As the post-season progresses, I wanted to take a minute to recognize two small schools who have had outstanding seasons.

 

Louisville Collegiate ended the year 18-13. Led by seniors Ryan McDaniel and Barrett Myers, Collegiate more than doubled its win total from last year before falling to Male in the district tournament.

 

Perhaps more remarkable was the 17-12 record amassed by St. Francis this year. Not only is 17 the most wins in school history, this was the school's first winning season ever. The Wyverns were led by senior James Risley, who ended his career with 1388 points, the second leading scorer in school history.

 

I suspect there are few long-time followers of Louisville high school basketball who would believe that Collegiate and St. Francis would ever combine to win 35 games in a single season. But here we are.

What is a Wyvern?? Have always wondered that lol

Apparently, a Wyvern is a particular type of dragon. The story I have heard is that the school was founded when the game Dungeons and Dragons, which included a Wyvern as part of the game, was popular and the students voted the Wyvern as the school mascot.

I was curious myself, so I Googled it.

 

wy·vern /ˈwīvərn/ noun a winged two-legged dragon with a barbed tail.

Its good to see both of these programs having success this year. It is always a tough road for the small schools in the Louisville area, glad to see some come out on the winning side.:thumb:

Always happy to hear this kind of story. Great small school success.

What is a Wyvern?? Have always wondered that lol

 

Here is their logo

 

Perhaps more remarkable was the 17-12 record amassed by St. Francis this year. Not only is 17 the most wins in school history, this was the school's first winning season ever. The Wyverns were led by senior James Risley, who ended his career with 1388 points, the second leading scorer in school history.

 

I thought I read something on the KHSAA site when they realigned field hockey that St. Francis was no longer in Louisville but had moved to Goshen in Oldham County.

St. Francis High School is still in downtown Louisville. The elementary and middle school facility is located in Goshen in Oldham County, and I believe that is where they play their home field hockey games. But the high school is still in downtown Louisville. They play most of their home basketball games in a gym in downtown Louisville, although they play some home basketball games in Goshen.

St Francis is at 3rd and Broadway in downtown. As far as I know there aren't any plans to relocate.

 

Congratulations to both schools! I love these kinds of stories!

Can I add another one? OK, I'm going to anyway.

 

Washington County has struggled mightily for more than 15 years. The Commanders went 19-12 this year, falling to Bardstown on Thursday night in the 19th District semifinals.

 

The Commanders haven't had a winning season since getting to the 5th Region finals in 2001, a 27-4 year under coach Artie Braden, who went on to build the new start-up program at John Hardin, eventually getting to the state tournament, and winning district titles at Nelson County and Bethlehem (in his first and second stint there).

 

Washington Co. won 12 games last year, and three the year before that in Coach Bernard Smalley's first year since switching over from coaching the WC girls. The six years before Smalley took over the boys' program, WC won exactly 28 games, and have had only one season where they finished at least .500 since Braden left. They've not been to the region in more than a decade.

 

I want to congratulate my friend, Bernard Smalley, for the great job he's done at Washington County. He did an outstanding job with the girls there for many years in a district that Nelson Co. — a school with about 4x as many students to pull from — has always dominated, and Smalley always does a great job with the Xs and Os of coaching. He loses three seniors off this year's team, but I suspect he'll be able to get the most out of the talent available to him in future years, like he always has in the past.

 

Well done, Coach Smalley!

I was curious myself, so I Googled it.

 

wy·vern /ˈwīvərn/ noun a winged two-legged dragon with a barbed tail.

 

Has to be the weirdest mascot ever...has to be

Thanks for starting this thread, Smalls. Went to a tiny high school in the same "district" with one of the largest and most powerful basketball schools in that state. The opening tournaments frequently had 7-10 teams and we always were tickled to death when we could win a single game before bowing out.

 

Probably one of the reasons I'm a Cubs fan...always cheering for the underdog.

Thanks for starting this thread, Smalls. Went to a tiny high school in the same "district" with one of the largest and most powerful basketball schools in that state. The opening tournaments frequently had 7-10 teams and we always were tickled to death when we could win a single game before bowing out.

 

Probably one of the reasons I'm a Cubs fan...always cheering for the underdog.

 

Along those lines - Collegiate, with a high school enrollment of 229, lost in the district to Louisville Male, which has an enrollment of 1892. St. Francis, with an enrollment of 154, was eliminated by Manual, which has an enrollment of 1896. St. Francis at least had the benefit of being in a 5-team district, so it was able to win a district tournament game against Portland Christian before facing Manual.

If my memory is any good (or even close,) out entire school of 12 grades was 600. And the big boy school had 2,700 in the upper four grades.