Coach Lyon’s Class 2A, preseason Top-10 Football Poll…

In what has become a tradition at KPGFootball, we are going to make a preseason top-10 prognosis. These teams will be ranked according to whom we believe are the top 10 football teams in each classification. Some of these teams are (unfortunately) in the same district. That aside, this is who believe to be Class 2A’s best football teams as we head into the 2019 season.

Class 2A…

1. The Mayfield Cardinals…They went 14-1 last season and lost the State Championship to a team which has been re-classified. QB Jaden Stinson returns and all he did last year was throw for 2,931 yards and 35 TDs against only 4 thrown interceptions. With his completing 145 of 222 passing attempts, his QB rating had to have been just sick. Kent Trey Matthews and Connor Gutherie are both departed to play on Saturdays and they take a ton of ground production with them (over 3,100 yards rushing and 41 rushing TDs between the two) so that can’t be ignored. However, Stinson will still have Neely, Perry and Diaz to target down the field so the passing game returns almost completely intact.
2. Breathitt County…Before yesterday, numbers two and three would have been reversed. Yesterday, KPGFootball learned through the newspaper, The Jackson Times-Voice, that super-star receiver, Bradyn Slaughter, who had transferred to a school in Scott County, had come home. We have talked with Slaughter’s mother, with whom we just now spoke. According to what she told us, Brandyn is fully-cleared and eligible to resume playing for the Bobcats. Slaughter caught 50 passes in 2018 for 965 receiving yards and 8 TDs together with intercepting two passes from his cornerback slot. District Player of the Year Braxton O’Hara is back from leading the team on an 8-game winning streak in 2018 before dropping out of the 3A playoffs courtesy of Bell County. Dalton Manns is returning with O’Hara and he carried it 55 times in 2018 for 413 yards and three scores. In the offseason, the Bobcats have added a star player from Indiana in Lane Weddle who, playing for Salem High School in Indiana’s playoffs against Charlestown, caught 7 passes for 162 receiving yards and a score in a game Salem won 27-20. The Bobcats also got a transfer in Charles Andrew Collins at RB. All he has done the past two years is gain 3,478 yards rushing and score 50 rushing TDs playing football in the 5A classification. The Bobcats also added the AP’s first-team all-state center from 2018 in William Long who also happens to be a two-time Kentucky Powerlifting Champion in the 250-pound weight class in spite of only recently exiting his second year in high school. Looks like “The Riverbank” will be rocking in 2019.
3. Beechwood…Reigning State Champion in the 1A Classification. They also won it in 2017 and 2016, while playing for it and losing to Pikeville in 2015. Plainly stated they are darn good. How much difference with the up-tick in classification make? Not enough.
4. Lexington Christian…Lexington Christian went 9-4 a year ago with 8 freshman principally participating, and, by the end of the year none of the freshmen were freshmen any longer. Now they are sophomores and LCA is poised to make an incredible run. Anthony Johns, Xavier Brown, Tyler Morris, and Elijah Hammond will all be special, special players before it is said and done and they are really good now.
5. Somerset…Kaiya Sheron has been offered by UK to play QB, when he is no longer a Briar Jumper, and Kade Grundy is a U of L baseball commit who may be the best athlete in his graduating class. The only problem is Somerset is in the toughest district in Class 2A with both Danville and LCA also in District 4.
6. Walton Verona…Walton Verona was 11-3 a year ago and a state semi-finalist in the 2A classification. They appear to be a clear choice in the fifth district. 
7. Shelby Valley…There is a player at Shelby Valley we call “Choke-Slammer.” His name is Peyton Blackburn and his patented combine, one on one move, is to choke-slam his defensive counterpart to the turf. It’s really impressive and has gained him quite a lot of notoriety. That move might draw a flag in a game, but it would appear to us Blackburn has learned some impressive moves to deploy on Friday night too. For one, he has become the premier RT/G prospect in all of Kentucky’s 2020 graduating class; and, for two, he helped lead Shelby Valley to a 10-2 finish in 2018 by choke-slamming, figuratively if not literally, at least 10 of its opponents. We believe Shelby Valley will choke-slam district 8 and then fall to Breathitt in the Regional Championship game.
8. Owensboro Catholic…Owensboro Catholic is the odds-on favorite to win this district like virtually every other year. They have Drew Hartz back and he has been one of the classification’s very best QBs for the two previous years. Hard to conceive he won’t be outstanding again in 2019. Catholic is a team which is coached up to an incredible level and they take run of the mill talent and develop the talent to where it plays exceptional football.
9. Danville High…The Admirals are in the toughest district in Class 2A and a district they have, historically owned; but no more. The Admirals followed up a 15-0 run to the State Football championship in 2017 with a 5-7 record last year. Still, the Admirals have one of the best linebackers in Kentucky in Darrian Bell and they are Danville after all.
10. Todd County-McLean Co. (tie)…Most people know McLean County is both a really good football program and really well schooled in fundamental football. The Cougars being slotted 10th in the classification isn’t too surprising to anyone. Peyton Caraway, who ran from scrimmage for over 1,000 yards in 2018, will be back and Coach Wagner always seems to find some big boys to clear the way for the RBs. The dark horse here is Todd County, a perennial 2A doormat who is (apparently) tired of being stepped both over and on. First of all we love JaTwan Graham at RB. Graham is a 5-10, 240-pounder who is pretty darn fast (4.78 forty). He doesn’t have any shake but he really doesn’t need it, he’s going to run over you. Teams will get plenty tired of getting pummeled by him before everything is said and done. KPGFootball has seen Todd County practice a few times this year and they are disciplined, hard-nosed, and absolutely huge. Dakota Foster, who plays offensive center, is a 6-2, 270-pounder who bench presses 365. Justin “The Big Show” Waldrop is a 340 pound monster who isn’t sloppy and can play on both sides of the ball, Darrion Woodruff has the chance to be special at ILB and Omarion Riddick, a transfer from Class 5A Christian County High School, is a true sub-4.5, forty guy. Don’t know how long Todd County Central can keep Coach Darell Keith as his star is certainly on the rise and his son, Joshuah Keith is entering 8th grade as Kentucky’s top dual-threat QB in his graduating class. Assuming Keith stays and Joshuah comes up and assumes the reins next year, the Rebels are poised to go on an unprecedented run which may begin this Fall.

There it is folks, the KPGFootball, preseason top-10 football teams in the 2A classification. Join us tomorrow as we publish our top-10 preseason teams in Class 3A.

This is Coach HB Lyon, reporting for KPGFootball, and we’re JUST CALLING IT LIKE WE SEE IT!

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