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CLASS 6-A
* Final pick: Trinity over Eastern.
* Potential road block: Trinity should blitz through this field, with a likely third-round matchup with St. Xavier the only possible road block. The bottom half of the bracket looks wide-open, with Scott County the favorite. Eastern has home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, and I’m picking the Eagles to ride that all the way to Bowling Green for the final.
* Dark horse: Ryle lost top running back Travis Elliott to an injury earlier this year but still could make a run to the final.
* Best first-round matchup: Male at Meade County. The Bulldogs, last year’s 6-A runner-up to Trinity, face a tough opener on the road.

CLASS 5-A
* Final pick: Bowling Green over Franklin County.
* Potential road block: The Purples face a tough road to the final, with possible matchups with Warren Central or Christian County in the third round and John Hardin in the semifinals. I wouldn’t be surprised if any of those four teams reach the final.
* Dark horse: Pulaski Southwestern posted an impressive 26-13 victory over Christian County last week and could prove tough in the bottom half of the bracket with potential matchup against Harlan County in the third round and Franklin County in the semifinals.
* Best first-round matchup: South Oldham at Anderson County. Check out Bob White’s coverage in Saturday’s Courier-Journal.

CLASS 4-A
* Final pick: Highlands over Collins.
* Potential road block: The Bluebirds face a fairly tough road to the final, with potential matchups against Johnson Central in the second round, Covington Catholic in the third and Lexington Catholic or Boyle County in the semifinals. The top half is wide-open, with Lone Oak, Madisonville-North Hopkins, Franklin-Simpson, Collins and even Western all in the hunt.
* Dark horse: Lone Oak hasn’t been as impressive as in past years but has home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
* Best first-round matchup: Knox Central at Boyle County. Panthers could give Rebels a tough one in the opener.

CLASS 3-A
* Final pick: Central over Belfry.
* Potential road block: The Yellowjackets will face a tougher road to the semifinals than in years’ past, with likely matchups against Corbin in the second round and Bell County in the third. At least those will be at home, but a potential semifinal matchup with Paducah Tilghman will be on the road.
* Dark horse: Watch out for Garrard County, which has home-field advantage throughout the playoffs and could get Belfry on its home field in the semifinals.
* Best first-round matchup: Pretty ugly here. Trigg County at Monroe County could be a good one.

CLASS 2-A
* Final pick: Newport Central Catholic over Glasgow.
* Potential road block: NewCath looks to have a fairly easy road to the final, with only a third-round matchup at Covington Holy Cross a potential road block. Glasgow at Owensboro Catholic in the semifinals could be a war.
* Dark horse: Green County won’t have an easy matchup at any point but could go far with an offense that averages 34.9 points per game.
* Best first-round matchups: Some really good ones tonight, including DeSales at Green County and Danville at Prestonsburg.

CLASS A
* Final pick: Mayfield over Hazard.
* Potential road block: Mayfield will be at home throughout the playoffs and should get a tough semifinal matchup against Beechwood. Several teams have a chance from the bottom half, and I’m going with a Hazard team that always seems to turn it up during the playoffs.
* Dark horse: Honestly, I know little about Fairview, except that the Eagles are 10-0 and have outscored their opponents 438-88 this season. They own a nice 25-6 victory at Raceland earlier this season and could be a tough out.
* Best first-round matchups: Looks like a lot of routs tonight, but Phelps at Fairview and Nicholas County at Allen Central could be good ones.

http://blogs.courier-journal.com/khs/201...-playoffs/