Friday football digest, week 10
Since nothing on this week’s local pigskin schedule fires me up, I’m using this tiny little piece of the Internet to spotlight a grand gesture that illustrates what can be good about high school sports.
As the Advocate’s Hal Morris reported earlier this week, the starting times for two of tonight’s games have been coordinated to allow Mercer County coach Paul Rains to attend the senior night ceremony at Lexington Christian that will include his son Austin. The kicker: That’s at least a 45-minute drive from Mercer, where Rains’ Titans will be playing Boyle County.
The solution: LCA’s game against Danville was moved up to 7 p.m., which will give Rains time to attend the pregame ceremony and hustle back to Harrodsburg for the Boyle-Mercer game, which was scheduled for 8 p.m.
Rains is friends with each of the other three affected coaches (Boyle’s Larry French, Danville’s Sam Harp and LCA’s Ray Graham), so they had no problem with shifting their schedules to allow Rains to share a once-in-a-lifetime moment with his son. It may seem like a small thing, but it surely means a great deal to Rains and his son.
As for the action on the field, here’s a quick breakdown of how the playoff picture might be painted in this final Friday of district play:
Boyle and Mercer are playing for second place in District 4A-5, and their first-round playoff opponents Nov. 4 will be determined by the outcome of the Knox Central-Russell County game in 4A-6. If Knox wins that game, the Boyle-Mercer winner will host Russell County, and the loser will go to Rockcastle County. If Knox loses, that district will have a three-way tie at the top.
Danville and LCA are also playing for second place in 2A-7. The winner will host tonight’s Betsy Layne-Shelby Valley winner in two weeks; the loser will travel to the loser of tonight’s Leslie County-Prestonsburg game.
Garrard County goes to Estill County tonight having already locked up first place in 3A-5. The Golden Lions could host any of four teams in the first round, but the most likely candidates are Fleming County or Mason County.
Lincoln County is locked into second place in 5A-7 entering its regular-season finale tonight at North Laurel; the Patriots can’t move up or down. They will host the winner of tonight’s Letcher County Central-Whitley County game in the first round.
Casey County is currently in fourth place in 3A-4 and would have to win its season finale at Corbin tonight to have a chance to climb higher. If the Rebels stay in fourth place, they’ll play at Central in two weeks. If they make it to third place, they could go to LaRue County instead.
The picks:
- Boyle County over Mercer County.
- Corbin over Casey County.
- Danville over Lexington Christian.
- Garrard County over Estill County.
- Lincoln County over North Laurel.
Last week: 6-0; season: 40-6 (.870).
