Ah, Footbah

I wish I would've thought of this before yesterday; otherwise, maybe we could've started this season. But, next year, maybe The Heath Post could host an online KHSAA-playoffs bracket pool, along the lines of what goes on with the NCAA men's basketball tournament. If we do a bunch of gimmicks like this, I'll bet one would eventually catch on and ratchet us into the Comics Curmudgeon pantheon.

Back to the here and now, I'll be most keenly interested in the following first-round matchups by bracket tonight.

-- Class A: Caverna at Associated Press No. 1 Mayfield. I met a guy at a regional church thing a couple of weekends ago from Second Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Mayfield who said that Jack Morris's son runs the same plays that Jack Morris ran when we were in school. ... Ballard Memorial at Kentucky County Day ... Fulton County at Louisville Holy Cross ... Bethlehem at Crittenden County ... Allen Central at Hazard. The home team, like Mayfield, is 10-0 and ranked second in Class A by the AP.

-- Class 2A: Todd County Central at AP No. 1 Murray. The 10-0 Tigers leap-frogged Newport Central Catholic in the AP poll after the Thoroughbreds lost, 40-39, in two overtimes last Friday to Beechwood. ... Trigg County at Fort Campbell. Writes George Robinson in The Leaf Chronicle of Clarksville, Tenn., "The two schools were long-time rivals as district opponents, but when Kentucky switched to six classifications and reshuffled the district look, Trigg County was removed from the Falcons' regular season schedule. But even that hasn't mattered. The Falcons and Wildcats have met in the 2A playoffs the past two seasons with Fort Campbell winning both times en route to state championships. When Fort Campbell moves to Class 3A next season, Trigg County will be right there, playing along once again in the same district." (Per your request, GoHeath, I expect a close, relatively high-scoring win for the home team, 28-21 or so.) ... Reidland at Owensboro Catholic ... Monroe County at Washington County. This game pits two of my darling teams of this football season, but I'm afraid it doesn't look good for the sliding visitors. Check out how the Commanders bounced back last Friday from their only loss of the season. ... Owen County at Newport Central Catholic. ... Heath (pictured) is idle this weekend.



-- Class 3A: Butler County at Paducah Tilghman. Twenty-three of 24 polled expect Tilghman to pick up All-time Victory 722 tonight, but one wonders if some citizens of Blue Tornado Nation are getting a bit ahead of themselves. ... McLean County at Russellville. Writes Michael Compton in The Park City Daily News of Bowling Green, "Russellville (7-3), which will move back to Class A next season, enters the playoffs the winner of six straight. The Panthers have enjoyed success in the Class 3A playoffs, losing to the eventual state champion two of the last three years. That includes a 21-14 loss to Paducah Tilghman last year - a game decided on a defensive touchdown." ... Magoffin County at AP No. 1 Somerset ... Louisville Shawnee has forfeited its first-round matchup, so North Oldham has advanced, by a score of 2-0, to the second round.

-- Class 4A: Warren East at Lone Oak ... Calloway County at Franklin-Simpson ... Bourbon County at AP No. 1 Boyle County ... Boyd County at Bell County. The homestanding, second-ranked Bobcats are, like Boyle, 10-0. So is No. 3 Allen County-Scottsville, which gets a first-round bye, which, it seems to me, would be a heck of a benefit at this point in the fall.

-- Class 5A: Barren County at Christian County ... Madisonville-North Hopkins at Bowling Green. The Maroons have improved over the course of the season, but my guess would be that they will fall behind quickly against the Purples and won't have nearly the roster depth to mount much of a comeback (35-10?). But I feel a little guilty saying that given that my dad was a Maroon cheerleader and my wife's uncle (No. 52 in the picture below) was on the football team. Upon further review, I predict a huge upset for MNHHS gridders, inspired by the Marching Maroons' SIXTH-STRAIGHT 4A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP! ... Ohio County at Warren Central ... Jeffersontown at AP No. 1 John Hardin ... Louisville Waggener at Anderson County ... Woodford County at AP No. 2 Fort Thomas Highlands ... Ashland Paul Blazer at Covington Catholic. It's not like I've been following Covington Catholic all season, but this is pretty cool.



-- Class 6A: Marshall County at Louisville Fern Creek. This is the game I'm most closely following, as one of the guys who does radio commentary for Fern Creek is a former post-college roommate of mine (at left in Jan. 3, 2004, picture below). If his team wins, he'll be coming next Friday night down to western Kentucky to see the Creekers face Henderson County (who has a first-round bye). This would be outstanding! ... Louisville Southern at Graves County ... Louisville Pleasure Ridge Park at AP No. 1 Louisville Trinity.



I will also mention that "-.pdf" versions of the brackets are available, for printing and posting on your refrigerators for the playoff season.