This is the last week of the year to focus only on western Kentucky. Next week we will be down to the quarterfinals in each class. This week, I would love to be in Princeton for the game between Caldwell County and Union County, two old favorites of mine:
I would also note that once upon a time, many years ago, I went to Elizabethtown on a bus full of Heath Pirates for a game against E-Town. The Panthers had a quarterback named Bill Ransdell who was on his way to UK -- in fact, he was inducted into the 2011 class of the UK Athletics Hall of Fame -- and they were very good. Heath and E-Town played an outstanding game, but Ransdell was the difference, and the Panthers won a close game.
That was a long ride back home in the dark.
I hope that tonight, Coach Haskins and his merry men have more luck against what appears to be a really great team from Hardin County. I don't trust any Kentucky school that models its colors and logo on the University of North Carolina, but I also know how good teams from Hardin County can be.
Home teams listed first.
Class 1A:
Mayfield (10-1) v. Lou. Holy Cross (6-5)
Bethlehem (10-1) v. Russellville (9-2)
Class 2A:
Caldwell Co. (11-0) v. Union Co. (9-2)
Owensboro Catholic (9-2) v. Murray (7-4)
Class 3A:
Paducah Tilghman (6-5) v. Monroe Co. (8-3)
S. Warren (9-1) v. Ft. Campbell (5-6)
Class 4A:
Owensboro (8-3) v. Warren East (7-4)
Franklin-Simpson (7-4) v. Madisonville-North Hopkins (6-5)
Class 5A:
Graves Co. (8-2) v. Warren Cent. (6-5)
Bowling Green (10-0) v. Christian Co. (5-6)
Class 6A:
McCracken Co. (9-2) v. Central Hardin (10-1)
Meade Co. (9-2) v. Henderson Co. (9-2)
I watched Central Hardin win, 41-20, at Madisonville-North Hopkins back in September. The Maroons had just opened their season with a win over Warren Central down in Bowling Green, so everybody around here was pretty excited to see how the 4A homeboys could do against a 6A team. It was only 18-13 after one quarter, but then the Bruins just exploded. There was a sequence in which Central Hardin was whistled for three unsportsmanlike-conduct penalties over the course of three plays, prompting one of the Bruins' fans on the track between the visitors' sideline and bleachers to remark to another, "Everybody thought we were going to come down here and get whooped. Well, we're coming down here and whooping up on them, and now everyone's upset." At the time, anyway, Central Hardin ran that Andre Woodsonish offense where you get everybody at the line and then have the quarterback stand back up and work out the play call with the coaches and then his teammates, presumably depending on how the defense is aligned. (Woodson actually went to Radcliff North, not Cecilia Central, Hardin, though.)
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