklin-Simpson Region 2 – Collins Region 3 – Wayne County Region 4 – Johnson Central Johnson Central over Collins for the state title. Upcoming Game of the Week This is not a strong slate of games, but I think my bet for the best game would the Bourbon County at Scott. Both have been on the fringe of the rankings this season, and as mentioned, this likely will be for the District 7 title. They’d both be underdogs against whoever was the #2 seed in District 8 for the second round of the playoffs, but that’s a better fighting chance than they’d have matching up with Johnson Central in the second round. A lot on the line for that game. Runner-up would be Madisonville-North Hopkins hosting #10 Logan County. That one is an outright district title game. Madisonville would get their first district title in 17 years – Logan County their first in 28 years.

I hope you enjoy the trio of Johnson Central, Franklin-Simpson, and Ashland at the top of the 4A rankings. Week 1 did nothing to discourage the notion that they are the elite of the elite in the class. The order may (or may not) change among those three this year, but Week 1 only reinforced the perception they’re not going to get run down from behind. With Johnson Central off to start the season as per usual, Franklin-Simpson carried the banner for 4A. The defending state champion and potential co-favorite met an Elizabethtown squad that had thrashed them 55-23 via a running clock to start 2017. With revenge in their hearts and on their minds, the Wildcats visited Elizabethtown to return the favor. They did it with a punishing ground game, racking up 486 yards on the ground. It may be a sign of how they want to win this year given they completed as many passes as you or I did – zero. Tre Bass continued to put up ridiculous per carry numbers, averaging over 12 yards per carry with 209 yards on 17 carries – two for scores. Fullback Carlos McKinney had 231 yards on 23 carries as well, finding the end zone three times. While they didn’t return the running clock favor, they left no doubt about their dominance. Their matchup with South Warren on August 31st is likely the only game on their entire schedule still in doubt. Ashland had revenge on their minds as well. Like Franklin, they started last season with a loss and had a losing record after three weeks before ripping off wins. Harlan County was the team that victimized Ashland a year ago, pasting the Tomcats 49-28. It was a frankly confusing result that still somewhat defies reasoning. There would be no crazy upset this time. Ashland jumped out to a 14-0 lead after one quarter, and expanded it to a 28-6 lead at the half, coasting home behind a running clock in the fourth quarter. Ashland ran 25 plays, and scored 7 touchdowns. That’s dominance. There had been some questions about who stud QB Braxton Ratliff would throw to, and that was answered in the form of Cade Brandt, a transfer from South Point, Ohio. He had three catches, three touchdowns, and 153 yards. Not a bad start. Other games of note: #4 Knox Central is a bit of a dark horse this year thanks to a veteran squad. They looked the part early, taking the season’s opening kick 87 yards for a score, but surprisingly fell behind 16-7 to a lackluster Letcher County Central team. They answered with 28 straight before settling in for a 49-22 season win. Quarterback Brady Worley had three touchdown passes. They meet powerful Alcoa (TN) next week. It’s not a game they will win, but if they can raise their level, perhaps they might be viewed as a serious threat. Blowout losses punctuated most of the rest of the top 10. #5 Hopkinsville can be somewhat forgiven. The Tigers were throwing bombs on 5A #3 South Warren, and were down just 14-10 early. Unfortunately the Spartans adjusted and routed them 49-17. But they’re a top 10 team regardless of class. #6 Wayne County can also be mostly forgiven, falling 48-10 to 6A #7 Frederick Douglass. Depending on how you count Scott County, Federick Douglass is the standard bearer for Lexington. The second year program has only lost three games in their history – two to Scott County who made the 6A semis, and one to Danville, who won 2A. The Cardinals never had a chance, falling behind 41-0 by the 6:18 mark of the second quarter. Sophomore Brody Weaver got off to a tough start to his career, throwing three INTs on 4/19 passing, gaining just 70 yards. Their tough start will continue as they play Pulaski County and Boyle County in the next three weeks, but otherwise, this is the toughest competition they will see. The other losses were even less encouraging. #8 Madisonville-North Hopkins dropped their season opener for the fourth straight year, enduring another pasting at the hands of Owensboro, this one a 41-13 decision. The Maroons dominated the ground game with 223 yards rushing, but were crushed via Owensboro’s aerial attack to the tune of 254 yards. Jeriah Hightower took on the bellcow role, gaining 131 yards on 19 attempts, but the Maroons may need some semblance of passing attack… and defense. Finally, #10 Scott stayed very close to 2A power Newport Central Catholic a season ago, falling just 17-7. This year, it was a 41-0 devastation. Chad Ohmer was just 3/14 for 53 yards and an INT, while Quincy Perrin managed just 3.8 YPC on 24 rushes for 92 yards. The result sends Scott tumbling from the top 10. Upcoming Game of the Week There’s a few matchups pitting teams in the top 10 of their respective classes. Ashland hosts 1A #3 Raceland, which is usually a solid game. I’m less optimistic about the chances of #5 Hopkinsville at 2A #1 Mayfield and #10 Franklin County visiting 3A #1 Boyle County. But no, if you were going to see one 4A game this week, watch #1 Johnson Central take on Capital (WV). Capital is the #2 team in West Virginia’s largest class per ATLCat, and while Johnson Central has won by 17 and 11 in the last two years against Capital, it is always competitive. It’s your first chance to see Joe Jackson in a real game since he got injured in this one a year ago, and he’s always worth the price of admission. If Johnson Central could come out and dominate, it will speak well of their chances to live up to this ranking.

When the rankings were being compiled this preseason, there were few absolutes in Class 4A. Johnson Central was the clear #1, that much we knew, and obviously will remain so after opening with a bye week. Wayne County appeared to be a solid #2, and they backed that up with a 45-7 pasting of 5A Woodford County. Collins acquitted themselves as well with a 38-7 victory over Madison Southern, that saw JR Lucas account for over 400 yards of offense through the air and on the ground in addition to four scores. After that, things got…. hazy. And after the first week, things are…. well, still hazy. Franklin-Simpson, Ashland, John Hardin, and Hopkinsville all enjoyed relatively strong years a season ago, but each suffered their share of losses coming into the year. In Week 1, each took it on the chin by three touchdowns or more. Franklin, who allowed just 11 PPG a season ago, gave up 55 points, their most since a 69-10 loss to Bowling Green a decade ago – tenth most in school history – and succumbed to a running clock. If the Wildcats can take any solace, it’s that it was just 21-16 at halftime. Hopkinsville held it close in the first half as well, holding South Warren to just 149 yards of offense in the opening two quarters and trailing just 7-0 at the break. However, Hopkinsville never did fully get on track offensively, posting less than 100 yards of offense by halftime and eventually falling behind 20-0. They never closed back within 13 in their 35-14 loss against a squad they fell to 28-24 in their final game of 2016. Meanwhile, Ashland and John Hardin never got into the game at all. Ashland’s perceived weakness coming in was their line play, and the game did nothing to allay those concerns. Harlan County ran the ball at will while stuffing any ground attack the Tomcats tried to put together. It was 35-7 early into the second half, and while Ashland gamely closed to 35-21 at one point, they never got closer. In all, the Tomcats allowed 317 rushing yards. John Hardin fared even worse. 3A #3 Boyle County led 27-0 at the half, holding the Bulldogs to less than 100 yards of offense, and eventually led by as much as 34-0, narrowly missing gaining a running clock. John Hardin did pick up the pace a bit in the second half through the air, scraping 169 yards and a score from the passing game. The opposition was quality, but fears about youth and dwindling numbers appear to be well founded. Other games of note: #10 Shelby County opened strong with a 49-12 win over Fairdale. Caleb Morehead is off to a blazing start in his follow-up to a 1,428 yard 2016 season, carrying the ball 17 times for 226 yards and two touchdowns. The Rockets have won 24 of their last 28 games. Bourbon County opened with a good win over 2A #8 Somerset, winning 36-29 in the PBK Death Valley Bowl. A pair of fourth quarter scores keyed the come from behind victory, and Dalen Landrum found WR Titus Ransom for four touchdowns en route to 291 yards of offense. Franklin County knocked off 3A #10 Western Hills 24-20 behind a defensive effort that forced four turnovers, turning three of them into touchdowns. That included a pick-six by Dakota Bowen with just over 4 minutes left in the game to put Franklin County ahead for good. Jesse Thurman had 170 yards and 2 TDs on 9/16 passing, in addition to 69 yards and a score on the ground. Upcoming Game of the Week There are a couple of intriguing games to come in Week 2. Perhaps the best one would be Mercer County taking on Franklin County in Boyle County’s bowl game. Mercer County thoroughly walloped Harrison County in their season opener, and this game will also be a chance to see if Franklin County can build on their strong showing against Western Hills. Ashland against Raceland as well as Hopkinsville vs. Mayfield should give some of our middle-ranked teams a chance to show if Week 1 was just a terrible break, or reasons to go into all-out panic.

