In the entire wonderful state of Kentucky, only 8 boys' teams will have practice this evening, so they all deserve a huge congratulations!  It is a terrific accomplishment to be one of the last 8 standing, overcoming adversity along the way in nearly every case, surviving district and regional tournaments, and then winning your first State Tournament game (including 2 managing to win road games, which is never easy this time of year).

Here is the schedule for your Elite 8 over the next 3 days:

*  Thursday, October 21st, at 7:00:  Boyd County (#71 in Maher Ranking) at Dunbar (#2)

*  Thursday, October 21st, at 7:00:  Daviess County (#3) at North Oldham (#1)

*  Saturday, October 23rd, at 5:00:  Butler (#16) at Elizabethtown (#11)

*  Saturday, October 23rd, at 5:00:  CovCath (#20) at Somerset (#51)

The four winners will play in the Kentucky Final Four on October 27th at Frederick Douglass, with the State Championship game being held on Saturday, the 30th, at 4:00, at Freddy D.

Good luck to all 8 teams, and you should absolutely be incredibly proud of advancing this far.  Enjoy the heck out of today's practice, there are a LOT of teams around the state that would love to be lacing the boots up this afternoon in your stead, so don't take this for granted.  Getting this far in a single-classification sport in KY is a big deal...and is never easy.

May all of these young men play well, play hard, and stay healthy!

For no reason besides my own curiosity, here are the BOYS enrollment numbers for the schools in the Elite 8 (as of 2019-20):

1.  Dunbar  1,015

2.  Daviess Co.  921

3.  Butler  794

4.  CovCath  545

5.  North Oldham  526

6.  Boyd Co.  469

7.  Elizabethtown  389

8.  Somerset  299

Last nugget about these 8 soccer teams fortunate to still be playing.  Here are the State Championships and State Runner-ups for the 8 remaining programs:

1.  Dunbar:  4 times State Champions (1992, 2001, 2005, 2013) and 2 times State Runner-Up (1993, 2012)

2.  Daviess County:  1 time State Champion (2016) and 3 times State Runner-Up (2010, 2017, 2019)

2.  CovCath:  1 time State Champion (2015) and 3 times State Runner-Up (1983, 1998, 2016)

4.  Elizabethtown:  1 time State Runner-Up (1992)

St. Xavier's dominance is just amazing:  15 state titles (out of 46 State Champions), and 11 of them under Coach Andy Schulten.  That is just eye-popping stuff, truly.  

Okay, last nugget, and I may have this wrong, but I don't think so.  Not one of the 46 KY State Champions in Soccer were located east of I-75.  0 for 46.  I'm not an expert on Lexington-area high schools, but I think Sayre is the only one of them that is east of 75, and they haven't won one. 

30 are in Louisville.

12 are in Lexington.

2 are in Bowling Green.

1 in NKY.

1 in Owensboro.

5 hours ago, The Double Deuce said:

Okay, last nugget, and I may have this wrong, but I don't think so.  Not one of the 46 KY State Champions in Soccer were located east of I-75.  0 for 46.  I'm not an expert on Lexington-area high schools, but I think Sayre is the only one of them that is east of 75, and they haven't won one. 

30 are in Louisville.

12 are in Lexington.

2 are in Bowling Green.

1 in NKY.

1 in Owensboro.

Or in other words all the state championships have been won from the states 5 most heavily populated areas.  Makes since in a lot of ways.

I listed the Maher rankings in the original post, here are the MaxPreps rankings (updated as of 10/21) for the 8 teams still playing in Kentucky:

#1  North Oldham

#2  Dunbar

#3  Daviess County

#15  Elizabethtown

#17  Butler

#22  CovCath

#29  Boyd County

#32  Somerset

Good luck to these 4 teams tonight as they battle to see who gets to advance to the Kentucky Boys' Soccer Final 4 next week!!!  

*  Thursday, October 21st, at 7:00:  Boyd County (#71 in Maher Ranking) at Dunbar (#2)

*  Thursday, October 21st, at 7:00:  Daviess County (#3) at North Oldham (#1)

Saw this pic on Twitter, thought it was pretty cool

 

Thanks for sharing, very cool!