KHSAA State Football Champions

Here are your KHSAA State Finals in football:

Class 6A:

Lou. Trinity 41, Lex. Bryan Station 20

Class 5A:

Bowling Green 28, Cooper 14

Class 4A:

Boyle Co. 41, Cov. Catholic 0

Class 3A:

Christian Academy-Louisville 41, Bell Co. 16

Class 2A:

Mayfield 53, Owensboro Catholic 48

Class 1A:

Pikeville 21, Raceland 0

Let's make a comment here about Mayfield.  None of the State Champs had a harder row to hoe than the Cardinals.  In the quarter-finals, they had to play Lexington Christian, which MaxPreps had as the number 9 team in the whole Commonwealth, regardless of class.  Mayfield beat them 58-36.  Then they had to play Beechwood, who beat Mayfield in last year's state title game.  They beat Beechwood on a last-second field goal:  31-28.  And finally, they had to play an undefeated Owensboro Catholic team that had outscored its opponents by over 500 points.  The Cardinals beat them 53-48 in one of the greatest state title games ever played.  I know that Mayfield has an amazing history -- this was their 13th State Championship.  And I know that they have a lot of drama every year.  But to me, and especially given the recent history around the tornado, this was their greatest triumph in their long and great history.

Here is the final MaxPreps Top 20, showing that Boyle Co. was the best team in the Commonwealth this year.  (State Champs are in bold):

1.  Boyle Co.:  15-0

2.  Lou. Trinity:  12-3

3.  Lex. Frederic Douglass:  8-5

4.  Corbin:  11-1

5.  Christian Academy-Louisville:  14-1

6.  Lou. Male:  11-2

7.  Lex. Bryan Station:  11-4

8.  Bowling Green:  12-3

9.  Cov. Catholic:  14-1

10.  Ft. Thomas Highlands:  12-2

11.  Lou. St. Xavier:  8-4

12.  Mayfield:  14-1

13.  Cooper:  12-3

14.  Lou. Ballard:  10-4

15.  Franklin Co:  13-1

16.  Lex. Christian:  11-2

17.  Lou. Manual:  9-3

18.  Paducah Tilghman:  13-1

19.  Owensboro Catholic:  14-1

20.  S. Warren:  9-3

And here is our final Power Eleven, with the Cardinals on top:

12.  Mayfield:  14-1

18.  Paducah Tilghman:  13-1

37.  Union Co:  11-2

42.  Graves Co:  8-4

52.  Madisonville-N. Hopkins:  8-3

53.  Henderson Co:  5-7

61.  McCracken Co:  6-7

63.  Logan Co:  8-4

88.  Crittenden Co:  7-5

92.  Murray:  7-5

115.  Webster Co:  6-5

It's the first time a Power Eleven Team has won a State Title since Mayfield won the 2A Title in 2015.  Since then, Mayfield had lost four times in the 2A Final:

2017:  Danville 35, Mayfield 21

2018:  Christian Academy-Louisville 34, Mayfield 26

2019:  Somerset 34, Mayfield 31

2022:  Beechwood 14, Mayfield 13

That's a lot of heartache for a small town, before you even get to the tornado.  But as we like to say here on the Heath Post, Defeats Are Not Always Forever, and this year Mayfield is back on top.