Well, this is it. The season is officially over. Wheel out the basketball racks.
Lawrence County, Johnson Central, Raceland and Ironton each broke off the short end of the wishbone this weekend, but the QB is impressed with the fact that these were the four teams remaining.
Think about it. Lawrence County? At 0-10 last season, going to Bell County was a bus ride to a beat-down. While the result was not so pretty Friday, at 41-0, the Bulldogs made it to the regional championship game as an undefeated team! Who would have predicted that at the beginning of the season? Listening to Friday’s game on the radio, it sounded like half of Louisa made the trip to Log Mountain. That’s impressive in itself.
What about Johnson Central? The QB was the first to hop off the Golden Eagles bandwagon. Actually, they didn’t even give me time to jump on. After starting the season at a very disappointing 0-4, eight straight wins and a good showing at Highlands showed the kind of team Johnson Central really had this year.
And that brings us to Raceland. The Rams could be the most thoroughly well-coached team in the area. Decidedly down from last season’s memorable team full of seniors, there was no way Raceland had enough firepower or experience to earn eight wins and get back to the regional championship game against LCA. But it did.
As for Ironton, the stunning loss to Ashland was overshadowed by Bob Lutz’s record-breaking 361st win, and, as long as he’s there, the Fighting Tigers will be a team with which to contend in November.
Final Rankings
Instead of “Since...” this week, the QB releases his rankings based on how teams performed this season. For the sake of not making too many people angry, here are the top 10 area teams, in Kentucky only:
1. Johnson Central
2. Ashland
3. Lawrence County
4. Rowan County
5. Raceland
6. Fairview
7. Russell
8. West Carter
9. Boyd County
10. Lewis County.
Match ’em up
There are a few games that need to happen, if not next season, soon. The following are three matchups the QB would like to see:
-Lawrence County vs. Ashland. Each team exceeded expectations all season long until the Cats and Dawgs made unglamorous exits. Ashland reloads with the current Tomcat talent pool while Lawrence County retains most of its pieces, especially in the backfield.
-Johnson Central vs. Lawrence County. Rivals in basketball, rivals in baseball. Why not rivals in football? The Bulldogs went to Paintsville this season but not to face the Golden Eagles.
-Fairview vs. Russell. Eagles coach Nathan McPeek clearly has Fairview football heading in the right direction. McPeek versus Ivan McGlone could be a desirable McMatchup. Plus, it would give McPeek a chance to face his alma mater.
Handing out hardware
The QB hands off gold, silver and bronze for three categories - Coach of the Year, Most Outstanding Offensive Player and Most Outstanding Defensive Player.
Coach of the Year — Gold: Luke Salmons, Lawrence County. Silver: Jim Matney, Johnson Central. Bronze: (Tie) Leon Hart, Ashland and Randy Vanderhoof, Raceland.
Most Outstanding Offensive Player — Gold: Shane Pack, Lawrence County. Silver: Travis Jones, Russell. Bronze: Josh Alber, Ashland.
Most Outstanding Defensive Player — Gold: Josh Alber, Ashland. Silver: Cody Anderson, Lawrence County. Bronze: Connor Swift, Ashland.
Noteworthy
-Any football coach will tell you that one of the biggest keys to winning is playing mistake-free football. Kentucky, in three road SEC wins at Georgia, Vanderbilt and Auburn, combined for only seven penalties and two turnovers in total.
-Former Elliott County guard Evan Faulkner played 17 minutes - the most of any player coming off the bench - for Radford against Duke on Saturday night. The Highlanders lost 104-67, but in three games, Faulkner has averaged 3.7 points and 2.7 assists per game as a freshman. Which brings me to my next point...
-Look for the Monday Morning Point Guard’s backcourt view on the upcoming high school basketball season, starting next Monday.
AARON SNYDER can be reached at asnyder@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2664.
