Dawgs have blond ambition
One team will sport new hairdos. Another has some secrets in store.

Close to home for regionals
Fairview’s girls have perfection on their mind.
Ashland’s boys are running for a long-awaited title.

MARK MAYNARD: Solving puzzle of Cats on TV
Kentucky’s football game with Eastern Kentucky University on Saturday has a 1 p.m. kickoff and will be televised on WKYT only. Hopefully, the local cable companies will be able to keep the channel active since similar programming is not on any competing stations.

MARK MAYNARD: Pettrey made memories with Buckeyes 11/4/09

Eagles, Rams begin playoff march
Raceland and Fairview, both ranked in the top 10 in Class A, are fully aware that the playoff road travels through No. 1 Lexington Christian.

Lewis excited for opportunity
It has been a not-so-sweet 16 for Lewis County.

Cats ready for playoffs
One play removed from a perfect regular season, Ashland can’t wait to test its mettle in the Class 5A playoffs.

MARK MAYNARD: Flipping out over the action
There was plenty of drama while channel surfing around midnight on Sunday night.

Gillispie pleads guilty to DUI charge in Ky.
Former Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie pleaded guilty Monday to driving under the influence of alcohol.

Calipari wants some defense against Campbellsville
Kentucky coach John Calipari says he can't figure out if his team is really good on offense or just really bad on defense.

MARK MAYNARD: Flipping out over the action 11/3/09

AARON SNYDER: MMQB hands off sticker crown
The count is in. The wait is over. This year’s Helmet Sticker King is...

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS
The schedule for this week's area high school football playoff games.

Cross country: Ashland wins Meet of Champions
Ashland took five cross country runners to the Meet of Champions on Saturday and came away as champion in the Class AA division.

MARK MAYNARD: Time to give back to Putnam Stadium 11/01/09

Miss. St. bumps Cats
Anthony Dixon continued to erase the name Jerious Norwood from the Mississippi State record books, but his sights are on returning to a destination his predecessor never reached: a bowl game.

Reversed HR call helps A-Rod, Yankees beat Phils
Guess who showed up for Halloween dressed as sluggers?

Ashland youth baseball shifts
Ashland youth baseball needs a boost and area league officials say going to Junior League and Senior League divisions next year may do it.
Ashland’s struggling Babe Ruth League was having dwindling rosters and would have struggled to field four teams, according to Tim Royalty, the outgoing president of Babe Ruth, which will dissolve its charter after 52 years.

Pettrey sustains knee injury
Ohio State kicker Aaron Pettrey was helped off the field with an apparent right knee injury late in the second quarter on Saturday against New Mexico State.

Case closed
Ashland slammed the door on Boyd County with authority and closed the book on its 9-1 regular season.
The Tomcats blasted the Lions, 46-0, Friday night at Lions Stadium.

Backup QB runs wild for Mason
Mason County’s Colt Fearis has almost no experience playing quarterback at the varsity level, but you would never would have guessed that after his performance Friday night.

AARON SNYDER: Who dat? Who dat? ... Sounds a bit familiar
Might as well call the Saints the New Orleans Copycats.
Who dat? Who dat? Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints?

Wall to miss 2 games
University of Kentucky's John Wall is eligible but will have to repay expenses and sit out Monday's exhibition game with Campbellsville and the season opener against Morehead State, the school announced Friday night.

Kiwanis Bowl tonight at Putnam
For Ashland and Russell’s freshmen football teams, the entire season revolves around this rivalry game.

Pride enough to fuel Ashland-Boyd
Friday night’s game between cross-county rivals Ashland and Boyd County means absolutely nothing, right?
Absolutely wrong.

Tomcats run away with it
The success of the Ashland football program is not likely to tumble any time soon.

Pride enough to fuel Ashland-Boyd
Friday night’s game between cross-county rivals Ashland and Boyd County means absolutely nothing, right?
Absolutely wrong.

Smith calling game involving former Tomcat coach
Now the whistle is on the other shirt.
Darryl Smith, a veteran Mid-American Conference college basketball official, will be working a game Friday where his former high school coach is on one of the benches.

MARK MAYNARD: Ashland played in '79 state volleyball
This year’s Ashland’s volleyball team is the first team in school history to win a regional championship.
But the VolleyCats won’t be the first team from Ashland to advance to the State Volleyball Tournament.

Crum, Huff win 16th Region awards
Ashland senior Sierra Crum and second-year head coach Jeffrey Huff have been selected as the 16th Region’s top player and coach by the Kentucky Volleyball Coaches Association.

VolleyCats buzzing about historic season
Ashland volleyball coach Jeffrey Huff and his captains recognized all along the team had the ability to make school history.

MARK MAYNARD: Host emotional about honor 10/29/09

Bourbon edges LadyCats
Ashland’s dream of a state girls’ soccer championship slipped away Tuesday.

