Bluegrassrivals

BGR continues to try and be the fore-runner for High School Football Discussion throughout the State of Kentucky. With this in mind, we are unveiling a new feature updated weekly to better serve all areas of the State from Pikeville to Paducah and elicit more discussion in the process.

These are the inaugural Bluegrass Rivals Regional Power Rankings!

We will rank the Top 5 in each region of the stat, based on a "pound for pound" basis. We will take into account Strength of Schedule, margin of victory/defeat, magnitude of games, and come to a conclusion.

Rankings are meant for discussion, and your feedback is what we want to hear whether you agree or not. Make your case for your team!





NKY
1. Highlands- Bluebirds unblemished against a surprisingly weak schedule for their standards. Their best win was super impressive against 6A Scott County, but Boyle County, Mason County, and Western have all been very underwhelming by their standards.

2. Cooper- Surprisingly closer to the top then some may think, they are undefeated with a very nice win vs. Ryle while defeating some of those same weak 6A schools. Their win over 2A Champion Cov. Holy Cross has lost some of it's luster and no team they have defeated equates to Scott County.

3. Covington Catholic- The Colonels make a strong push at #1 as well defeating (3) 6A teams, but all 3 are collectively weak. They have a big win over 1A Beechwood and a quality loss to LaSalle, but they fall just short.

4. Simon Kenton- The masters of playing down have vanquished 3 extremely strong lower classification teams in NewCath, Beechwood, and Danville. They are yet to play a 6A team.

5. Ryle- The Raiders are .500 with two blowouts. Those blowouts came to two really good teams in Cooper and Cincy Colerain. They also have two super impressive wins vs. Henry Clay and Col. St. Desales.
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I think Highlands, Cooper and CovCath could be ranked 1 thru 3 in any order and still be correct. i do wonder what would happen if Cooper's very stingy defense went up against Highlands and CovCath's video game offenses.

Some other things to debate:

- If either Highlands or CovCath blows the other one out, how far do they fall? Does the winner or SK/Ryle leap frog the loser regardless?

- Who is the best small school? NewCath, Beechwood, and Cov Holy Cross are all struggling to find W's and none have a signature win over a larger school of note, unlike in year's past. Has one seperated themselves from the others?

- Where does Cooper fall on the statewide pecking order?Have they done enough to be considered a Top 10 team thusfar regardless of class?

The only team that may possibly be a threat to Highlands is Covcath. Highlands would/will clock the others.

Maybe, maybe not.

Highlands' SOS leaves a lot to be desired, and aside from the super impressive blowout of Scott County, the only other quality team they defeated was a down Boyle County team, who happened to give the bluebirds all they wanted for 3 Quarters.

A big win over CovCath would certainly end this discussion in a hurry though, a loss though, and it is hard not to argue in favor of a Cooper team who has taken care of business against equal, if not stiffer competition.

Everyone likes to hold some other team up to Highlands, but it always turns out to be blind hope! This year is no exception. I've seen all three teams up front and personal. It is no question that Highlands is at the top of the heap yet again and will diffuse any discussion this Friday. Don't count on either team showing all their tricks this Friday though, this will be a "Set-Up" game for when the face each other in the playoffs! In a game where some sets and fronts are dummied down, I give the Birds the clear cut advantage of a mano-to-mano game played with no frills!

Stardust Wrote:Everyone likes to hold some other team up to Highlands, but it always turns out to be blind hope! This year is no exception. I've seen all three teams up front and personal. It is no question that Highlands is at the top of the heap yet again and will diffuse any discussion this Friday. Don't count on either team showing all their tricks this Friday though, this will be a "Set-Up" game for when the face each other in the playoffs! In a game where some sets and fronts are dummied down, I give the Birds the clear cut advantage of a mano-to-mano game played with no frills!

CovCath better throw everything at Highlands that they can. They have no hope of beating Highlands at Highlands in the playoffs. Jeremy Madden and Tim Wolf aren't walking through that door.

^ If they have to throw everything at HHS on the Birds homefield now, then they certainly give up any hope of winning in the playoffs! So the most important game would be this week versus in 8 weeks? Why? Bragging rights should mean absolutely nothing to CCH if they get beat in the playoffs!

EKUAlum05 Wrote:Some other things to debate:

Who is the best small school? NewCath, Beechwood, and Cov Holy Cross are all struggling to find W's and none have a signature win over a larger school of note, unlike in year's past. Has one seperated themselves from the others?

It's too hard to tell right now because NCC, Beechwood and Holy Cross only have 1 win, but have played pretty tough schedules up to this point with Beechwood and Holy Cross having significant injuries. Lloyd is looking great at 4-1, but have played schools similar in size and not as good as some of the teams NCC, BW and HC have played. If any team deserves the slight edge, it's Beechwood with NCC right behind them.

30 going on 40 Wrote:CovCath better throw everything at Highlands that they can. They have no hope of beating Highlands at Highlands in the playoffs. Jeremy Madden and Tim Wolf aren't walking through that door.

I tend to agree. Cov cath had the best home field advantage in the state playing on Saturdays. Athletes are a creature of habit and breaking highlands routine in the playoffs could be crucial. Forcing an extra day that highlands coaches might second guess the gameplan or players might second guess themselves can happen. Also high school kids like to stay out on Friday and sleep on Saturday. Cov cath is used to playing on Saturday. But highlands isn't used to playing at 2:00 pm on a Saturday.