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Hopefully they come through for Coach Lopez. A lot promised, but the school system doesn't usually deliver. This team will essentially be Hoptown from last year with a little more depth from the Christian County roster. Hoptown competed well against South Warren all things considered. They have a really good QB and that's where it all starts on any team.

I think it will work out for him in the end. He'll have plenty of good schools wanting him to coach and he'll be back in the Sweet 16 again. And that's kind of the issue that shows the district leadership is a big issue in why both of the schools athletics dept had fallen off the last 20 years compared to years ago where you'd have both schools be contenders in football and basketball. There's been no real planning and no real leadership in the district. Like their thought is that HHS and CCHS have low numbers in sports, so combining the schools will fix those issues and they won't have to do anything else. Youth and middle school programs have no leadership or structure. I'm glad I no longer have kids that play youth sports.

I think Kerry himself was struggling during his last run at CCHS. He had 2 losing seasons right before he stepped down. Teams weren't as talented, but they played hard. The athletes in this town will always be here, even if the skill and development hasn't been as good in the youth ages. You know with Stovall you'll have 4 quarters of being pressed. It takes a different person to connect with kids, you bring up social media, but the kids coming to high school now were younger kids during the pandemic years. A new age indeed. Although he was in Orange and Black and not my home school colonels, I do think Coach Lopez is a model of connecting with kids.

As it's been discussed, Hopkinsville and Christian County high schools will combine and form a new consolidated school next season. Hopkinsville and Christian County are two storied programs and for a period of time, all basketball in the 2nd region ran through Hopkinsville/Christian County. A familiar name will be the head coach, Kerry Stovall. He was the coach of the Christian County Colonels from 2001-2011. During his decade he won 6 region titles and capped it off with a buzzer beater in double overtime that won the Colonel the 2011 State Championship. Stovall went to Muhlenberg for several years as an admin before returning to Christian County for a 3 year span from 2017-2020. He's been the District Athletics director since 2020. This comes at a crucial time. Many in the community are against this consolidation, but it's coming and they need to get people on board. No one will question Stovall's coaching resume, probably the best in the region. Known for his full court press, his teams always played with top effort and he pushed him to the limit. This is a familiar and successful name to get the program started. He is a bit older for a high school, as he's 65. He hasn't coached in 12 of the last 15 seasons, including the last 6 he's been an administrator. But his love of the game hasn't changed. Craig Clayton came back to Hoptown at a similar age to coach football again and got their program back to levels of success. I'm also hearing there's a possibility that former HHS and UHA coach Terry Hayes may be joining the staff, uniting the two former rival coaches. As I've mentioned before, basketball in Hopkinsville/Christian is DOWN. Like historically down. For years it was always joked that combining the schools would create a guaranteed state champion. Even with UHA, it was normal to have all 3 teams in the top 5 in the region and there was always at least one team ranked in the top 25. But now I don't think that's been true for several years. You could've combined HHS, CCHS, and UHA and Lyon probably still wins and Henderson too. From 1968-2018, a team from Hopkinsville/Christian won the region title 34 out of 51 years. From 2002-2018, a team from here won 17 consecutive region titles. Hoptown, UHA, and Christian have all won a state title. From 2019-2026, only UHA in the weird COVID year has been the only Region 2 champ from here in the last 8 seasons. A crucial hire at a crucial time. But it's a coach that knows how to win a state championships and dominate Region 2.

It originally was going to be the Hopkinsville-Christian County Academy Wolfpack, a nod to the Attucks Wolves of old. They did a big thing claiming it got the most votes and really gave no proof. Then out of nowhere, a year later, they just told everyone that Christian County Tigers was the choice the community wanted. That's an example of why people are skeptical about the consolidation, the leadership hasn't really seemed to have a grasp. Some say they're not transparent but I personally just think they really didn't have a plan and have been making it up as they go along. Good intentions, but no planning really went into it at all. They've really lost a lot of trust in the community. I think they should've just been Hopkinsville-Christian High School, like Franklin-Simpson. Or something like Pennyroyal High School and started new. But at this point it is what it is, can't change it. Just have to hope it works out for the kids and that the current leadership gets their act together. But it all predates them though. It's why I sent my kids to private school and I'm a big advocate of public schools, but the schools here have just been in decline for a while now.

