Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declined to label Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocide” in an interview with Politico published Sunday, instead critiquing the question as a litmus test among Democrats.
Kentucky
Top 25 Kentucky high school football rankings (10/22/2024)
Week 9 of the Kentucky high school football season is in the rearview and the top 10 teams in the state remain unchanged after all 10 won their games on Friday night.
South Warren is the biggest riser this week following a 28-24 thriller on the road at Bowling Green, who dropped more than any other team in the latest Top 25.
Which other teams rose in the this week’s rankings and who else took a step back?
Here’s the complete breakdown of the elite Kentucky high school football teams heading into Week 10 of the 2024 season, as we see it.
The top-ranked Rebels went on the road and cruised to 8-0 with a 41-0 shutout at Lincoln County. They’ll be on the road again at Wayne County this week before closing the season out at home against Frederick Douglas.
A 48-14 win on the road over Boone County makes the Jaguars the first Top 25 team to reach 9-0. One more win at Dixie Heights this Friday is the final piece needed to complete a perfect regular season.
Tha Shamrocks picked up their second straight shutout with a 49-0 beatdown at Eastern. They’ve now allowed just three points in as many weeks.
Male shutout Fern Creek 17-0. The Bulldogs travel to face Bullit East this week before closing out the regular season at home against No. 7 DuPont Manual.
The Flyers tallied at least 45 points for the third consecutive game, blowing out Henry County 47-0.
The Blue Tornado put up 56 points on an opponent for the second time this season in their 56-6 win over Warren East. They have yet to score less than 41 points in a game this season.
The Crimsons won their second game in a row, topping Pleasure Ridge Park 40-14. They’ll host Meade County this week before a huge road showdown at No. 4 Male in the regular season finale.
St. Xavier picked up its fifth win with a 45-21 victory at Meade County.
A 44-0 win at Edmonson County has the Aces outscoring their opponents by a combined score 184- 6 of over their past four games.
The Raiders improved to 6-2 with a four-touchdown win against Great Crossing.
The Broncos added a nice win to their belt with a 24-6 victory at home over Bryan Station. They travel to face George Rogers Clark Friday before a massive showdown on the road at No. 1 Boyle County to wrap up the regular season.
Make it back-to-back shutouts for the Redhounds, who hosted Whitley County and hung seven touchdowns on them.
The Spartans jumped back into the Top 15 with a thrilling four-point win on the road against Bowling Green.
The Eagles beat W.E.B. DuBois by 36 points and have averaged 55 points over their last three games.
The Centurions suffered their worst defeat of the year with a 20-point loss on the road at Central. They didn’t fall too far though as all three losses have come against teams in the Top 25.
The Bluebirds rose one spot this week with a four-touchdown win at Conner.
Ashland Blazer dropped one spot following a bye week.
The Purples put up a great fight, but South Warren was just the better team last week. They’ll have a chance to shoot back up the rankings when they close out the regular season on the road at St. Xavier in two weeks.
Scott County gave the Yellowjackets all they could handle, but Woodford County escaped with a three-point victory.
The Colonels won their game by 50 points and have now tallied at least six touchdowns in each of the last six games.
Central began the season with back-to-back losses to teams in the Top 25, and the Yellowjackets’ only other defeat was a one-point loss to a team from Ohio. They made a statement with a 20-point victory over Christian Academy Louisville last week.
The Dragons hosted North Bullitt and won by 32 points.
Johnson Central won a shootout against Greenup County that saw the two teams combine for 109 points.
The Tigers registered their fourth consecutive shutout and scored at least 61 points for the third time in the past four games.
Campbellsville is now two wins away from an undefeated regular season after beating Holy Cross 36-7.
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— Sam Brown | sam@scorebooklive.com | @sblivesports
“That’s becoming one of those new litmus tests that we said we would never do as a party again,” Beshear told Politico’s Dasha Burns after being asked if he agreed with the label. “It’s trying to throw out a word and, ‘Are you going to raise your hand or are you not going to?’”