Cards on the table, I've often joined in the argument that we have too many teams making the playoffs. I fall more into the "we have too many classes" category rather than "we should take the top two seeds", but the amount of teams that make it and get pulped is rather crazy. However, 4A had a surprising amount of "upsets" by seeds that continued a recent trend. All of those upsets came in the 2/3 games, as they almost always do. Since the institution of the six class system, 1 seeds are 85-1 in the first round of 4A play. The lone loss was in 2010, when West Jessamine knocked off Holmes. Other than that, it may as well be like the 16 seed in the NCAA - all but hopeless. But in the last three seasons, the 2 seeds are just 13-11 in first round play. There was even the strange year (2009) where the 3 seeds won more, going 5-3 against the 2 seeds. Overall, the 2 seeds are still 59-29 since 2007, but the class is always good for at least one upset by seed. Region 1 Reset One of those upsets took place in Region 1, with Hopkinsville making good on so much offseason promise to take down Warren East. The Tigers never trailed, and were pitching a shutout before Warren East got on the board midway through the 4th quarter. The Tigers didn't quite dominate in the traditional sense - the Raiders actually outgained them - but they weren't seriously threatened either. It's a disappointing end to a promising first year for Coach Griffith at Warren East, but the Raiders have continued to set their foundation. For Hoptown, it's a chance for redemption when they meet Logan County this week, eager to erase the sting of a last second defeat On October 5th that condemned them to be road warriors. The Tigers have now won four in a row. Madisonville-North Hopkins and Franklin-Simpson will meet in the second round, with each taking care of business by multiple scores in the first round. Madisonville ran straight at Allen County-Scottsville, eliminating thoughts of a third straight year of a #3 Allen County team advancing, jumping out 28-0 by the middle of the second quarter with a punishing run game, and constant blitzes on Patriot QB Chase Wilson. The Maroons and the Wildcats will probably have less than ten passes between them as these teams like to RUN. Franklin-Simpson leads the overall series 11-10 and the playoff series 4-1. It's the fifth meeting of the two teams in the playoffs since 2011, all of them prior the region finals. Region 2 Reset Top seeds Collins and East Jessamine rolled, but the two seeds found themselves on the outs as #3 Shelby County and #3 Mercer County bounced back from a rough second half of the season to advance. Shelby County overcame a 21-10 deficit four minutes into the third quarter to keep alive their hopes of a third straight year in the region finals. Their 38 points in the 38-28 victory were their most since August 25th when they knocked off Atherton 48-23. Shelby County gets their second crack at Collins, who they fell to 38-19 in October. For Franklin County, it was deja vu as they fell to Mercer County for the second time this year, albeit narrowing the margin to 27-24 (their earlier meeting a 35-25 loss). Jackson Lewis had 15 carries for 115 yards in the Titans' victory, and they'll get another try at East Jessamine, who knocked off the Titans on the road 30-27 on September 29th. Region 3 Reset Despite the nominal seed upset by Rockcastle County, this region went exactly as one would expect. Four teams entered ranked in the BGP top ten – they all won. Knox Central dealt John Hardin their first exit in the first round in 13 years with a punishing 35-13 victory. Ethan Mills led the way for Knox with 101 yards and a pair of scores. John Hardin just never fully found their footing, showing flashes with wins over Daviess County and Meade County, but ultimately dooming themselves in a home loss to Moore on October 20th, knocking them down to the #3 seed. Rockcastle County had to survive a late charge by Moore to pull their “upset”, but pulled out the 30-22 victory to earn a rematch with Wayne County. Jaden Payne put up over two bills, racking up 224 yards and three scores on 33 carries as part of a ground attack that amassed 400 yards for Rockcastle County. They’ll face #1 Wayne County, who in addition to putting up a 43-0 victory on Valley this week also tapped out the Rockets 27-0 back in late September. The Rock has been chomping at the bit for another shot – they’ve earned it. Western was the lone winner from District 3, grabbing a 43-0 victory over Clay County. They’ve won six in a row, and now they’ll find out just how valuable their tough schedule was when they host Knox Central. Region 4 Reset Perhaps what is most surprising is that out of four three seed upsets, none were in Region 4. Greenup County was seen as one of the most promising lower seeds, having given Ashland all they wanted three weeks ago on the road. In a game that had nearly 900 yards of combined offense, it was the aerial assault of Bourbon County that pulled out a 34-30 win. The Colonels started the year with an impressive 36-29 win over Somerset, but entered the postseason just 4-4 in their last eight games. They’ll earn a shot at Ashland, which won a no-doubter over Holmes, 52-6. On the other side, Scott grabbed the honor of hosting a still-upset-from-the-upset Johnson Central team via a 49-7 pasting of Rowan County. The Eagles only attempted 8 passes while running up 345 yards on the ground in that one. Meanwhile, Johnson Central snapped their surprising two game losing streak with a 43-0 drubbing of Mason County, scoring more than their previous two games combined. Like Scott, they did all they wanted and needed in the rushing game, with 213 of offense on the ground, primarily from Blake Gamble, who had 128 yards on 12 rushes with 1 score. These two met a year ago in the 1/4 game, a 54-7 Johnson Central victory.

THAT JUST HAPPENED. That was pretty much my reaction upon seeing that Johnson Central had fallen to Ashland on the road 21-18. For the Golden Eagles it was the first time all year they’d been held below 31 points, and that came in the season opener. They hadn’t scored less than 40 since. Ashland pulled off the feat on the defensive side of the ball with some clutch turnovers in the fourth quarter, recovering two fumbles and the game ending interception on fourth down after the Golden Eagles had driven deep into Tomcat territory but stalled. The second fumble was probably the biggest, as Ashland had turned over on downs in Johnson Central territory, only to see the Golden Eagles drive to just outside the red zone in just over a minute of play. Drew Fannin recovered a fumble with 4:50 left to set up Ashland’s last chance to overcome an 18-14 deficit. Braxton Ratliff and Aroq Colburn, who had already hooked up for a 61 yard score midway through the second quarter, got the game-winner on a 58 yard pass with 2:40 remaining, on 4th and 3. So Johnson Central exits with some soul-searching, feeling like they lost a game they probably feel they should have won. They had nearly 500 yards of offense compared to just under 350 for Ashland. They had twice as many first downs. But they couldn’t convert on any two point attempts and Ashland bent, but seldom broke. Johnson Central entered the district title game with 13 straight wins, as defending champions, the #1 team, and heavy favorite. They exited in second place of their own district. Meanwhile, Ashland gained their first victory over Johnson Central since 2011, and their first district title since that same year. They have gained homefield advantage for the first two rounds of the playoffs, and if Johnson Central recovers to meet them in the region finals as expected, they’ll stay at home for the first three rounds. Most significantly, they have sent a final message to 4A – this is not last year. Johnson Central can be beaten. Happy hunting. Other Items of Note: -Wayne County had an enjoyable bye-week. They already were district champions, on a five game winning streak, and not seriously tested since a September 8th loss to Boyle County. They gained the honor of new #1 without having to lift a finger. -#3 Collins wrapped up an unbeaten run through district play with a 38-19 win over rival Shelby County. The win snaps a four game losing streak since the last Titans win in 2014, and keeps Collins in the presumptive driver’s seat on the western side of the bracket. JR Lucas only had to throw 10 times in this one, completing six, four of which were touchdowns. -#5 Franklin-Simpson was sweating a bit in their district title matchup against Warren East, coming out sluggish and trailing 7-3 at the half. After the two teams traded touchdowns in the second half to make it 14-10 Raiders, Franklin-Simpson ran off the next 35 points, securing their fourth district title in the last five years. The Wildcats are seeking back to back region titles, a feat they haven’t accomplished since winning seven in a row from 1977-1983. -Last week I’d said that Johnson Central/Ashland wasn’t the game of the week due to confidence in the result – oops. Double the oops because the choice I want with was Rockcastle County at Knox Central. Knox Central has been quietly building an impressive season, overlooked because of some iffy early performances against Letcher County Central and Russell County, as well as blowout losses to Danville and Wayne County. They unleashed an aerial attack on Rockcastle County, with Brady Worley throwing for three scores and 221 yards against no interceptions in their 31-8 win over Rockcastle County. The Rockets continued their all or nothing ways, averaging just 4.67 PPG in their losses against 43.17 PPG in their wins. It’s been a disappointing second half for Rockcastle County, with a 2-3 skid after their 4-0 start, and falling from district champions a year ago to #3 in the district, opening on the road, and trapped on the same side with Wayne County, who shut them down and out 27-0 in late September. -Logan County continued their march to the most improbable undefeated season ever, pulling in a 49-11 win over Calloway County that eschewed the late game heroics of their past two district contests. Only Todd County Central, the team Logan County beat last year to break their 42 game losing streak, stands in the way of them and the first undefeated season in program history. -An off the radar result important to me is John Hardin falling 15-0 to Moore. John Hardin has been downright impossible to figure out, and they have now fallen into a three way tiebreak with Moore and Valley. Frankly, I just love trying to track three way tiebreaks. John Hardin is currently in the lead with 8 points in the bank from the four wins of Daviess County and Meade County. Two opponents John Hardin has beaten play this week (Meade County and Warren Central), guaranteeing them an additional point to give them a minimum of nine. They can go as high as 11 with wins by Daviess County over Apollo – possible – and Breckinridge County over Hancock County – unlikely. 9 or 10 is likely where John Hardin finishes. Moore is currently in second with 7 from Southern’s four wins and Jeffersontown’s three. Seneca and Breckinridge County “add” zero. Southern plays DeSales so will likely stay put, and both Seneca and Breckinridge County being winless are likely to as well. Jeffersontown against Oldham County is likely a J-Town loss too, meaning from existing teams, Moore probably stays at 7. But they have something John Hardin doesn’t – another game. They’re playing Henry County, who carry 4 wins. That is a winnable game for Moore, and a win there, will give them the two seed because the only way John Hardin can get to 11 is if Breckinridge County wins, which will add to Moore’s total as well to push them to 12. Valley is almost drawing dead as the only team outside the tiebreak that they’ve currently beaten is winless Breckinridge County, which the other two have beaten as well. They could add Eminence’s 8 wins to their total with a victory over them this week, which is not all that farfetched given Eminence’s schedule. But they can’t get past John Hardin no matter what, and would need that win over Eminence plus a Moore loss PLUS all the teams that Moore beat to lose this week in order to finish in third. Upcoming Game of the Week 4A’s out of class games this year have by and large been a nightmare. The class is widely viewed as one of the worst in the state, and the record has backed that up. Newly ascendant #1 Wayne County gets one last chance to pick up a marquee win for 4A when they host 5A #5 Madison Southern on Friday. Wayne County scored one of the better out of class wins on the season when they knocked off defending 5A runner-up Pulaski County 29-27 back on August 25th. But two weeks later they stumbled 38-14 in a road game at Boyle County, and now take on an Eagle team that ground that same Pulaski County team to dust in a 60-21 shellacking on September 22nd. If Wayne County stumbles, perhaps Ashland will pick up the pieces to enter as the top ranked team. The top ranked team in 4A entering the postseason has made the finals in each of the last six seasons, winning five of those. It’s a coveted spot.

This week provided one of the rarest sights in 4A this season – almost every single team in the top ten won. Nine teams out of the top ten won their games, many of them handily. Only two games featured margins of less than ten points, and that came in spots 9 & 10. It’s a seldom-seen week of breathing easily for the favorites of 4A. With that, we’ll begin with the close games. #9 Allen County-Scottsville began the year on a tear, crushing weaker opponents in Hart County and Barren County before completing fourth quarter comebacks against pre-decline Greenwood and 2A ranked Glasgow. The 4-0 start was the first for the Patriots since their state runner-up season in 2010, and they still stood at 5-1 after a loss to Pulaski County and a 46-7 decision against Grayson County. But they now have lost two straight after a 17-13 loss to Warren East, which cost them a shot at a home playoff game in the first round. The Patriots have combined for just 20 points in the last two games, which had previously been their season low for a single game. Warren East stymied ACS with a strong pass rush and lockdown secondary defense that forced five interceptions by Chase Wilson. Wilson entered the game having only thrown eight interceptions on the year. The six total turnovers forced by the Raiders vaulted them into a district title matchup with Franklin on Friday, and assured them of their first home playoff game since 2014. The other close game in the top ten featured everyone’s favorite story, #10 Logan County. As you’re well aware, Logan County has now won nine in a row after having lost the 42 before that. The latest gave them their first district title since 1989 when they won on a last second field goal against Madisonville-North Hopkins by a score of 23-21. This was a game the Cougars lost by 21 a year ago at home. Madisonville gained the early edge 7-0 before Gary Hardy ran in from 13 yards out less than a minute into the second quarter to give the halftime score of 7-7. After the Cougars went in front 14-7 during the third, Miller ran it in from 55 yards out for Madisonville, followed by an onside recovery, and another touchdown in the third quarter to put the Maroons up 21-14 entering the fourth. After the Cougars had their PAT blocked following a 40 yard Ezell touchdown with 3:40 left, the Cougars recovered yet another onside kick, driving to the Madisonville 3, then kicking the game winner. It means Logan County is home for the playoffs until a state championship game. Other Games of note: -Ashland and Greenup County had one of the most entertaining games on the night, with a back and forth affair, especially in the first half which saw scores of Ashland 7-0, 7-7, Ashland 14-7, 14-14, Greenup 21-14, 21-21, Ashland 28-21, and 28-28 at the half. Ashland bore down in the second half, finally gaining a two TD lead but still just leading by a single score before putting the game away with just over 2 minutes left for the final score. Entertaining as it was, it doesn’t bode well for Ashland’s hopes against a Johnson Central team that plastered Greenup County 51-14. -Every other top ten game had a margin of 21 points or more. One of the more significant results outside the top ten was Scott’s 29-20 win over Bourbon County. The win assured Scott of the District 7 title, and kept them out of the pressure cooker of facing Johnson Central, Ashland, or Greenup County before the second round. -East Jessamine also clinched their district with a 38-8 win over winless Marion County. That makes three straight wins for the Jaguars entering their rivalry game with West Jessamine. Upcoming Game of the Week While Johnson Central and Ashland may be the choice on paper due to their ranks, there is a high amount of confidence in the result there. So we’ll go with #6 Rockcastle County at #8 Knox Central. With Wayne County having already clinched the district title, this game will decide who slides into the 2 spot to gain a home playoff game, and just as importantly, staying off the same side as Wayne County. A year ago Knox Central entered this game looking to force a three-way tie for first after having narrowly lost to Wayne County 20-16, but were shut out 14-0 and would ultimately go on to lose four in a row to close the year. This year the stakes are higher since this will be outright for a home game – no tiebreakers necessary. Rockcastle County has returned to their high scoring ways, combining for 93 points in the last two outings. They still have not scored less than 40 points in any of their games other than their two losses to Somerset and Wayne County. There’s a wide open space between six points and below – where they’ve lost – and 40 points and above – where they’ve won. Who knows what happens in a 21 point game?

