Mason County at Ashland

The Mason County Royals play the Ashland Tomcats in the first round of the Class AAA football playoffs tonight in historic Putnam Stadium in Ashland. The Tomcats outscored the Royals 14-0 in the second half to win the regular season game 20-13 October 6th at Mason County. Here's what the two teams have done since that game:

Mason County

Oct. 13 Greenup Co. Away Won 7-0
Oct. 20 Lawrence Co. Home Won 45-6
Oct. 27 Johnson Central Home Lost 40-0

Ashland

Oct. 13 Lawrence Co. Home Won 38-6
Oct. 20 Johnson Central Away Lost 35-7
Oct. 27 Boyd Co. Home Won 28-21

Here's how the two teams rank in this week's Class AAA statistics from the KHSAA:

Mason County:

15th in scoring defense, 18.1 points per game;
13th in passing defense, 94.3 yards per game;

Ashland:

13th in scoring defense, 17.6 points per game;
15th in scoring margin, 9.3 points per game;
13th in rushing, 217 yards per game;
19th ine rushing defense, 174.4 yards per game;
4th in passing defense, 70.9 yards per game;

Matt Thomas, 16th in rushing, 110.6 yards per game;
Drew McDavid, 17th in receiving yards per game, 47;

Barring an upset of epic proportions in the Johnson Central-Boyd County, the winner of tonight's Mason County-Ashland game will travel to Paintsville to play Johnson Central next week in the second round. Johnson Central routed Boyd County 63-12 in the regular season.