Cities of tradition
As near as I can tell, a Danville-Bardstown game doesn’t have as much historical significance to Admirals fans as, say, Danville-Somerset or Danville-Corbin. But maybe it should.
Like Danville, Bardstown is one of the best brand names in Kentucky small-school football — or football of any class, for that matter. The Tigers have earned their place alongside schools tradition-rich city schools like Somerset, Corbin, Pikeville and Paris with four championships, the most recent in 2001, and a wonderful stable of great coaches and players. And of course, there is no city school with a better tradition than Danville with its 10 titles.
And that’s only part of what makes Danville’s game tonight at Bardstown so appealing. The histories of these two teams are interesting enough, but their recent past makes for good storylines, too. It starts in the 2004 playoffs when Danville beat Bardstown in a second-round game, then gets more interesting with the 2005 regional final in which Bardstown defeated then-unbeaten Danville 21-0.
Last season, the two teams landed in the same district and played two good games, with Danville winning 20-14 in their regular-season meeting at Admiral Stadium and Bardstown winning 23-13 in a second-round playoff game at Garnis Martin Field.
Tonight’s game could also be part one of a two-part series. The winner will likely finish on top in Class 2A, District 4, but the loser will still be well-positioned for a possible rematch. And that means another interesting chapter in the growing history these two schools share.
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We finally get a handful of links this week to game previews from out-of-town papers:
The Kentucky Standard of Bardstown previews the Danville-Bardstown battle.
A look at Lincoln County’s game with South Laurel from The Sentinel-Echo of London.
A quick glance at the Hopkinsville-Mercer County game from the Kentucky New Era of Hopkinsville.
A look at the Garrard County-Casey County game within the “Friday Morning Quarterback” column in The Casey County News.
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Now for the weekly picks, with a friendly reminder that even though I went 2-1 last week, I wasn’t the only one who thought Casey County had a good chance to beat Adair County:
- Danville over Bardstown
- Garrard County over Casey County
- South Laurel over Lincoln County
- Mercer County over Hopkinsville
- Boyle County over West Jessamine
Last week: 2-1; season 25-5 (.833).