It’s worth noting that the top six teams in the final 4A poll are still standing….. Region 1 Reset Well, they took an odd path to get here, but the region finals that most expected coming into the year is what we ended up with – Hopkinsville against Franklin-Simpson. Franklin has been straight forward in their approach, notching their seventh consecutive victory in a 62-6 battering of Madisonville-North Hopkins, and running their record to 9-3. The Wildcats haven’t allowed more than 14 points since a 35-19 win at Glasgow, and they have scored 43 points or more in their last five games. Madisonville was without their quarterback and top rusher due to injuries, and lost their workhorse from the previous week just a few plays into the game. That set the table for a Wildcat defense that limited the Maroons to two yards of offense. TWO. Saul Brady rushed 8 times for 77 yards and a pair of scores to pace Franklin. Meanwhile, the clock struck midnight on Logan County’s Cinderella story, as the Cougars could do nothing right in a 43-8 running clock loss to Hopkinsville. Javier Bland, who completed just a single pass for the Tigers in the first game, was efficient in his completions. He passed seven times, five were completed. All five were touchdowns. Bland threw for 169 yards, peppering Mitchell Degenhardt with 92 yards on a pair of scores. Logan County was limited to 90 yards of offense as the Tigers claimed the spot that most thought they would. Just in time for Jalen Johnson to transfer back to their school and watch from the sidelines…. Region 2 Reset Hopkinsville wasn’t the only three seed to win in Class 4A. Mercer County also took aim at the naysayers who think the top two teams in each district should be the only ones who advance to the postseason. The Titans entered the postseason at just 5-5 and losers of three of their last four. One of those losses was a very close 30-27 loss to district winner East Jessamine. In their #RevengeGame opportunity against the Jaguars, Mercer County exploded for 447 yards of offense on their way to a 46-21 win. Stud Trevon Faulkner led the way with 4 catches for 135 yards and three touchdowns, adding two scores on the ground on three carries for 63 yards. The game turned in a decisive third quarter where the Jags had three of their four turnovers, leading to 26 points in the quarter for the Titans. In all, the run was 32-0 before East Jessamine could get back on the board, too late to save their season. Their reward is a road trip to a Collins team that has been a steady hand all year long, out to a 10-2 record and a seven game winning streak. The other Titans – I’m dubbing their region final the Titanic Struggle btw – blew out rival Shelby County for a second time this season, cruising to a 30-6 decision. Turnovers were the story for the Rockets, who turned it over via fumbles three times in the first half, leading a 14-0 deficit at the break. Collins added a safety on a bad punt snap, and ultimately led 23-0 before Shelby County got on the board with 10:14 left in the game. It was an unusually quiet game passing for JR Lucas, who was 5/8 for just 28 yards, but with a pair of touchdown tosses. The ground attack led the way as the Titans outgained Shelby County on the ground 204-157. Collins forced five total turnovers in the game. They’ll remain the heavy favorite as they host Mercer County this week. They have not allowed more than 19 points since a 45-17 loss to Boyle County in mid-September. Region 3 Reset If you like the chalk results where you get what you expect, then the eastern side is for you. Region 3 was the only one that ended up matching the two 1 seeds in the finals. Western continued to show they are a battled tested team from their brutal schedule, grinding out a tense 12-3 victory over Knox Central to put the Warriors into the region finals for the first time in five years. It’s been a great first year for King, who has guided Western to an 8-4 record with seven straight victories. They held Knox Central to 106 yards total, and sacking Brady Worley to a 6 rush for -27 yards line. The Panthers were held to their lowest total of the year, failing to score 21 points for the first time. That made a 12-0 start stand up, with Western getting all the scoring it needed by the midpoint of the second quarter after a Kenneth Thompson touchdown. For Knox Central, it ended a promising campaign at 8-4, with all four losses coming to teams that are still playing. While Western was grinding it out, the #1 Wayne County Cardinals were fighting off another #RevengeGame candidate, as Rockcastle County sought to erase the bad tasted of a 27-0 loss on the road at Wayne County in late December. Adding to that, the Cardinals entered as winners of 5 of the last six in the series. Make that six of seven, as Wayne County held off an improved but still losing Rockcastle team. As always the arm and legs of Lorenzo Linsey led them, as he threw for three scores on 13/19 passing for 204 yards, and ran for two scores on 11 rushes for 81 yards. Linsey is up to 2,494 yards passing on the year and boasts a 28:7 TD:INT ratio. Aubrey Weaver was his favorite target, hauling in all three scores as part of a 7/158 stat line. Both Weaver and Stetson Simpson are nearing 1,000 yards on the season. For Rockcastle’s part, they attempted a grand total of two passes – completing neither – while rolling up 399 rushing yards and outgaining the Cardinals. Brent Lovell (16 rushes, 131 yards), Jaden Payne (21 rushes, 125 yards), and Holdan Barnett (18 rushes, 104 yards, 1 TD) all topped 100 yards, but the Rockets could never draw even with Wayne County. The Cardinals jumped out to a 14-0 lead, and pushed a close 14-8 halftime score to 28-8 and 35-16 before settling into the final score. The top ranked Cards are seeking their third straight region title this Friday. Region 4 Reset It may not be a 1 v 1 matchup this Friday, but the results were still classified as chalk by ranking and expectations, as we will get the region final we expected and, frankly for those outside the two vanquished fanbases, wanted. #2 Ashland and #3 Johnson Central are through to the region final next week. The two games were laughers, won by an average of 40 points per. Johnson Central traveled to Scott, who they had pulped by a 54-7 score in a 1/4 matchup back in 2016. This one somehow had an even larger margin at 64-16. It was the highest scoring output of the year for Johnson Central, who got 135 yards on just 9 carries (with 2 scores) from QB Riley Preece. Preece also completed two touchdown passes on just three completions for 90 yards. Blake Gamble carried most of the load, scoring twice on 20 carries for 182 yards as part of a rushing attack that posted 446 yards as a team. Scott did have an early 8-7 lead, but the Golden Eagles scored on every possession in the first half en route to a 37-8 lead, and gained the running clock in the third quarter when it ballooned to a 57-16 score. Scott posted 250 yards of offense in the losing effort. Ashland held up their end with a 40-8 victory over Bourbon County, their ninth consecutive win after a 1-2 start. Excepting the Johnson Central game, the Tomcats have posted 30 points or more in every game of the winning streak. Colburn was the standout, averaging over 10 yards per carry while racking up 162 yards and three scores on 15 rushes. Bourbon County never led, and fell behind 40-0 by the midpoint of the third quarter, leading to another running clock. The Colonels averaged .5 YPC, amassing only 10 yards on 20 totes. The Tomcats are into double digit wins for the first time in 27 years, and will seek their first region title since that same season. They’ll tangle with Johnson Central again, and see if they can duplicate the magic of that home win over Johnson Central on October 20th. Johnson Central also knocked Ashland out of the 2016 playoffs in the region finals, making this a – you guessed it - #DoubleRevengeGame .

If it seems like just a week ago we were bullish on #5 Hopkinsville’s season, it’s because it was just a week ago. The Tigers grabbed a win over Caldwell County, who themselves had already beaten Christian County, Hopkinsville’s next opponent. It seemed possible, even probable, that Hoptown would grab a win over their rival, challenge historical rival Paducah Tilghman, and springboard into district play. That’s all done now. After Hopkinsville started with a 7-0 lead over Christian County, they found themselves behind 8-7 at the half. Then came the season changer – QB Javier Bland took a big hit, came out of the game, and the Tigers couldn’t move the ball. After the game Craig Clayton delivered the death blow that Javier Bland is out for the rest of the season. It’s yet another body shot for a program that has dealt with death, injury, and defections in the last several years, preventing them from making good on their full potential. This year appears destined to go down the same path. A team that was thought to be capable of challenging Franklin-Simpson for the region crown now appears to be no better than 50/50 to get a home game in the playoffs. Their only other QB listed on their roster is freshman Jacob Dilday. Wide receiver Ellis Dunn, a transfer from Christian County, took the snaps at QB for the remainder of the Christian County game. They’ll have a tall task at Paducah, but then two weeks to try to get right for a road trip to Madisonville. Other games of note: Five top ten teams won this week, and none of those games were closer than 30 points. #1 Johnson Central, #2 Franklin-Simpson, #3 Ashland, #4 Knox Central, and #6 Logan County weren’t remotely challenged. It’s why they’re the new top five this week, and for the most part, they probably aren’t going to have much challenge coming behind them for those spots now. #8 Greenup County entered their game against 1A #3 Raceland averaging 49 PPG, but were held to just 6 in a 25-6 loss that spanned two days due to weather. Eli Sammons was held to 9/24 passing for just 107 yards. It’s a sign that the Musketeers have a ways to go to chase down Ashland in the district, who won 21-14 against Raceland earlier this year. #9 Madisonville-North Hopkins led Union County 13-0 at halftime, but allowed two third quarter scores to fall behind 14-13, and that proved to be the final score. The Maroons had three fumbles which negated their 253-172 offensive yardage advantage, which included holding the Braves to negative 46 yards rushing. Negative 46. Even if you removed the -57 yards by QB Solamon Teehan, Union County still only gained 11 yards on the ground. It was a dominating defensive effort, but not enough. Moore kept up their impressive start, rolling over Jeffersontown 42-14 to stay unbeaten, one of only three in the class. Their reward? A #9 ranking ahead of their road trip to #1 Johnson Central. No one expects them to win there, but a 9-1 season is looking very possible. Upcoming Game of the Week The aforementioned Moore/Johnson Central game is a battle of 4A top ten teams, but come on – that haul to the top team in the class? The game is probably not going to go well. No, for the best 4A game this week you’d need to go to #8 Franklin County visiting Anderson County, the #7 team in 5A. The Flyers enter off a bye week, preceded by a 48-24 win against Woodford County on September 1st. Their only loss on the year was a shellacking by Boyle County, a team that I’m growing fairly certain no team in 4A could beat. Anderson County has been impressive so far, and comes into the game 4-0. The Bearcats destroyed Franklin County 46-13 last season, but the Flyers will be looking to make a statement before district play.

