Here we are 4 games into the season and I still hear some second guessing of our young Mayfield Cardinals. At the first of the year the media and even die hard Card fans were thinking we would lose 4 games in the regular season. I think they have dispelled that thought. Now I have even some of the more serious fans thinking we are not as strong as in the past. This just does not seem to be the facts as I see them, so it prompted some research by me. So what I did was go back to 2011 and figured the average game scores for each year's Cardinal teams. The study tends to prove my thoughts. This is the results:
2011) The Cards average score for the first 4 games was 34-8. In my opinion this year was the weakest during this time for level of competition. That year we had Evansville Harrison and Greenwood in the first 4.
2012) The Cards average score for the first 4 games was 42-24.
2013) The Cards average score for the first 4 games was 32-27.
2014) The Cards average score for the first 4 games is 37-17.
There you go, that's it in a nutshell. I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
Depends on the competition breakdown.
McCracken is a very good team.
Tilghman is a down compared to past teams.
Ft. Campbell is way down.
Murray is stronger than normal.
By and large I think what it tells us is Mayfield is once again very strong and very deserving of the #1 beside their name in every poll.
The fact remains I think there are some other 1A teams that might (key word) be able to beat Murray very close, and probably would beat Tilghman, but I don't see any 1A team that would have played McCracken that close so early in the season.
The bigger question now is what happens with that gap. Does Mayfield develop faster than everyone else and open that gap to where they once again are untouchable? Does the other teams click and develop more closing that gap by November?
That we don't know... but the safe money is that Mayfield will once again be the team that requires a perfect game to defeat them come the time of the year you have to wear long johns to games.
PT is about on course for as good as last year. I still think they will be in regional, if not semi finals. Fort Campbell just needs a little tweaking and they could be very competitive again.
mysonis55 Wrote:PT is about on course for as good as last year. I still think they will be in regional, if not semi finals. Fort Campbell just needs a little tweaking and they could be very competitive again.
Fort Campbell is way down ,and Tilghman hovers slightly above mediocre. all teams could be competitive with a little tweaking.:ChairHit:
mysonis55 Wrote:PT is about on course for as good as last year. I still think they will be in regional, if not semi finals. Fort Campbell just needs a little tweaking and they could be very competitive again.
Tilghman has no size this year.
Their only shot at the Semi's will be if somehow they can have South Warren get knocked out so they don't face them. They won't match up with South Warren at all this year, SW's Front 7 will be a matchup nightmare for PT since they can match Tilghman's speed.
In PT's defense they are improving...you can tell... just not having the beef in 3A this year is a death sentence because all the best teams have defenses that can fly and can disrupt plays up front. Rogers will make them a really good team though you can already tell... he just has to lock up the athletes and keep them away from McCracken and develop some strong linemen with some foot speed.
I've read several times that you referred to them as "young cardinals". Are there no jr's and sr's on Mayfields team? How many returned from last years team? Honest questions. I know there has to be several players that got substantial playing time last year. Being the 1A champs, young is something I wouldn't call them. Take Belfry for example, last year, I believed them to be young, playing well over 7 freshman all year long, some going both ways. This year the young is gone. Now, if Mayfield is playing a bunch of freshman, then I would consisder them young.
We have 6 sophomores that either start or get considerable playing time. We have 1 freshman that gets a lot of time. We have 3 juniors that either start or get a lot of time. We have 10 or so seniors that either start or get a lot of time. The thing is of the seniors 5 or so were role players or jv players last year. The other thing to factor in is the youth in key roles.
QB is soph
RB is soph
2 of 3 LB'saresoph's
The other LB is a jr
I think what makes this young group special though is how smart they are. There are a bunch of honor roll students out there.
I think this may field team has a higher upside than last years team, but they played more flawless last year, but most of that is due to youth. I think by the end of season this team will make a lot less mistakes, and suprise some people.