Boyle County-Lexington Catholic rivalry was good from the start From the very first time Boyle County and Lexington Catholic played, you could tell this series was going to be something. But there was no way to know it was going to be this good. There are better, older, more storied and more bitter rivalries out there, but for most of the last two decades, few series have been more compelling than Boyle-Catholic. They will face off again Friday at Rebel Stadium in a matchup of two of the state’s best Class 4A teams. Fans on both sides fully expect that it will be the first of two meetings this season between the Rebels and Knights, because that has been the case for the past six years and on nine occasions in the 16 years since they first met. And that is what makes this game great. That’s the ingredient that we didn’t see coming in 1997. When Boyle defeated Lexington Catholic 28-27 in overtime in that first meeting, all we saw was a great game between good teams that left us hungry for more. There were contrasts both real and embellished that served as talking points and even rallying points on both sides —public vs. private, city vs. country — but the truth is the two programs were more similar than they cared to admit. Both teams were making their way upward through Kentucky’s football establishment, like families with new money that weren’t yet fully accepted in an old neighborhood. Boyle was six years removed from a one-win season that led to the hiring of a new coach, Chuck Smith, who had turned a program that had become a doormat into a rapidly rising power in Class 2A. The Rebels were winning playoff games regularly but were still two years away from the first in their string of five consecutive championships. Lexington Catholic was six years removed from its first varsity season, and coach Bob Sphire had turned a program that was still in its infancy into a consistent winner. The Knights, who were still eight years away from their first championship, had good rivalries in Class 1A in their early years — thought they lost most of their biggest games — and now had to deal with Boyle and Danville as they moved up to 2A. The Knights played Danville twice in 1997, their first year in 2A, losing to the Admirals in the regular season and beating them in the playoffs. The next year, they avenged their overtime loss to Boyle with a 44-17 win in the regular season, then beat the Rebels 28-13 in the playoffs. And that’s when things got serious. They played twice again in 1999, when Boyle won both games, and in 2000, with the same result. Those four games were decided by a total of 16 points, and they were among the most difficult hurdles Boyle faced on the path to its first two championships. And just like that, the rivalry was over. Realignment left the teams in different districts, and they played only once from 2001-06. Another realignment brought them back together in 2007 in Class 4A, and it felt right again. The first game was another dandy — Lexington Catholic won 18-14 — and it breathed new life into a rivalry that some Boyle fans have said has become bigger than Boyle-Danville, especially given the high stakes of their semi-annual meetings. The first game is critical to set up the second game, and the second game much more so because it means the end of one team’s season. The series has been nearly even. Boyle leads 11-9 overall, 7-6 in the regular season and 4-3 in the postseason. And, without exception, every time there has been a rematch, the team that has won the regular-season game has also won the playoff game. Lexington Catholic has closed the gap in the last two years by winning four straight games, all of them decided by 11 points or less, after Boyle had won six in a row. The Knights figured to be the team to beat when this season began as well. They returned many of the top skill players from a team that lit up the scoreboard last year, and the Rebels began the season with heaping helpings of inexperience and questions. Through the first half of the season, however, the gap between the two teams seems to have closed, largely because Boyle has been better than expected. Lexington Catholic is the only one of the two teams that has lost, but its losses to Bowling Green and St. Xavier count against them only in the sense that they are losses by definition. Where might Friday’s game be decided? There’s a good chance it will go to the team that is best able to stop its opponent. Pass defense was a problem at times for Boyle last year, and the Rebels gave up 211 yards earlier this year to Anderson County, the best passing team they have faced to date. Lexington Catholic, meanwhile, is throwing for 251 yards per game. On the other side, Lexington Catholic is allowing 30.0 points per game. And yes, the Knights gave up 48 to Bowling Green and 49 to St. Xavier, but they also gave up 28 to Lafayette, 21 to Bryan Station and 28 to Madison Central, and those teams have a combined total of four wins. Maybe nobody stops anybody and the game turns into a track meet. Maybe one team will turn the ball over a few too many times. Maybe something unforeseen or unpredictable or just plain crazy happens. As usual, it’s difficult to predict. And that’s why it’s so much fun. Boyle County-Lexington Catholic series history (Boyle County leads 11-9) 1997: Boyle County 28, Lexington Catholic 27, OT 1998: Lexington Catholic 44, Boyle County 17 1998: Lexington Catholic 28, Boyle County 13 (second-round playoff) 1999: Boyle County 29, Lexington Catholic 21 1999: Boyle County 21, Lexington Catholic 17 (regional final) 2000: Boyle County 16, Lexington Catholic 14 2000: Boyle County 18, Lexington Catholic 16 (regional final) 2004: Lexington Catholic 43, Boyle County 42 2007: Lexington Catholic 18, Boyle County 14 2007: Lexington Catholic 41, Boyle County 12 (second-round playoff) 2008: Boyle County 14, Lexington Catholic 11 2008: Boyle County 23, Lexington Catholic 16 (regional final) 2009: Boyle County 21, Lexington Catholic 19 2009: Boyle County 34, Lexington Catholic 20 (regional final) 2010: Boyle County 42, Lexington Catholic 10 2010: Boyle County 45, Lexington Catholic 35 (regional final) 2011: Lexington Catholic 20, Boyle County 13 2011: Lexington Catholic 10, Boyle County 7 (regional final) 2012: Lexington Catholic 24, Boyle County 21 2012: Lexington Catholic 27, Boyle County 16 (regional final) bluegrasspreps/ky-football-high/boyle-county-lexington-262516.html
Posted on: Fri, 04 Oct 2013 16:30:49 +0000
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