The 4A rankings this week were exactly the same as a week ago despite four losses by top ten teams. The reason for that was a disparity between the level of competition faced by the teams that fell - each playing a team in the top 2 of their respective class in their respective state - and that faced by virtually every other team that won, most of which were beaten before setting foot on the field. For the teams that lost, it's the equivalent of a mulligan in golf. They get a re-do at this rank, but this week, they likely wouldn't be so lucky. With Johnson Central taking the first week off, their game last week against Capital (WV) was the first opportunity to see the #1 Golden Eagles. Capital is no slouch – they entered the game #2 in West Virginia’s 3A class, the largest class in the state. Johnson Central had won the season opener against Capital the previous two years, and appeared on their way to another solid win when they jumped out 14-0 early in the second quarter. But that would be the largest lead they’d enjoy, with the score narrowed to 14-7 at the half, and knotted at 21 all after a kickoff return for a touchdown on the final play of the third quarter. A pair of fourth quarter turnovers and an avalanche of penalties doomed Johnson Central, and allowed Capital to finally get a win against the Golden Eagles, settling in for a game winning score at the 1:29 mark, sealing a 28-21 win. It’s the first time Johnson Central has opened with a loss since 2010. The good news is that Joe Jackson is back. The senior showed out in his return from last season’s knee injury, compiling 125 yards on 22 rushes (a solid 5.7 YPC). He didn’t find the end zone, but it’s a matter of time. The Golden Eagle offense outgained Capital 344-255, but had trouble in the passing game, with two interceptions and four sacks of Riley Preece. And the kickoff return was a backbreaker. It’s unfamiliar territory, but Johnson Central holds onto the top rank for another week despite the loss. But they have lost the initiative to remain there as they don’t have another opponent to show out against of the caliber of that facing the team chasing them. That team would be #2 Franklin-Simpson. They enjoyed another blowout victory, a 57-7 thrashing of Monroe County. In the win the Wildcats held Monroe County to -12 rushing yards. Offensive stars Carlos McKinney and Tre Bass scored at will. McKinney housed two of his eight rushing attempts (for 10 YPC and 80 yards), while Tre Bass took three of his five carries to the house for 63 yards (12.6 YPC). They look every bit the part of a defending champion, and have now won 12 straight. If there is a knock on Franklin, it is that their passing game has been nonexistent. Luke Richardson was 2/4 on the night for 20 yards, and one of those incompletions was an interception. On the year he has still completed as many passes to the other team (two) as his own. That’s not going to fly against their next opponent, 5A #3 South Warren. The Spartans rained devastation in a 36-7 win over Franklin last season, and rushing defense is something they’re kinda known for being really good at. It will be a very difficult win to get for Franklin, but if they do, they are likely to grab #1 and run away with it for the remainder of the regular season. It is also likely that they will ultimately set a school record winning streak if they can clear this hurdle. That record is currently 14 in a row. Other games of note: #3 Ashland stayed unbeaten thanks to a fantastic 99 yard touchdown pass from Braxton Ratliff to Cade Brandt in the fourth quarter, completing a comeback over 1A #3 Raceland by a 21-14 score. That score had followed a nearly 7 minute Raceland drive that ended in a goalline stand to force a turnover on downs at the Ashland 1. Ashland ultimately had scored 21 straight to rally from a 14-0 halftime deficit, grabbing their second straight win over Raceland. The 99 yard strike helped build Ratliff’s 281 yards passing on the night. Next up for the Tomcats is George Washington out of Charleston, and a chance to avenge their only other regular season loss from a season ago to go with their blowout win over Harlan County in Week 1. #4 Knox Central and #5 Hopkinsville used their last mulligans in Week 2. Both remained in those ranks this week despite blowout losses a week ago. Knox Central fell 50-14 to Alcoa (TN) while Hopkinsville could not build on a 0-0 first quarter against 2A #1 Mayfield, falling 35-7. Both of those teams are powers in their respective states. Alcoa has won five straight state titles in their Tennessee class, and Mayfield is, well, Mayfield. Their ranking is likely a reflection of a belief that other teams could not do better against those powers, but now they’ll have to perform at a much higher level to remain in their place. #10 Franklin County received the same treatment for the same reason – their 50-7 loss to 3A #1 Boyle County is one we’d expect most of 4A to take. #7 Wayne County had what is probably the best win in 4A this week, somewhat surprisingly taking down 5A Pulaski County on the road by a 34-25 score. Brody Weaver threw for 180 yards and two scores in the win, while Carson Simpson rumbled for 109 yards on 20 rushes. It was a win the Cardinals really needed, lest they start 0-2. Now it feels likely that they will pick up a win over Warren East this week, take it on the chin against Boyle County in Week 4, but not face a game the rest of the way that they aren’t expected to at least be competitive in. #9 Madisonville-North Hopkins was another team in need of a win to avoid an 0-2 start, and they did so by nearly flipping the score from their 41-13 loss to Owensboro, taking down Marshall County 45-14. Jeriah Hightower stayed hot, posting three touchdowns in 21 carries for 174 yards. He is now up to 305 yards on the year already. The Maroons should be 5-1 before their home showdown with Hopkinsville at the end of September. District rival #6 Logan County will likely be unbeaten when they face Hopkinsville the week after that in October. They moved to 2-0 courtesy of a 56-18 win over Muhlenberg County. Their September 7th meeting with rival Russellville is the only game in their first six that even approaches a speedbump. Per the Ashland Daily Independent, #8 Greenup County had fallen to Russell in 15 of 16 meetings prior to last season’s Musketeer victory. But thanks to a 41-21 win Friday, Greenup has knocked off Russell for the second straight year, posting consecutive wins over Russell for the first time. Patrick Kelly hauled in four passes for 161 yards to become Greenup’s all-time leading receiver. The best win by a team not in the current top 10 belongs to Moore. The Mustangs fell to Collins 54-14 a season ago, but leveraged homefield into a 38-33 this time around, and they’re now out to a 2-0 start. QB Rae Von Vaden only completed four passes in the win, but boy were they efficient – three of them went for scores. Upcoming Game of the Week #2 Franklin-Simpson vs. 5A #3 South Warren may seem to be the marquee choice, but with no disrespect to Franklin, most pundits expect that to be a Spartan win comfortably. Hope they’re wrong! That leaves the choice to be #5 Hopkinsville visiting 3A #8 Caldwell County. It’ll be Tigers against Tigers, and Hoptown is facing a plummet if they can’t get off the mat this time. Caldwell County enters at 1-1, dropping a very tight 11-6 decision to Christian County in the season opener before scoring a 28-17 win over Graves County. A season ago Hoptown could not end their skid via this game, dropping a 28-21 home game against Caldwell en route to an 0-4 and 1-6 start to the year. Javier Bland has thrown for 305 yards in Hopkinsville’s two games, but his 18/57 completion rate has to come up, and his 1:4 TD:INT ratio definitely has to come up for the Tigers to make good on their promise.

Last week #1 Johnson Central lost the initiative to keep the top ranking, putting them at the mercy of Franklin-Simpson’s result against South Warren. This week the ball is squarely back in Johnson Central’s court. As has frequently been the case in the last two years, 4A has been knocked around by the elite of other classes this season. Teams in the 4A top 10 have played five games against teams in the top 5 of other classes – they’re 1-4 with Ashland’s win over Raceland the lone win for the class. This week it was South Warren’s turn again to light up a 4A top team, putting another running clock on the defending state champion Franklin-Simpson Wildcats. The Spartans ran out to a 36-0 lead and coasted from there. Franklin posted only 125 yards of offense, again failing to do anything through the air (1/5 for 41 yards) and with most of their production coming against the backups. Fortunately for Franklin, that won’t affect anything other than their pride, and they will be favored in every game moving forward. But just merely winning won’t be enough to get them over Johnson Central at this point, who got to .500 via a 33-21 win over Henry Clay. Joe Jackson led the way of a balanced rushing attack, rushing for 79 yards on 20 carries. Johnson Central put up 254 yards on the ground, but six players rushed from 21 to 79 yards. The Golden Eagles should go completely unchallenged before their closing games against Ashland and Belfry. The most impressive win in the top 10, and perhaps most needed as well, came courtesy of Hopkinsville. In 2017 they saw a tough opening schedule get them off to the wrong foot, and by the time they started 1-6, they were already out of the race for the top seed in their district. Through two games it was much the same, but the Tigers raised their record to 1-2 via a 35-20 win over 3A #8 Caldwell County. Hopkinsville never trailed, but was rarely comfortable in the win. They jumped out to leads of 10-0, 17-7, and 23-13, but led just 23-20 entering the fourth quarter, before a 98 yard drive put the game permanently out of reach. Hoptown stood strongest in the red zone, forcing two interceptions, a fumble, and a turnover on downs inside the 20. Their tough slate continues against Christian County, then Paducah Tilghman, before a bye week entering district play. Out of the top 10, Moore continues to make a bit of a name for themselves. Their 3-0 record includes a 38-33 win over Collins in Week 2, and this week they battered Seneca 51-6. Kamron Mcinerney had an OK night – he had two carries for two touchdowns and 91 yards. I’ve read before that scoring each time you touch the ball is a desirable trait. Other games of note: No other top 10 team other than Franklin-Simpson lost this week. #7 Wayne County certainly had one of the more exciting games. They hosted fellow 4A team Warren East, and overcame a 13 point halftime deficit to take the 57-40 decision. The Cardinal defense notched two pick sixes, a safety, and a touchdown on a fumble recovery in the end zone. That took the pressure off the offense, but Carson Simpson still put up an impressive 133 yards on 24 carries, with a score. #3 Ashland, #6 Logan County, and #8 Greenup County all moved to 3-0 in blowout wins by an average of 38.33 point margins. Logan County should remain untested for a few more weeks. Greenup County has a “prove-it” game at home against 1A #3 Raceland this week – if they managed to get past that, they may just roll into their October game against Johnson Central unbeaten. The same can be said of Ashland, as no team until they meet Greenup County on October 12th looks to be in striking distance. Upcoming Game of the Week This one is a tough one, as nothing is overly obvious this week. The top 4 teams are overwhelmingly favored. Wayne County plays the marquee game in hosting Boyle County, but it would be stunning if the Rebels didn’t rule that game. So the honor goes to the aforementioned Greenup County/Raceland game. Greenup County took it on the chin in the game a year ago, falling 24-0. But that Musketeer team wasn’t unbeaten going in, and didn’t have the benefit of another year of experience for QB Sammons. They have homefield advantage, enter averaging 49 points per game, and it is the perfect measuring stick to see how far back (if at all) Greenup is from Ashland. Ashland knocked off Raceland 21-14 just two weeks ago. If Greenup can post a similar score, then it may be a sign they are a real and true threat in District 8.

