The Best Seat in the House

Tonight’s final scores for Advocate-area high school football teams:

• Bell County 54, Casey County 13
• Garrard County 28, Powell County 14
• Lexington Catholic 24, Boyle County 21
• Madison Southern 47, Lincoln County 19
• Mercer County 48, Nelson County 28

And a look ahead to the schedule for Friday, Oct. 5:

• Somerset at Danville, 7:30 p.m.
• Bourbon County at Garrard County, 7:30 p.m.
• South Laurel at Lincoln County, 7:30 p.m.
• Mercer County at Marion County, 7:30 p.m.
• Casey County at Wayne County, 7:30 p.m.

Boyle County has an open date in week 8.

The tide turned once again last year in the Boyle County-Lexington Catholic football rivalry, and once again it is the Knights who are riding high. Boyle had won six straight meetings between the teams before Lexington Catholic beat the Rebels twice last year in the latest chapter of what has become arguably the area’s second-best rivalry game.

There’s every reason to believe that Lexington Catholic will extend its streak tonight when the Knights and Rebels meet in Lexington, but there are still enough indicatiors that a Boyle victory wouldn’t be out of the question.

Boyle, which leads the series 11-7, is a better team than it was early in the season, and getting better all the team. Playing Lexington Catholic in the first week or two of the season would likely have been a disaster for the Rebels, but now it seems more reasonable to believe they can match up with the Knights.

There’s also the matter of Lexington Catholic’s latest game, in which the Knights trailed or were tied with Mercer County throughout the first three quarters before they pulled away in the fourth. It wasn’t the best game for highly touted quarterback Kyle Bolin, and the Knights’ running game didn’t give him much help until the second half.

Still, Lexington Catholic is a powerful team with a quarterback capable of throwing the ball all over the lot and scrambling to find space to run or throw, as well as receivers who know how to go get the ball. The Knights also have a capable defense that held Bell County, Male and Lafayette to seven points each.

The Knights are the smart pick here, which means they’ll also be the smart pick if there’s a rematch in the Class 4A playoffs. The teams have met in both the regular season and postseason in each of the last five years, and the team that has won the regular-season game also won the playoff game in each of those years.

Elsewhere, Lincoln County faces a critical district game against much-improved Madison Southern. The Patriots need this one after dropping their 5A-7 opener to Pulaski County last week, but Madison Southern is much more of a handful than in recent years, and winning this one, even at home, won’t be easy.

Garrard County is also in need of a win after opening 0-1 in District 3A-5, and the Golden Lions figure to get back on track at struggling Powell County. Mercer County will have its hands full with a Nelson County passing attack that is putting up video game-like numbers, and Casey County faces a tall order at home against Bell County. Danville is off.

The picks:

• Bell County over Casey County.
• Garrard County over Powell County.
• Lexington Catholic over Boyle County.
• Madison Southern over Lincoln County.
• Nelson County over Mercer County.

Last week: 4-2; season 22-11 (.667).

With the regular season having recently passed its midpoint, a check of the statewide football statistics compiled by the KHSAA finds only one Advocate-area player, Alex Bolin of Casey County, listed among the state’s leaders.

After rushing for 340 yards and six touchdowns last week at McCreary Central, Bolin ranks fourth in points per game (20.0) and is tied for sixth in rushing yards per game (196). He has 1,173 rushing yards, 16 rushing touchdowns, 19 total touchdowns and three two-point conversions.

No local teams rank among the team offensive or defensive leaders.

Seven Advocate-area players — six from Boyle County and one from Danville — will play in the state golf tournaments next week after qualifying in their respective regional tournaments this week.

The Boyle County girls — Michaela Jarman, Rachel Pingleton, Caroline McDonald, Alexis Draut and Samantha Stewart — will play in the their state tournament for the first time since 1997 and only the second time in the program’s 17-year history after finishing second at their regional Monday in Richmond.

J.B. Williams of Danville and Dakota Jarman of Boyle earned individual qualifying berths to the boys tourney after finishing second and third in their regional Wednesday in Springfield.

Both state tournaments will be played at Bowling Green Country Club. The girls tournament is Tuesday and Wednesday; the boys tournament is Oct. 5-6.

The regular season begins and ends tonight at Casey County.

That’s an oversimplification, to be sure. The Rebels played games that mattered before this one, and they’ll play games that matter after this one. But their game tonight at McCreary Central is very likely to be the only one that has any bearing on their postseason plans.

