The Highway 45 Trophy

I've never been happy with the KHSAA's decision to award six state football trophies.  It's too many trophies for a state as small as Kentucky, and it leads to dynasties and walkovers all over the Commonwealth.  Plus it has created a bunch of districts that are hopelessly lopsided.  Furthermore, the endless rounds of playoffs means that you have to sit through a bunch of blowouts in the early rounds.  Furthermore, McCracken County is stuck in 6A, which means their best-case scenario is being blown out by one of the big powers in Louisville.

So these days, I'm really interested in two aspects of high school football in Western Kentucky.  Obviously, I'm interested in the playoffs -- but only once we get down to the quarterfinals, and only for the classes below 6A.  (The annual struggle between Trinity and St. X does nothing for me.)  The games before then usually aren't very good.  Second, I'm interested in the three-way contests between Paducah Tilghman, McCracken County, and Mayfield -- the battle for what I call the Highway 45 Trophy.  For reasons I don't really understand, these games -- which are usually some of the best of the year -- are played at the beginning of the season, before the teams are at their best.  But anyway, here is a history of the Highway 45 Trophy, including last night's thriller.  (As usual, home teams are listed first).

2013
08/24/13:  McCracken Co. 23 - 24 Paducah Tilghman
08/30/13:  Mayfield 35 - 34 McCracken Co.
09/07/13:  Paducah Tilghman 21 - 28 Mayfield
Winner:  Mayfield

2014
08/23/14:  Paducah Tilghman 21 - 49 McCracken Co.
08/29/14:  McCracken Co. 38 - 37 Mayfield
09/05/14:  Mayfield 47 - 21 Paducah Tilghman
Winner:  McCracken Co.

2015
08/22/15:  McCracken Co. 7 - 21 Paducah Tilghman
09/04/15:  Paducah Tilghman 14 - 37 Mayfield
09/11/15:  Mayfield 31 - 37 McCracken Co. (OT)
Winner:  None (McCracken Co. retains trophy)

2016
08/21/16:  Paducah Tilghman 6 - 41 McCracken Co.
09/02/16:  Mayfield 48 - 26 Paducah Tilghman
09/09/16:  McCracken Co. 41 - 46 Mayfield
Winner:  Mayfield (2)

2017
08/19/17:  McCracken Co. 20 - 19 Paducah Tilghman
09/01/17:  Paducah Tilghman 14 - 47 Mayfield
09/08/17:  Mayfield 49 - 27 McCracken Co.
Winner:  Mayfield (3)

2018
08/18/18:  Paducah Tilghman 35 - 6 McCracken Co.
08/31/18:  Mayfield 51 - 27 Paducah Tilghman
09/07/18:  McCracken Co. 21 - 51 Mayfield
Winner:  Mayfield (4)

2019
08/24/19:  McCracken Co. 43 - 47 Paducah Tilghman

All-time records:
Mayfield:  10-2 (4 titles)
McCracken Co.:  5-8 (1 title, 1 retained title)
Paducah Tilghman:  4-9 (0 titles)

Kentucky High-school Football, Week 1

Here are some of the games I'll be clueing into this weekend.

McCracken County (0-1) at Mayfield (1-0)

Paducah Tilghman (1-0) at Evansville (Ind.) Reitz--It's so amazing, in fact, that I'm infuriated anytime the Internet doesn't have something I'm looking for--say, for example, the team picture for the 1969 Reitz football Panthers, featuring my oldest brother at defensive back. How can this be possible, in 2013? The Internet (still, ...  Amazing™) does have the team picture for the 1973 Tilghman state-champion Blue Tornadoes, featuring my less-older brother at (cut) center.

Murray (0-1) vs. Calloway County (0-0) at Murray State University--Channel 6 charges up the Lakers.

Trigg County (0-1) at Marshall County (0-0)

Fort Campbell (0-1) at Russellville (1-0)

Mortons Gap Hopkins County Central (0-1) at Crittenden County (1-0) in the Kentucky National Guard Warrior Bowl--Huge Pennyrile Athletic Conference (PAC) matchup.

Caldwell County (1-0) vs. Union County (0-0) at Crittenden County on Saturday in the Ky. National Guard Warrior Bowl

Paris (1-0) at Pikeville Shelby Valley (0-0) in the Community Trust Pike County Bowl

Union Cooper (0-1) vs. Newport Central Catholic (1-0) at Edgewood Dixie Heights in the Skyline Crosstown Showdown

Louisville Trinity (0-1) at Carmel (Ind.)

Evansville North at Henderson County (1-0)

Louisville Central (0-1) at Lexington Lafayette (0-1)

Bowling Green (1-0) vs. Lexington Bryan Station (1-0) at Lexington Catholic on Saturday in the Bluegrass Bowl

Campbell County (1-0) at Fort Thomas Highlands (1-0)

UPDATE (8:56 A.M.): WE WON DONUTS! WE JUST WON DONUTS! "Eric at HeathPostdotcom" just won two dozen delicious Golden Glaze donuts from the radio home of the Madisonville Maroons (one of their radio homes, anyway), WFMW 730 AM "Classic Hit Country!" They even delivered the donuts directly to the Kentucky desk! HOORAY! Thank you, Golden Glaze, and thank you, WMFW! Obviously, I'm totally on the 1-0 Madisonville Maroons' bandwagon now.

Previous reports:

-- 2012 wrap

-- Week 0 roundup and GoHeath's western-Kentucky wrap and lookahead

A question for HPN ...

Per news of Dick Clark's passing, can anyone in HPN confirm an appearance in the 1975 American Bandstand Dance Contest finals (April 5 episode, featuring Freddy Fender) by Andre Greer of the 1973 Class 2A football champion Paducah Tilghman Blue Tornadoes with, perhaps, a partner named Regina?