District 1 We start with District 1, but they were the last game played in the state this week for any class. With the snow days earlier in the week, it was agree to delay the #8 Hopkinsville/#7 Madisonville-North Hopkins game until mid-day on Saturday. Tens of Tiger fans lined the home side. Unlike the first matchup where Madisonville got out to a great start, it was the Tigers who jumped out first with a long and sloooow march up the field, draining nearly 7 minutes on the game’s opening drive to take a 7-0 lead. The Tigers briefly held a 14-0 lead before settling into a 14-7 halftime advantage. Madisonville’s Jeriah Hightower had -2 yards in the second half, but immediately tied the game three minutes into the third quarter and a three yard touchdown run gave Madisonville their first lead at 21-14. Bland pushed across for his third rushing touchdown of the game to tie it at 21 with 5:29 left, but Hayden Reynolds went right up the gut for a 55 yard score to make it 28-21. The Tigers drove to the MNH 19, but turned over on downs there to give Madisonville the district title. Jeriah Hightower rushed for 174 yards in the second half along with two scores, and he was ultimately the difference maker. Javier Bland was just 14/32 for 217 yards to go with his three rushing scores, and star Reece Jesse was held in check with only two receptions for 34 yards. Madisonville may have been the #3 seed, but they ultimately were the more complete team, and enter the region final round with a 10-2 record and two losses by a combined five points. District 2 I got to take this game in personally. Franklin-Simpson has surged since an 0-4 start, entering this game at just 6-5, but winners of six of their previous seven games. For their part, Allen County-Scottsville had gotten off to four straight wins, but it was clear who was the dominant team in this one. The Wildcats won the toss and elected to receive, and they set the tone immediately. Very few offensive plays they ran on the night went for negative or even no positive yardage, and they ran, ran, ran the ball. They took a 7-0 lead on the first possession, and after the Patriots tied it to end the first quarter, Franklin scored 14 unanswered to take a 21-7 lead at the half. They unloaded in the third quarter, outscoring the Patriots 20-6 in the period, and eventually gained a running clock with the final margin of 56-20 with 6:23 left in the game. The game did feature an interesting stretch where there were 20 points scored between the two teams in 25 seconds of gametime, as a Rookstool touchdown run and Patriot kickoff return for TD were sandwiched around a 65 yard touchdown run for Franklin’s Stutzman at the end of the third into the beginning of the fourth. Stutzman racked up 195 yards and two scores on just 11 rushes, while Malik Carter added 124 yards and three scores on 20 rushes for Franklin. They held the Patriots to just 120 yards of offense in winning their fourth consecutive District 2 title. Now they face Madisonville-North Hopkins, trying to keep District 2’s run alive – the district has had a state final representative in each of the last four seasons. District 3 #3 Franklin County vs. #9 Central was one of the most highly anticipated games in the state this weekend, but the sad reality is that the game may have been determined by an event the week before. Franklin County moved to 11-0 with their win over Waggener in the first round, but lost QB Nick Broyles to injury in the game, which would ultimately keep him out against Central’s dominant defense. Broyles was 133/204 this season for 2,437 yards, throwing for 32 touchdowns against only 4 interceptions. He is not a player easily replaced. The Flyers did get out to a fast start, driving 64 yards in 6 plays to take a 7-0 lead just 2:30 into the game, capping the drive with a 5 yard run by backup QB Jayden Mattison. But that would prove to be the highlight of the night. Central scored one touchdown per quarter the rest of the way, taking their first lead 5 minutes into the third quarter and ultimately winning 18-7. Mattison was sacked three times and threw for only 98 yards on 8/17 passing. Franklin County was held to just 108 yards of offense in the contest, gaining only 44 after their opening drive. As usual, Dayshawn Mucker carried the load for Central, rolling to 200 yards on 44 rushing attempts, adding a pair of scores. 3A champions a year ago, Central has not failed to advance past the second round in any of the past 14 seasons. They are a model of consistency, and one of the greatest postseason forces in the state. District 4 Moore/John Hardin was not a heralded matchup, but provided possibly the most thrilling game in the state. When the teams met in the regular season, Moore was a surprise 22-14 winner, and ultimately leveraged that into the #1 seed. They moved out to a 10-0 lead by mid-second quarter, behind a Horatio Willis 15 yard touchdown run and a Romero 24 yard field goal. The field goal launched a flurry of scores to end the first half, as the next four drives resulted in touchdowns, leaving Moore with a 24-13 halftime advantage. But John Hardin would reel them in during the third quarter behind a field goal and touchdown (plus two-point conversion), making 24 all heading into the final quarter. The score would stay there through regulation with John Hardin securing a goal line INT late, setting up the only overtime game of the round in any class. Moore would gamble on the opening possession, as RaeVon Vaden hit DeWayne Tarver for a nine yard score – with the Mustangs going for two as Vaden ran it in to put them ahead 32-24. John Hardin scored to make it 32-30, but Xavier Boone was stonewalled at the one yard line on the conversion attempt, lifting Moore to a 32-30 victory in overtime. John Hardin, once a staple of the late rounds, has failed to advance past the second round in the last three seasons, while Moore advanced to the region final round for the second straight year. They’ll face an extremely uphill battle when they meet Central this week. District 5 Boyle County just keeps impressing, even when you think you have placed the bar as high as you can go. Their 54-7 victory over Lexington Catholic was never competitive, in the same way their regular season meeting was not competitive. Reed Lanter was clinical again, going 11/13 for 238 yards and three touchdowns. Andrew Sacco had 14 rushes for 114 yards with two scores and Reese Smith had 109 yards on six receptions with two scores. It was the seventh victory of 40 points or more for the Rebels this year, their eighth game posting 50 points or more, and their eighth game holding their opponent to single digits. The point total was the lowest score of the year for Lexington Catholic by 14 points, and that includes their game against Frederick Douglass, which has posted nine shutouts. In fact, it was their lowest score in two years. Dominance, pure and simple – nuff said. District 6 Holmes stunned Scott on the road on October 25th, winning 50-38 behind two pick-sixes. That gave the Bulldogs the #1 seed in the district in what was viewed as an upset. Scott set out to prove that they truly were the better team in the rematch this week. It certainly looked that way early, as they gained a 14-0 advantage after one, highlighted by Gus Howlett finding Nate Meyer for a 57 yard touchdown – Howlett’s only touchdown pass of the night and the only reception for Meyer. But Holmes would strike back with three touchdown runs by Quantez Calloway, staking them to a 22-20 halftime lead. They extended the lead to 29-20 after three quarters after another Quantez Calloway touchdown run, and it appeared Holmes was on their way to the next round. But as with the first game, a defensive play turned the game around. In this case, a bad snap on a punt was recovered in the end zone for a score to draw Scott within 29-27, and after forcing a three and out, Scott took the lead for good on a 10 play, 70 yard drive. An interception in Holmes territory set up one more score, and Scott advanced with a 40-29 victory, outscoring Holmes 20-0 in the final quarter. Quincy Perrin fought off cramps for Scott, and proved to be a workhorse with 35 rushes for 199 yards and two scores. Tayquan Calloway had 106 scoreless yards on 16 rushes, while Quantez Calloway had 84 yards passing and 72 yards rushing from the quarterback position. Scott’s reward? They visit #1 Boyle County next week. District 7 In their first matchup, #5 Wayne County seized the district from #6 Corbin behind a whirlwind finish, scoring a touchdown, recovering an onside kick, and kicking a game-winning field goal to take an 18-16 win and ending Corbin’s long district winning streak. The rematch would prove to be less dramatic and about a full 180 degrees in terms of offense. It was all Wayne County early, forcing turnovers and running all over Corbin, pushing to a 35-7 lead in the second quarter as Braedon Sloan ran for four touchdowns in the half along with 220 yards. Corbin would battle back and fight off a running clock, trimming the lead to 42-22 at the break. The Redhounds would continue to battle back, closing to 49-36 after Combs found Massengill for a 53 yard touchdown pass to end the third quarter. Corbin forced a punt and then made it 49-43 with 7:27 left after Combs found Patterson for a score. But just when it looked like Corbin might pull off an incredible comeback victory, Braedon Sloan appeared again, rushing for back to back scores – the last a 43 yarder for his seventh rushing TD of the night, making it 63-43 with 1:48 remaining and effectively ending the game, with the final of 63-49. The score equaled Wayne County’s highest offensive output of the season while it was their most points allowed as well. Still, the Cardinals forced five turnovers and Braedon Sloan had a game for the ages. His seven scores went with 408 yards on the ground on 37 attempts, as he literally carried them to victory. Cameron Combs was almost equal to the task in the loss, throwing for five scores and 457 yards for Corbin. Dakota Patterson posted 190 yards on 9 receptions with three scores, but it was not to be for the Redhounds. It’s their earliest postseason exit in six years – they lost to Wayne County that year too. District 8 The Johnson Central invitational came to a close in the typical fashion – a blowout Johnson Central victory, this one a 50-6 result over Harlan County. For the Golden Eagles, it marked their sixth game in their last seven where they held their opponent to less than 10 points, and it was their fourth game scoring 50 or more. Devin Johnson scored on three of his four rushes, posting 131 yards on the ground. That’s roughly 33 yards per rush, which I think is pretty good. Riley Preece was 4/6 for 102 yards and 2 scores. In total, Johnson Central didn’t even need 20 offensive plays to score 50 points. The defense held Harlan County to 138 yards, all on the ground. There really isn’t much to say as Johnson Central hasn’t been remotely challenged since August. But that may end in this next round. Unlike the other three matchups, which all project to have a heavy favorite on one side, Wayne County is a team that may actually be able to push Johnson Central. But if the Golden Eagles were to win this one in blowout fashion…. let me just say that the likely title game between Boyle County and Johnson Central would become even more of a must watch than it already is.

