How long?
With only two rounds of the football playoffs in the books, we’re down to one team remaining in the Advocate’s coverage area. And that’s an awfully rare thing for a section of the state that has sent more than its share of teams deep into the playoffs over the last 25 years.
To be exact, the last time it happened was in 1998. Danville made it all the way to the Class 2A finals that season, but Boyle County and Harrodsburg were eliminated in the second round, Lincoln County exited in the first round and none of the other area teams qualified.
The story was basically the same the year before, except it was Harrodsburg in the state finals (in Class A) and Danville bowing out in the second round.
Since 1991, when the playoffs were expanded to 32 teams and five rounds in each class, at least two local teams have reached the third round (quarterfinals) in every year except those two.
This is also the first time since 1997 that both Boyle and Danville have been bounced after two rounds. In that season, Boyle lost to Bourbon County and Danville lost to Lexington Catholic.
And this is the first time that Lincoln has reached the quarters since 1999, when the Patriots defeated Breckinridge County and Central in the first two rounds before losing to Bullitt East.
This season marks the seventh time Lincoln has won at least two playoff games. The Pats reached the Class 3A semifinals with two wins in 1988 and also had two wins in the larger format in 1992, ’94, ’95 and ’99. And of course, they won four games in both 1990 and 1993 to reach the state finals.
