Class 2A extras ...

It's two days down and four to go in The Paducah Sun's football playoff preview series. Today we focus on the Class 2A district race in far western Kentucky, which may be one of the most wide-open in the area.

Who's the favorite? Trigg County gets the nod here, although Caldwell County has some experienced hands back from Tigers squads that have beaten Trigg in each of the last two regular-season meetings. And no one will be surprised if Murray makes a run under new head coach Steve Duncan, who was credited with a big part of Lone Oak's turnaround last year as the Purple Flash's offensive coordinator.

One thing we do know ... none of these teams will be favored to advance to the state semifinals. That distinction goes to defending state champion Fort Campbell, which returns 11 starters but could face a challenge from perennial power Owensboro Catholic.

We could get an early preview of some of those potential playoff matchups on Halloween night, when Murray visits Owensboro Catholic in its regular-season finale and Trigg hits the road to try and avenge last season's 59-7 loss to Fort Campbell.

• There were two primary reasons for Trigg County's defensive struggles a year ago — injuries forced the Wildcats into putting some young and inexperienced players on the field, and the defense struggled to find an identity thanks to a change in schemes.

When Trigg went back to the high-pressure scheme favored by former coach Curtis Higgins, the defense straightened out a bit. Shannon Burcham, who was once Higgins' defensive coordinator, will keep the same approach although he intends to rotate coverages in the secondary, unlike Higgins' favored press man-to-man coverage.

"It fits our personnel better," Burcham said. "We were so young last year, and people kept breaking stuff on us over the top."

Foremost among the changes — several players will go both ways, either more so than they have in the past or for the first time. Brandon Bridges, a three-year starter in the backfield, will play linebacker for the first time in his career. Quarterback Donald Bush, a returnee at linebacker, "will play (both way) more than anybody." That list also includes running back Antonio Grubbs at linebacker and receiver Will Stagner at defensive end.

The defense will be sorely tested. Hopkinsville, the Wildcats' opening-night opponent, looks to be much improved from last season, and Christian County — generally considered a top-10 team in Class 5A — looms large in late October.

• One of the characteristics of David Barnes' first two teams at Caldwell County has been a slow start. In both seasons, it took the Tigers about three or four weeks to iron out some early-season problems.

For several reasons, Barnes thinks his team can avoid it this year.

"We didn't tackle well in our first scrimmage, but we'll work on that," Barnes said. "And a big positive is that our guys are experienced in running the (spread) offense — several of them have already played a lot, even if they're just now (first-time starters)."

Sophomore Brandon Sigler was moved from a slot receiver position to running back "and feels more comfortable where he's at," Barnes said, and speedy Marcus Wimbleduff makes the opposite move. And, of course, Caldwell has a coach-on-the-field type in quarterback Will Barnes, the coach's son.

Caldwell also has skill-position depth. Barnes plans to use linebacker Kody McGregor at several positions. "We can move him around and he's a guy that we need to get the ball to," said Barnes, who also expects linebacker John Paul Boitnott and defensive lineman Tron Gray to spell his offensive regulars. "Kody can help us give a lot of those guys some rest, because they're playing defense, too."

• Murray coach Steve Duncan says he will run some spread offense and some out of the wishbone set, but the Tigers have been run-oriented in preseason scrimmages.

Jamie King, one of the area's best tailbacks, will be the Tigers' primary playmaker.

"He's really good at following blocks and seeing the field," Duncan said of King, who will also see some action at defensive end. "We've got some good athletes to get the ball to, and I'd like to be a 50-50 (run-pass) kind of team."

Zach Buck will move from the offensive line to tight end, giving quarterback Jordan Garland a big target. The defense got some move-in help from sophomore Christian Duncan, the coach's son. He will start in the secondary.

Duncan also wonders if his team will be ready for the "meat of our schedule in the first five games." Archrival Calloway County is the opener, and the Tigers take on district rivals Trigg County and Caldwell County — ranked by most as the top two teams in the district — in mid-September. Indeed, under the scheduling grid adopted by the Kentucky High School Athletic Association a year ago, Murray will play three of its district opponents in the first five games of the season.

• Wags often joked the last three seasons that Heath's primary three offensive plays were "(Chad) Wright left, Wright right and Wright up the middle."

Wright, now playing baseball at the University of Kentucky, ran for more than 5,700 yards and scored 55 touchdowns in that span, and gone with him is a big chunk of the Pirates' offense. Assuming his role is sophomore Jacob Lynn, who filled in well when Wright battled a shoulder injury at times last fall.

"He's comparable to Chad," new coach Cory Tilford said. "He's got good vision and patience, he's strong and he's hard to bring down. He's 5-9 and about 200 pounds."

Heath's spread attack will certainly diversify things. Quarterback Tra Tharp has great speed and quickness and has adapted to his new role quicker than Tilford expected. "Early on, he had happy feet," Tilford said. "Now he waits and takes off in the right direction instead of just trying to get outside. Teams will have to honor his ability to run."

• Reidland coach Jeff Sturm, whose team was down to less than 20 players at the end of last season, worked the halls over the winter and coaxed some former players to come back out for the program.

"Those guys can really set the tone for us by being more aggressive," Sturm said.

Offensively, Sturm feels the Greyhounds have a good mix of power backs (Kenny Turner and David Perry) to go with "(Carlos) Rayburn and (Devin) Forbis, who we can slide back there for a little more speed. We're still young up front, though. If we can block, we can have some success."