It’s fair to say that within District 3A-4, Casey and McCreary are a couple of notches below the other three teams — Bell County, Corbin and Wayne County — and that a victory by either the Rebels or Raiders against any of the three would be a substantial upset this season. So their game against each other — their first district game of the season — is probably going to be for fourth place and the district’s final playoff spot.

Casey won that spot last year, beating McCreary 41-14 before losing to Corbin, Bell and Wayne. The victory gave the Rebels a playoff game at eventual 3A champion Central, and that’s almost certainly what these two teams are playing for again tonight.

District play also begins for Boyle County, Garrard County, Lincoln County and Mercer County tonight. Lincoln opens play in a wide-open District 5A-7 at Pulaski County, and while nothing will be settled in that race tonight, it isn’t far-fetched to think that game could decide a title. The Patriots’ win over Pulaski last year kick-started a strong second half for them, and they could fare well again against a team that had given up points in bunches this season before holding Rockcastle County to two last week.

Boyle and Mercer begin play in 4A-5 with games that don’t figure to be close. Boyle concludes a five-game homestand with a game against a Taylor County team it has taken apart in recent years, while Mercer will have its hands full at home against district favorite Lexington Catholic. Meanwhile, Garrard kicks off the defense of its 3A-5 title at Bath County in a game the Golden Lions should take.

The only non-district game is Danville’s game at Green County. The Admirals exorcised some demons with a home win over Green last year, and this year’s Dragons don’t look quite as strong as the teams they’ve fielded in recent years.

The picks:

• Boyle County over Taylor County.
• Casey County over McCreary Central.
• Danville over Green County.
• Garrard County over Bath County.
• Lexington Catholic over Mercer County.
• Lincoln County over Pulaski County.

Last week: 4-1; season: 18-9 (.667).

The Boyle County girls and Danville boys will host their invitational golf tournaments Saturday at Boyle County’s two courses.

The Boyle girls invitational tees off at 8 a.m. at Old Bridge Golf Club with 20 teams, and the Danville boys invitational begins at 2 p.m. at Danville Country Club with 17 teams.

Most of the Advocate-area teams will participate. Teams are preparing for their respective regional tournaments, which are Sept. 24-25.

Which way is Boyle County headed?

The Rebels would appear to be at a crossroads entering their game tonight against Dixie Heights. They have exited the portion of their schedule where the losses were likely to pile up, and that’s just what has happened over their first four games. Now they turn to a game that is exceedingly winnable but probably isn’t an easy win, at least not given the way they have been playing.

Boyle changed quarterbacks during its loss to John Hardin last week and is changing back tonight, at least for the start of the game. Its top running back was injured, though not as badly as it first appeared. And more younger players started appearing in the lineup at other positions, and coach Larry French said that will continue to happen.

A non-district game against a team from a higher class doesn’t fit the description of a must-win game, but this is certainly one the Rebels need pretty badly.

Another interesting game involving an area team will take place in Monticello, where Lincoln County looks for a win at Wayne County. The Patriots are playing perhaps a bit better than expected, and they have to believe they have a chance to knock off a pretty good team from a lower class that beat them in Stanford last year.

Elsewhere, the Danville-Southwestern series that has produced so many exciting games in recent years — none more exciting than the Admirals’ comeback victory last year — figures to end with a more lopsided affair, Mercer County will try to take down northern neighbor Anderson County and Casey County will travel far from home to try to get its second win at Fairview.

The picks:

• Anderson County over Mercer County.
• Boyle County over Dixie Heights.
• Danville over Southwestern.
• Fairview over Casey County.
• Lincoln County over Wayne County.

Last week: 3-2; season: 14-8 (.636).

The family of former KHSAA commissioner Louis Stout has established a memorial fund that will benefit KHSAA special projects. Stout, the association’s commissioner from 1994-2002, died Sunday at age 73.

His widow, Anna Stout has requested that donations be made in lieu of flowers to the Louis Stout Memorial Fund for Students, c/o KHSAA, 2280 Executive Drive, Lexington, KY 40505. The KHSAA will provide a receipt for any such donation, which is fully tax deductible, and 100 percent of all donations will be used for special projects in his name specifically benefitting students and will not be used in any way by the general fund of the KHSAA.

Visitation for Stout is from 3-5 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. today at Kerr Brothers Funeral Home, 3421 Harrodsburg Road, Lexington. Services will be held at noon Saturday at Consolidated Baptist Church, 1625 Russell Cave Road, Lexington.