Made it to the championship game as the underdog. Maybe they won or lost. Doesn't matter. What did you like about the team and or that game (style, coaching etc.)?

I really liked how Beechwood back in the 90's defeated Harrodsburg who had tons of talent. Don't know who I would call the underdog but Beechwood played so strong on fundamentals they overcame the talent factor.

Also, I loved that Russell team that got there twice around 2006. Hard nosed kids and coaching. Seems like they won the first one and lost the second time.

The year rockcastle beat Highlands in the semi finals. Anytime you beat them is a big thing.

Pburg 1993

It's not that Pburg was a bad team that shocked everyone, but it was who they beat to reach the Finals. The 1993 Danville team was an absolute machine and probably one of the top 3 or 4 teams in KY regardless of size that year. The Ads had a long winning streak and were playing at home in the Semi's when the Blackcats shocked the State by upsetting them. To this day probably one of the biggest upsets in playoff History.

 

Bourbon County 1997

The Colonels under Dudley Hilton were a 3 seed in their District and entered 7-3 in what was considered a loaded year in the Eastern 2A bracket. They took out an 11-0 Boyle County in the 2nd Round, beat upset minded LexCath in the Regionals, then caught a 13-0 Lawrence County team fresh off their win over #1 Breathitt County (also ending a long win streak) and pulled the upset. They capped it off by winning it all vs. Owensboro Catholic.

 

 

Belfry 2010

 

Belfry entered the post-season 6-4 and the District Runner-Up in a "bridge year". They were not even ranked in the Top 10 entering the playoffs if I recall and their final Regular Season game was a 42-7 drubbing at the hands of Johnson Central.

 

In the 2nd Round they traveled to Mason County and upset a Royals team that was the consensus favorite to win the Region who entered 10-1 on a 10 game winning streak. They caught a break when Russell upset Sheldon Clark and they handled the Devils with ease. They then took on a 13-0 Somerset team who was the #1 team in 3A the majority of the year and thanks to some big plays and a key injury/sickness to Somerset's top WR pulled off the huge upset in the Semi's. Central brought Belfry back to reality in the Finals.

I also witnessed a phenomenal game between Bell County and Highlands at Log Mountain in either 2004 or 2005 in which Highlands was said to have one of the greatest defenses to ever take the field for them. Bell was up to the challenge and looked to have scored what could have been the winning touchdown late in the game only to have the ball come out as the runner crossed the goal line. It was very controversial. From my angle I thought Bell Co. scored. It was funny to see all the Rockastle people there pulling against Bell. That was another rivalry and I guess still is ongoing!

In and around 2010 maybe. I drove up to Paintsville to watch a classic war between these two. Johnson Central looked to be in trouble but drove down late with a chance to win the game. They ran a play-action pass from around the 8 yard line that was wide open. The player I won't name dropped the pass that would have won the game. Highlands went on to win the State Championship. I was sick for J.C. I think Towles was the QB for Highlands that night.

Cooper Jaguars 2012-13 State Championship runner up.

 

The best sports story I've ever had the pleasure to witness in person. You can have your "Friday Night Lights" or "Remember the Titans" type of Hollywood stories, but the story of the Cooper Jaguars that year was better than any Hollywood movie I've ever seen.

 

First a little background. Cooper High School was only 5 years old at the time. It wasn't a new school that was formed off of a consolidation of other schools and combined into one big school. Quite the contrary. It was a public school built in a county that already had 4 other public High Schools (Boone Co. Conner, Ryle and Walton Verona) as well as another private school St Henry. Boone County school board has kept the school district a closed district meaning that you couldn't pick and choose what school you went to, you were assigned a school based on what district you lived in. They are only 1 of 2 counties in the state that I believe have a closed school district. What they did do however when the school was first opened was to allow current students at other schools who were going to be seniors etc. stay at their current school if they chose to due to sports etc. This meant for the first couple years Cooper had Freshman playing on the Varsity Football team simply because they didn't have enough players.

 

Cooper of course had a losing record those first 3 years of existence and had never won a district game which also meant never made it to the playoffs. Playing in class 5A they finally won in district in the 2011-12 season which led to their very first playoff game in school history. They lost the their first game.

 

Then came the 2012-13 season. Some people, even on here, would not give Cooper any credit for the prior seasons accomplishments and many said Cooper can't claim to be any good because they can't even win a playoff game. I remember after their scrimmage leading up to the season when they beat NCC by something like 48-0 and Cooper's coach was at a local watering hole for a coaches corner type of show with Ryle's coach to talk about the upcoming game to open the season. One of the questions to Coach Borchers of Cooper wasn't about how good the team may be or how good they played against NCC (Who would later that year win another state title) but the question was placed to him "What do you think was wrong with NCC that allowed you to beat them?"

 

No respect was the underlying theme of that season, yet the Cooper faithful would simply grin and continue on.

