The Breathitt Bobcats and Jackson Tigers are slated to meet at the Fairce Woods Coliseum tomorrow night, December 22nd. The meeting will only be the third regular season match up of the two neighbors in the modern basketball era. It could potentially be the best one ever.

The simple fact that two schools, which are located less than a mile apart, are playing, would make for an interesting game. And some of the animosity created under the leadership of their previous superintendents regarding school choice or lack thereof may still be hovering in a stench- filled cloud somewhere over our fair city. Further, if that’s not enough, the coaching change, that saw former Breathitt coach, Brian Hall, land at Jackson, and former Bobcat great, Steve Banks, who once was quite active in the Jackson athletic program, take over the reins at Breathitt, has the potential to take the so-so rivalry to the next level.

I say, “So-so,” because previous match ups in the modern era between the two schools have not been that competitive, with Breathitt being the easy victor. Over the past 43 years, the two neighbors have only met seven times, with five of those meetings coming in the past eight years. All but two of the engagements have come in district tournament action. You’d have to go back to 1964 to find a close game, when Breathitt squeaked out a two-point district win; all others have been blow-outs. Last year the Bobcats, who had won five consecutive district championships, suffered through one of their worst seasons ever while winning only four games and bowing out in the district opener to lowly Wolfe County, which won only six games itself, including two over Breathitt. Meanwhile, Jackson produced possibly its best team ever, won the district for the first time in 70 years and advanced to the regional finals. They came ever so close to a glorious finish. Had Breathitt and Jackson met last year, this story might’ve been a mute point. But then again, in 1999, Breathitt, with only one win in the regular season, faced Jackson, the apparent winner, in the district opener and the Bobcats came away with any easy 34-point win. Last year most of the round ball attention focused on Jackson’s emergence in the 14th Region’s upper echelon basketball fraternity. Do they belong there, or was last year simply an anomaly created by an usually fragile, yet balanced region? After all, Jackson’s was not the only program which rose like primordial matter out of a dismal swamp. June Buchanan, Buckhorn and Cordia all had budding years and the jury is still out on those programs as well. In fact June Buchanan has placed itself as the 14th Region front-runner this year and took state 3rd ranked Mason County to the wire, but back to the matter at hand. Out of the past 43 years, the two seasons that the Tigers might’ve gotten the best of Breathitt, they didn’t meet. Last year of course being one of those years, and then back in 1982 when Breathitt lost to Knott in the opening round of the district, while Jackson nearly won the district and further advanced to the regional semi-final. Mike Salyers, first-year assistant coach at Breathitt, starred on that Tiger team. Make no mistake about it. The two neighbors have never been so equally matched as this year.

With a strong start and only losing to Hazard at the buzzer, it appears Coach Banks has Breathitt back in the hunt. It’s left many of the Bobcat faithful wondering what happened to the Bobcats last year. With the influx of a talented freshman class mixed with a strong junior crop sandwiched around a promising sophomore and senior, the future looks bright for the Bobcat program.

For the Jackson City program, a win over Breathitt would further validate its arrival and go far in easing years of frustration. For Coach Hall, nothing could be much sweeter than a win over his former employer. A win by Breathitt might send a message that nothing’s changed, that everything’s like it’s always been. As much as fans might want to make it, it’s not, and I repeat, not a referendum on Banks and Hall.

For as much excitement as this game might generate, it probably won’t be their only match up this year. The Tigers and Bobcats are for sure the best two teams in the young realigned 55th District; in all likelihood they will meet again there in February.

I DON’T KNOW JACK SQUAT, but it could be the best one ever.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 26th, 2006 at 2:10 pm and is filed under Jack Squat.