When Lexington Catholic played Covington Catholic to a 39-38 result on September 6th behind an incredible Beau Allen performance (455 passing yards, 5 touchdowns), it appeared that perhaps the two-horse race in 4A might be expanded into something more. Their result at Lexington Christian two weeks later (a 43-42 loss) took some of the shine off of that, but their matchup with Boyle County last Friday was still anticipated to show whether or not there was true hope of someone besides Johnson Central to challenge Boyle County’s supremacy. With apologies to Franklin County, that hope is all but extinguished now. The Knights entered the game with two losses by a single point each. Boyle County dropped a season-worst 64 points on them via a running clock, winning 64-28. It would be fair to call the performance surgical. QB Reed Lanter was 24/28 for 494 yards, throwing five touchdowns. Reece Smith hauled in three of those scores, with 8 catches for 275 yards! In all, the Rebels averaged 13.13 yards per play run, racking up 617 yards of offense. In defeat, Beau Allen still threw for 385 yards and three scores, but completed less than 50% of his passes after entering the game completing just under 73%. Put another way, he had 20 incompletions in the game – he had 52 for the season (6 games) coming in. For Boyle County, it all but clinched the top seed in the district in terms of what we expect. Their closest game of the year remains their 30-0 victory over Highlands, and every other game they have played they have gained the running clock on their opponent, winning by 36 or more. At this point, it appears that no one will be able to slow them in 4A with the possible exception of Johnson Central. For Lexington Catholic, they have still yet to win two games in a row since August, though they’ll be favored to win their next two. They’ll take on a Bourbon County team this week that surprised Anderson County in a 35-34 result last Friday. It’s a good bounce back spot, but they know the challenge that will be in front of them mid-November, a likely trip back to this same Boyle County team. The other blockbuster game took place a few hours westward when Madisonville-North Hopkins hosted Hopkinsville. Hopkinsville entered the game with a chance to clinch the top seed in the district after a dominant 21-6 victory over Logan County eight days prior – a Logan County team that knocked of Madisonville at the end of September. The Maroons lost that game on a last second hail mary pass, and were eager to work themselves back into the top of the district mix. Madisonville set the tone immediately, taking advantage of a bad snap in the first minute of the game to set up at the Tiger 31, and cashed in just over two minutes later with a Marquise Parker touchdown reception. On their next drive, Jeriah Hightower continued his Mr. Football candidacy (he’s up to 1,870 yards on just 186 attempts) with a 32 yard touchdown run to give Madisonville a 14-0 lead just 8 minutes into the game. That was all for the first half, but Madisonville extended the lead to 20-0 midway through the third quarter to seemingly clinch the game. The Tigers showed their resiliency, getting a Bland to Jesse touchdown three minutes later, then a Bland to Rushing touchdown as the third quarter ended to make it 20-12. That set the stage for dramatics in the final minute of the game, as Hopkinsville reached the one yard line, took a sack, got more downs on a roughing the passer penalty, and then finally saw Bland and Jesse hook up on an inside slant with less than 20 seconds left to make it 20-18. But for the third time on the night, they could not convert on the two point try, and the Maroons held on for the critical victory. Bland was 21/44 for just 200 yards on the night, though he did throw for the three scores. Hopkinsville actually outgained Madisonville 263-254, but it wasn’t enough. So that leaves us with a three way tie for the top of District 1. Barring something truly remarkable, those three teams will remain deadlocked to end the season. In terms of the postseason implications of the game, Logan County is likely the biggest beneficiary. They currently hold the edge in the three-way tiebreaker, which uses the win total of the top 4 teams beaten by each team, assigning a point for each win. Games among the tied teams do not count. Logan County currently has 12 points, owing primarily to wins over Greenwood and Warren East. Those two teams are highly likely to add three more wins between now and the end of the season to push their total to at least 15. Muhlenberg County (currently 2) and Russellville (currently 1) have one likely win and three possible wins (possible being my judgment) between them. It is conceivable Logan County could get their total as high as 20 without even having to beat South Warren at the end of the season, who would likely add 8 by then – but it is highly unlikely Logan County could win that game. Both Hopkinsville and Madisonville-North Hopkins currently sit at 9 points total, but Madisonville is in the more favorable position from teams they have currently beaten. Union County gives them four points, and they’re likely to add two more with wins over Trigg County and Calloway County. Daviess County and Marshall County add two apiece, and they have three possible wins between them. Ballard Memorial’s 1 rounds out their current total, and it is possible they could add two more with their remaining opponents. In all, it’s conceivable they could get as high as 16 points from those teams. But the real x-factor is their game against Mayfield to end the year, at which point Mayfield will have 8 wins. A win there, and Madisonville is likely to win the district. That leaves Hopkinsville. They currently have only three wins that are generating points, and their fourth one over Christian County will likely stay a zero. Caldwell County has six wins, are highly likely to add a seventh, and possibly could grab an eighth against Murray. Kenwood (TN) has two wins, and I have no idea as to the likelihood of their two remaining games. Let’s say for argument’s sake they get both. With Calloway County unlikely to add to their total of one, that would leave Hopkinsville with a max total of 13 in all likelihood. Their season closer is against Paducah Tilghman – a winnable game. Paducah is likely to have seven wins at that point. That could potentially push them as high as 20 points, which might be enough to grab the district. But without beating Paducah, they’re almost certainly going to be the 3 seed and hitting the road for a tough first round game. I can’t lie – I love three-way tiebreaks because of all these scenarios. It’ll be interesting to see it play out. If you’re curious how the RPI would play it – Madisonville currently has the top RPI of .627, followed by Logan County at .606, with Hopkinsville just behind at .599. Other games of note: #2 Johnson Central just continues to roll along, moving to 7-0 with a 49-6 win over Perry County Central. With the departure of Ashland from the district, this part of the schedule does not provide much resistance for the Golden Eagles, and at this point it looks like they are not likely to face any difficulties until the state semifinals at the earliest. The word I’d use for the performance in games like this is efficient. Riley Preece threw three passes – completed three passes. Two of them were touchdowns. Devin Johnson rushed twice for 93 yards total. Both rushes were touchdowns. #6 Corbin jumped out to a two score lead in the first quarter over Knox Central, but led just 14-7 at halftime. No worries, the Redhounds grinded out 24 points in a row to take a 38-7 lead before Knox tacked on a pair of scores to make the score a respectable 38-21 final. Dakota Patterson hauled in five catches for 100 yards and a score, with Nick Yeager rushing 18 times for 129 yards and a score. Corbin had some rough luck with a bye week and a cancelation causing a three week hole in their schedule, but appear to have settled back in. They visit Lincoln County this Friday before a likely district-deciding battle with Wayne County on October 25th. #7 Wayne County won their fourth in a row 55-21 over that Lincoln County team last Friday behind Braedon Sloan’s 362 yards rushing on just 23 attempts with five touchdowns. Sloan is averaging 13.5 yards per carry this season. #10 Central fell behind twice in the opening half against Waggener, trailing 6-0 just two minutes into the game after a 54 yard Sickles touchdown pass to Allen, and again midway through the second quarter at 14-6 when Sickles found Coleman for a 10 yard score. But the Yellowjackets followed that score with a 13 play, 64 yard drive that consumed the rest of the half, capped by a Duncan 1 yard score as time expired in the half, tying the game at 14 all. A Mucker three yard score gave them the lead for good six minutes into the third, and Bush had a scoop and score to clinch the game five minutes into the fourth, giving Central the 26-14 victory. As usual, defense ruled the day for Central. The two touchdown passes were two of only three completions for Waggener, and the Yellowjackets held them to 178 yards of offense while forcing three turnovers. Central will tune up with North Oldham this week before their big showdown with Franklin County on October 25th. RPI Update Right now, your projected region finals using solely RPI would be: Warren East at Franklin County Moore at Madisonville-North Hopkins Scott at Boyle County Wayne County at Johnson Central Projected state semifinals would be: Johnson Central at Franklin County Madisonville-North Hopkins at Boyle County Upcoming Game of the Week After a few weeks with very high-drama options, this week is a bit of a letdown. A lot of the top 10 features games that are likely not even going to be contests. The game that figures to be the most potentially intriguing is Waggener at #3 Franklin County. Waggener saw their five game winning streak snapped in their loss at Central, unable to overcome the tough Central defense. Still, it was a competitive 26-14 game. Franklin County is one of three remaining unbeaten teams, and has been unchallenged since their unexpectedly close 35-28 result against East Jessamine to open the year. They have their game against Central the next week, so there is the danger of getting caught looking forward in play as well. At the very least, this game should give us a good read on what to expect in that crucial matchup on the 25th.

The six class system has given us many years of poor matchups in all playoff rounds. This year, we saw the debut of the new RPI version of the region finals, and as expected, it was terrible. Essentially, it flipped the games that we’d normally see in the region finals into the second round, and vice versa. In this year’s second round, five of the eight games were decided by 14 points or less, with two games decided by a single score – one in overtime. The average margin of victory for the round was 21.5, and even that high margin owed a lot to the 47 and 44 point victories by Boyle County and Johnson Central, respectively. That gave way to an atrocious region final round that was decided by an average of 34 points per game, and only one game closer than 29 points. In my opinion, that serves up the failure of the intra-district format perfectly. If you can say anything for the RPI format, it’s that the higher rated team won every game, so… I guess that part works? The only game that was truly competitive matched a pair of familiar foes. #7 Madisonville-North Hopkins and Franklin-Simpson met for the third straight postseason, and had squared off in seven of the previous nine playoffs. Franklin had won the previous season’s matchup by a mere 12-10 score, en route to their second straight state title. Madisonville had been entrenched in close games for weeks, with their previous three games and five of their previous seven games decided by 7 points or less. They found themselves in a similar situation against Franklin. After the teams traded scores in a 7-7 first quarter, Franklin-Simpson pulled ahead, and took a 24-20 lead into the half. That too was a familiar situation for the Maroons, who trailed at the half in each of their victories in the first two rounds. The third quarter’s first drive would provide the turning point of the game. Madisonville received, and drove to the Wildcat 30. Per @FSfan, a shotgun snap on 2nd and 1 was low and rolled past Reynolds. He dove on the ball, but it squirted free, eventually being recovered by the Wildcats. However, the officials, thinking that Reynolds had recovered it, blew the play dead for the dreaded inadvertent whistle. That meant no fumble recovery for Franklin. It meant not even a devastating loss to make it third and long. No, it was 2nd 1 right back on the 30 – and Jeriah Hightower took the next play straight into the end zone. The Maroons never trailed again, running off 25 straight before coasting in for a 45-31 victory. It was a bitter end to Franklin-Simpson’s back to back title defense, but they still closed strong with a 7-2 finish after an 0-4 start, claiming their fourth consecutive district title. With their loss, the District 2 champion will not make the title game for the first time since 2014. For Madisonville, this is their first region title since 1971, when they advanced to the state title game. Jeriah Hightower was stupid good in the game, running 37 times for 324 yards and SIX touchdowns. Hightower is up to 2,817 yards on the season, and will face a stiff test to try to get to 3,000 when he faces Johnson Central, but it’s a distinct possibility. The rest of the games, it must be said, were horrendous. #2 Johnson Central/#5 Wayne County had real potential, but QB Brody Weaver was lost after the very first offensive play of the game for the Cardinals, robbing them of one dimension of their attack. Braedon Sloan became 100% of their offense, taking snaps at QB and running for 101 yards, but Johnson Central was just way too much, advancing to the state semifinals yet again in a 36-7 victory. The Golden Eagles didn’t put the ball in the air a single time, running 35 times for 364 yards and five scores. Devin Johnson was his usual efficient self, with 121 yards on just 10 rushes, scoring twice. #9 Central hosted Moore and posted their eighth game giving up less than 10 points in holding the Mustangs down in a 46-8 victory. For Central, that equaled their highest score of the year, fueled by Jeremiah Thornton’s 273 yards and four scores on the ground. Thornton entered the game with just 145 on the year. The loss ended a seven game win streak for Moore, finishing an 8-5 campaign. Finally, the favorite and #1 Boyle County kept it rolling in a 55-0 domination of Scott. That was their fourth shutout of the season, and ninth time holding an opponent to seven points or less. The 55 point offensive output was only their sixth highest of the year – that’s how good they’ve been. They have the top scoring offense and defense in the class. Reed Lanter was perfect on the night, going 11/11 for 257 yards and five scores for the Rebels. Reese Smith had four receptions for 87 yards and converted two of them into scores. They still have not played a single game that was decided by less than 30 points. They’ll host Central this week, which should be their toughest test of the year thus far. All in all, it was pure chalk in a year (and playoff system) that seems designed for it. Only five road teams have won in the 28 playoff games played so far in 4A – two of those came from Madisonville-North Hopkins which entered each game higher rated than their opponent, relegated to the third seed only because of a Hail Mary loss during the regular season and a three-way tiebreak that went against them. We don’t figure to see upsets this week either. Central and Madisonville-North Hopkins are both very capable teams, but they’re up against true monsters in Boyle County and Johnson Central. In Madisonville’s case, the 300+ mile trip to Johnson Central – where a Kentucky team hasn’t beaten the Golden Eagles since 2016 – won’t help.

