Here are some of the rivalries I keep close watch of.

In NKY, Highlands and Cov Cath. One or both are always in state championship contention. If you watch professional wrestling the wrestler Sting (Who retired this year) always said that "The only thing that's sure about Sting is that nothing's for sure." The only thing that's for sure when Highlands and Cov Cath play is that nothing's for sure. I would apply that saying to the rivalry between these two powerhouses. Both programs are fundamentally disciplined and it's always fun when they battle.

St. X vs. Trinity is fun to keep up with. Two of the best the state has to offer and I'm always beaming with pride with how they represent Kentucky when they venture against competition out of state. I have never been to see these two schools play. But if I had to guess, I would venture to say that it probably attracts quite a few college coaches given the high level of talent that takes the field for both schools.

On the EKY side I have more familiarity in terms of the schools. Here's one that comes to mind. Belfry and Johnson Central. One reason, if you're a fan of smash mouth football and three back sets this one is for you. Neither throws the ball much. Their passing games are usually threats, but they just don't throw very often. While it looks obvious what the next play is going to be with the running game, it's much easier said than done when having to defend against those offenses and how their blocking schemes are set up. On top of that, both have state championships in the past decade and are usually a contender in their class.

Being an Ashland graduate, I'm excited to see Ashland vs. Boyd County once again become a big football rivalry. Although Ashland had a long drought between state titles from 1990 to 2020, it's not an unusual sight to see them in the top ten or even the top five in their class. Boyd County, on the other hand, has not defeated Ashland since 2003 and the game became a lopsided win in favor of Ashland for many years. I was on the 2003 Ashland team, a sophomore when Boyd defeated Ashland. It was at Boyd County and afterward the Boyd County fans stormed the field, climbing up and then tearing the field goal posts down in an unexpected blow out win. Ashland would avenge the loss in the playoffs after Boyd pulled an upset at Bell County, marking the only time the schools have ever met in the playoffs. Since then Ashland has still been Ashland and Chad Tackett has done a fantastic job entering his third year as coach, and Boyd is once again a threat with Evan Ferguson, who was hired in 2019. He has done a wonderful job and under his watch Boyd once again has become a threat to just about anybody on their schedule.

On 7/21/2018 at 11:30 AM, Guest said:

 

Wasn't Highlands v Campbell a big rivalry back in the day before Highlands 1994 - 2014 run? Like 60s -80s?

The Bob Miller coached Camels in 1963 were the first NKy team to beat the Birds in some crazy time like 10 years.  The game was a head-knocking 7-6  Camel victory with Mike Lawson scoring Highland’s lone touchdown.  The Owen Hauck coached Birds misfired on their PAT.  Us old guys relive that game annually at our Class reunions.  #60 coming this year.

On 6/25/2024 at 7:16 PM, Oldercoach said:

The Bob Miller coached Camels in 1963 were the first NKy team to beat the Birds in some crazy time like 10 years.  The game was a head-knocking 7-6  Camel victory with Mike Lawson scoring Highland’s lone touchdown.  The Owen Hauck coached Birds misfired on their PAT.  Us old guys relive that game annually at our Class reunions.  #60 coming this year.

It would be neat if somebody had some footage of that game. I searched it out of curiosity. There are a couple of Highlands videos from the 1950's and 1960's era that are on YouTube. 

I feel like almost every team in NKY who plays Beechwood, Highlands or Cov Cath feels like its a rivalry when they play one of those teams but those three teams probably do not feel the same way about 99% of those other teams.

Cooper and Highlands could be turning into something as long as when they do the next reclass they don't get separated and stop playing each other. Hope those games continue because there is a huge buzz around it right now.

The Dead Period pulled me to this thread.

As a BG person with age, the game and rivalry was always vs Warren Central.  South Warren didn't even come in the picture as a school till 2011 and didn't play BG until 2017.

But the Warren Central Game was special back in the day, we would have a pep rally and then head out of school knowing the Warren Central Kids would be driving around Rockingham Lane (street around BGHS) as we had some good old fashioned taunting fun.  We threw water balloons at each other and the like (I'm sure today I'd go to jail for that).

