[Fly Like a Duck]

MERCER COUNTY
YEAR: CLASS (RECORD)
2005: 2-A (10-2) ... this was the last season prior to merger, Harrodsburg was 3-8 in class 1-A that season
2006: 2-A (15-0) ... first year of merger
2007: 5-A (5-6)
2008: 5-A (6-6)
2009: 5-A (1-10)
2010: 5-A (3-8)
2011: 4-A (5-7)
2012: 4-A (6-5)
2013: 4-A (8-5)

To be fair, Mercer would have been a top-10 2-A team in 2006 with or WITHOUT the Harrodsburg kids. Merger put them over the top. Mercer was 10-2 the season before the merger.

Mercer has also had several coaching changes the last 8 seasons.

But yeah, not many shed a tear when Mercer got moved up a class and IMMEDIATELY struggled.

Down in SOKY/WKY, people are wondering if South Warren will have "staying power" in a larger class (especially since the school it split from, Greenwood, is rather mediocre in football to be blunt, at least compared to BG and even Warren Central).

Yep.

And, what most don't realize is 8 or 9 of those kids on defense in 2006 were all Mercer County kids. Their defense that year was as lights out as their offense was at scoring.

I would have liked to have seen two things that year:

1) How they would have done in 3A. Gotten past Bowling Green? Who knows. It would have been a heck of a game, I know that.

2) How they would have done in 2A. Part of me thinks they would have gotten to the finals..won it, who knows? I saw their two games vs. Larue County in the region finals that year and vs. Owensboro Catholic in the semis & they were nothing short of pistol whippings to be honest. Upfront, on defense and the kids that shined those games from an offensive standpoint were the fullback who was a Mercer County kid and the QB who was a Mercer County kid.

The fell off in 2007, but won their 5A district in 08. While they went 5-6 that year, they did have one really good win vs. a Greenville, TN team who was and still is a 4A power down there (they were 4A Semifinalists in TN that year), only to lose to them by a TD in 2008 @ their place.

Their margin of defeat in those two years was ridiculous, too. In 2007, they lost something like 5 of their 6 ballgames by 16 or 17 points. They were literally 5 plays away from a 10-0 2007 season as crazy as they may sound.....2 point loss, three point loss, five point loss, two point, one point. Crazy. The same in 2008 when they were 5A district champs, including a 1 point loss in the 2nd round on a FG with time running out.

I've always found it funny how Harlan County was playing down a couple classes their first two years before being bumped to 5A ( I think they were 3A their first couple years after merger). Granted they were 3A and went to 5, where Mercer was 2A (still the four class system when they won it), then went to 5. Two classes too big, three classes to big...green jacket, yellow jacket...who gives a Sh1t. lol Funny how some react to those who win it all and those who don't.