[Thunder Lips]

JC is usually one of the best if not the best running team in ky. If I recall 2 years ago lead the nation in rushing and had the starters out by half most of the games. Please do not insult those kids by saying they don't have the talent. IMO JC has been a top 3-5 team sense 2006.

Being a very good rushing team will usually get 8-10 wins a year, especially playing a schedule of mostly EKY teams. To beat the top teams in 5A and 6A you must be able to throw the ball. Johnson Central cannot (or will not) develop enough of a passing game to ever get past some of the elite teams IMO.

[Coachdad]

Your right man western will be a top contender in 4a watch out for big DT Donovan Farley he is a load & worked hard all summer

[Big Five-0-]

I think if you look at what Pikeville has coming back, there is a good possibility they could be in the top 10.

May be. We lost some linemen due to graduation that will be hard to replace. At the skilled position, we will be o.k. It's going to take a lot of work and dedication to be successful this season, then we will be allright.

[BoyleCounty]

Being a very good rushing team will usually get 8-10 wins a year, especially playing a schedule of mostly EKY teams. To beat the top teams in 5A and 6A you must be able to throw the ball. Johnson Central cannot (or will not) develop enough of a passing game to ever get past some of the elite teams IMO.

That's a fair statement. I agree that Johnson Central must develop a successful passing game especially if that want to start winning championships. Don't get me wrong, they are a championship caliber team but very predictable. If they want to get by someone, like Highlands, they have to mix things up. I respect Johnson Central and I even like the offense that they run. It's exciting and successful. I wish them luck this year.

[BlackcatAlum]

Prestonsburg was 80/20 run ever since John Derossett was hired. This past season we went 70/30 pass and the team went undefeated during the regular season and made it to the state semi's with 28 players on the roster.

I think that should stick out to many teams in EKY that produce good football talent such as Johnson Central, Belfry, etc.

[Jackson05]

That's my point. JC can't pass so they are one dimensional. And from a talent standpoint, there is a difference in having good high school talent and players that play at the next level. I saw Johnson Central play a two years ago and they looked like a good team, but to predictable to be championship material. They don't have those kinds of kids. 5A is to good to win by just doing one thing.

[The Contrarian]

That's my point. JC can't pass so they are one dimensional. And from a talent standpoint, there is a difference in having good high school talent and players that play at the next level. I saw Johnson Central play a two years ago and they looked like a good team, but to predictable to be championship material. They don't have those kinds of kids. 5A is to good to win by just doing one thing.

Yes, I agree, a team must be able to pass as well as run, but let us also remember that in addition to those two dimensions, a team must be able to play defense.

[THE 8TH MULE]

yes, i agree, a team must be able to pass as well as run, but let us also remember that in addition to those two dimensions, a team must be able to play defense.

i beleive it hard to ask a highschool team to be good running and passing, be great at one and not afraid to do the other, just to keep the d honest, but you have to play d, d ,d, d, d. To be a contender. As far as the rankings i think ashland is ahead af jc. I saw both teams play last year and ashland is far ahead of jc.

[brown_ind1977]

i beleive it hard to ask a highschool team to be good running and passing, be great at one and not afraid to do the other, just to keep the d honest, but you have to play d, d ,d, d, d. To be a contender. As far as the rankings i think ashland is ahead af jc. I saw both teams play last year and ashland is far ahead of jc.

The strong will pro vale and tough schedules do pay off.

Really cant wait to hear why you believe that, WOW:igiveup:!
I remember standing at the concession stand and a Ashland fan said that the school paid for a bunch of tickets because they were going to destroy JC last year. To get to my point not a chance IMO, you have lost your best player in Albert, and play a water down schedule. I must say that this has to be my favorite team to play year in and out. Ashland does bring a few fans down and has become a rivalry.

[brown_ind1977]

No reply from Ashland lol? That is no fun.

[sawmill]

So how many yards will jc rush for against Boyle? Will they be able to move the ball.

