Off the top of my head, I only feel comfortable listing the
1928 Carr Creek team and its 4 overtime loss in the
state finals to Ashland. I realize this is only a quasi
rivalry because the teams didn't regularly schedule
each other. Most of the early and very good teams
were, originally, coal camp teams or coal town teams.
Many of the coal town teams eg Hazard, Jenkins, Lynch(?)
Harlan and Middlesboro still field teams. However, their
decline can be marked with the gradual decline of their
once teeming boom town populations.
Teams like Wayland, Carr Creek, Hindman, Dilce Combs,
Viper, Vicco, M.C. Napier, Whitesburg and numerous
unmentioned teams from the mountains have suffered
the fate of economic consolidation.
I realize that I stepped out of the 14th a couple of times here.
However, since Wayland was "just over the hill" from Carr
Creek, the Wayland vs Carr Creek vs Hindman vs Hazard
rivalries were fairly intense. For sure, smaller schools
had rivalries that carried extreme passion.
I'm unsure of our definition of rivalry here. Are we saying teams
that regularly schedule one another, teams that might only
meet frequently in playoff elimination games, and/or ne'er
do well teams that play each other with ferocity each year?
My school had no football program. While I'm a fan of
h.s. football now, I had only here say knowledge of
football when I was in high school. Why? Hazard was
a one hour, hard mountain road drive for me. But
I would beg, borrow or steal to get to a Hazard bball
game. For example, I borrowed (till summer) $10.
from my Dad in order to hire someone to drive me
and my friends to the 1962 Hazard vs St. X game.
Sorry, I have taken a detour to memory lane.