Greyhounds drop one spot to No. 6 in latest 1A Kentucky High School Football Media Poll

Paris will lockup a home playoff game with a win over Fairview tonight on Coach Tyquan Rice’s birthday

 

IVAN K. RICE I doctorofsports@aol.com

 

LOUISVILLE – Coach Tyquan Rice’s Paris Greyhounds, freshly off a 43-13 defeat at the hands of top ranked Raceland, moved down one spot following their first loss of the season in this week’s Kentucky High School Football Media Poll. Moving into Paris’ spot was undefeated Lexington Sayre (8-0), a potential future playoff opponent for the Rice’s Hounds.

Paris (7-1, 1-1) trailed Raceland 14-7 midway through the third quarter but the Rams (6-2, 2-0), showing why they’re ranked No. 1, pulled away from there after wearing down the determined Greyhounds.

Barring a miracle by Nicholas County (3-5, 1-1) this evening in Carlisle, the Rams should win the district title tonight and secure home games for at least the first three rounds of the of the 1A state playoffs.

Tonight, the Greyhounds, on their head coach’s birthday, will try to lockup the No. 2 seed in the district and secure a home playoff game when they play host to the Fairview Eagles (2-7, 0-2) at Banton Collier Stadium’s Burl Clark Field. The Hounds and Eagles last played back in 2015 when Paris defeated them 44-38 in the second round of the state 1A playoffs. Fairview’s won the last 7 out of 9 meetings between the two schools.

For Paris, freshman QB1 Julius “JuJu” Gregory, after taking over for injured QB1 Kaden Frederick at the beginning of the season, has completed 61 of his 110 pass attempts for 998 yards. He’s thrown 12 touchdowns, while being picked off 4 times.

Senior workhorse Jaiden Holman leads the Hounds rushing attack with 667 yards on 59 attempts, scoring 6 touchdowns and running in three two-point conversions.

Junior playmaker Elijah Webb tops the Greyhounds’ receiving crew with 16 catches for a team-best 332 yards and 6 touchdowns. Webb is second on the team in scoring with 78 points, where he has scored a team-high 13 touchdowns and 4 two-point conversions.

Senior all-everything back/receiver Jakari “Kari” Ransom, who made a spectacular one handed snag against Raceland where the video made its way around different social media sites, has a team-high 27 catches for 332 yards and 3 touchdowns. He’s also rushed the ball 71 times for 391 yards and 7 touchdowns. Ransom leads the team in scoring with 80 points, where he has scored a total of 12 touchdowns and 4 two-point conversions.

Junior Preston Cowan leads the team with 83 total tackles and 20 of those have went for a loss, including 6 quarterback sacks. Senior Zian Webb is second behind Cowan with 68 total hits, 17 that have gone for a loss, along with a team-high 10 quarterback sacks. Senior Brandon Cruz is the team’s third leading tackler with 62 (8 went for a loss). Rounding out the tackle leaders are junior Christian Johnson (49 total hits, 6 for a loss), Ransom (40 total hits, 8 for a loss) senior Cordre Patterson (38 total hits, 10 for a loss, 4 sacks), and Holman (37 total tackles).

Webb leads the team with 4 interceptions and Ransom has 3, while freshman Donovan Griggs, who leads the team in fumble recoviries, has returned an interception and fumble back for a touchdown.

A total of 23 sports journalists from across Kentucky returned ballots for this week’s poll. The poll will be released each Wednesday morning throughout the regular season.

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Here are the complete polls. First-place votes are in parentheses.

Class 6A  Rank-school (FPV)   

1. Male (23)
2. Trinity
3. Manual
4. Frederick Douglass
5. St. Xavier
6. Bullitt East
7. Bryan Station
8. Ballard
9. Simon Kenton
10. Pleasure Ridge Park

Others receiving votes: Ryle 14, Fern Creek 2, Tates Creek 2, Meade County 1.

Class 5A  Rank-school (FPV) 

1. Bowling Green (17)
2. Highlands (4)
3. South Warren
4. Scott County (2)
5. Cooper
6. Owensboro
7. Woodford County
8. Southwestern
9. Greenwood
10. Atherton

Others receiving votes: South Oldham 11, Dixie Heights 9, West Jessamine 7, Moore 3, Graves County 2, Grayson County 2, Collins 1, Madisonville-North Hopkins 1, North Laurel 1.

Class 4A  Rank-school (FPV) 

1. Boyle County (22)
2. Corbin (1)
3. Covington Catholic
4. Paducah Tilghman
5. Franklin County
6. Ashland Blazer
7. Taylor County
8. Johnson Central
9. DeSales
10. Logan County

Others receiving votes: Jeffersontown 8, North Oldham 8, Whitley County 4, Mason County 2.

Class 3A  Rank-school (FPV)  

1. Christian Academy (23)
2. Lexington Catholic
3. Union County
4. Louisville Central
5. Bell County
6. Hart County
7. Franklin-Simpson
8. Lloyd Memorial
9. Rockcastle County
10. Mercer County

Others receiving votes: Belfry 40, Glasgow 7, Lawrence County 1, McLean County 1.

Class 2A  Rank-school (FPV) 

1. Lexington Christian (22)
2. Beechwood (1)
3. Owensboro Catholic
4. Mayfield
5. Green County
6. Somerset
7. Murray
8. Shelby Valley
9. Washington County
10. Crittenden County

Others receiving votes: Betsy Layne 26, Carroll County 5, Floyd Central 2.

Class A  Rank-school (FPV)

1. Raceland (21)
2. Pikeville
3. Campbellsville (2)
4. Kentucky Country Day
5. Sayre
6. Paris
7. Newport Central Catholic
8. Bethlehem
9. Middlesboro
10. Newport

Others receiving votes: Louisville Holy Cross 14, Eminence 2.

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Voters: Chelsea Parker (The Paducah Sun), Scott Brown (YourSportsEdge.com), Edward Marlowe (WKDZ-FM), Mark Mathis (Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer), Micheal Compton (Bowling Green Daily News), Kaden Gaylord-Day (WBKO-TV), Josh Claywell (The Kentucky Standard, LaRue County Herald News), Dominique Yates (WLKY-TV), Brooks Holton (The Courier Journal), Jason Frakes (The Courier Journal), Kent Spencer (WHAS-TV), James Weber (Cincinnati Enquirer), Brendan Connelly (Cincinnati Enquirer), Evan Dennison (LinkNKy.com), Ivan K. Rice (Bourbon County Citizen), Jared Peck (Lexington Herald-Leader), Brian Milam (WKYT-TV), Mike Marsee (Danville freelancer), Les Dixon (13thRegionMediaNetwork.com), Nate Johnson (WYMT-TV), Steve LeMaster (Floyd County Chronicle), Randy White (Pikeville Appalachian News-Express), Matthew Sparks (Ashland Daily Independent).

ALL PHOTOS TAKEN BY THE PARIS SCHOOLS’ MEDIA CLASS