[vince]

IS CLASSA STRONGER THAN 2A? I THINK BELFRY IS ALWAYS STRONG, RUSSELL HAS ALWAYS BEEN A CONSISTANT WINNER.BEECHWOOD, NEWCATH, MAYFIELD AND DANVILLE MAKE CLASS A CHALLENGE FOR MOST CLASSES.

WHOS STRONGER FROM TOP TO BOTTOM?:ref1:

[former_raider80]

beechwood and russel in my opinion.

[Tomcat68]

From very top to very bottom I'd say 2A.

If you only count the top 5 or so from each class, I'd say 1A.

[KentuckyHillBilly5321]

I would say that 1A is so top heavy that it evens out the bottom end of things. 1A ends up to be a little better from top to bottom. Worse case--they are very even.

The interesting thing would be to see if the top 1A teams could beat the top 2A teams (like the first 10 or so). I think 1A comes up with nearly a sweep.

[vince]

Who Would You Pick As Winners Hillbilly From Last Year?
Newport Cath Vs Russell
Belfry Vs Bardstown
Danville Vs Sheldon Clark
Mayfield Vs Newport
How Do You Thinh These Games Would Have Come Out?

[vince]

My Picks Would Be=
Russell 28-newcath 20-russell Too Much D
Bardtown 34-belfry 22-too Much Speed From Bardstown
Danville-28 Sheldon Clark7-danville Still Danville
Mayfield 35 Newport 21- Too Many Atheletes For Newport Too Handle
Thats Mt Opinion Of The Top A Teams Vs The Top 2a Teams From Last Season

[Tampa2]

I would say the top 1A/2A teams are very close. The problem with 1A is that the smaller schools have a difficult time with the #'s game. They may have 1 or 2 pretty good players but after that it gets ugly. I'm sure that this occurs to some extent in 2A, but it is more prevalent in 1A.

[KentuckyHillBilly5321]

Who Would You Pick As Winners Hillbilly From Last Year?
Newport Cath Vs Russell
Belfry Vs Bardstown
Danville Vs Sheldon Clark
Mayfield Vs Newport
How Do You Thinh These Games Would Have Come Out?

NCC 41
Russell 14

Belfry 21
Bardstown 7

Danville 35
Sheldon Clark 14

Mayfield 28
Newport 21

Yes--I think that the NCC would absolutely smack Russell around. Russell can not throw the ball--and NCC was very good at stopping the run. Plus--if NCC can run the ball against an athletic team like Mayfield--they could definitely run over Russell.

[Midee1]

Yes--I think that the NCC would absolutely smack Russell around. Russell can not throw the ball--and NCC was very good at stopping the run. Plus--if NCC can run the ball against an athletic team like Mayfield--they could definitely run over Russell.

:please: That's what everyone said of OC and looked what happened. I won't go as far as saying Russell would win but I can about guarantee the the score would be closer. Russell can throw the ball if needed. Think Newport. But no-one has stopped the run this year so why stray away from what's working.


EDIT: At newport the tying drive was 5-6 for over 80 yards on consecutive plays. with the final play being a ~6 yard TD run.

[KentuckyHillBilly5321]

:please: That's what everyone said of OC and looked what happened. I won't go as far as saying Russell would win but I can about guarantee the the score would be closer. Russell can throw the ball if needed. Think Newport. But no-one has stopped the run this year so why stray away from what's working.


EDIT: At newport the tying drive was 5-6 for over 80 yards on consecutive plays. with the final play being a ~6 yard TD run.

Come on, Midee. If you want to make comparisons with Newport--HOW BAD DID NCC BEAT THEM AGAIN? If I recall correctly--it was VERY bad. Russell beat them because of a missed extra point. With NCC, it was never in doubt--and it could have been a whole lot worse.

Keep in mind--NCC was as good at stopping the run as anyone. And to compare them with OC isn't even in the same galaxy. NCC has a lot more size and a lot more speed. Plus, they could play defense. OC may have been the worst defensive team that I have seen in the finals in the past 5 years.

So, Russell could pass when it had to? Interesting. I am sure that Mayfield thought the exact same thing and so did Somerset and so did LCA. And none of them were successful. If Russell were forced into a situation where they had to throw--it would have been even more ugly. Like 50-0 ugly. Russell is a running team. That does not mean that they can "pass when they needed to".