MARK MAYNARD: Tomcats, Boyd not so fierce
The Ashland-Boyd County football rivalry has lost its mojo.

Ashland outmatched by Montgomery Co.
Montgomery County’s quickness and skill took a toll in the Boys Sub-Section 6 soccer match.

MARK MAYNARD: Bowl game turns 30
Thursday will mark the 30th anniversary of the Kiwanis Bowl as we know it today.

MARK MAYNARD: Area long hitter competing against best
If chicks dig the long ball, then they must really dig Steve Thacker.

Trey tracks Tomcats to victory
The field at Woodford County Community Park had standing water and lots of divots in the turf, and Saturday’s game-time temperature was 47 degrees.

Lutz breaks Ohio’s win mark
Bob Lutz never wanted the individual attention.
This time he couldn’t avoid it.

Rams find stride in ‘team effort’
Raceland finally retrieved its mojo Friday night.
At least that’s what Rams’ senior Jeremy Barr called it.

LCA continues dominant ways
Lexington Christian Academy continued its streak of dominance over district opponents, defeating Fairview 42-0 Friday night at Fairview High School.

Carter, Greenup run into playoffs
Even on one leg, Rashard Carter is difficult to stop.

Dawgs Pack home district
What a difference a year can make.

MARK MAYNARD: Kentucky’s on TV, but where?
Finding Kentucky football games on television can be an exasperating experience.

Buck(ley) stops here; Ashland wins region in soccer
The Ashland Tomcats used a second-half goal by Chris Buckley to defeat Russell 1-0 and capture the 11th Region boys’ championship Thursday night at Rowan County High School.

Rail Cities Bowl picks up steam
The Rail Cities Bowl series, which has seen back-to-back wins by the visiting team, has become one of the top rivalries in the area since its formation just two years ago.

MARK MAYNARD: Almost back to perfect
Now that’s more like it.

Russell and Ashland in volleyball final tonight
Russell fought off a valiant effort from Rose Hill Christian, taking the match in two sets on Wednesday to advance to the 16th Region championship.

LadyCats’ ‘special’ season continues
The LadyCats kicked down the door and finally became 11th Region girls’ soccer champions.

MARK MAYNARD: Fighting spirit in Estep's corner
For years, while growing up on Grandview Drive, one of our playing palaces was Greg Estep’s yard.

Homefield on the line for Ashland
For coach Leon Hart, the message to his players is pretty simple this week: Win and play one more game at Putnam Stadium or lose and hit the road.

MARK MAYNARD: D-backs likely to keep Webb

SOCCER: Tomcats, Devils in finals

Russell, Rose Hill move on
For Russell, it was all about finishing strong.

Ashland, Rowan move on
The task was steep for Ashland: take down a Raceland team hot off of a district title and playing on its home court.

MARK MAYNARD: Baseball fever hardly contagious
Unless we have a Freeway Series between the Dodgers and Angels in the World Series — and that’s looking less likely by the day — don’t expect baseball’s showcase event to have a warm and fuzzy feel to it.

AARON SNYDER: Future of football in QBs' hands
Some might call this season the year of the running back.

A-Rod, Yankees edge Angels
Alex Rodriguez is putting all those playoff failures behind him. The Los Angeles Angels are turning the AL championship series into a defensive debacle.

Purdue shocks Buckeyes
Joey Elliott and Purdue shocked mistake-prone Ohio State.

Kentucky cashes in against Auburn
Randall Cobb scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 4-yard run with 3:17 to play as Kentucky came from behind to defeat Auburn 21-14 Saturday night.

West Virginia wipes out Herd

Morehead blanked by Jacksonville
Josh McGregor threw four touchdown and Jacksonville defeated Morehead State 39-0 on Saturday.

MARK MAYNARD: Webb gets HOF nod
Brandon Webb is going to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, but not the one in Cooperstown.

Dawgs dig in again
Lawrence County is now just one win away from clinching its first district championship in eight years.

Lutz records 360th victory
Ironton coach Bob Lutz achieved milestone victory No. 360 in easy fashion.

Jones, Rice power Devils
A little bit of Travis Jones and Will Rice went a long way.

Tomcats get back on the fast track
Ashland’s football team found out something else it could do Friday night.
Bounce back from disappointment.

Lions keep it rolling
Boyd County football coach Lee Evans called them the best six quarters this season.

Showdown in Louisa
The stakes couldn’t be much higher.
The Class 4A District 8 title is still up for grabs, and Rowan County and Lawrence County are within reach.

Rams take on talented LCA
The Raceland-Lexington Christian Academy high school football rivalry has produced its share of big moments.

Lady Royals down Ashland
Rose Hill Christian’s volleyball team used some self-motivation to prepare for Thursday’s 60th District championship.

