Only 20 miles separate Cadiz and Princeton and the county schools located there – Trigg County and Caldwell County.

 

As a result, the schools represent the longest continuous series for each other on the football field – with games played between Trigg and Caldwell every year back to 1954.

 

Caldwell County leads the all-time series 37-22-1, but Trigg County has won four of five and eight of the last 11 games in the series.

 

When the teams meet Friday night, they will be playing once again for bragging rights and for the first time, a traveling trophy.

 

The game has been renamed the 139 Bowl, named after the state highway that links the two communities. And a nice traveling trophy will leave with the winner of Friday’s game.

 

The idea for the trophy came from Trigg County head coach Coby Lewis, in his third season as Wildcat head coach.

 

“We saw Murray and Calloway County do this a few years back, and that caught my eye,” he said. “Colleges do the same thing, and with the rivalry between the schools we felt we needed to have something.”

 

After kicking around a few ideas for a trophy concept, the coaches agreed on the 139 Bowl Trophy.

 

“I think it’s a great idea. We’ve been playing so many years, and it’s always a big game,” said Caldwell County head coach David Barnes. “It’s a good rivalry close together, and the schools switching classes hasn’t taken away from the game.”

 

The traveling trophy has a cup with the Highway 139 logo in the center. At the base are miniature helmets of the schools with the numbers ‘19’ and ‘38’ on the side. This represents the first year Trigg County and Princeton Butler High School played football. Trigg was 0-11-2 against Butler before it consolidated into Caldwell County High in 1954. The schools have played every year since.

 

After Mayfield and Paducah Tilghman, which dates back to 1921, the Trigg/Caldwell series is believed to be the second-longest continuous series in western Kentucky, just ahead of series between Owensboro and Daviess County and Henderson County and Daviess County, which both began in 1955.

 

Adding some fuel to the series is that three former Caldwell County football players – Ken Barrett (1967-70), Joe Jaggers (1971-76), and Dixie Jones (1979-98) went to Trigg County and became head coaches. Barrett coached the Wildcats to the school’s first district title in 1967, Jaggers led Trigg to their only state titles in 1971 and 1972, and Jones is the school’s all-time wins leader with 97. Jones has returned as an assistant coach on Trigg’s staff.

 

And both head coaches – Barnes and Lewis – are alums of the schools they coach.

 

So how will people know which community holds the game’s bragging rights? It turns out sisters Mallory Lawrence and Allison Oliver – both Caldwell County graduates – own and manage grocery stores in Cadiz and Princeton.

 

Lawrence runs the Cadiz store and has a son that starts on the offensive line for Trigg County. Oliver runs the Princeton store and has a son that plays for Caldwell County.

 

Not only do the sisters have school bragging rights on the line, but a sibling rivalry exists as well.

 

The store in the winning community will display the trophy until the following season’s game.

 

“My sister and I are very competitive, and I plan on making sure the trophy is displayed in Cadiz,” Lawrence said. “It’s great for community spirit, and great for the schools.”

 

Oliver says ‘not so fast.’

 

“There’s a lot of sibling rivalry, and we want to have some fun with it. That’s what it’s all about,” she said.

 

It’s just another element to stoke the fire of a fantastic rivalry between schools and communities.

 

 

 

(Below) Current and former coaches are pictured with the new 139 Bowl Trophy. Pictured are (from left) former Caldwell coach Pat Gates, current Caldwell coach David Barnes, Caldwell player Preston Thomas, Allison Oliver, Caldwell quarterback Elijah Sindelar, Trigg quarterback Luke McKenzie, Mallory Lawrence, Graham Lawrence, current Trigg coach Coby Lewis, and former coaches Shannon Burcham, Dixie Jones, and Curtis Higgins.

Nice article Scribe. Thanks for posting it.

Great article, Scribe, and I can't wait to see that trophy every week when I go to the grocery here in Princeton!

Sweet trophy.