[Wise one]

Elder had a full week of practice with their 2 to 8 lowly backups. Just a guess, Highlands did not prepare to play without Towles.

I would venture to another guess that a majority of teams in Kentucky do not have 35 players on their roster...Elder has that many SENIORS, with a like number of juniors. The drop off in talent, especially with a week to prepare, is minimal if in fact any.

Take away 5 to 10 players from almost any team you are familiar with and their chance for any kind of a championship is gone. Remove that many from a Trinity, Cincy Moeller, Cincy St X, Cincy Elder and it is just a bump in the road.

Here is another point that has not been pointed out.

When a team that suspends players, starters or others, rarely, if ever, calls their next opponent and says "Hey, for your information, we just suspended players x, y and z from the team and they will not play against you this week." It would not be to their advantage. They allow the opponent to continue with the assumption that the team they have scouted and watched on film is the one that will be on the field for the next game.

Do you think that Elder's Coach Ramsey called Highlands' Coach Mueller to report the suspensions? I highly doubt it. So, if Highlands did not know who the suspended players were, or even have a verification that players were actually suspended, they did they prepare to play Elder as if the players in the films and scouting reports were to be on the field? The chances of that are very high.

Did this affect the play on in the Highlands - Elder game? My money is on yes. Did Highlands adjust to the players that were on the field? Yes they did, the difference in the play of the Highlands Defense in the two halves show that adjustments were made and thus shows that the coaches and players were into this game.