More football musings ...

Lone Oak's breakthrough win over Lexington Catholic overshadowed one glaring problem in the Purple Flash's defense — a secondary that was ripped to shreds, particularly during Lexington Catholic's fourth-quarter comeback that erased a 22-point deficit.

"We've got time to work on that," Lone Oak coach Jack Haskins said. "I'm just glad we were able to overcome that."

The Flash rotated several people in and out of the secondary throughout the evening, and tonight's game with Caldwell County's spread offense could show whether or not some improvement was made this week. Calloway County showed a solid passing game with freshman quarterback Tyler Greer in last week's 50-33 loss to Mayfield, and it's the Lakers that are the only thing standing between Lone Oak and a Class 3A district title. The two renew their deliciously fierce rivalry in three weeks.

If Lone Oak survives the visit to Lakerland and knocks off Class 2A power Green County, chances are the Flash will be 12-0 when Allen County rolls into town in the third week of the playoffs.

Haskins a builder: Is there any doubt that no coach in western Kentucky can turn around a program like Lone Oak's Jack Haskins?

Nearly four decades ago, he took Heath's program to the varsity level and had the Pirates in the Class A state championship game in five seasons. Two years ago, he took Lone Oak to the Class 4A state finals in his fourth season in purple.

The guy also won big at Ballard Memorial, a program that enjoyed very little success before or since his tenure.

It brings to mind a bet I had with a longtime Heath supporter some five years ago, just after Haskins left Graves County to take the Lone Oak job. The guy has a great deal of respect for Haskins, but bet me that he wouldn't post a winning record at Lone Oak. Haskins went 6-5 in his first year at Lone Oak, and his teams are now 45-18 there. Needless to say, I collected on that bet long ago.

Amazing for a program that, when he took over, had just one winning season since 1984.

More offensive: Graves County coach Lance Gregory, who was the defensive coordinator at John Hardin before taking over the Eagles last spring, admits he stressed defense early in preseason practice "because my thinking is that's where you win games."

Brad Lawson, the former defensive coordinator at Mayfield and Paducah Tilghman, handles that responsibility for the Eagles, and Gregory runs the Wing-T offense he inherited from predecessor Mike Rogers. Gregory has plenty of familiarity with the offense from his time at John Hardin, which is coached by Wing-T guru and former Rogers mentor Mark Brown.

As Gregory has grown into the role, so has the Eagles' offense. They scored 10 points in the opener, a turnover-marred win over Trigg County, then put up 28 against winless Muhlenberg County and 26 in last week's win over Tilghman.

"I spent eight years coaching the offensive line (at John Hardin), so I understand how defenses approach it," Gregory said. "It made this a lot easier transition."

Chasing perfection: Could Mayfield and Crittenden County both tote unbeaten records into their Week 9 game at Marion? Both figure to be 8-0 and playing for the Class A district title.

If the Rockets could pull out the win, they could stage a similar battle the next week against Murray, which has an excellent chance to put together that school's first unbeaten regular-season mark.