We thought it would be fun to predict some games in the areas where the digital magazine is most read. If we didn’t pick your game it was because you don’t support us. We cover the games in the areas where we are read. If you want coverage, you have to prove it to us as we will go anywhere we are wanted. We will not cover teams whose fans don’t care enough about their team to read about them.
Let’s get to the action…. and this time we will pick every game on Friday night of which we are aware and may parcel out some of the matchups for pity and witty commentary.
August 30, 2019…
Hart County over Monroe;
Trinity over Warren Central (IN);
South Warren over Warren East; Warren East has got things rolling under Coach Griffith and are ever-improving. Unfortunately, they find themselves pitted-up against the best football team in Kentucky coached by (maybe) the best coaching staff.
Monroe County over Hart (MI);
St. Xavier over Henry Clay;
Johnson Central over Capital (WV);
Caldwell over Apollo; Caldwell is playing inspired football with the death of legendary coach David Barnes at a preseason scrimmage. Apollo gave up 56 points to a Warren Central team which has lost 36-straight football games.
Newport Central over Cooper;
Grayson County over Nelson;
Clay Co. over Clinton Co.;
Henderson County over Evansville North; Henderson County lost a lot of production off a solid 2018 team with the graduation of dual-threat QB Skip Patterson. Week zero’s convincing win over an always tough Evansville Reitz team may have served notice the Colonels can still play a little.
Holy Cross (Lou.) over Walton Verona;
Covington Catholic over Campbell County;
Union County over Hopkins County Central; Union County got absolutely man-handled or mauled or however you want to describe an over 40-point drubbing by Madisonville-North Hopkins. Of course, there is a HUGE difference between North Hopkins and Hopkins County Central. The only similarity may be geographic.
Todd County Central over Fort Knox; Frankly, the Rebels of Todd County went on the road and beat a very legitimate Class 4A, first district team when they came back to beat Calloway County 21-20 in the first game. No way a Rebels team, before hiring Coach Darrell Keith, wins that game. There will be an all-out bidding war to get Coach Keith away from Todd County at the season’s end. Good luck trying to keep him.
Madisonville-North Hopkins over Marshall County; The Maroons from North Hopkins may be the best team in Kentucky’s 4A classification. Marshall County is terrible. Maroons big here.
Owensboro Catholic over Daviess County; Yeah, we know Daviess County is a Class 6A, first district team and we know Owensboro Catholic is Class 2A. Tell that to 10-3, Class 5A Owensboro Senior High who lost to Catholic last year by double-digits. One of the elite coaching staffs in Kentucky can take their players and beat yours or take your players and beat theirs.
Fulton County over South Fulton (TN); One of Kentucky’s best RB’s, Caleb Kimble, ran for nearly 230 yards from scrimmage in 16 carries week zero. This will be a blow-out for the Pilots.
Conner over Ryle;
Bowling Green over McCracken County; McCracken is coming off a loss to cross-town, Class 3A, Paducah Tilghman. Bowling Green lost at home to a Tennessee private school which went 2-10 in 2018. Both of these teams need this win.
Owensboro over Evansville Central; If Owensboro had players back off the Injured Reserve like killer LB Austin Gough and RB Imonte Owsley, they would challenge for the 5A State Football Championship. Without them, they are still damn good.
McLean County over Ohio County;
Edmonson County over Butler Co;
Shawnee over Caverna;
Fairdale over Hancock County;
Dixie Heights over George Rogers Clark;
Kentucky Country Day over Thomas Nelson;
Male over Ballard; This is two of the best rosters in Kentucky. Both teams come off the bus looking like a college program. This one literally could go either way. Ballard has more of a tendency to self-destruct than does Male. We are taking Male, but barely. If there is an upset, it may be here.
Bracken County over Ludlow;
Crittenden County over Webster County;
Russell County over Green County;
Newport over Bishop Brossart;
Meade County over Franklin-Simpson; It really hurt Franklin-Simpson to drop the first game to a Greenwood team every one had slotted for 4th place (our of 4) in the Class 5A, 2nd district. Meade County has played Franklin-Simpson super tough each of the last two years and the Green Wave didn’t manage a .500 finish either year. This year they have a superstar transfer at the RB slot named Austin Oppel who gained 1,500 yards last year as a sophomore playing 6A football in Indiana. The Wildcats can’t be feeling too good about this game.
Lloyd Memorial over Scott;
Trigg County over Fort Campbell; This isn’t your Ft. Campbell, back in the Sean Bearner days type of Falcon team. Trigg County has superstar talent in Cameron Jordan on offense (Navy commit) and LBs Cade Bleidt (2020) and Kendric Adams (2022). Won’t be close.
Glasgow over Russellville;
Murray over Calloway County;
Bellevue over Dayton;
Logan County over Muhlenberg County; That Logan really knows how to schedule. If Caleb Kimble from Fulton County isn’t western Kentucky’s top RB, then surely Gary Hardy from Logan is. Quarterback Tyler Ezell is experience and a winner. Muhlenberg got beat down in week zero by Trigg County. Logan is better than Trigg County. It will not be a fun night for Muhlenberg.
Gleason (TN) over Fulton City;
Eminence over Owen County;
South Oldham over Eastern; South Oldham almost pulled one of the upsets of the night when they took one of Kentucky’s elite teams, CAL, to overtime. K-Mart (Keaton Martin, 2020), Ethan Bednarczyk (2020) and the boys get on track this week.