Last week's notebook asked where are the upsets, and finally, 4A had an answer. To be fair, it was right in the week we were looking for them, but still, it was a prolonged period of calm. Knox Central entered the week rated #4 and unbeaten against Kentucky competition. They traveled to #7 Franklin County for a possible region final preview, good enough to earn honors as the game of the week in 4A. Franklin County drew first blood and the mental edge, flying (if you'll excuse the pun) to a 42-20 victory. They never trailed, enjoying leads of 14-0, 28-6, and 42-14. It was a dominating effort, sparked by a series of defensive stands by the Flyer, as they forced turnovers on downs three times in their own territory. Franklin County has allowed just 13 PPG on average the last four weeks after not allowing less than 20 in their first four games. Defense wins titles, and theirs is performing right now. The Flyers still have to beat North Oldham to secure the district, but that looks like an almost foregone conclusion. Meanwhile, Knox Central saw the end of their five game winning streak, dropped to #5 in the class, and will take that out on Rockcastle County this week. The other shakeup took place in the west. #5 Logan County carried a 7-0 record into their home game against #10 Madisonville-North Hopkins, a game which would decide District 1's champion. The Cougars had not lost a regular season game since 2016 (which still is so odd to type), and had personally crushed Madisonville's dreams in a 23-21 heartstopper last season. The Cougars overcame injuries to take down a similarly injury decimated Hoptown team the last week, and appeared to be in good shape with a 17-7 lead midway through the fourth quarter of this one. But the Cougar magic finally ran out. The game turned on an aggressive playcall at midfield, as Gary Hardy was tackled for a loss on fourth down, setting up the Maroons with excellent field position, they cashed in there on a Hightower 29 yard touchdown run, and then received a first and goal opportunity after Logan County fumbled the kickoff. Seconds later J.D. Gilbert put the Maroons in front, and the reeling Cougars could not recover. North-Hopkins claimed their first district title since 2000, and it means they are away from Franklin-Simpson until the region finals. For Logan County, it means a likely 9-1 season, but a much tougher first round matchup, and critically, Franklin-Simpson in the second round should they advance. Other games of note: -#1 Johnson Central and #3 Ashland blasted their way through Rowan County and Greenup County respectively to set up their showdown this week. Ashland is after their first unbeaten regular season in 43 years. Johnson Central is hunting another district title. -#9 Taylor County eked out a victory over Mercer County 26-21. It was closer than expected, but the Cardinals are district champions for the first time since 2008. They're among the favorites for a region that includes idle #8 Moore and John Hardin, two teams that are due to meet in a district title showdown this Friday. -An off the radar game that I personally got to witness, Warren East took down homestanding Allen County-Scottsville on a last second 37 yard field goal by QB Nolan Ford. It was his first field goal attempt of the season. The sophomore wasn't sharp on 11/27 passing with 2 INTs, but he was clutch when it counted. They'll probably host Hopkinsville in the playoffs, relegating Allen County-Scottsville to a matchup with Logan County. Game of the Week It couldn't be any other, it's #1 Johnson Central hosting #3 Ashland. District title, region favorite - put simply the game of the year in 4A. Until the next meeting.

8 – The number of teams in the BGP top ten that advanced to at least the region finals. That’d be 8 of 8 slots, so it was impossible to do better. Logan County and Wayne County both exited in the second round in matchups against higher ranked squads. 7 – The number of #1 seeds that advanced to the region finals. Only Harrison County failed to advance to the third round as a district champion, falling to Ashland in the region semifinals. 6 – The amount of games out of 30 played in the 4A playoffs that were decided by single digits. Which, that’s not great, but three of them did come in the regional final round. There were six a year ago as well, but half of those were in the first round. So by that metric, this year was a bit more competitive. 0 – The number of weeks Johnson Central and Franklin-Simpson weren’t rated as 1 & 2 in the class. This state final was almost completely inevitable. 2 – The number of playoff shutouts for the Franklin-Simpson Wildcat defense, pitched against Calloway County and Taylor County. They’re allowing just a shade over 4 points per game in the postseason. I’ve heard that’s pretty good. 50 – The minimum points scored by Johnson Central in the postseason. They’re averaging 53.5 points per game so far. I feel like I’ve heard that’s pretty good too. In the past nine weeks, Johnson Central has scored less than 50 points twice. 3 – The number of games Johnson Central played away from home to this point. 0 – The number of opponents from those games that went on to have winning records. That’s not to slight Johnson Central’s record, but it does bear noting that this will be by far the most difficult game Johnson Central has played away from home this season. Franklin-Simpson is in a similar boat – their first game (against Elizabethtown) and their last game (against Taylor County) are the only two teams with winning records they played on the road. 10,014 – The amount of rushing yards Johnson Central and Franklin-Simpson combined for this year. Do you like running games? Then this game is the one for you. Joe Jackson has 2,203 yards on 199 carries this year, averaging over 11 yards per carry. Franklin’s Tre Bass has almost matched the total yardage with 1,963 yards, but exceeds the yards per carry with 12.5 YPC on 157 rushes. It is extremely likely that before the game is over we will see two 2,000+ rushers. It’s a rare privilege. The vanquished teams from the state semifinals deserve mentioning as well. Taylor County won their first region title in 19 years with a 22-17 win over Moore, overcoming an 11 point deficit entering the fourth quarter. A late turnover set up the Cardinals, and they scored with 23.2 seconds left. They had a ten game winning streak snapped in their loss to Franklin-Simpson, but a 12-2 record and region title is a huge accomplishment. For Knox Central, while they were considered preseason favorites for the region, it makes the accomplishment of their first region title in the history of the program no less sweet. That they got there by avenging an earlier loss to Franklin County probably added a bit of a cherry on top. Their fans were also treated to two of the six single digit contests that were played in 4A this postseason, making it all the more memorable. They ended their season at 59-20 in the inhospitable confines at Johnson Central. Everyone, I hope you've enjoyed this season as much as I have!

Much like Thanos – this was inevitable. When the season began, Boyle County and Johnson Central were pegged as 1 & 2, and though the chairs behind them were filled by different teams from time to time as the season went on, those two never budged and remained on a collision course. Last Friday did nothing to change that. We were, however, treated to a rare event not seen this season – Boyle County received a little push. The #1 Rebels hosted #9 Central in a game many thought we’d see in the 3A finals last year, but Corbin crashed that party. Boyle County entered the game having not played a game decided by less than 30 points all season. It became clear right away that this would not be as easy as those, as Central actually held Boyle County to a scoreless tie in the first quarter, then took a 6-0 lead just seconds into the second quarter on a Vernon Duncan QB keeper on 4th and inches, completing a 96 yard drive. But that would prove to be the highlight of the night for the Yellow Jackets. After the Rebels took the lead on the ensuing possession, Duncan was knocked from the game and stretchered off the field. Reese Smith would haul in a 24 yard touchdown pass on 3rd and 13 at the quarter’s midpoint to provide a 14-6 margin at the half. That lead was extended to 24-6 entering the final quarter before a Hathaway 56 yard run and subsequent two point conversion made it 24-14. McDaniel would slam the door shut for Boyle County with a 42 yard touchdown run with just under 8 minutes left, providing the final 31-14 margin. It was an admirable effort from the Yellow Jackets, worthy of their championship pedigree. They held Boyle County to 379 yards of offense, and believe me, with how the Rebels have played, I mean it when I say the “held” them to that. Hathaway led the Yellow Jackets with 90 yards rushing on 8 attempts, as along with Duncan, the two QBs accounted for all of Central’s scoring. Reed Lanter threw just his third INT on the season in the game, but was still 11/18 for 187 yards and two scores for the Rebels. Will McDaniel carried a heavy workload with 190 yards and two scores on 25 rushes, while Reese Smith kept up his stellar play with four receptions for 102 yards and a score. It was just the fifth time all year that Boyle County allowed more than 7 points to an opponent, and one of only two games where they did not gain the running clock. It was a strong tune-up for the championship to come. Things were much more business-as-usual for #2 Johnson Central. The Golden Eagles were all over #7 Madisonville from the jump, racing out to a 21-0 lead after the first quarter and 29-7 at the half. The Maroons were never closer than two scores from there (after a score to open the third quarter to make it 29-14), and ultimately Johnson Central scored 23 straight to close the game out and gain yet another running clock. On the year, they have played only two games that didn’t feature a running clock margin, and none of those have come since September. Devin Johnson was looking to make a statement in the contest, posting 280 yards on 21 attempts with two scores as he squared off with one of the best rushers in the state on the other side of the field in Jeriah Hightower. Johnson won the contest on the scoreboard and in the statbook. Dillon Preston had a strong game as well, with 11 carries for 114 yards and a score. For Madisonville, Jeriah Hightower did have a strong game with 184 yards on the ground on 31 punishing attempts, but failed to find the end zone. He closed his career with 6,343 yards, good enough to enter the top 20 on the all-time rushing list. He crossed the 3,000 yard threshold against Johnson Central, finishing with 3,001 on the season, a top ten all-time effort in the state and the record for the proud Maroon program. Madisonville’s all-time leading rusher will be missed, both by the program and by those lucky enough to watch him. That leaves us with #1 Boyle County squaring off with #2 Johnson Central. For Johnson Central, it is their fifth straight state title game appearance, but they’re seeking just their second title during that run. For Boyle County, they return to the title game after failing to make it in an upset in 2018 – they won the 2017 3A title. The Rebels are winners of 39 of their last 40 games and take a perfect 14-0 record into the contest. Johnson Central has won 27 of their last 28 games and are also a perfect 14-0 for the first time in school history – their 14 straight wins are a school record. The game will feature two contrasting styles. Johnson Central has rushed for over 4,000 yards this season, led by Devin Johnson and his 12.45 YPC along with a touchdown on every 6.5 attempts. Riley Preece has been economical in completing 74% of his passes, but only attempting 65 on the season. Meanwhile, no Rebel has rushed for more than 827 yards this season, but Reed Lanter has emerged as one of the top quarterbacks in the state in a pass-heavier attack for Boyle County. Lanter is 161/220 for 2,977 yards on the year. He has thrown only three interceptions against 39 touchdowns. Reese Smith is a stud at WR, with 1,353 yards receiving – he has a touchdown on every 2.7 of his 51 receptions for 19 this season. There will be stars all over the field and two dominant programs squaring off – I highly recommend you find your way to Kroger Field to take it in. As for a prediction, my playoff preview had it Boyle County 35 Johnson Central 21 – I think I’ll stick with it, but a flipped result would not be the most surprising thing ever.