Cooper going into that year had only beaten 1 team in the county and that was Conner the previous year. Yet this year they opened up against Ryle and beat them for the first time ever 35-6

 

As big of a win that was, it really didn't open many eyes outside the program. Many once again thought Ryle had a bad game. It really wasn't until the next week when Cooper faced another defending State Championship team in Holy Cross where they handed them a 49-7 loss that people started to take notice of this new school and what they could do that year.

 

Cooper then went on to beat the only other county team they had never beaten when they shut out Boone County to go 3-0. Cooper ended up going 9-1 in the regular season that year. All though they had the best season record out of all the teams in their district, they were awarded the #3 seed in the playoffs due to going 3-1 in district play along with 2 other schools that also went 3-1 in district. It was a 3 way tie and all though Cooper beat the #1 seed team that year, they lost to Conner who had the #2 seed so there was a 3 way tie and because of the way the tie breakers go Cooper was given the #3 seed which meant they would be on the road every game in the post season.

 

Cooper went on the road that first week of the playoffs, never having won in the post season in school history, and traveled to the previous years state runner up in Anderson County. A team that had averaged over 34 points a game that year and Cooper shut them out 48-0.

 

The next week Cooper was on the road again to the 1st of 3 #1 seeded teams when they faced South Oldham and once again won by a convincing score of 49-28.

 

Week 3 had Cooper traveling all the way to Frankliin County and another #1 seeded team as they went up against all everything Mr Timmons. Franklin County was only averaging 60 points a game that year as they were undefeated when they met Cooper. Cooper only handed them their first loss of the year by beating them 40-27 and being the first team to hold Franklin Co. below 30 points all season.

 

Week 4 had the Jaguars traveling all the way to Harlan County. A new state of the art stadium awaited the Cooper Jaguars in the winter cold of the mountains. No locker rooms for the visiting team so the team had to spend the pre game and halftime huddled in the frozen corner of an end zone. The Harlan county team was big big and BIG. A lot of tough mountain boys who could play with the best of them. Cooper gave up a TD on Harlan's opening drive to start the game as they ran right down Cooper's throat and didn't look as if they could be stopped all game. Cooper's coach made one of the smartest football moves I've seen in awhile when he moved his NT to MLB and from then on Harlan couldn't manage much of any offense. They moved the ball but failed to get into the endzone the rest of the night. Cooper won 17-7 and were awarded with their very first State Championship game.

 

Cooper had to face the mighty defending state champs Bowling Green Purples. BG was on a 30 game winning streak at that point and was loaded with great talent. Cooper was predicted to lose by many by 5+ TD's. Cooper turned the ball over on their very first two offensive plays. They held their own though but still lost by 14 points. They hung close and it was a 1 score game deep into the 4th qtr, but those 2 turnovers to start the game for them were costly. when it was all said and done, the team that wasn't even supposed to make the playoffs or even win a post season game, in only it's 5th year of existence in the 2nd biggest class in the state went on to march all the way to the state championship game as they drove over 15,000 miles in the post season alone as they had to play on the road every single game. They were the first team ever in the state of Ky to play 5 road games in the playoffs including the State Championship game.

 

For a school that only a few years earlier had freshman filling out the Varsity roster and was not to be taken seriously that year by their own opponents, marched all the way to the State Championship game in a season that would make for one of the best Hollywood Movies about High School Football.

 

A team made up of no one great player, but a group of hard working kids that had no superstar on their team going up against teams made up of DI recruits and ended up playing 4 #1 seeded teams during that run. Pretty incredible.

 

That my friends is my favorite High School Football story.

Was it SK or Ryle that went to the championship game a few years back after finishing pretty low in their district?

Russell knocked off the pre-Harrodsburg merger Mercer Co. team at home in a close battle. What was interesting was the Mercer's best player couldn't go and both teams were old school 3 back offenses. Russell went on to win the championship. Mercer met them again the following year only to avenge that loss in the state championship game. They had a little more speed the following year but it was another war.

Yes. I thought that Cooper team looked impressive in the state championship game. Nice info. It is fun to see the underdog get there.

Was it SK or Ryle that went to the championship game a few years back after finishing pretty low in their district?

 

I'm not sure. It seems like Simon Kenton got to the championship in the last several years?

I saw Bell Co. in 2008 win the game against Knox Central running a shovel pass late in the game. It was a very unexpected call. A great call! Dudley Hilton at his finest. Bell County went on to win the State that year.

Allen-County Scottsville gave Boyle County all they wanted in the state championship game. Not sure of the exact year but it was recent.

Bullitt East 2008.

 

Doug Preston's (who is the HC at Franklin-Simpson now) was in his first year there.

 

After starting off I think 1-4 running what Bullitt East is known for, the ole SBV (great offense, nonetheless), I think Doug was unfairly starting to feel the heat; so, he ended up making the change to the Wishbone and that change took Bullitt East all the way to the 2008 Class 4A State Final game...literally losing by INCHES to what might be the best Bell County team that Dudley Hilton ever had.