Poll watching ... Reidland?

Earlier today, a sports editor from a Kentucky newspaper sent me an online message: "Did you vote for Reidland in the (Associated Press) poll?"

The answer: a quick, succinct "no" ... and then the thought hit me: Who in the world is voting for Reidland?

I'm guessing this is how it happened. The Associated Press poll, of which The Paducah Sun is a faithful voting member, uses what I call a drop-down menu to register votes in each class. There is a slot to vote for each team in the top 10, and the voter scrolls down to click on the appropriate school.

Reidland, as it turns out, is (in alphabetical order) between two teams that are ranked in the top 10 — fourth-ranked Prestonsburg, which is 4-0 and a legitimate possibility to reach the state championship game, and upstart Shelby Valley, which is 2-1 and ranked 10th.

It's a good bet that someone intended to give Shelby Valley a 9th-place vote, which earns two points, and accidentally clicked on the Greyhounds.

In any case, the AP poll regularly provokes questions of legtimacy and homerism.

How in the world is Henry County getting a first-place vote in Class 3A? This is, after all, the same club that was thumped by Paducah Tilghman in the state quarterfinals this year. Yes, Henry is 4-0 and outscored its opponents 206-0, but the Wildcats have played an incredibly weak early-season schedule. Henry is a legitimate top-10 team, but there is no way it deserves to be ranked above Louisville Central and Belfry, last year's two state finalists.

The AP poll regularly gets hit with criticism of such things, and justifiably so in many cases. With that in mind, I'm going to reprint the BluegrassPreps.com poll each week. It used to be a regular staple of our Friday football package, but has been shelved because of space concerns.

Frankly, the BGP poll is probably the most accurate human-produced rankings out there, usually the only one that rivals the numbers-generated systems (Cantrall, Massey and Litkenhous) for accuracy.

Here is this week's BGP poll:

Class A

1. Beechwood
2. Lexington Christian
3. Hazard
4. Raceland
5. Bellevue
6. Frankfort
7. Louisville
8. Mayfield
9. Campbellsville
10. Fairview

Class 2A

1. Fort Campbell
2. Newport Catholic
3. Prestonsburg
4. Danville
5. Corbin
6. Green County
7. Owensboro Catholic
8. Monroe County
9. Middlesboro
10. Washington County

Class 3A

1. Central
2. Belfry
3. Breathitt County
4. Mason County
5. Harlan County
6. Russell
7. Sheldon Clark
8. Paducah Tilghman
9. Henry County
10. Estill County

Class 4A

1. Bell County
2. Boyle County
3. Lexington Catholic
4. North Bullitt
5. Lone Oak
6. Allen County
7. Calloway County
8. Warren East
9. Franklin-Simpson
10. Hopkins Central


Class 5A

1. Fort Thomas Highlands
2. Bowling Green
3. John Hardin
4. Owensboro
5. Mercer County
6. Johnson Central
7. Covington Catholic
8. Woodford County
9. Hopkinsville
10. Christian County


Class 6A

1. Louisville St. Xavier
1. Louisville Trinity
3. Louisville Manual
4. Madison Central
5. Scott County
6. Boone County
7. Louisville Male
8. Louisville Seneca
9. Daviess County
10. Henderson County