Marion, Kentucky has proven challenging for any school, any size
Hopkins County Central emerges from a score which wasn’t what it appeared. The final score presents like the Maroons (Madisonville-North Hopkins) put a 46-14 lopsided, “beat down” on the Storm in Morton’s Gap; but, our sources tell us the final margin was reflective of neither the “true margin” nor the difference between combatants. It was a scoreless tie after an entire first quarter; North took a 12-0 lead into the locker room at the half, it was 12-6 at the end of the 3rd-Quarter, and it was a 25-14 well into the fourth quarter, with about seven-minutes remaining. Madisonville scored three TD’s, basically, against the Storm’s JV. Around our offices we call that “slapping some lipstick on that Hog!” That game is over and the Storm readies for a trip to Marion, KY to play a Crittenden team unaccustomedly sitting at 1-2 on the young season. Central needs to “right this ship,” this week, and get ready for the remainder of the ’23 journey.
HB Lyon, Chief of Scouting, KPGFootball
Morton’s Gap, KY: Around the magazine we have our own version of a popular saying. In advertising, Madison Avenue (New York, New York) advertising executives (Mad Men) used to refer to slapping lipstick on a pig, meaning to make superficial or cosmetic changes to a product in an effort to disguise its fundamental failings.
Around our offices, we use it to describe scoring meaningless, late touchdowns, to make the final margin of a game appear more “runaway” than it actually was. We think it happened in Morton’s Gap this past Friday night.
“big game” out of him
As we dutifully reported, North Hopkins beat Central, this past weekend, 46-14. However, the final margin doesn’t really describe the game.
Madisonville North-Hopkins and Central were both scoreless after one-quarter of play. North took a 12-0 lead into the half time locker room. It was 12-6 at the conclusion of three quarters. The score was North 25, Central 14 with about seven minutes, and some change, left in the entire ball game.
Three, late-game (with Central reserves dotting the playing surface) scores later, the final gets etched into the record book as a 46-14 rout. The people in attendance, and the kids playing in the game, all know the final score was not indicative of the difference existing between the two teams.
Is North a better football team than Central? They were the night the game was being played. Are they 32-points better? No.
That game is over and there is plenty more football to play, starting tomorrow night in Marion, Kentucky. Crittenden County (1-2) is on tap and the Rockets are easily the best 1A program on the western end of Kentucky outside of Louisville.
Crittenden County played McCracken County last weekend and was on the short end of a 44-22 margin. Crittenden has lost to Union County 36-0 while beating Webster County 31-8.
...senior QB, Michah Newcom, had a good night against the Mustang defense..[throwing] for 173-yards and 3-TD’s
KHSAA Statistical Website
Crittenden’s senior QB, Michah Newcom, had a good night against the Mustang defense. He threw for 173-yards and 3-TD’s. The run-game was a different matter.
McCracken County held the Rockets to 27-yards rushing as a team on the evening. If the Storm could hold that phase of the game to that kind of output, the Storm’s chances of victory tomorrow night would seem to be rosy.
The Calpreps.com computer algorithm says the two teams are fairly even. What you have to remember is the computer looks at the North loss as the “short end” of a 46-14. The computer can’t factor that the game may have actually been much closer than the final scored indicated.
Crittenden has a 62% chance of winning and is favored by six-points on a neutral field. That margin, and the fact Central may be a bit better than the computer believes, is enough reason to hold out hope for an upset.
The scene has been set. It is staged perfectly.
This is one of those, “see where you’re at as a program” games. If the Storm can come out of Marion, Kentucky 3-1; you have to like their chances of beating Webster, Trigg, and Fulton County. Plus it puts games against Hancock, McLean, and Union even more in “play.”
Get ready “Storm Watchers,” we have some future opponents who appear in for inclement weather. Let’s get it started this weekend.
This is Fletcher W. Long, reporting for KPGFootball, reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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