The series started in 1974 and they haven't played since 2019.  BG leads the series 40 to 12, but between 1986 and 1993, when I was in high school a few of those years Warren Central led the series 6 to 4 and were some great games.

Warren Central's last wins in the series were back to back in 2009 (18-10) and 2010 (17-14) and were such good games.  I miss them.  I'm sure @DragonFire knows a thing or two about this old rivalry too.

10 hours ago, Purple88 said:

The Dead Period pulled me to this thread.

As a BG person with age, the game and rivalry was always vs Warren Central.  South Warren didn't even come in the picture as a school till 2011 and didn't play BG until 2017.

But the Warren Central Game was special back in the day, we would have a pep rally and then head out of school knowing the Warren Central Kids would be driving around Rockingham Lane (street around BGHS) as we had some good old fashioned taunting fun.  We threw water balloons at each other and the like (I'm sure today I'd go to jail for that).

The series started in 1974 and they haven't played since 2019.  BG leads the series 40 to 12, but between 1986 and 1993, when I was in high school a few of those years Warren Central led the series 6 to 4 and were some great games.

Warren Central's last wins in the series were back to back in 2009 (18-10) and 2010 (17-14) and were such good games.  I miss them.  I'm sure @DragonFire knows a thing or two about this old rivalry too.

I'm super curious to see if South Warren and Bowling Green continue to match up once the Spartans ship off to 6A in 2025.  That rivalry has definitely raised the bar, with South Warren winning state titles in 2018 and 2021, Bowling Green winning them in 2020 and 2023, with each winning a postseason game from the other rival in one of their two state title years.  They've met in the postseason five times in the last seven seasons, with Bowling Green leading that series 3-2.  Even at the peak of the Bowling Green/Warren Central rivalry, the teams were not winning titles like that.  Of course... that was in the four class era and that was a more difficult proposition.  I'm sure the newer school fans would disagree, but I think those Bowling Green/Warren Central games were made of different stuff.

That 1986-1993 era was incredible.  I only know about it through what I've read, through watching archive footage, but those were some big time matchups, with really only one true blowout, the 35-7 win by Warren Central in 1988.  Ten matchups in that span, only two were decided by double digits.  Two of them were incredible playoff classics, with Bowling Green upsetting #1 Warren Central 14-10 in 1991, and Warren Central returning the favor in an all-time classic 7-0 win in the 1993 region finals.  (Bowling Green has only lost 33 games in their history allowing single digits, regular or postseason.  It's only happened three times since then, a 9-0 loss to Hopkinsville in 2002, a 9-0 loss to Trinity in 2009, and a 7-0 loss to Graves County in 2014)  Warren Central benefited in a portion of that time period by being significantly larger in school size than Bowling Green.  It was telling that their first step back in the rivalry coincided with the full effect of Greenwood's opening in 1990 being felt.  The class of 1994 was the last of the group that was allowed to choose whether to stay at Warren Central or go to Greenwood.  After their triumph in the 93 region finals, it would be 8 years before they'd taste victory again.  In fact, they won those six games against Bowling Green in that 1986-1993 span - they've won only four since.  But the games were usually entertaining, often the best regular season test for each team, all the way up until 2012.  Warren Central may not have taken any wins from Bowling Green in the 2011-2012 seasons, but they were the only losses they suffered to anyone, and even though the margins of a couple didn't show it, they were competitive games (with the exception of the 2011 region final beating by a 52-19 score).  Even that blowout was 7-7 almost 21 minutes in, and a respectable 17-7 at the half.  Then Bowling Green opened the floodgates.  That last win in 2010, which allowed Warren Central to win the district and came via a last second field goal to complete a fourth quarter comeback from 14-0 down, is definitely a sweet memory, and really maybe the final shining moment for the Warren Central football program in general.

I do think South Warren/Bowling Green may end up long-term being the more impactful of the rivalries in the area, but the Purples and the Dragons definitely had something special way back when. They were pretty fun to watch in baseball as well.  Nowadays, we simply have to settle for basketball.