Beshear is the Democratic governor of a solidly red state and a potential 2028 presidential contender. His remarks come as Democratic candidates increasingly grapple with their stances on Israel amid record-low support for Israel among their base.
While several lawmakers, including Vermont’s Jewish Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent, have called Israel’s actions in Gaza a “genocide,” the label has not gained mainstream support in the Democratic Party. Last October, former Vice President Kamala Harris declined to use the “genocide” label, which Israel had long rejected, but said, “We should all step back and ask this question and be honest about it.”
Some Democrats have embraced the question, with a New York congressional candidate telling the leftist streamer Hasan Piker this week that she is “100%” comfortable with the issue serving as a litmus test in her party.
Others have acted as though the litmus test is already in place. In January, for example, California congressional candidate Scott Wiener announced that he believes Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute a genocide after drawing scrutiny for declining to answer the question during a debate.
Beshear critiques Trump, Netanyahu
While Beshear told Burns that Israel “has the right to exist as a democratic country, as a Jewish country,” he added that his feelings about President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conduct during the war in Gaza and ongoing war in Iran were “a different thing.”
“I believe the United States needs a strong Israel, but not one with decisions being made in the way that Netanyahu is making them,” Beshear said.
Beshear also critiqued President Donald Trump’s response to the crisis in Gaza.
“I believe that it could have been done without a lot of the suffering, but I put a lot of that blame also on Donald Trump,” he said. “If he’d said we are coming in and we are bringing food and aid and you are going to make sure that we’re safe, it would’ve happened.”
Last week, a spokesperson for Beshear told Politico that “AIPAC has never contributed to Governor Beshear and they’re never going to – ever,” a response that dovetailed with a host of other potential Democratic presidential candidates, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who are increasingly distancing themselves from the pro-Israel lobby.
“I think that’s up to each and every Democrat,” Beshear answered when asked whether he thought his fellow Democrats should take money from AIPAC.
“In the end, I think people need to be clear about their stance on these issues,” Beshear said. “And for me, it’s one where I believe that we need a future with an ally in Israel. But we need decision makers there that are not acting the way that Netanyahu is, and we need a president that will push when we are seeing humanitarian crises to actually do something about it.”
A massive addition to the transfer portal just happened as former Liberty guard Brett Decker Jr. announced that he plans to hit the portal when it opens on April 7th. This should immediately catch the eye of Mark Pope, as Decker Jr. is a Kentucky native from Elizabethtown.
This season for the Flames of Liberty, Decker Jr. averaged 16.9 points per game while shooting 49.9% from the field and 47.1% from three. Decker Jr. will more than likely end up being the best three-point shooter in the transfer portal, so knowing this, plus the fact that he is a Kentucky native, Coach Pope needs to do everything in his power to land Decker Jr.
Last season, the Wildcats didn’t have that much three-point shooting outside of Collin Chandler. Otega Oweh, Denzel Aberdeen, and Kam Williams all were solid shooting the three ball, but Chandler was the only player fans could rely on to make one from deep.
When Pope doesn’t have a lot of players who are capable of making threes, his offense isn’t going to be that good, and this is why the Wildcats had a rough season last year. Coach Pope needs to learn from this mistake and make sure that he adds a bunch of players via the portal who can fill it up from deep. Obviously, Decker Jr. is a player who makes a ton of sense for this staff to target to come in and play the Koby Brea role.
If Decker Jr. does pick Kentucky, he could come off the bench as a flamethrower from deep, and in the games where he just can’t seem to miss, Pope won’t take him off the floor. When it comes to the other backcourt members Pope recruits, he will need guys who can score all over the floor, while Decker Jr. could just be the shooter for this team.
Decker Jr. is only a sophomore, so if Kentucky were to land him, he could develop the rest of his game and be one of the better players in the nation during his final two seasons of college hoops. Pope needs players who are going to be knockdown shooters from deep, and a good start would be to land the best shooter in the portal.
If Kentucky is able to land Decker Jr., Pope will still need to go out and get some more players who can be reliable from three, but he would be an excellent start. Coach Pope needs to do everything in his power to bring the Kentucky kid home.
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