The state finals live here
Doing some reading and research on state football finals past and present reminded me of just how good football fans in this corner of Kentucky have it. For a 20-year period from 1987 through this year, at least one school from this five-county area has made the finals 18 times. And we’ve had two local schools represented in five of the last seven years. That’s something that should never be taken for granted, even if your team isn’t playing.
Only two other localities in the state can match that success rate, the metropolitan areas of Jefferson County and the three suburban counties of northern Kentucky. The Advocate’s five-county area has a population of roughly 108,000, only 2.6 percent of Kentucky’s total population. At its peak, there were eight schools playing football in this area (now there are just six), and five of them have reached the finals. That’s astounding, and it’s tremendous fun to be part of.
Here’s the full list of finalists over the last 20 years:
1987, Danville; 1988, Harrodsburg; 1989, Danville; 1990, Lincoln County; 1991, Danville; 1992, Danville; 1993, Lincoln County; 1994, Danville; 1995, none; 1996, Harrodsburg; 1997, Harrodsburg; 1998, Danville; 1999, Boyle County; 2000, Boyle County and Danville; 2001; Boyle County and Danville; 2002, Boyle County; 2003, Boyle County and Danville; 2004, Boyle County and Danville; 2005, none; 2006, Danville and Mercer County.