[BlackcatAlum]

Folks, stop baiting other members into trouble.

[brown_ind1977]

I don't:please: no maybe none Jc might be lucky to win even one game:eyeroll:. but I will attend everyone of them. I got a good feeling about this year, I could be wrong tho.:please:

I cant wait till it gets started so till this happens I am killing time.

[Strikeout King]

I got bored and decided to put together a top 5 for each class.

Take a look and tell me what you think.

Class 1A
1. Mayfield
2. Beechwood
3. Lexington Christian
4. Hazard
5. Bellevue

Class 2A
1. Fort Campbell
2. Murray
3. Monroe County
4. Newport Central Catholic
5. Prestonsburg

Class 3A
1. Paducah Tilghman
2. Central
3. Mason County
4. Somerset
5. Sheldon Clark

Class 4A
1. Boyle County
2. Bell County
3. Lexington Catholic
4. Lone Oak
5. Marion County

Class 5A
1. Highlands
2. John Hardin
3. Bowling Green
4. Johnson Central
5. Owensboro

Class 6A
1. St. Xavier
2. Trinity (Lou.)
3. Simon Kenton
4. DuPont Manual
5. Male

how can Somerset be that high when they lost 16 players from last years team including there line? they do return there RB and A Big Lineman

[BlackcatAlum]

how can Somerset be that high when they lost 16 players from last years team including there line? they do return there RB and A Big Lineman

Who expected Somerset to go undefeated last season and wind up as the class 3A runner-ups?

Point is, teams reload.

Maybe I'm wrong though.

[Strikeout King]

Who expected Somerset to go undefeated last season and wind up as the class 3A runner-ups?

Point is, teams reload.

Maybe I'm wrong though.

true. teams do reload but unless something new has happened with Somerset all i've heard that got is there RB and That Big Lineman

[BellCoBobcats09]

Don't sleep on Middlesboro in 2A this year. They want win State but they might shock some people. They had 55 players out and have a brand new staff. Head Coach Randy Frazier came from Bell Co. He has learned alot from Dudley Hilton. Then Assistant Coach Jason Chappell has also been a Head Coach for the last 6 years or so.

Then 4A Bell Co has BIG Caleb Carter back this year at 6'5 290 lbs of body on the line. He moved out of the area last year but is back now! Bell Co will have two 6'5 bodies on the line this year. Bell Co returns ALOT from last years State Semi team only to lose to Boyle Co on the road by a last second Field Goal.

[BFritz]

NO CovCath???

I haven't been paying attention enough to know if they will be any good.

[cavery59]

Hey can you tell us 6 thru 10 in each class please? (I would really like to know)

[charlie22]

I noticed that they still brought back some good talent. Plus they played a few games without Simpson last season and done good without him.

BCA, I have to respectfully disagree with your ranking of SK. I believe it's too high. You are correct in that SK did fine without Simpson when he was hurt last year; but they were not near the team they were with him playing. Their QB, Lawrence returns and he is a good'un. Their RB will be the kid who filled in when Simpson was hurt and he is a fine player also. But he's no Simpson. But what will really hurt SK this year is the loss of I believe every O lineman from last year. There may be one starter returning, but I don't think so. Maybe they have a lot of talent O linemen to fill in and they'll surprise me, but SK is not historically known for developing very good O linemen. They were just blessed last year to have a bunch of very talented senior O linemen. Personally, my bet is on Ryle this year to win the N. Ky 6A district. They have a QB (Hempel) that is as good as if not better than Lawrence and a RB (Elliott) that is better than SK's RB. If what I heard is correct, they also have more returning starters than SK. Not saying that they'll destroy SK, but I think Ryle will be the better team.

