Diogenes

What is the greatest game you ever seen at Manual Stadium? It may be a final minute game changer, a tight game where the lead see-sawed, a historic game, a game that affected the playoffs, or a game that just had some special memory for you. Who played, what was at stake, who won, crowd size- and any other pertinent details you may wish to add.

Saw that one too. Another Manual Stadium memory.

BuddyBW's analysis is spot on. There are a lot of memories involved. I attended my first high school game at Manual Stadium in the fall of 1959. That game featured the 1959 Manual Rams, considered by some the greatest team to ever play high school football in Kentucky, battling a powerful Flaget Brave squad. Over the years I have attended so many games there, and the memories blend and run together. I remember watching my first St. X-Trinity game with my best buddy in 1964. He was a sophomore at Trinity, and a typical high school student-absolutely certain that his school was going to prevail, despite this being the game that the Dicky Lyons returned from probation. Another great game was the 1967 Flaget-Owensboro game. Owensboro was 7-0 and unscored upon. Flaget would go on that year to win the state 3A title. Another game played there, in the late 90s or early 2000's (these memories blend as they fade) had Manual leading X handily going into the fourth quarter but inexplicably continuing to pass rather than run out the clock. X intercepted a couple and won. A number of wars between X and Male that I have witnessed surely left scars on the hearts of fans of both teams. I was at Manual Stadium on a Friday night in 1965 when Flaget snapped Male's 25 game win streak. Guru, objectively you are correct. If the head and always ruled us, who would care? Often, though, we are controlled by the heart.

Nice piece. What a memory for GRC. Did any of them play college ball?

Watch out, Shamrock69. We'll have fanatics who miss the "just kidding" disclaimer or fanatics with an ax to grind, PMing us, frothing at the mouth that when they read stuff like our latest post they remember how glad they are that when they had the choice between St X and Trinity, they went to the school they attended. (Insert X or T). Thanks for the laugh.

Excellent game by both squads. As to the playoffs later in the season, it is so difficult to get out of Jefferson County in any sport.

He scored too high on the entrance test and could not get into Trinity. (Just kidding).

For 3 mil, I would hope so. Hope to see you out there!

Thats ok, the school would still accept your donation. Perhaps the entry to the school could be christened "Danza Drive." Thanks...for the donation!

No, I'm a lot older than the portrait.

You are right. When you get my age the memory neurons no longer fire as cleanly. Thanks.

Interesting topic. Any time a team that beats Trinity and St. Xavier back to back for the state championship must be given consideration for the title of "most impressive title run in 4A history". Tigertalker, as I recall a kid named Chester Ford individually devastated a good Southern offensive line and held first-team all-state running back Jimmy Maddox and the Southern Trojans in check to bring home the 4A title to Christian County. CentreRocks, the 2001 Trinity run through state was as impressive as any I have ever witnessed by a Trinity team. That team, by the way, was one game from an undefeated season. I attended several Trinity games that season, including their only loss, which I felt was to an inferior team. While not the most impressive title run, I have said before that a book could be written, or a movie made, of the 1999 St. X march to the state 4A title, which perhaps could be considered "the most exciting title run to the state 4A title". At one time that '99 X team was behind in every game of that playoff run. In the quarterfinals, the Tigers trailed a very good Male team on a rain soaked field at Manual Stadium going into the 4th quarter, then rallied to win. In the semifinal X trailed Hopkinsville 21-0 near the end of the first half. Saint X rallied, and on a third down and game from the 25 yard line with 14 seconds left, St. X completed a post pattern to a receiver who had not caught a pass all year. The state championship was also dramatic, with X trailing on the final play of overtime, then scoring on the last play of the game to win 34-31 over an Eric Shelton led Lexington Bryan Station. What a run!

Yes, but what a team it was. They slapped Trinity and X back to back, 28-20 over T in the semi's and 28-21 over X for state. The X game ended with X at goal line but short.

I will concur with the old southern coach who liked his linemen mobile, agile and hostile. (He pronounced the adjectives with a long i).

True. And Newton's Third Law of Motion applies here:For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Just as St. Xavier and Trinity gained mightily with the inception of busing, they may suffer mightily with the demise of busing. What do BGPers think? Will the privates be negatively affected? Will some privates feel the effects more than others? If so, why?