For the second straight week, the vast majority of 4A knocked out the competition, so let’s take stock of where we’re at, district by district. District 1 This district has played out so much like last season, it’s eerie. Logan County is unbeaten. Hopkinsville is 1-5, fresh off a two score loss to Madisonville. Madisonville is 5-2, with losses to Owensboro and Union County. All of these things were true in 2017 as well. Madisonville currently heads up the district, with a 3-0 mark and only their road trip to Logan County on the 12th ahead of them in district play. A win there will give them the district, and importantly keep them away from Franklin for the maximum amount of time. Logan County is just 1-0 in district play, and visits Hopkinsville this week. If they win there, the game against Madisonville will essentially be a district title game. Lose, and it cracks the door open for a three-way tie if they can knock off Madisonville. Hopkinsville likely doesn’t want that to happen, since their 1-5 record dooms them in a three way tiebreak. For the Tigers, the only realistic path to a home game is Logan County losing to Madisonville as well as falling this week. Calloway County is all but assured of the 4 seed after knocking off Hopkins County Central last week. District 2 No district was more over before it began than this one. Franklin-Simpson was the clear cut favorite in the preseason, and they appear even more overwhelmingly so now. They have a 6-1 record entering their bye week, fresh off a megaton blowout win over Allen County-Scottsville. They’ll do the same to the rest of their schedule en route to homefield throughout the region playoffs. Just like last year, Warren East will battle it out with Allen County-Scottsville for the 2 seed when they meet on October 12th in Scottsville. East snapped a two game losing streak against AC/S last season with a 17-13 win, and the margin between these two appears close again. Warren Central will take the 4 seed by default, settling into another winless season. District 3 Moore is the flashy frontrunner in the district, sporting a 6-1 record and top ten ranking. They’ve already equaled last season’s win total, and are setting their sights higher. They have won their two district contests by a combined 61-0, and have a perfect setup – they visit winless Western on Thursday before their bye week, and then a home matchup in what will certainly be the district title game against John Hardin. Speaking of the Bulldogs, they seemingly stumbled out of the gate with a 1-2 record, but their loss to North Hardin is looking not bad now (even in a blowout), and they’ll almost certainly have a six-game winning streak riding into that matchup with Moore. That would be their longest winning streak in three years. Valley seems to be the slight favorite for the 3 seed, and it is likely that their home game against Breckinridge County on October 19th will determine the 3/4 seed between those two. Western, which has scored just 14 points in the last six games, seems headed for an 0-10 record. District 4 Always the most competitive district, this seems to be the rare season where the top spot is all but figured out by this point. Franklin County is 4-2, and already owns district wins over Collins and Shelby County, easily considered their top competition for the top seed. They host Spencer County this week – 20 point losers to Collins, who Franklin County just punished in a 28 point victory – and they likely would not even need to win their road game at North Oldham on the 19th to officially take the district (though they’ll be favored to do so). Behind them, it’s a bit murky. Shelby County gave Franklin County all they could handle, and appears to be the likely choice for the second spot, but that’s also the only district game they’ve played. They’ll be on the “road” for their rivalry game against Collins on the 19th, which will probably determine the 2/3 in the district. North Oldham is 1-0 via their win over Spencer County, giving them the inside track on the 4 seed. They won that game 21-13, and while comparing scores is not a science, it would seem to put them well behind Shelby County and Collins, who they’ll square off against in their next two games. North Oldham controls their own destiny for the moment, but they’ll probably finish 4th, with Spencer County home for the playoffs for the second straight year. District 5 Most years, I call District 5 the forgotten district. They don’t really have marquee names, and they often seem in the shadow of whatever district they’re matched with in the playoffs. This year they’ve got a strong postseason matchup with District 3, and Taylor County has carried the banner well for the district. They’re currently 5-1, ranked 9th in the class, and smashed West Jessamine 46-0 in their only district contest so far. They have back to back critical games starting this week, hosting East Jessamine ahead of a showdown with Mercer County on the 12th. Last season, East Jessamine prevented Taylor County from claiming the crown, and the Cards will be out for revenge. Mercer County currently leads the district with a 2-0 record, and their road win over East Jessamine a week ago means realistically, that trip to Taylor County is the only thing in their way of a district crown. East Jessamine can still play their way up to #1, but they’ll have to win this week against Taylor County and then root for the Cardinals to knock off Mercer County next week. Of all the districts, this appears the one most possibly headed for a tie, though right now I’d predict that Taylor County will take it down, with Mercer County earning a home game, and East Jessamine settling for the 3 seed. West Jessamine already defeated Marion County 27-7 last week, in what will likely secure a playoff spot for the Colts and leave Marion County at home. District 6 This district will likely be sewn up by the winner of 4A’s marquee game this week between Knox Central and Wayne County. Knox Central has positioned themselves well all year long, settling in to the #4 ranking for weeks, and staying unbeaten against Kentucky competition. They were the preseason favorites, and they have done nothing to change that. They have a pretty rough schedule to close the season, visiting Franklin County and Rockcastle County after the Wayne County game, and finishing with Corbin. That’s three top ten teams in their classes and a district rival. But first thing’s first, a win over Wayne County – already 40-6 winners over Rockcastle County – will almost certainly point to Knox’s first district crown in four years. They’ll just have to take it from Wayne County, the three-time defending region champ and twice district champion in that span. Wayne County took early lumps from Frederick Douglass and Boyle County, but have opened 2-0 in district play. They’ll face a stiff challenge from Russell County on October 12th as well, but again, this feels like the district title on Friday. Russell County hosts Rockcastle County this Friday as well, with the winner likely to be the 3 seed. Clay County has only taken on the monsters of Wayne and Knox so far, so they could surprise us, but they feel like the likely choice to miss the postseason. District 7 To be frank, this seems to be the district that is most down on its luck. Only Harrison County sits above .500 on the year. The Thorobreds pulled a very, very surprising 19-18 win over Scott on Friday, which followed a 6-0 loss to Holmes that was every bit as surprising. The win was the first of the year for Holmes, and has them atop the district with Bourbon County, who knocked off Mason County in their only game so far. No district has less clarity than this one, as Scott seemed to be the favorite for the crown. After all, they drilled Mason County 50-0, while the Royals only lost to Bourbon County 50-43. The only thing we know about District 7 is that we don’t know anything for sure. I’d still rate Scott as the best team in the district, with Harrison County just behind, and the other three jockeying for third. But anything can happen. District 8 Anything can happen in District 7 – not here. It’s Johnson Central, or it’s Ashland, with apologies to Greenup County. Greenup is having another fine season at 5-2, but nothing we’ve seen so far seems to indicate they’ll be able to hang with Johnson Central or Ashland, who they’ll face in their next two games. They’ll be the 3 seed. Boyd County, East Carter, and Rowan County are playing for fourth. Right now I’d estimate Rowan County is likely the best of that bunch, but they haven’t played any games among the three as of yet. We know none of them are going to catch up to the top three. Which leaves Johnson Central and Ashland, same as it’s always been, dancing for the district one last time before Ashland moves down to a better situation in 3A (aside from being across from Belfry) while Johnson Central gets to rain fire on a revamped District 8 before being forced to tangle with the likes of Corbin in the regional playoffs. Johnson Central and Ashland should meet in the region finals, just like last year, so this should be the first of two meetings. Johnson Central is unbeaten against Kentucky teams while Ashland is just plain unbeaten. Round 1 goes down at Johnson Central on October 19th. Upcoming Game of the Week It’s Wayne County at Knox Central, hands down. It has the most postseason implications, features just the second matchup of 4A top ten teams this season (and easily the better matchup), and it should be just plain good football. The Logan County at Hopkinsville game would be my second pick, but honestly, I expect Logan County to win that given the state of the Tigers. Dark horse is Taylor County against East Jessamine.

The top six teams in 4A seem to have completely solidified, with all six winning this week while the four teams at the bottom of the top 10 all lost by no less than 21 points. For better or for worse, it looks like we’ve got everything set in stone for a bit. #2 Franklin-Simpson and #3 Ashland put on the best shows this past week. Franklin-Simpson was seeking revenge for a home loss at the hands of Meade County a season ago, and had to grind out a 17-14 win to get it. Franklin had another huge day on the ground, with 355 yards on 52 carries, and outgained the Green Wave by over 180 yards. But despite leading 17-0 entering the fourth quarter, they had to survive a late rally, sealing the game with a drive to kill the final five minutes of the game. Tre Bass is averaging over 10 yards per carry as he and Carlos McKinney have combined for over 260 yards per game. Which beats their passing attack of 182 yards TOTAL for the entire season. Meanwhile, Ashland battled to stay as one of just two unbeaten teams left in 4A with a 14-7 win on the road at rival Ironton (OH). It’s the fourth straight win in the series for the Tomcats, and largely a defensive effort in this one. Both Tomcat scores were set up by “turnovers”. The first was a blocked punt to set up a Hester two yard run, drawing Ashland even at seven all. The second a fumble recovery in Ironton territory in the third quarter, with that drive again capped by a Hester touchdown run, this from one yard out. Neither team got over 200 yards of offense. Tough wins, but wins nonetheless. #1 Johnson Central remained unbeaten against Kentucky competition with a 49-21 win over #9 Moore. Moore had to make the long trip to eastern Kentucky, but hung tough through two quarters, trailing just 21-7 at halftime. But three straight scores by Johnson Central blew the game open. Joe Jackson had 146 yards on 17 carries while Devin Johnson got the scores – rushing for three touchdowns on just 9 carries and 103 yards. In all, the Johnson Central ground game posted 451 yards on 44 carries. Moore forced two turnovers in the losing effort, suffering their first defeat of the season. They have nonetheless emerged as the favorites in District 3. Other games of note: #4 Knox Central also remained unbeaten against Kentucky competition by grabbing a 36-0 running clock win over Green County. #5 Logan County does not need the Kentucky competition qualifier – they are once again 5-0 after drubbing McLean County 40-20. Both open district play this week. Logan County has nothing to fear but Knox Central will face Russell County, which has quietly moved to 3-1 and nearly knocked off Knox a season ago in a 34-27 decision. It was another loss for #9 Hopkinsville, as they fell 47-13 to Paducah Tilghman to drop to 1-4. There’s a good chance they were going to lose that game anyway, even if Javier Bland were healthy. They get a bye week to try to get right for a game at Madisonville-North Hopkins, a must-win district game. We pegged the tilt between #8 Franklin County and 5A #7 Anderson County as the game of the week, and while the final might be deceiving – a 42-21 Anderson County win – the game was solid. Franklin County led 21-14 at one point in the third quarter, but just couldn’t hold it and lost their chance at a comeback with fourth quarter turnovers in the red zone. It remains one of the best efforts by a 4A team against a ranked team from another class. Nick Broyles threw for 365 yards (!) in the losing effort. Things don’t get easier as they travel to take on Shelby County in a crucial district game. Year in and year out District 4 is the most competitive top to bottom in the class. Upcoming Game of the Week #2 Franklin-Simpson’s home game against historical rival Glasgow is likely the last game in question on the schedule for the Wildcats. Last season saw the first meeting between the two in seven years, and Franklin-Simpson won their fourth straight in the series 35-19, kicking off a winning streak that carried all the way through the state title game. The result here will tell us whether there is hope for anyone in District 2, with peers Allen County-Scottsville and Warren East losing at Glasgow in back to back weeks. Honorable mentions go to #7 Franklin County at Shelby County and #9 Taylor County at West Jessamine, each of which may be looked at in retrospective as district title games.