Class 3A football playoffs: Will the true state finals be played a week early?

If ratings are to be taken seriously, the Class 3A championship game will actually staged a week ahead of its scheduled start time Dec. 3 at Western Kentucky University.

Belfry and Corbin, the class of the class all season along, should clash for a state finals berth in Knox County on Nov. 25. The No. 1 Pirates — ranked ninth in the statewide Cantrall Ratings — are favored to defeat the No. 2 Redhounds, ranked 24th among all teams. Both teams have lost just one game this season — Belfry to Tennessee titan Knoxville Catholic and Corbin by one point to Mayfield, the favorite to repeat as Class 2A champ.

The Pirates, who boast four offensive lineman with Division I offers, take a 26-game win streak against Kentucky opponents into their first-round matchup with Bath County. They’ll seek their seventh straight title-game appearance and look to become the first school from Eastern Kentucky to win four consecutive titles. They’re favored to meet Lexington Catholic in the true state finals, an opponent they 43-0 in last year’s finals to match a three-year run by mountain schools first accomplished by Pikeville from 1987-1989.

Lexington Catholic’s 5-5 record is somewhat misleading as all five losses were to teams ranked in top 25 and in higher classes than the Knights, who have bludgeoned like competition. They’re coming off a thrilling win over Southwestern, a Class 5A contender, in which kicker Connor Fry hit a game-winning field goal as time expired.

LexCath, ranked third in Class 3A and within shouting distance of the top 25, starts off against Waggener in the first round before a likely bout with Bardstown. It would then face either district mate Boyle County or Central, another team whose record is riddled with deceptive losses, in the regional round.

Should the Knights advance to the state semifinals, they likely would be waiting for Caldwell County to make a three-hour drive from Princeton to Lexington. Tigers junior Shane Burns is among the top-ten passers in the state, having thrown 2,407 yards and 30 touchdowns with only seven interceptions this season.

Lexington Catholic has started to involve freshman quarterback Beau Allen more in its offense. Allen has thrown for 754 yards and 10 TDs on just 88 pass attempts in seven games. He and senior Kirk Fagot (1,247 yards, 13 TDs) have both seen the field down the stretch.

This story was originally published November 1, 2016 at 7:37 PM with the headline "Class 3A football playoffs: Will the true state finals be played a week early?."