Week Five Thoughts

District play got off to a roaring start this past weekend, and there were several district finishes that, at the very least, surprised me.

--Montgomery County came in winless against highly-ranked Madison Central, but the Indians of Montgomery gave their fellow Indians of Central a big surprise. In probably the biggest upset of the weekend, Montgomery County beat Madison Central 27-21. The 8th District of Class 4A is now wide open. George Rogers Clark hasn't been dominating, both the Laurels are solid, Lincoln County has surprised, and now Montgomery County proves they can be the predicted favorite Madison Central. Should be a fun district race to watch.

--Meanwhile, up north, parity is abound in Classes A and 4A. The biggest surprise came from Covington Holy Cross, which "upset" Newport Central Catholic 10-7. Catholic (like Boyle County) falls to 1-4 on the season. Holy Cross jumps to the district lead, but Beechwood will be a factor too, and Ludlow, Bellevue and Dayton can be contenders. But don't count out NCC yet. Up in 4A, District 6 is even more wide open. Ryle, Holmes, Boone County and Dixie Heights all won district openers, but Conner, Simon Kenton and Campbell County all could contend. It looks like only Scott will not be a factor in District 6.

--There's many districts out there that pretty much are decided by two teams, and in many instances, those two teams played this weekend. In Class A, Lexington Christian took down a very hot Raceland team. Also in Class A, Bardstown proved it might be Danville's match by taking care of Louisville Holy Cross. Central all but wrapped up its district (Class 3A, District 3) by sneaking past North Bullitt. Lexington Catholic scored another win for the Lexington schools by outlasting Franklin County. Finally, Henry Clay won one for the ages as the Blue Devils slid past Scott County. Most, but not all, of these games will be replayed in the second round of the playoffs at the game site of this week's winners.

Now some general thoughts from this weekend...

--Elizabethtown wasn't represented well this weekend. For one, Elizabethtown played flat in a 15-0 district loss to, of all teams, Washington County. North Hardin dropped a tough 10-3 decision to Henderson County. John Hardin played well with an undefeated Apollo team, but fell in the end 18-13. And Central Hardin lost to Iroquois 24-20. For this season, those four teams are a combined 7-11.

--Warren East plays Bowling Green in two weeks. I think the Raiders will play well against the Purples, but they'll still lose by 20+ points. Bowling Green is absurdly good.

--District 1 in 2A will be fun to watch. Webster County won their first two district games. Caldwell County is off to a great start. Lone Oak will be solid. Fort Campbell is highly ranked. And despite a tough loss to Fort Campbell this week, Trigg County will be back.

--Boyle County and Newport Central Catholic are both 1-4, but both will still make the playoffs and both will make deep runs once they get there. All the talk about Boyle County going south, it's bull. They've lost to Danville, Henry Clay, Mercer County and Lafayette. Two probable state champions and two VERY good 4A teams there.

--Speaking of Henry Clay, I think the Blue Devils can hang with The Big Three in 4A. As for PRP, well let's let the next three weeks decide: at Central, Male, at St. Xavier.

--Somerset picked up their first win on Friday against Cumberland. They might not lose again until the third round of the playoffs.

--KHSAA's move to push back the start of the football regular season is good and bad. Good: one less week to swelter through in August. Bad: one more week that overlaps the start of high school basketball.