It’s that time of the year again. A time when all the hard work of a season culminates into a chance to play in the State Championship. Every team starts the season out with the hope that this is “their year”. Unfortunately at the end of the season, only 12 teams will vie for 6 Championship titles. This season has has it’s surprises as well as the common story lines. Bell, Belfry, and Prestonsburg all played as expected and are at the tops of their Divisions. Johnson Central, Breathitt and Central all had rough starts to their respective seasons, but have each came on strong to finish their schedules.

East KY Media has ranked teams for the past couple years and have been close with our predictions.

Here is our Week 1 Ranks and how each team finished the season compared to our current rankings.

# 1     Rockcastle   4-6  Unranked (Lost 3 games by total of 14 pts)

# 2     Breathitt Co.   5-5 Unranked (Lost 5 in a row)

# 3     Prestonsburg     10-0  # 1 Ranked team

# 4     Letcher Central  8-2  #6 Ranked team

# 5     Belfry    7-3  #7 Ranked Team

# 6     Hazard  6-4 Unranked (Includes two upset loses to Breathitt & Clay)

# 7     Ashland Blazer  9-1 #4 Ranked Team

# 8     Sheldon Clark     6-4 Unranked (Beat Breathitt & Johnson Cent.)

# 9     Perry Central    7-3 #9 Ranked Team

#10    Pikeville  5-5 Unranked (Won 4 out of last 5 games)

Class 1A Tournament Notes: Mayfield, Allen Central & Lexington Christian all sport 9-1 records with Lexington Christian’sonly loss coming to 4A power Lexington Catholic. Allen Central and Lexington Christian are both on the same side of the bracket. Hazard who finished 6-4 is also on the same side of the bracket as Lexington Christian and Allen Central.  East KY Media pick for the finals: Lexington Christian vs. Mayfield.  Winner: Lexington Christian.

Class 2A Tournament Notes: Prestonsburg, Corbin and Shleby Valley will all fight out of the bottom bracket to see who will face Murray or Fort Campbell who both finished 10-0. Fort Campbell allowed only 67 points while posting 4 shutouts.  East KY Media pick for the finals: Fort Campbell vs. Prestonsburg. Winner: Fort Campbell.

Class 3A Tournament Notes: Probably the hardest division to gauge. The obvious picks are Central, Belfry or maybe Somerset & Mason County. There were only 12 3A teams to finish over .500 for the season. 24 teams finished at or below the .500 mark. Two of my favorites are in the latter class with Breathitt & Central both finishing 5-5. Somerset, Breathitt, Mason, Belfry, Sheldon Clark & Russell are all in the bottom bracket meaning some tough teams are not going to make it. I think after all the beating and banging, I think Central and Somerset may be left standing. East KY Media pick for the finals, Somerset vs Central. Winner: Central

Class 4A Tournament Notes: Allen County, Lawrence County, Boyle and Lone Oak all finished with a perfect regular season. Boyle finished the year giving up only 64 points and had 4 shutouts. The sleeper in this group appears to be Bell County. Bell finished 9-0 after an opening season loss to a Tennessee team. East KY Media pick for the Finals, Allen County vs Bell County. Winner Allen County

Class 5A Tournament Notes: Ashland Blazer, Johnson Central, Perry Central, Letcher Central & Harlan County are all in the lower breacket. Unfortunately for them, so is undefeated Highlands. John Hardin leads several tough teams in the upper bracket. John Hardin finished the year 10-0. East KY Media picks for finals, John Hardin vs Highlands. Winner: Highlands.

Class 6A Tournament Notes: St. Xavier and Simon Kenton lead the field of Class 6A schools. Both teams finished with 9-1 records. Both however are in the same bracket meaning one of the best will not make the championship game. Henry Clay, Male and Bryan Station head the lower bracket with some smashmouth football. East KY Media pick for finals, St. Xavier vs. Male. Winner St. Xavier.