[Hoot Gibson]

Ashland's problem with Johnson Central the past few years has been scheduling. Ashland probably could have beaten the Golden Eagles a few times in recent years if they had played early in the season while JC was still working on timing and coordination of the offense. Instead, the Tomcats play JC late in the season when JC's offense begins firing on all cylinders.

The Ashland-Johnson Central game should be a good one, especially since the game is played at Putnam again this year, but once again the game will be played deep into the schedule. Ashland will once again look like world beaters early in the season but time will tell if they are contenders or pretenders. JC may struggle some early in a few games and drop off everybody's radar screen again but Matney will have them ready to compete with Ashland. Maybe this will be the season that the Tomcats break their losing streak against JC - but I think not.