OK, high-school football started in Kentucky on Friday night, and we've got a new Kentucky High School Athletic Association alignment for this and the next three seasons. I'm so excited to read through and tinker with the list of these school names.
Class 1A
-- District 1: Crittenden County Rockets, Fulton City, Fulton County Pilots, Russellville Panthers
-- District 2: Bardstown Bethlehem, Campbellsville, Horse Cave Caverna Colonels (I think), Fort Knox
-- District 3: Eminence, Frankfort, Louisville Holy Cross, Louisville Kentucky Country Day
-- District 4: Fort Mitchell Beechwood Tigers (I think), Bellevue, Dayton, Ludlow
-- District 5: Berea, Alexandria Bishop Brossart, Bracken County, Nicholas County, Paris
-- District 6: Westwood Fairview, Paintsville, Raceland
-- District 7: Harlan, Lynn Camp, Pineville, Williamsburg Yellow Jackets
-- District 8: Hazard Bulldogs (I think), Jenkins, Phelps, Pikeville, Hi Hat (I think) South Floyd
I'm stunned at how few of these nicknames and towns I know and how many of the ones I think I know that I'm unsure of.
The 2014 Class A champ was Mayfield, but now the Cardinals are in Class 2A. The runner-up last year was Williamsburg, and, so, maybe the Yellow Jackets are the new favorite. But they were swamped, 51-0, at Lexington Christian last night, and, based on all of my research and study (mostly from 1983 through '93), I'm guessing Beechwood will be the new heavy here. I'm rooting for Paris. Also, I think I'm going to try to quit hating Ludlow this season.
By the way ... a word about town names with the schools ... I put the town name in front of schools not named after their towns (such as Bethlehem High, which is in Bardstown). Now, in some cases, I put in the town even if the school is named after a town but uses some other mailing address. So, for example, I always called it "West Paducah Heath," because Heath's mailing address when we were there at least was a West Paducah address. Also, I grew up more on the western side of Paducah than out in Heath, so I like calling it "West Paducah Heath" on first reference to sort of represent the hybrid, drive-thru/RFD constituency with whom I attended school. There are some more rules around how I list the school names, and I'll get into those in subsequent classes.
Class 2A
-- District 1: Barlow Ballard Memorial Bombers, Mayfield Cardinals, Murray Tigers, Webster County Trojans
-- District 2: Butler County Bears, Hancock County, McLean County, Owensboro Catholic Aces, Todd County Central Rebels
-- District 3: Clinton County, Glasgow Tigers, Green County, Metcalfe County, Monroe County
-- District 4: Christian Academy-Louisville, Louisville DeSales Colts, Louisville Shawnee, Washington County Generals (I'm pretty sure)
-- District 5: Carroll County, Gallatin County, Owen County, Trimble County, Walton-Verona
-- District 6: Covington Holy Cross, Erlanger Lloyd Memorial, Newport, Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds
-- District 7: Danville Admirals, Lexington Christian, Middlesboro, Somerset
-- District 8: Eastern Allen Central Rebels, Betsy Layne, Lick Creek East Ridge, Leslie County, Prestonsburg, Pikeville (I think) Shelby Valley
This class figures to have a pretty interesting season. The defending "champ" is Louisville DeSales, and now you also have Mayfield up in 2A. Murray, NewCath and OweCath are always good; I always expect District 3 and District 7 to be good. In Kentucky's bloated six-class scheme, Class 2A is probably the most interesting in terms of its actual competition for a state championship.
OK, back to the school names again ... I don't put the town names in front of schools that are named for their counties (Butler County is just "Butler County;" I don't call it, "Morgantown Butler County.") I used to call Todd County Central, "Elkton Todd County Central," because of the "Central," but I'm going to quit that because it's the only high school in Todd County. I wonder why they put "Central" at the end of that name--maybe there are plans to open a "Todd County Southern" or "Western" in Guthrie some day or something like that.
Allen Central is not in Allen County, by the way. It's way over in Floyd County. But it's not in Allen, which is in Floyd County. It's in Eastern. Says Wikipedia, "Allen Central adopted the school flag and mascot in 1972, when four other schools were consolidated to form the high school. Students formed a committee and chose the mascot. The four previous schools and their mascots were the Maytown Wildcats, the Garrett Black Devils, the Wayland Wasps and the Martin Purple Flash."