Ashland gets 1-0 win over Russell for title
Ashland’s girls soccer coach E.B. Lowman got his 200th victory in a way he won’t soon forget, by winning a district title.
The Lady Cats defeated Russell 1-0 in the 22nd District championship Thursday night at the Boyd County soccer complex.

Lady Rams slay district giant Russell
The Lady Devils volleyball program had been racking up district titles like they were going out of style.

MARK MAYNARD: Getting back to business
It turns out, the sun must have been in my eyes last week.

Mark Maynard: Next win historic for Lutz, Ohio

Ashland wins a wet one
A senior-laden Tomcats soccer team had a goal at the beginning of the season — to go into the 11th Region tournament as 22nd District champions.
Mission accomplished.
Ashland defeated defending district champions Russell, 3-1, to earn the 22nd district crown at Ashland Blazer High School Wednesday night.

Tomcats try to get back to winning
Montgomery County coach Dan Gooch has a healthy respect for Ashland football.

MARK MAYNARD: Goldsmith’s bond to two unbeatens
Boone Goldsmith has a bond with two of Kentucky’s undefeated Class 4A high school football teams.
He’s the quarterback of one, Boyle County.

Boyd, Greenup set for scrap
The Greenup County and Boyd County football teams have at least one thing in common: they have nowhere to go but up.

MARK MAYNARD: Who is Emma Talley?
I don’t know Emma Talley and you’ve probably never heard of her either.

AARON SNYDER: QB comes off bench for Week 8
Imagine this.
You’re a sophomore quarterback who has taken in all the action from the sideline in an important district game between two rivals.

Soccer Success
One guards the soccer goal like a vault. The other thrives as an attacker.

Rowan runs past East, 36-20
The Rowan County Vikings accomplished two of their goals in their 36-20 victory over visiting East Carter, on Saturday afternoon at Jayne Stadium on the campus of Morehead State University.

Rams get the edge in defensive battle
A water-logged field and two rock-hard defenses made life miserable for the offenses in a Class A district showdown between sixth-ranked Fairview and Raceland.

Fumbles cost Devils at Mason
Josh Harris carried a sledgehammer as he led Mason County into the stands Friday.

Lawrence settles into typical dominant form
Lawrence County’s offensive and defensive lines have proven all year that they typically control the tempo of the game. Friday night was no different as the Bulldogs rolled over Greenup County 52-12.

Central tightropes by Cats
All the speculation that Johnson Central was having a down year was emphatically erased on Friday night.

GETTING TO KNOW HER WAY AT STATE
Greenup County junior Hannah Sublett is looking forward to another shot at Bowling Green Country Club.

MARK MAYNARD: The sunny side of things
It was sunny and 92 degrees on the beaches of Saint Augustine on Wednesday afternoon.

Rams, Eagles set for district tilt
Raceland football coach Randy Vanderhoof said his team has come a million miles since June.

Lady Devils find way to rally again
No doubt about it, Russell’s volleyball team knows how to rally.

Greenup County aims for grand finish to big year
Greenup County’s boys golf team is daring to dream.
The Musketeers enter today’s opening round of the Leachman/KHSAA State Tournament expecting to contend for the championship at Bowling Green Country Club.

Jennings gets catch, carry
Chris Jennings, a 2003 graduate of Fairview High School, got his NFL chance Sunday in his first game as a Cleveland Brown.

AARON SNYDER: QB draws up Week 7 review
The QB presents good news to those coming off open weeks.

Boyd senior, freshman finding net
Thanks to a one-two scoring punch, offensive woes are a thing of the past for Boyd County’s girls soccer team.
Senior Jenna Dixon and freshman Lexie Lowe have amassed 37 goals between them this season.

Lincoln visits Ashland
Growing up in Springfield, Ill., Bob Cruickshank got sick of Abraham Lincoln.

Boyd breaks out with solid effort
Boyd County can finally take a breath.
Some might call it a sigh of relief.

Rowan uses rally to edge Musketeers
Turns out Rowan County didn’t need football coaches.
At least not at the end of Friday’s Class 4A Region 1, District 8 game against Greenup County. The trio of sophomores Adam Wing and Phillip Hodge and junior Darrell Cross teamed up for a 12-yard touchdown pass with 1:02 to go, enough to give the Vikings a 29-28 win.

Russell outlasts feisty Fleming for district win
Russell played one of its best halves of football this year in the first half of Friday night’s game versus Fleming County at Ivan McGlone Field in Russell, but it would take a scrappy second-half effort to hold off a resilient Fleming County, 45-25.

Renneker highlights wild night
It was a wild night at Wildwood Park on Thursday.
Ashland’s top two boys’ runners achieved personal records, while almost all of the girls thought they had set personal records.