Where's the West?

This year's State finals only has one team from the western part of the state, Mayfield. Goes to show that the rest of us in the western part of the Commonwealth have a lot of work to do. Eastern Kentucky is shining bright right now. Maybe next year we can flip the script.

With the RPI system, it certainly will not be unusual for parts of the state to be left out of the finals. But these things tend to run in cycles and I'm sure the western part of the state will bounce back soon.

Although I'm a Paducah Tilghman graduate, I'm pulling for Mayfield.

What does the RPI have to do with regions being left out. How can it affect that?

Under the old system playing semi states, you were guaranteed one team in each final from the western half and one from the eastern half. Now it can be set up in the semis such that two eastern or two western teams meet in a final, and the other half of the state gets shut out of that final.

It's only "set up" by performance and strength of schedule. It has nothing to do with geography.

Exactly. Under the old sytem a team from the West was guaranteed a spot in the finals. Now if the 2 best semifinalists are from the East, the West doesn't have a team playing.

5A this year is a good example. Under the old system, either Owensboro or BG would be in the finals. This year, they both hit the road and lost in the semi's.

OK, I think I misinterpreted your implications. I thought you were saying that they were being done wrong in some way. My bad.

Far western KY football (from Hoptown to Fulton) has been way down for the past 15 years other than Mayfield and maybe a couple other exceptions sprinkled in here and there. Lone Oak had their run from about 07-10 (no longer a school). Murray had their short run after that. Tilghman won state in 09 but entered the playoffs with just a 4-6 record and got hot at the right time. They had a good season the following year. But other than those back to back seasons, this year was their beat since 03 I think. Hopkinsville just had their best season in a LONG time.

Teams like Hopkinsville and Tilghman used to be perennial powerhouses and that's just not been the case over these past 15 years. Christian County hasn't been good as of late. Murray used to be good year in year out but that's been a couple decades since they were solid year in year out. Even Marshall County used to be competitive here and there. I don't know what it is but there has definitely been a dropoff in football in Western KY.

Excuse my ignorance on this, but is Bowling Green not considered Western Kentucky (only an hour east of Hopkinsville)? From where I sit in Northern Kentucky, I have always assumed it to be WKY?

Considering WKU is in Bowling Green I have to say yes, but if you live in Mayfield, Paducah or Murray no we don't consider it west KY. Bowling Green is 2.5 hours from Mayfield so I personally just don't think of it as western KY. But that's why in my post I stated "from Hoptown to Fulton" because I know people from other parts of the state consider Bowling Green to be west KY and they have obviously had success in the past 15 years, along with South Warren and Franklin-Simpson.

I agree football has been down in wky for sometime now. I think the skill athletes are good as ever but upfront is where I see the drop off. Just don't see as many D1 linemen or don't see a team where there are 3 to 4 really good linemen on it like I use to see. As far as BG I have to say their part of western ky because that's where WKY university is. That's like saying Richmond is not part of Eastern Kentucky.