I've noticed that throughout much of the eastern time zone portion of the state games start at 7:30. In the western time zone and in northern Kentucky games tend to start at 7. Is there any reason for the differences? I remember well games starting at 8 when I was younger but that has been some time ago. Are start times traditional, functional, both, or neither?

Back when I was in school, football games in NKY were always 7:30. I've heard the switch to the 7:00 start time was due to the changing of the game. When teams started to move towards the air attack, games were going later into the night due to all the clock stoppage. Therefore, it was decided to bump the start time up to offset the style of play. I have no clue if this was the real reasoning or not.

Makes sense @nees1212

Simple answer is that if you play somebody in your district or very close by, it's 7pm. If you have to travel some significant distance, the start time is 7:30pm.

All Ashland home games are always 730pm and have been as long as I can remember. A couple of times they have moved the kick to 8 due to heat or storms.

In NEKY start times are almost always 7:30pm. It's been that way for as long as I can remember.