The wrong rematches
Every October seems to bring the possibility of the Boyle County and Danville boys and girls soccer teams facing each other in both the 29th District and 15th Region tournament finals, but it almost never happens.
It won’t happen this year, either. Even though both the boys and girls teams from the two rival schools went head to head in last week’s district finals — and all advanced to the regionals as a result — there won’t be any rematches when the 15th Region titles are decided tonight and Thursday.
Instead, the rematches are between teams from Boyle and Southwestern, which meet in the boys final tonight at Southwestern and in the girls final Thursday night at Boyle.
Since the current 15th Region was configured in 2004 to include teams from Boyle, Garrard, Marion, Mercer and Taylor counties in the 29th District and from Adair, Lincoln, Pulaski and Russell counties in the 30th District, the teams from Danville and Boyle have been the best of the bunch more often than not. Yet they have met only once in the boys final and once in the girls final during that time.
Counting this year, both Boyle and Danville have reached the girls regional for four straight years, yet they have faced off in the finals only once — even though it’s only a four-team tournament. That was in 2006, when Boyle won.
Boyle and Danville’s boys teams have made the boys regional in the same season only twice in five years, and their one meeting in the boys final was in 2005, which Boyle won.
So tonight’s boys final is a rematch of a Sept. 25 game at Boyle that Southwestern won 2-0. Boyle coach Cris McMann said the Warriors were called for 33 fouls in that game. Interestingly, the Southwestern boys are the only boys or girls team other than a Boyle or Danville team that has won a regional title since 2004.
The girls final is a rematch of a Sept. 9 game at Boyle, which Boyle won 4-2 as Lauren Paynter became the Lady Rebels’ all-time leading scorer.
The winner of tonight’s boys game will play a sub-sectional game Tuesday at Corbin or Perry County Central. The girls winner will host its sub-sectional game Monday against Middlesboro or South Laurel.