I'll add something more, the Hopkinsville area was a powerhouse for as long as I remember. Going back to when Christian County opened and the school system integrated in the late 60s, everyone knew the teams in Hopkinsville were fun to watch. But many in the area are talking about how far things have slipped the last decade. -From 2002-2018 a team from Hopkinsville-Christian won 17 consecutive region championship -From 1968-2018 over those 51 seasons a team from Hopkinsville-Christian won 34 of the 51 regional championship -2019-2026 Only UHA won a regional title in the weird COVID season of 2021. The last time a Public school from Hopkinsville-Christian won region was 2017 Many years you'd have all 3 teams in town be the top 5 in the region and you could have 1-2 of them be ranked. You'd have 2-3 players with Division 1 talent in the area. Many would say that you could've combined the schools during that run of 51 years I just mentioned and they would be a top 5 team competing for a state title every year. Thinking about the 1968 Colonels and 1969 Tigers of my youth that were legends with Bird Averitt and Billy Ray Cheatham playing together for you old guys that remember. I think combining the two this year and you still wouldn't have had a team that would've won the region title. Heck combine HHS, CCHS, and UHA this year and it still probably doesn't beat Lyon or Henderson. I know many in the state probably haven't noticed, but there hasn't been a special group or team around here since that run in the latter part of the last decade when all 3 schools had some top D1 talent and great coaching. There has been a drop in sports here other than baseball which has had a lot of success at all 3 schools, but even those numbers are low. This used to be a football town and now one school had a pretty good year and the other couldn't even barely field a team or win a game. Combining the schools will help artificially help fix the numbers, but schools the size of HHS and CCHS have plenty of talent and numbers and should never struggle to field teams. I don't know if it's youth sports or commitment from the administration but athletics in this area have fallen.

Hopkinsville also has two private schools in UHA and Heritage Christian that combine for an enrollment around 180-190 high school students. Also there's an alternative school which I don't think counts towards the enrollment at either high school. You'd also be surprised at the amount of home schooled kids in the area. We've also have a few making the trip over to Trigg County, as that's a really good school district. As for best coaches. Since the 90s it's probably Jeff Jackson, Kerry Stovall, Ryan Perry, and Tim Haworth that are the top of Region 2 success and I'm not putting them in any order. Coach Lyle Dunbar in my opinion was the best during his time. Didn't win state, but got to 2 state title games. But he was coach when I was in school so I'm a bit biased myself. I do think Stovall is one of the best. But he has to be close to 70 years old and he's really been out of coaching for the last decade and longer other than a brief stint back at County 7-8 years ago. Rick Pitino is showing age doesn't matter if you can run that full court press well.

Not Haworth. I don't want to spoil it but I also don't want people in Louisville speculating and making him have to answer questions. The people currently in charge would not hire him. I hated how it ended here for Coach Haworth and he'd be the perfect choice, but that's just not going to happen here unless there's a bunch of new people in charge. The job was posted last week and filled quickly. This coach has a better resume than Haworth, which is saying a lot. Meaning there isn't a lot to work out in terms of being able to get going on day 1. That's the last hint.

They will be the Christian County Tigers. IT will be a new school, but it has the same name Christian County HS.

The job has been filled and will be announced on Friday. I do not believe Dior got the job. Will be a very familiar name for Region 2 fans with a lot of success. It's not Ryan Perry, but will probably enter the region as the best coach. Won't spoil it, but it should be obvious for those who know.

I'm not going to reveal to the extent of what I know, but the interest is real with Ryan. And in all honesty it would be perfectly normal for him to think about it. My thought is that he does not want people to know, but its out now and I think Lyon will make a big play to keep him. And he's had interest in coming here for a while. He had serious talks about coming to UHA when Travis was playing. It did not work out, but there were talks. Tyler Smithhart's dream job was always Henderson. remember he took over Christian County right after Stovall retired. But Kerry Stovall is the AD for Christian County Public Schools and he is Smithhart's mentor. That would be the only thing that would get his interest. But I just personally think Tyler won't be returning to the area Jon Newton, he was an assistant at Hoptown years ago. But idk if he'd be interested. The alure of having that kind of talent would be very tempting. Every coach wants to win a state title and go down as a legend in the KHSAA. This new school will give him that chance. At one point Hoptown had Jon Newton, Tim Haworth, and Anthony Babb as their assistant coaches and Tyler Smithart was an assistant at Christian County at the same time. A lot of great head coaching talent all as assistants.

