Making postseason predictions before the season starts is very difficult, so I generally stay away from them.
But making postseason predictions after I’ve seen everybody play seven games? I’m up for that.
Let’s start with the most popular football team around these parts.
A week ago I would have said, with very little reservation, Covington was going to go 10-0 in the regular season and make it to the state semifinals.
Now, of course, we know the Chargers are not going to go 10-0 after falling to Milan last week.
What now? If Covington loses to first-place South Gibson next week, Covington will probably finish third in the region and travel in the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2016. Should Charger fans be worried?
Nah.
Back when Covington head coach J.R. Kirby was the coach at Munford, T-shirts were printed up and sold that said, “J.R. Kirby for President.” While I’m not sure he’s ready for a job in the Oval Office, I believe he’s one of the best coaches around and I think he’ll very quickly figure out what went wrong last week.
My prediction is Covington takes care of South Gibson next week, goes 9-1, gets the first seed out of the region and makes a deep playoff run.
Down the highway in Munford, the Cougars made a big impression on a lot of high school football observers – including me – by handing Ridgeway its first region loss of the season last Friday.
Munford now has a chance to win the region. Will they do it?
I’d like to say yes, but my prediction is no.
Even if they win out, which is a tall order considering Kirby (ranked eighth in the state in Class 5A) and Evangelical Christian School (ranked first in the state in DII-AA), remain on the schedule, they could lose a tiebreaker to Southwind, which beat Munford earlier in the season.
With all that said, Munford head coach Nick Markle has done an amazing job of righting the ship after a slow start and getting the Cougars in position to get a first-round playoff game at home.
Munford will have to finish second in the region to make that happen, and that’s my prediction for them.
Brighton is in a tough spot.
The Cardinals will have to win their remaining games against Southwind, Ridgeway and Overton to have a chance at the playoffs, and that may not even be enough. A hard-fought 17-14 loss to Munford in Week 5 is probably going to be the reason Brighton will miss the playoffs, which is my prediction.
Predicting Rosemark’s postseason future is probably the easiest one.
After an impressive win against Trinity Christian Academy last week, barring some very crazy things happening, Rosemark is in the playoffs for the seventh straight season.
If the Rebels can beat Clarksville Academy and Columbia Academy, the next two teams on the schedule, Rosemark will earn a five seed in the state playoffs.
I think they’ll do it.
And one last prediction: The Rebels will travel to Mt. Juliet on Nov. 8 and win a playoff game for the first time since 2004.
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