[Hoot Gibson]

Well, I was one of those that ranked Paintsville over Beechwood.. Here's why.. Look at Beechwood's schedule.. Show me a better than average team that they've beaten. There aren't any.. Many, like yourself, are looking at Beechwood as if they're the same team they were in the 90's.. They aren't, not even close.. The one team they played who was decent, but, still at 0-4 at the time with a running clock in 3 of those 4, the Tigers were absolutely man handled.. Now, we can say that CC would beat any other 1a team by as much or more, is nothing more than a guess.. Yes, past CC teams would likely beat any 1a team out their, but, I'm not buying that this particular CC team is very good.. It's one thing to play a strong schedule and compete, it's completely another, to play a strong schedule and get pummelled, which is what they did.. Paintsville defeated Bourbon Co bad.. Bourbon's a good team, not a great team, but, as good or better than any team Beechwood has beaten.. Pikeville and Fairview are better wins than any on Beechwood's schedule.. Paintsville has not only won every game, but, they've done it convincingly, for the most part and throwing out the EKy/NKy bias that exist, most reasonable fans would agree that Paintsville has done as much or more than Beechwood has minus the ugly loss..

I hope that you are right about the Tigers - I would love to see two Johnson County teams win state titles - but I think you are wrong. To rank Paintsville 1st because Beechwood has an "ugly" loss to a 5A team that plays one of the toughest schedules in the state makes no sense to me. Beechwood has soundly defeated every team on its schedule that it was favored to beat.