Football Friday ... playoffs, opening round

What's the best playoff race to watch in western Kentucky? In all likelihood, it's the Class 4A regional playoff picture, which looks as wide-open as any we've seen in several years. At first glance, there appear to be three solid teams in both districts, and only the Allen County-Muhlenberg North game looks like a sure blowout.

“(Hopkins Central coach Rick Snodgrass) said last week that he thinks our district is better than theirs,” Lone Oak coach Jack Haskins said. “I told him I would let him know (tonight) when all the games are over.”

The best game on the docket should be Hopkins Central’s visit to Franklin-Simpson, which is coached by Mayfield native Tim Schlosser and has a breathtaking athlete in quarterback-defensive back Courtney Dalcourt, who is being courted by several BCS programs. The Storm does have some health issues, though — linebacker Dustin Grant is out with a knee injury and quarterback Jacob Powell hasn’t played since suffering a high ankle sprain on a fourth-quarter punt return against Calloway County three weeks ago.

If the seedings hold, Franklin-Simpson would visit Calloway County in the second round, with Lone Oak heading to Allen County.

Lone Oak fans should note that this could be the Purple Flash's only home playoff game. The only scenario that favors a return to Flash Field is if it met Hopkins Central in the regional final. More likely scenarios would send Lone Oak to either Calloway or Franklin-Simpson.

The Class of A?: Crittenden County coach Al Starnes made an interesting trip to Louisville last week witho his Rockets enjoying their off-week. He took in a half of the game involving Kentucky Country Day, who the Rockets host tonight, and North Oldham, then went to watch Holy Cross — a potential third-round opponent — get squashed by Class 5A power Doss.

Starnes' assessment of Holy Cross? According to someone close to Starnes, he came away feeling that Mayfield had a decent shot to knock off Holy Cross, even on the road. That will entail a much more mistake-free performance than the Cardinals turned in last week, a six-turnover effort in a 35-7 loss to Caldwell County.

Check back next week. We'll be sure and get Starnes' take on the projected Mayfield-Holy Cross battle.

Elsewhere, Ballard Memorial is hoping for a return shot at Crittenden. The Bombers are favored to beat Caverna, which would assure them of at least a .500 record at worst and represent their first playoff win since 2002.

Tornado-less 3A: With Paducah Tilghman out of the playoff picture, the mantle of favorite probably belongs to Russellville, which is coached by former Mayfield assistant John Myers. When Myers left Monroe County for Russellville four years ago, a lot of us in western Kentucky figured he would get the Panthers back to prominence fairly soon.

He's certainly done that, even with Russellville playing up two classes for travel reasons — in the original six-class alignment, the Panthers were placed in the Class A district with Mayfield, Crittenden County, Ballard Memorial, Fulton City and Fulton County. Myers opted to play in Class 3A since their other district rivals are scattered throughout southern Kentucky.

Russellville won the district title last year and was competitive with eventual state champion Louisville Central in the quarterfinals, trailing by a single touchdown after three quarters in a 48-28 loss.

Union County could get between Russellville and a regional title, as could Butler County, which was beaten 28-21 by the Panthers in triple-overtime earlier this season.

6A sweep?: Could District 1 get swept by the schools from the east side of Louisville? Possibly.

Expect Graves County to get plastered by defending three-time state champion Trinity and few people expect Madisonville to win at Eastern. The two traveling Louisville schools face interesting games — Seneca plays at Daviess County and Ballard ventures to Henderson County. Both games look like they could easily be in doubt in the fourth quarter.