[Hoot Gibson]

CCH crushed Ashlands last year and are much better this year. That means Ashland would have had to improve tremendously to beat CCH this year. I am not saying they can't win, but they are the underdogs in this game. This is going to be a very exciting game to follow tonight.

Ashland suffered some key injuries that contributed to a late season collapse last year. Johnson Central bolted to a big lead within the first two or three minutes of the game against the Tomcats but Ashland closed the gap and played the Golden Eagles pretty evenly the rest of the way.

The gap between last year's Ashland team and Covington Catholic was not as big as you think. The Tomcats are healthy this season, they returned a lot of talented players, and unlike last season, they entered the playoffs with plenty of momentum. Maybe the result will be the same as last season, but Ashland is very capable of winning this game.