North Hardin over Elizabethtown; E-Town is back this year with Camden Williams and Malcolm Sheffield fielding spirals from 2021 QB Clay Games. However, that being said, North Hardin has three, division I college players on the roster. E-Town may not lose again, but we can’t see them beating North Hardin.
duPont Manual over Fern Creek;
Lincoln County over East Jessamine;
Morgan County over Betsy Lane;
Central Hardin over John Hardin;
Bethlehem over Sayre;
Bullitt East over Spencer County;
Pineville over Knott County Central;
Pulaski County over Wayne County;
Paul Laurence Dunbar over Boone County;
Anderson (OH) over Simon Kenton;
North Bullitt over Great Crossing;
Lawrence County over Prestonburg;
Ashland Blazer over Boyd County;
Tates Creek over George Rogers Clark;
North Laurel over Floyd Central;
Harlan County over Hazard;
Waggener over Valley;
Scott (TN) over Whitley County;
Oldham County over North Oldham;
Estill County over Powell County;
Frankln County over Western Hills;
Breathitt County over South Laurel; We will finally get to see what everybody has been talking about with Breathitt up in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky. Breathitt showed a great deal of sportsmanship in not running the score up on Jenkins at Jenkins, but if they try to be good sports at the Honey Bowl, Class 5A South Laurel will show them where nice guys finish. The Bobcats have a returning district player of the year at QB in Braxton O’Hara, an all-state caliber running back in CA “Geeny” Collins (transfer from Class 5A Anderson County), two top-flight receivers in Brandyn Slaughter and Lane Weedle (transfer from IN), and first-team, returning, all-state offensive center (AP) William Long (transfer from 4A Hopkinsville) is where A-gap blitzes go to die. We like the Bobcats at home here.
Shelby County over Collins;
Frederick Douglass over Tates Creek; Okay, so Dekel Crowdus bolted last minute to Bradenton, FA to play for the IMG Academy. FD still has Walter Parks and Jager Burton.
Scott County over Lafayette;
Montgomery County over Somerset; Another toss-up game where it could go either way. Somerset has one of the best rosters in Class 2A. Montgomery County is a perennial beast in the 5A classification. We like Montgomery County, but barely.
Western over J-Town;
West Jessamine over Bryan Station;
Danville over Bardstown;
Southwestern over Madison Southern; We know Southwestern lost to Class 3A, Belfry, 31-7 in a game not really that close. However, you guys just need to understand Belfry is an elite Kentucky, high-school team.
East Carter over Lewis County;
Rye Cove (VA) over Jenkins;
Anderson County over Madison Central; Anderson County is either one of the best football teams in Kentucky’s Class 4A or, at the very least, boasts roster-inclusion of two of Kentucky’s best players. Zach Labhart is extremely hard to tackle and DE, Darion Dearinger, is Kentucky’s best at that position regardless of graduation year. Anderson is too much for Madison Central.
Taylor County over LaRue;
Greenup County over Fleming Co.;
Grant County over Holmes;
Williamsburg over Middlesboro;
Berea over Harlan;
Pendleton County over Nicholas County;
Atherton over Washington County;
Garrard County over Marion County;
Butler (Lou.) over DeSales;
Bath Co. over Rowan County;
Henry County over Carroll County;
Gallatin County over Switzerland County (IN);
Rockcastle County over Casey County;
Magoffin County over Sheldon Clark;
Moore over Southern;
Beechwood over Paintsville;
Mayfield over Hopkinsville; Coach Clayton, in an interview he granted the Kentucky New Era seemed to insinuate he had some tricks up his sleeve for Mayfield. His comment was somewhere along the lines of his having saved entire packages, offensively, for Joe Morris and the Mayfield staff. Well, let’s hope (for his sake) that is true. WR, Reece Jesse, Jr., can beat a lot of teams by himself, which is why he is one of Kentucky’s elite players. He can’t beat Mayfield alone and they are too cagy to not try to take him away from the offense. This game will be close if the young front can limit the heat on QB Jay Bland. Otherwise…
Corbin over Notre Dame (TN);
Mason County over Harrison County;
Campbellsville over Adair County;
Christian Academy-Louisville over Christian County; CAL narrowly escaped South Oldham, 6-0, in week zero. Christian County is A LONG AWAY from being South Oldham brother! County is coming off a heart-breaking loss to Class 2A Caldwell County in a game it feels it should have won. They have a chance to literally “shock the world” here. The Colonels from Hopkinsville get the clock run on them.
Barren County over Woodford;
Belfry over Lexington Christian; This game pits one of 3A’s top teams in top-rated Belfry against a 2A team in Lexington Christian which is ranked at the top of its classification, though not at the very top. Belfry looks poised to win it all in 3A this year from where we sit and with the middle school team we saw play this Saturday, they have plenty of talent in the pipeline too.
Lexington Catholic over Indianapolis Howe (IN);
Phelps over East Ridge.
There it is, our second edition of weekly winners for 2019. We will continue with this new format throughout the season. Hope you enjoy the commentary. We are sure roughly half of you will not.
This is Coach HB Lyon, reporting for KPGFootball, and we’re JUST CALLING IT LIKE WE SEE IT!
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