[Norm Peterson]

Bath Co. will be in there as well. They also are only losing 6 Seniors but only 1 saw any significant time. They are returning 21 of 22 starters. Looks like Garrard and Bath are about the same age so these could be some very interesting games over the next few years.

Actually, here are the numbers of incoming upper classmen :

Bath Co. 15 Sr., 19 Jr.
Bourbon Co. 8 Sr., 10 Jr.
Estill Co. 14 Sr., 8 Jr.
Garrard Co. 9 Sr., 19 Jr.
Powell Co. 15 Sr., 6 Jr.
Western Hills 12 Sr., 11 Jr.

I don't doubt that Estill and Garrard are good, but I would not start selling tickets for that 1st round home game just yet because of:

* a Western Hills team that is used to playing much bigger schools than itself most of the time and returning many starters;
* a Bath Co. team with 21 returning starters and 34 incoming upperclassmen;
* a Powell Co. team that went 6-5 and returns 15 Seniors.

This district is wide open. I don't think you can call anyone a favorite. The #4 seed from this district looks like it will be a worthy opponent in the playoffs next year. And will probably have a winning record which is unusual for a #4 seed.

I don't see where any team in this district is head and shoulders above the others. It should be the weakest district in 3A. Although most of the teams return a lot of players they return a lot of players from losing teams. Here are the team's records this season:

Bath County 2-9 outscored 360-207
Bourbon County 4-7 outscored 373-171
Estill County 5-6 even 313-313
Garrard County 5-6 outscored 342-351 before playing Somerset Friday
Powell County 6-5 scored 5 points more than their opponents 276-271
Western Hills 3-8 outscored 349-160

Total Record: 25-41 outscored 2017-1464 that is an average of being outscored 30.6 to 22.1. Is there truly a good team in this district?