Class 3A
-- District 1: Caldwell County Tigers, Fort Campbell Falcons, Paducah Tilghman Blue Tornado, Trigg County Wildcats, Union County Braves
-- District 2: Adair County, Edmonson County Wildcats (I think), Elizabethtown, Hart County, LaRue County
-- District 3: Bardstown Eagles, Louisville Central Yellowjackets, Henry County, Louisville Moore, Bardstown Thomas Nelson, Louisville Waggener
-- District 4: Boyle County Rebels, Garrard County, Lexington Catholic, Frankfort Western Hills
-- District 5: Bath County, Fleming County, Lewis County, Pendleton County, Russell, Olive Hill West Carter
-- District 6: Belfry Pirates, Lawrence County, Pike County Central, Inez Sheldon Clark
-- District 7: Breathitt County, Estill County, Knott County Central, Magoffin County, Morgan County, Powell County
-- District 8: Bell County, Casey County, Corbin, Jackson County
Belfry is the defending state champ, and Louisville Central's always good by the end of the season. You've got to believe Caldwell County's going to be way down with Elijah Sindelar graduated, and the Tigers lost last night to Christian County. I'll root for whoever comes out of District 1.
Check out this great catch (and great picture) from Central's 28-10 loss at duPont Manual ...
Class 4A
-- District 1: Calloway County Lakers, Mortons Gap Hopkins County Central Storm, Hopkinsville Tigers, Logan County, Madisonville-North Hopkins Maroons
-- District 2: Allen County-Scottsville Patriots, Franklin-Simpson Wildcats, Rich Pond South Warren, Bowling Green Warren Central Dragons, Bristow Warren East Raiders
-- District 3: Breckinridge County, Elizabethtown John Hardin, Louisville Valley, Louisville Western
-- District 4: Shelbyville Martha Layne Collins, Franklin County, Goshen North Oldham, Shelby County, Spencer County
-- District 5: Nicholasville East Jessamine, Marion County, Mercer County, Taylor County, Nicholasville West Jessamine
-- District 6: Clay County, Knox Central, Rockcastle County, Russell County, Wayne County Cardinals
-- District 7: Bourbon County, Harrison County, Covington Holmes, Mason County Royals, Covington Scott
-- District 8: Ashland Blazer, Boyd County, Grayson East Carter, Greenup County, Paintsville Johnson Central, Rowan County
Congrats, Storm, on ending your 37-game losing streak ...
And congrats, Hoptown, on your win after a truly horrible last week.
District 1 – Owensboro Apollo Eagles, Christian County Colonels, Graves County Eagles, Marshall County Marshals, Owensboro Red Devils
District 2 – Barren County Trojans, Bowling Green Purples, Grayson County, Alvaton Greenwood Gators
District 3 – Shepherdsville Bullitt Central, Mouth Washington Bullitt East, Nelson County, Shepherdsville North Bullitt, Oldham County, Crestwood South Oldham
District 4 – Louisville Atherton, Louisville Doss, Louisville Fairdale, Louisville Fern Creek, Louisville Iroquois, Louisville Southern
District 5 – Covington Catholic, Edgewood Dixie Heights, Grant County, Fort Thomas Highlands Bluebirds
District 6 – Anderson County, Berea Madison Southern, Montgomery County, Woodford County
District 7 – Lincoln County, Pulaski County, London South Laurel, Somerset Southwestern
District 8 – Harlan County, Letcher County Central, London North Laurel, Perry County Central, Whitley County
Class 5A looks loaded. Pulaski County was the 2014 state champ, and now Highlands and Owensboro, the 4A champ and runner-up, are in this class, too. After Friday night, however, the Bluebirds from Fort Thomas don't look particularly scary.
Last thing about the names ... you get a town if your school has a direction in its name. Bullitt, Oldham and Warren counties are real messes when it comes to this stuff. In fact, this year, I'm assigning the Warren County teams to their closest communities. They're all listed as Bowling Green, but I'm not putting up with that anymore. I lived in Bowling Green, and, if you're not within walking distance of Western, I'm not counting you as in Bowling Green. I might eventually do the same thing with all of the Louisville schools.
Class 6A
District 1 – Daviess County, Henderson County Colonels, McCracken County Mustangs, Muhlenberg County Mustangs, Ohio County
District 2 – Elizabethtown Central Hardin, Meade County, Radcliff North Hardin
District 3 – Louisville Butler, Louisville duPont Manual Rams, Louisville Male Bulldogs, Louisville Pleasure Ridge Park, Louisville Saint Xavier Tigers
District 4 – Louisville Ballard Bruins, Middletown Eastern, Jeffersontown, Louisville Seneca, Louisville Trinity Shamrocks
District 5 – Hebron Conner, Union Cooper, Union Ryle
District 6 – Boone County, Campbell County, Independence Simon Kenton
District 7 – Lexington Bryan Station, Lexington Henry Clay, Lexington Paul Laurence Dunbar, Scott County Cardinals
District 8 – Winchester George Rogers Clark, Lexington Lafayette, Richmond Madison Central, Lexington Tates Creek
Trinity's the defending champ. I'm rooting, of course, for McCracken County. The Mustangs lost, 21-7, to Paducah Tilghman on Saturday night. Still, ... #StangGang forever!