Now, am I saying that Russell would have no chance . . . . No. But the team that I saw play in the 2A state championship could not have done it. And they couldn't have come close. In the middle of the season, I think that NCC could have been beat. But by the time they played in the state championship--they had everything rolling in the right direction

[Midee1]

Come on, Midee. If you want to make comparisons with Newport--HOW BAD DID NCC BEAT THEM AGAIN? If I recall correctly--it was VERY bad. Russell beat them because of a missed extra point. With NCC, it was never in doubt--and it could have been a whole lot worse.

Keep in mind--NCC was as good at stopping the run as anyone. And to compare them with OC isn't even in the same galaxy. NCC has a lot more size and a lot more speed. Plus, they could play defense. OC may have been the worst defensive team that I have seen in the finals in the past 5 years.

So, Russell could pass when it had to? Interesting. I am sure that Mayfield thought the exact same thing and so did Somerset and so did LCA. And none of them were successful. If Russell were forced into a situation where they had to throw--it would have been even more ugly. Like 50-0 ugly. Russell is a running team. That does not mean that they can "pass when they needed to".

Now, am I saying that Russell would have no chance . . . . No. But the team that I saw play in the 2A state championship could not have done it. And they couldn't have come close. In the middle of the season, I think that NCC could have been beat. But by the time they played in the state championship--they had everything rolling in the right direction

The point I was making at Newport was that we can pass if need be. Not how bad anyone beat anyone else.

As far as this argument goes I think it was beat to death on "another" forum. You say that Russell would not have a chance and I say Russell would have made a great effort and It would have been close. That being said I was not a player on this team but I did have a senior on this team that played both ways.

One thing that I can say for 100% certain is that we will never know because it did not happen and it never will. All we can do is argue about it and that won't get us anywhere. I call a truce because arguing this anymore will not get us anywhere.:moon:

[PHSFAN]

Top to bottom AA is stronger however I believe that the top teams in Class A are usually better than the top teams in AA making it harder to win a state title in Class A than it is AA. The 1st 2-3 rounds of the playoffs would be harder in AA but the semi-finals and finals are tougher in Class A for teams to win a state title.

[KentuckyHillBilly5321]

The point I was making at Newport was that we can pass if need be. Not how bad anyone beat anyone else.

As far as this argument goes I think it was beat to death on "another" forum. You say that Russell would not have a chance and I say Russell would have made a great effort and It would have been close. That being said I was not a player on this team but I did have a senior on this team that played both ways.

One thing that I can say for 100% certain is that we will never know because it did not happen and it never will. All we can do is argue about it and that won't get us anywhere. I call a truce because arguing this anymore will not get us anywhere.:moon:

hithappe Come on, Midee. No one is arguing. And there is nothing to call a truce about. I respect your opinion. I just don't agree. I don't think that either one of was anywhere near being out of line.

There is nothing wrong with a little spirited debate--and we are both handling ourselves the right way.

The one thing that I don't want to do is take anything away from Russell. They have a great program and this years team was the best in 2A. And that is all that matters (I agree with you there for sure). I also don't want anyone to get the idea that I am an NCC homer--because that isn't it either.

[Midee1]

I guess what i'm trying to say is that Russell is not as 1 dimensional as many people think. Ivan just tends to stay with what works. And for us the run seems to work pretty well. I just honestly don't think anyone out there would beat us by almost 30 points. I never said that we would win but I can guarantee that it would be a tough, Physical game that would be very close. Probably within 6 pts.And forgive me because I am a Russell Homer. I had a senior NG/OT on this team and I have 2 younger sons coming up. :big grin:

[KentuckyHillBilly5321]

I guess what i'm trying to say is that Russell is not as 1 dimensional as many people think. Ivan just tends to stay with what works. And for us the run seems to work pretty well. I just honestly don't think anyone out there would beat us by almost 30 points. I never said that we would win but I can guarantee that it would be a tough, Physical game that would be very close. Probably within 6 pts.And forgive me because I am a Russell Homer. I had a senior NG/OT on this team and I have 2 younger sons coming up. :big grin:

Fair enough!

I understand exactly where you are and why you feel that way. NCC is just as physical--and a lot bigger and faster.

Either way, I was impressed with Russell. They had a great team this year--and should be better next season. I would love to see them play a few more games against some NKY schools. It would be great for both of them.

[KentuckyHillBilly5321]

Fair enough!

I understand exactly where you are and why you feel that way. NCC is just as physical--and a lot bigger and faster. That is simply my opinion. I base that on preparing (and beating) NCC for the last few seasons. I have broken NCC down at least 10 games a year for the past 6 years--and one dimensional teams do not do well against them at all. We have beat them by being very balanced on offense. On defense, we disguised our coverages constantly to throw off slingin' Sammy. (Key--he can't check off to this second receiver).