As for the western vs eastern Ky debate going on in 5A, I'm a Highlands fan as most know so I have a pretty good perspective of the quality of the teams from both sides of the state. JC's O gave Highlands more problems than John Hardin's did last year, although both were pretty good. If I had to choose one, I'd say JC's O was better. Two completely different styles of O. I agree with the posters that think that until JC can pass the ball with better efficiency, they will have difficulty winning state. Perhaps I'm wrong and JC will prove that to be the case this year. I have to assume that Matney will work on the passing game much, much more this year during the regular season to prepare his team for the playoffs. In JC's form of O, they have to execute perfectly drive after drive, play after play. It's a ball control O. Against weak teams they can make 60 yd runs for tds. Against the better teams, those runs are limited to 5-10 yards. Which means that in order to score, JC has to put together strings of 10 play drives without any turnovers or big penalties drive after drive. That's hard to do in the pro's and very, very hard to do in high school. Particularly late in the game with more than a few players playing both ways. Fatigue causes mental mistakes. When you are playing against equally talented teams and equally conditioned teams, the team that doesn't have two way players has a huge advantage. A fumble here or an interception there can cause JC to have to come from behind. If you need a big pass at the end of the game to move the sticks or to score, JC is in trouble against teams that have good pass defenses. They pulled it off against Ashland on a miraculous play last year, but with no offense intended to Ashland, Ashland was not Highlands or John Hardin last year as Dixie showed.

As for a comparison of JC's Defense and John Hardin's Defense, I'd probably give the slight edge to John Hardin. But it's only a slight edge. Highlands benefitted from the short field in the second half due to JC turnovers, but JC didn't stop Highlands in the first half when JC didn't have turnovers. I have no reason to believe that JC would have been able to stop Highlands O if Highlands had to drive the ball over a long field to score. Realistically, Highlands was up 42-14 late in the fourth quarter and was moving the ball using second stringers when Highlands fumbled. JC scored very late in the game using its starting O against Highlands second string D to make it a 21 point game. Had Highlands second O not fumbled, the margin of victory would have been 28, which is the same margin of victory over John Hardin.

All of which leads me to believe that if JC had played John Hardin last year, it would have been a very close game. I don't believe that the western schools are better than the 5A schools from eastern Ky from my observation of playing Hopkinsville and Bowling Green in 07, Hopkinsville and Christian County in 08 and John Hardin in 09. There may be a little more parity in western Ky than the eastern Ky schools though.

[Norm Peterson]

true. teams do reload but unless something new has happened with Somerset all i've heard that got is there RB and That Big Lineman

I think you must be thinking of another team the Briar Jumpers return more than that. Somerset did graduate 16 seniors but 2 of them were kickers only and about 5 more were only backups. Their leading rusher and all 5 normal starting linemen graduated on offense. The only experienced offensive lineman that returns is Taylor Speaks, he was a sophomore last season. He started at center against Estill in the regular season game and split time at right tackle in the playoff game but he isn't big. He played last season at 6'1" 235 and he's now 6'2" 210. The other line positions will be filled mostly by players that played a lot on defense last season or seniors who were backups last year. The biggest lineman will probably be in the 230 lb range. Derrick Jackson returns at running back, he would have been our starting running back last season before hurting his knee and only carrying the ball a few times. He rushed for 700+ yards as a sophomore.

We also return Erik Manning at quarterback. Manning threw for over 2300 yards and 28 touchdowns and rushed for over 550 yards and 7 touchdowns. He will have his 2 leading receivers back in Storm Wilson who had 1000 yards receiving with 11 touchdowns and JP Henderlight who had 500 yards and 6 touchdowns. Clayton Stringer also returns at tight end.

On defense 8 out 11 starters return from a team that only allowed 14 points a game last season. 2/3 starting linemen, 3/4 starting linebackers and 3/4 starters in the secondary return. The players that will move into the starting lineup played a lot as backups last year and in 2 of the 3 spots will be bigger and faster than the players they replaced. Barring injury Somerset will be the team to beat in the region again this season.

