Fleming County’s Zeke Conn and the Panthers will go for a third straight district championship when they host Mason County on Friday at 7:30 p.m. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
Mason County quarterback Keshaun Thomas and the Royals head to Flemingsburg on Friday hoping to snap a nine-game losing streak to the Panthers. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)
Obviously the first matter at hand is winning on Friday for Mason County and Fleming County.
Now what happens after that still needs to be cleared up and won’t be until late Friday night.
Whoever comes out as the district champion is certain to have a road game in week three of the playoffs for a region championship.
The question begs, will it be in Grayson, Log Mountain or Ashland?
The easiest answer is Grayson if East Carter can beat Ashland Blazer on Friday in the Class 3A, 7th District championship. The Raiders have the highest RPI out of Districts 5-8 left, meaning they’ll be hosting next week. Now if the Raiders lose and Bell County defeats Rockcastle County in the 3A, 5th District championship, a trip to take on the Bobcats then looms. If the outside chance that Bell County is upset and Ashland defeats East Carter, a trip to Putnam Stadium will then commence.
So basically there’s three games to keep an eye on in Class 3A: Mason County at Fleming County, Ashland Blazer at East Carter and Rockcastle County at Bell County.
The other 3A matchup in Districts 5-8 is Lawrence County at Belfry, who the Mason-Fleming winner will have no chance at facing. The winner of that matchup will then play on the road depending what happens in the East-Ashland and Bell-Rockcastle games.
After regional championship games, the bracket then resets as each class is down to the final four teams. RPI’s will then determine who hosts with the top two RPI rated teams hosting the low two RPI teams.
The other district championships in Districts 1-4 are:
1st District — Paducah Tilghman at Union County
2nd District — Taylor County at Glasgow
3rd District — LaRue County at Bardstown
4th District — Mercer County at Christian Academy-Louisville
Of the remaining 16 teams in 3A, here is the RPI ranks:
1. CAL (.71210)
2. Glasgow (.70433)
3. Bardstown (.68697)
4. Mercer County (.64675)
5. East Carter (.63931)
6. Union County (.63577)
7. Taylor County (.63086)
8. Bell County (.61275)
10. Ashland (.58382)
12. Lawrence County (.56544)
14. Belfry (.52377)
15. Paducah Tilghman (.50560)
16. Fleming County (.50443)
17. Rockcastle County (.50401)
22. Mason County (.48344)
25. LaRue County (.46800)
Assuming the higher rated RPI teams wins their next two games, semifinal matchups would be:
Bell County at CAL
East Carter at Glasgow
Lot of football to be played between now and then.
