TUESDAY NIGHT COVERAGE

 The 2009 high school football season officially comes to a close this weekend when the six classes meet in the state championship games at Houchens-LT Smith Stadium on the campus of Western Kentucky University.

Surprises. There are a few. Louisville DeSales in the Class 2A finals against Fort Campbell, which is no surprise at all. Somerset in the 3A finals might be the most surprising of them all. Especially after Jay Cobb resigned at the start of the season. Somerset knew what they were doing when they asked to go to 3A instead of staying in the 2A with Corbin.

John Hardin in the 5A finals is somewhat of a sleeper, but the Hardin County School has been knocking on the door for several years now.

In the 1A, I pretty much had Lexington Christian and Mayfield in the finals from day one.

Now on to the winners, Mayfield, Fort Campbell, Paducah Tilghman, Boyle County, Highlands and St. Xavier.

 Playoff System

College football has another week before getting ready for the Bowl season. I have two problems with the post-season. First of all there are way too many Bowls. I liked it better when you had a handful of bowls, there was more prestige when you were actually picked to play.

Teams should have at least seven wins to be bowl-eligible. With teams playing 12 games and making it to a bowl, some will be going in with 6-6 records. There are 12 teams sitting at .500 that will probably make it to a bowl.

Fans have preached and begged for a play-off format. There is bound to be more of that this season. Six teams are currently undefeated and as many as five could finish the season with a perfect record. One of the best will be shot down this week when Florida plays Alabama. Some feel they should play in the bowl championship game as well regardless of the outcome of Saturday’s game.

Again the pollsters will pick the national champion when a playoff system would decide it on the field. I suppose I would vote for Florida as the nations top ten, but Texas could very well be the best in the land. If Cincinnati beats Pittsburgh who is to say they shouldn’t be the national champion.

I don’t think Boise State and TCU are national champions, but they are not going to get the chance to prove it either.

 Tuesday night hoops

The roundball season began Monday night with the girls opening 2009-10 play. There are so many new faces at the local schools. It will be an interesting season. There will be some under-dogs that will emerge. This could be the year that a rookie comes to the top and leads his or her team.

Last year you noticed Tuesday night games being in our A section. We plan on doing the same thing this year, so look for Tuesday night games near the front of the News Journal. We will try to get as many Tuesday night games in, but if we don’t please check out our website, www.thenewsjournal.net.

We need coaches to call after Tuesday night games, 528-9767 or have a representative. Coaches playing on Monday can call me at 309-4891 or 528-9767 and leave a boxscore and stats.