I do agree Dior is probably the best man for the job knowing his history, but there was no done deal. The thing was that Coach Babb at Hopkinsville didn't really want to the consolidated job and being the coach at CCHS pretty much gave you an upper-hand. But a 21-37 record over 2 years has made it hard for him to have the job. I think they've got their eyes on someone else. They're going to have people apply from all over the state for this job. But there's one name to watch. When the Sweet 16 is over, Ryan Perry will emerge as their top target. Lyon County is a hard place to rebuild every year. He knows the talent at Christian County means he'll be able to compete every single year and never have a shortage of depth. And for a community that's not in favor of consolidation and they'll need something big to get people on board, bringing in a coach like him will go a long way because they'll be able to sell having a state championship winning coach. But will Coach Perry feel the call to stay at a school where he's a legend? Or even just retire and watch his son play college basketball?

Tigers win 56-44 for the last time. It was a fast paced game like usual. Buckets were traded back and forth. Late in the 3rd quarter, Christian County took a 33-32 lead. But Hopkinsville went on a 19-0 run and the game was over from there. Surprisingly it was a 6pm start and not a 7pm start, which I think hurt attendance. But a very bittersweet night. Hopkinsville now waits to see the regional draw, probably keeping a close eye on where Henderson and Lyon will fall in the bracket.

Tigers vs. Colonels, one last time I'm saying this because it's very unlikely these teams will meet for a region championship. But truly this was the most special rivalry in the state. It's one of those you just had to live. Truly you were Orange or you are blue(although my kids are Blazers). If I'm not mistaken, this is likely the last time these two schools will face off in team sports as Hoptown will not field a baseball or softball team. So many great memories. So many great players. Everyone knows that the community comes out for this game, the players always step up for this game. This game is like a tournament atmosphere any time you play. You win this game and make a big play in this game, you get to have that for life. There's really nothing like it. One county with 2 schools that are 5A type enrollments. Each school has won a state title in basketball. Hoptown in 1985 beat the Colonels in the regional title. Many say the Colonels were better....the Tigers won 56-55. They took that all the way to the State Championship and brought the first one home to the county. What's interesting is that County won the 1984 4A State Title in football and Hopkinsville made the football state championship in 2A that season. And the history of CCHS with Coach Dunbar leading them to so many regional titles, that 1976 team that made the state finals was legendary. In 2011, Christian County had it's first Mr. Basketball in Anthony Hickey. Like the 1985 Tigers, they lost the district title to UHA in a tornado warning game. They then took it all the way to the state title game where they won on a buzzer beater in double overtime. Region 2 fans now, I imagine you didn't know that in 2008-2011 Tim Haworth, Anthony Babb, Tyler Smithart, and Jon Newton were all assistant coaches at Hoptown and County These teams have just battled. A decade ago Tim Haworth had Hoptown rocking with 5 region titles in the decade. Frankie Smith led CCHS back to the S16 after a decade. Both teams had top 10 rankings. They faced off in the region title back to back years. Buzzer beaters, OT games, Division 1 talent, and sellout gyms. That was a fun few years and honestly it showed that Hopkinsville/Christian County was a BASKETBALL TOWN. The football game always got the attention, but the last 20 years has been about basketball. You think about the history of so many legends like Bird Averitt, Curtis Parker, Lamont Ware/Wendell Quarles, Curtis Pulley, Anthony Hickey, Jaqualis Matlock, Torrian Ware, and so many others I wouldn't have time to name. The coaches like Roy Woolum, Lyle Dunbar, Darryl Halmark, Kerry Stovall, and Tim Haworth. It's a sad sad sad day. I know they needed a new school, but I really don't think this is going to be good for a community of this size. Hoptown-County is an event that spans generations. It draws out the community in a way that you can't explain. It brings out the best in our community. No matter the record, if you win this game? Your season is successful. You're the big man on campus. You cherish those memories. Every year you'll see old faces in the crowd for a game like this, because it's the draw. It connects our history. But it's all over now, but the memories will never fade. We'll never see crowds or energy like this in this area again. But tonight, I'd imagine they'll give us one last great game.

I'm a little late to this but congrats to Jordan. He was a 3 sport star for the Blazers and I watched him grow up. He's as hard a worker as you will find. Only downside is experience. He's never really coached at anything higher than younger kids travel ball. He's been out of the HS game since 2009. But if anyone can work and learn on the job, it's Jordan.

In terms of the crowd size, Hopkinsville and Christian used to couldn't be matched. That large stadium used to be so packed. It still brings a decent crowd. In the old 4 class system, you could always count on it being a matchup featuring some of the best talent. But as both programs have just slowly declined over the last 20 years, the game just doesn't have the same feeling at the state level to pay attention. And the powers that be have let those schools fall apart so that they could push consolidation, they've thrown away what was and still is the best event for this community, the Hoptown-County game in all sports. But that's another argument, I just think it's going to be sad that the big football stadium we built when I was in high school is going to be empty most nights as the community fully checks out.