Either way, I was impressed with Russell. They had a great team this year--and should be better next season. I would love to see them play a few more games against some NKY schools. It would be great for both of them.

[Midee1]

Fair enough!

I understand exactly where you are and why you feel that way. NCC is just as physical--and a lot bigger and faster.

Either way, I was impressed with Russell. They had a great team this year--and should be better next season. I would love to see them play a few more games against some NKY schools. It would be great for both of them.

That I will agree with. Our district is weak. The main competition is Ashland (non district), Morgan and probably East Carter. I would love to see them play some tougher team. All that can do is make you better.

I'm glad you see that Russell could be better next year. They were not supposed to go anywhere this year with all the seniors that they lost last year.

As far as size goes. I agree that this years team was small but god they were quick to the ball. My son was one of the bigger ones and he was only 6' and 220lbs. They should be bigger up front next year if Hicks (6'~ and 275)steps up and plays to his potential and Harvey (the transfer back from St. X at 6' 5" and 315lbs and will be a sophomore) get PT as well.

I was just so happy to see those boys go up against OC and play the way that they did. After all the talk of our boys going both ways and not being up to the task. It made it all that much sweeter.

[Tomcat68]

I agree with Hillbilly on this one after seeing all the teams. NCC would have beaten Russell by 3 TDs after watching the teams play. I also agree that Belfry would be the only 2A team to win in those 1A/2A matchups.

[Midee1]

I agree with Hillbilly on this one after seeing all the teams. NCC would have beaten Russell by 3 TDs after watching the teams play. I also agree that Belfry would be the only 2A team to win in those 1A/2A matchups.

That's still much closer than the almost 30 points that he started with.

How would Ashland fare against the 1A teams seeing that our piddly little 2A team handled them this year.hh:

P.S. Don't get all tore up over that comment it is all in good fun.

[Tomcat68]

Ashland over the last several years have choked in big games. I'm as much of a critic of Ashland as I am a fan.

Of the 8 teams listed, Ashland would only beat Sheldon Clark for certain and maybe Bardstown. We would also be right there with Belfry, Russell, and Newport, but I'd give the edge to all of the others because of the choke factor we have.

[KentuckyHillBilly5321]

This is where it becomes hard to compare teams from different classes.

I think that Ashland would fair a little better against a team like NCC because they are more balanced. And that is where NCC had trouble. With a team like Russell, play some type of 8 man front and you could get away with playing zone.

In order to beat a team like Ashland, you need to be a little more prepared. You can't center your game plan around the fact that a team runs the ball 95% of the time.

And, the really impressive point is this--most people would get the feeling that NCC is a passing team (with so much talk about Sammy), but in actuality--when we played them, they were 64 percent RUN/36% pass. That helped us immensely when it came time to beat NCC. (I would also say that by the end of the year, they were more like 75/25 run/pass).

But my point is--they make you believe that they are a passing team--and give you the impression that it is such an important part of their game that you have to spend way too much time to prepare for it. Teams have a hard time with that.

[Midee1]

In order to beat a team like Ashland, you need to be a little more prepared. You can't center your game plan around the fact that a team runs the ball 95% of the time.

People centered their gameplan around us running 95% of the time. But our record was 14-1. It can be very difficult to stop a good running team if everything is working well. I agree that it would be tougher to stop a more balanced team but I like a strong running game.

All that fancy passing and high powered offense got OC nowhere. Why you may ask. Because of ball control. I believe that we had the ball 36~ minutes of the state game.

As for us beating Ashland. That's why I love HS football. During Ivan's tenure at Russell I think it may be 16-14 in favor of Russell. It just does not get any better than that IMO. It's one of those games that could go either way at any given time, unlike alot of our District opponents with whom we have a lopsided winning record.

Here's an argument for us being multi dimensional. Probably the best Passing team we faced was Fleming Co with Fritz and company. We won that one pretty handily due to everyone handling their assignments.

[vince]

Russell And Belfry Are Strong 2a Teams. Russell Competes With And Beats 3a Ashland Which Is No Slouch.beechwood Has Been Dominate In Class A For Many Years.most Of Your Truly Great Danville Teams Were 2 A.i Think Jones And Howard Could've Been To Much Medicine For Any Class A Team Those Couple Of Years, But Could They Have Been Too Much For The Great Pikeville Teams With Hackney And Deramus? But Over The Long Haul, Beechwood Has More Championships Then Most 2 2a Powers Combined.i Really Dont See Anybody Killing Russell Last Year Either( Not In 2a Down Anyhow).so Its A Good Topic And Alot Of Opinions Will Vary.