Friday football digest, week 3
If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last two weeks, it’s that coaches who are used to preparing their teams for games on Fridays aren’t all that crazy about playing on Saturdays. But Danville and Boyle County will have to do that one more time this week when they complete their two-year run in the Cumberland Falls Pigskin Classic at Corbin.
Members of both the Danville and Boyle staffs told me this week that while there is much to like about playing in bowls such as this one or Danville’s Bob Allen Pigskin Classic, they’ll be glad to get their teams on a Friday-to-Friday schedule. Every other team in Kentucky will get their games out of the way by Friday on this holiday weekend, as Danville’s game against Pikeville and Boyle’s game against Corbin are the only two games in the state being played Saturday.
The four schools playing in Corbin have 23 state championships between them, a number that grew by one with Boyle’s 4-A win last year. Danville and Pikeville have 13 of those titles but have apparently never played each other. Boyle and Corbin haven’t played since 1994, when the Rebels won a Class AA playoff game.
I’ll offer the same advice as a year ago in this space, which is essentially that Corbin’s Campbell Field is one of those stadiums every high school football fan should visit at least once. And there’s the same warning about the scarcity of parking around this neighborhood field. If you’re shut out of the lots adjacent to the field, consider parking at Rotary Park, the Little League baseball complex located just across Lynn Camp Creek. Cross the bridge on Barbourville Street, then turn right on Wilson Avenue to reach the park’s parking lot. Or if you’re crossing the creek on Roy Kidd Avenue or Master Street, turn right on Ford, left on Barbourville, then right on Wilson.
And if you’re hoping to follow the Kentucky-Louisville game on radio before or during the Danville game, try 680 AM or 107.3 FM (Corbin), 103.9 FM (London) or 104.3 FM (Williamsburg).
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A scheduling anomaly finds every Advocate-area team playing out of town this week. Conversely, every local team that plays next week — Boyle County is off — will play at home. Just one of those strange things. So we’ll look to Lexington and Paris tonight, where Mercer County and Casey County face tough tests against Lafayette and Bourbon County, respectively, and to Berea, where Lincoln County will be favored against struggling Madison Southern.
Garrard County got an early start on this week’s games and fell to 0-3 with a 46-22 loss at West Jessamine. The Golden Lions have now allowed 146 points and 1,548 yards in their three games.
I was a perfect 6-for-6 on last week’s predictions and got last night’s game right, so I’ll try to keep rolling with the rest of this week’s picks:
- Bourbon County over Casey County.
- Lafayette over Mercer County.
- Lincoln County over Madison Southern.
- Boyle County over Corbin (Saturday).
- Danville over Pikeville (Saturday).
Last week: 6-0; season: 10-2 (.833).