[Strikeout King]

I think you must be thinking of another team the Briar Jumpers return more than that. Somerset did graduate 16 seniors but 2 of them were kickers only and about 5 more were only backups. Their leading rusher and all 5 normal starting linemen graduated on offense. The only experienced offensive lineman that returns is Taylor Speaks, he was a sophomore last season. He started at center against Estill in the regular season game and split time at right tackle in the playoff game but he isn't big. He played last season at 6'1" 235 and he's now 6'2" 210. The other line positions will be filled mostly by players that played a lot on defense last season or seniors who were backups last year. The biggest lineman will probably be in the 230 lb range. Derrick Jackson returns at running back, he would have been our starting running back last season before hurting his knee and only carrying the ball a few times. He rushed for 700+ yards as a sophomore.

We also return Erik Manning at quarterback. Manning threw for over 2300 yards and 28 touchdowns and rushed for over 550 yards and 7 touchdowns. He will have his 2 leading receivers back in Storm Wilson who had 1000 yards receiving with 11 touchdowns and JP Henderlight who had 500 yards and 6 touchdowns. Clayton Stringer also returns at tight end.

On defense 8 out 11 starters return from a team that only allowed 14 points a game last season. 2/3 starting linemen, 3/4 starting linebackers and 3/4 starters in the secondary return. The players that will move into the starting lineup played a lot as backups last year and in 2 of the 3 spots will be bigger and faster than the players they replaced. Barring injury Somerset will be the team to beat in the region again this season.

i know they returned more than that but those where the only 2 i could remember of

[Norm Peterson]

i know they returned more than that but those where the only 2 i could remember of

Just wanted to let you know how they could be ranked that highly and that they have more coming back than 2 key players. Their line will be smaller this year but the players that will start are every bit as strong but they are much faster.

[RoShamBo]

i know they returned more than that but those where the only 2 i could remember of

They do lose a lot on the line but Somerset is always pretty strong up front, size is the biggest thing they are losing. Other than that they return their quarterback from last year, their #1 receiver who may be the best in the mountains at the position, and a LOADED backfield. As long as Derrick Jackson can stay healthy in the backfield him and Slaughter could do some damage this season. I look for the Jumpers to still have a very strong team this fall, possibly better than last year if they can play D like they did last season.

[lean&mean]

Where does LCC and Harlan rank in 5A?

[The Contrarian]

They do lose a lot on the line but Somerset is always pretty strong up front, size is the biggest thing they are losing. Other than that they return their quarterback from last year, their #1 receiver who may be the best in the mountains at the position, and a LOADED backfield. As long as Derrick Jackson can stay healthy in the backfield him and Slaughter could do some damage this season. I look for the Jumpers to still have a very strong team this fall, possibly better than last year if they can play D like they did last season.

I would agree that they will do well in 2010. Last year they had a huge line and a terrific backfield. I saw only one game, and they did very well, but they did, in fact, have some help from the opposition. The losing team had six or seven turnovers and didn't play well. But, maybe, Somerset had something to do with the six or seven turnovers? We'll never know, for they don't replay the same game the next season; if they play one another in the 2010 season, there obviously will be some different personnel playing.

[Ram Fan04]

How many graduated from Mayfield last season?

[Hilbily]

I think the estimated rankings are pretty fair. JC would not make my top five though. I also feel that Hazard and P-Burg will likely drop off as the season progresses.

[The Contrarian]

Being a very good rushing team will usually get 8-10 wins a year, especially playing a schedule of mostly EKY teams. To beat the top teams in 5A and 6A you must be able to throw the ball. Johnson Central cannot (or will not) develop enough of a passing game to ever get past some of the elite teams IMO.

Maybe JC will go to the air more in 2010. If they do, who knows, for they could go all the way in 5A this year. But last year a couple 3A teams, or just one, I'm not sure, gave them a run for their money. So, we will see as the season progresses. Games are won and lost on the field!

On another note, there are three pretty good 3A teams in close proximity to JC;
they are: Belfry, Pike Central, and Sheldon Clark, respectively. I've heard that all three will be fairly good this year.

[cougarpride08]

Hopefully in two years the 5a will change for the better.