This topic, in my opinion, has been under the radar far longer than it deserves. It is the proverbial bull in the china shop in areas far greater than high school athletics. However, because this is a high school athletic football thread, I will limit my comments to the effects of busing on football only. At the outset, one must determine whether the Supreme Court will decide in a manner that abolishes busing in Jefferson County. Many knowledgeable Court followers predict that the two Justice shift in the Supreme Court over the last couple of years will alter the delicate balance that kept busing in effect for a number of years. The Rehnquist/Roberts trade on the Court should not affect the balance, because Rehnquist was a consistent opponent of racially balancing schools/ busing as far back as the early 1950s where some of his writings pre-Brown v. Board of Education almost derailed his appointment to the United States Supreme Court. However, the O'Connor/Alito change in the Court may tip the 5- 4 pro-busing balance. Sandra Day O'Connor had voted to uphold busing as a remedy for prior racial inequities; Samuel Alito has signaled that he would not vote to uphold busing. Assuming that busing is struck down, what then? Indeed, there are at least two templates of which I am aware for gaging the potential affect of busing on local schools. One is the Kansas City template; the other is the Charlotte template. The Charlotte template is the one referred to in the above post, recently described in the Courier-Journal. The Kansas City template occurred about a decade earlier and I have written to this effect in an earlier post on another thread. Essentially, the post-busing situation in both cities, hardly geographically proximate and occurring a decade apart, is strikingly similar. There is a frantic attempt by many in the community to maintain some semblance of racial balance in the schools. In Kansas City it was estimated that up to $1 billion was spent in an attempt to make inner-city schools attractive to suburban students. "But despite a $900,000 television advertising budget and a $6.4 million special budget for door-to-door transportation of suburban students, the district did not attract the ...white suburban students ... Even that modest number drastically declined after the Supreme Court's 1995 ruling that the judge had no authority to spend taxpayer dollars to transport suburban students into the district. By the 1996-97 school year, only 387 suburban students were still attending school in the KCMSD. Given that the district's annual desegregation budget was approximately $200 million, the cost of attracting those suburban students was half a million dollars per year per child." See: http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-298.html There is no reason to believe that the Louisville/Jefferson County would be any different than either of our sister cities. That is, schools would shortly take on the demographic characteristics of their immediate neighborhoods. Ethnic and racial groups, when given free choice, still tend to cluster together in America. After all, as Dr. King said "the most segregated area of American life is Sunday morning church". If Jefferson County reverts to a pre-busing configuration, one would expect that the football powers that existed in the early 70s may again become powerful. One caveat: how about the big Catholics? Even adjusting for inflation, tuition at private schools has risen to dizzying heights. Parents will weigh whether to send their sons and daughters to nearby neighborhood schools or to pay over $8,000 in tuition to send their sons and daughters to Catholic high schools. It is certainly plausible to believe that Catholic schools will take major enrollment hits as a result of changes brought about by the abolition of busing. As has been raised on this board a number of times previously, one of the advantages St. Xavier and Trinity enjoy over schools such as Male and Manual in football is an approximately 2-1 advantage in numbers of boys. How far does this numerical advantage have to dwindle before parity arrives in football? And, will there be differences in the manner in which individual Catholic school's enrollment are affected? I believe that this issue is perhaps going to become the major issue in high school athletics in Jefferson County over the next two or three years. Hopefully, other BGPers can weigh in with additional analysis.

CharlieW, rhetorical conversations can be pretty interesting if the topic is pleasant!

Bombshell news for the o-line, one of the places help was needed, IMHO. Welcome back.

I believe the complaint (or observation) was not as much "T's weak schedule being the reason they dominate...." but rather that T's playoff schedule... BTW, Male fans also made this observation. True or not, T won state, and that is what counts. Staying on topic, last season Trinity was much more impressive on the ground than many expected. Phillips returns, but what of the O-line? RP predicted "as good as last seasons". My question: Returning starters or new blood?

I can't speak for the Trinity people, but Bowling Green has played X the last couple of years, so no surprise there. PRP has a young coach trying to improve by playing a rugged schedule. Butler? A suicide march-Trinity, X, Manual, Male, PRP. Friedrich Nietzsche said that what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. Butler will test this theorum.

Friday, Aug. 31 – Bowling Green at Trinity, 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 7 – Butler at Trinity, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 14 – Trinity at Cincinnati St. Xavier, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 21 – Eastern at Trinity, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 28 – Louisville St. Xavier vs. Trinity at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium, 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 5 – Trinity at Ballard, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 12 – Trinity at Pleasure Ridge Park, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 19 – Seneca at Trinity, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26 – Lexington Paul Dunbar at Trinity, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 2 – Trinity at Lexington Lafayette, 7:30 p.m. Very, very impressive schedule. I notice an opening on August 24, any chance of scheduling the Florida Gators? It is difficult to find an area to improve. Concerns noted earlier in the thread are specialty teams and qb. If the kicking game just maintains it will be among the best in the state. Petrino graduating will be a blow, but Stein should step up, and with the early season schedule he should grow into the position nicely. Again, top flight schedule.

I recognize that the statement was posted in jest, but want to add that when Trinity's new stadium was opened, and thus far in the construction of St. X's facility, most posters from both schools have been gracious about the other school's stadium. This caliber of posts has not always been the norm between fans of the schools, and it is a welcome trend, IMHO.

Oxnard's post, as usual, is straifgtforward and his analysis is appropriate in this case. Trinity has a much larger number of starters returning, and may begin the season as a favorite, since they are the defending champions. Both squads have top of the line coaches. But, St. X should have plenty of talent this year. Last years' (2006 season) seniors were totally blown away as freshmen by Trinity and Male, and (coincidently ?) Trinity and Male were the top teams four years later. X's and O's often are trumped by Jimmys and Joes. Ox, RP may have hit it overall: "In 6A, I hear Trinity, St. X, and Male will be ok." As the saying goes...The only things certain are death and taxes. Perhaps "In 6A, I hear Trinity, St. X, and Male will be ok" can be added.

Indeed, I have said before that a book could be written, or a movie made, of the 1999 St. X march to the state 4A title. The Tigers trailed a very good Male team on a rain soaked field at Manual Stadium going into the 4th quarter, then rallied to win in the quarterfinals. The semifinal game, as you eloquently described, had St. X trailing with two minutes to go in the game. The state championship was also dramatic, with X trailing on the final play of overtime. What a run!

I do not believe this will happen. Coach Glaser has stressed over the years trying to play as many kids as possible. You are not being negative to note what many see as a positive about Glaser. He has enjoyed great success over the years with this system, including a state title and state runner up in the previous three years. Whether he would be more successful playing fewer players is difficult to discern, but it is just not his way. Some coaches (Glaser, Lampley) have had success by playing a large number of kids. Others (Beatty) tend to rely more on the best athlete philosophy. Success has seemed to follow both systems.