Each Friday night, at half the high schools in the state, towering banks of lights ringing emerald-green fields illuminate battles with armored combatants, defenders and invaders, hurling themselves at each other amid the pomp and pageantry of a medieval joust.
High school football in Kentucky has seen an upsurge in the last few years. Louis Stout, commissioner of the Kentucky High School Athletics Association, thinks he knows why.
"By moving the playoffs to Cardinal Stadium (in Louisville) the program has become a top athletic showcase on the first weekend in December," he says. "Combine that with the fantastic programs at Eastern Kentucky University, Murray, Western, the University of Kentucky, and Louisville, and you can see the style of play at the high school level has changed drastically. The excitement of the up-tempo play has caused the fans to become excited."
Stout credits former Kentucky Wildcat Tim Couch of Hyden and former Louisville Cardinal Chris Redman as influences on this new excitement.
"These two young men became trendsetters relative to the passing game in high school football and the game itself took on a whole new look," he says.
This season 209 Kentucky high schools in four classes will compete for the chance to play the first weekend in December at Cardinal Stadium in Louisville.
One coach who got to do that, and who has known both victory and defeat, is former George Rogers Clark High School coach Don Danko. Danko's Cardinals used a misleading, misdirectional offense from his native Delaware and swept through an undefeated season.
The run for the title reminded Danko of his high school days in Bluefield, Virginia.
"We always had good teams and I can remember walking downtown and having almost everyone stop and ask you about the team and how you were doing," he says. "It was the same here that year. There was a lot of excitement and it really became infectious as the season went on. It was something I know the kids will never forget."
Six years later Danko and his Cardinals suffered a winless season. Their approach was the same, but sometimes things go wrong. Danko told a reporter after the final game, "If you go 15-0, you have to be prepared to go 0-10."

At Highlands in Fort Thomas, fans walk through tree-lined neighborhoods on crisp autumn nights to 4,700-seat David Cecil Memorial Stadium to watch their beloved Bluebirds.
Football is more than a tradition at Highlands, it's a way of life. The Bluebirds have won three straight championships and 15 since the current playoff system started in 1959. They've sent several players to major college careers, including University of Kentucky quarterback Jared Lorenzen.
Coach Dale Mueller returned to his alma mater seven years ago to continue the tradition. A member of the 1970 state championship Bluebird team, his captains that year were Rich Grover, Dan Schneider, and Dave Freer. Their sons Brent Grover, Chris Schneider, and Ben Freer played for last season's championship team.
"At Highlands," Mueller says, "we expect to win the state championship every year."
Mueller admits it's fun to coach at a school with such a successful history and fun to coach such players as Lorenzen.
"I got to hating to call running plays when Jared was in there because it was so exciting to see him turn loose with that football," Mueller laughs.
Dudley Hilton and his Bell County Bobcats won their first championship in 1991. Six seasons later, Hilton's Bourbon County Colonels handed Hilton his second championship. He seemed set for life in the Bluegrass but this season he is back at Bell County, returning to the mountains because football is a bigger deal there.
"It's not that the kids are different," he says. "But the opportunities for kids in the Bluegrass to do other things, to have jobs, are different than they are in the mountains. In the Bluegrass, the kids play baseball year-round, play basketball year-round, play soccer year-round. Football got what was left.
"In the mountains," he adds, "those types of opportunities are not always there and as a result you get kids playing all the sports."
Although Hilton would be glad to bring another championship to Bell County, that's not his goal.
"I had six teams in the 1990s that I thought could win it all but the two that did win were the biggest surprises," he says. "Our goal, every year, is to win every game. You can't plan these things, you just let it come naturally."

When the Mayfield Cardinals run onto the field, children lean over the railings of cozy War Memorial Stadium and, for good luck, pat the helmets of teenagers, just as those teenagers patted helmets when they were children.
Tradition means a lot to Mayfield and that tradition is buoyed by success. The Cardinals have won eight Class A state championships since 1959 and they've come close a lot of other years.
"We've been to the championship game 12 times and we've been in the final four 18 times," Mayfield coach Joe Morris says. "I don't know of anybody that can match that."
Football is a family tradition at Mayfield. Morris's father, Jack Morris, was head for 24 years. When Paul Leahy retired after the 1998 championship season, his son Joe took over and Joe brought his dad back as an assistant coach and his brother David came over from Tony Franklin's staff at Mercer County to become another assistant. Joe Morris inherited a program that enjoys unusual support.
"We've got 380 kids in school and for such a small school we've got 50 kids on our roster this season," he says. "That's a pretty good percentage. And I guarantee you, on Fridays before home games 350 of those 380 students are wearing red and black."
Along with that support come high expectations.
"We haven't won a state championship for three years and I've had people ask me what's wrong," he says. "There's a lot of pressure on me, on the players, and on the coaches. Our fans are spoiled but I wouldn't want it any other way."

Looking into the crystal ball of high school football
We asked the writer of this feature on high school football to take the always risky step of making some predictions. For some reason, he agreed to do it. So here is an opinionated guide to the upcoming season, according to Jeff Kerr, sports editor for The Winchester Sun.

Class A
2000 championship: Danville 23, Newport Catholic 9.
The contenders: Danville is always a good bet. The Admirals have won eight state championships in three different classes. Beechwood can't be ignored; the Tigers also have eight state championships, including three out of the last five. Newport Catholic and Pikeville made strong playoff runs last season and are consistent winners.
The team to watch: Murray. The Tigers are double mad after last season. District rival Mayfield beat them 19-0 in the quarterfinals after edging them 7-6 during the regular season. And Mayfield is a little down this season with only seven seniors. It could be serious payback time.

Class AA
2000 championship: Boyle County 38, Glasgow 0.
The contenders: Now that Boyle County is on top the Rebels intend to stay. But the Scotties of Glasgow could have another strong team and don't rule out another team with a strong tradition, Corbin.
The team to watch: Lexington Catholic. The Knights knocked on the door last season and have been making state championships a habit recently, no matter what sport.

Class AAA
2000 championship: Highlands 48, Owensboro 27.
The contenders: Highlands is like Tiger Woods. When the Bluebirds are in the field, they are always favorites. And with three straight state titles, they know the way. Owensboro and always tough Bowling Green could pose threats again.
The team to watch: Rockcastle County. The Rockets have been quietly building a powerhouse program. Highlands hammered them 41-9 in the semifinals last season but, as the saying goes, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Class AAAA
2000 championship: Male 34, Trinity 14.
The contenders: Male beat Trinity for the Class AAAA title last season-and everybody outside Louisville yawned. The Jefferson County schools owned the Class AAAA championship in the 1990s, yielding it only to George Rogers Clark in 1991 and Nelson County in 1996. It's probably the same story this season. The quartet of Male and Manual, and private schools Trinity and St. Xavier, should battle it out in a neighborhood brawl. Lexington Henry Clay is also in the hunt this year and a contender could come out of the west where Christian County and North Hardin have traditionally strong programs.
The team to watch: Scott County. Last season the young Cardinals got some valuable playoff experience and they have lots of talented athletes to put on the Rawlings Stadium field this season.

The making of a rivalry
When the modern surge of interest in high school football began after the Second World War, rivalries tended to be between neighboring county seats. Most city schools fielded football teams but the smaller county schools couldn't afford to.
Then the consolidation wave brought a new kind of rivalry, city against county, schools like Middlesboro and Bell County, Boyd County and Ashland, Paris and Bourbon County.
Of course there have always been big-city rivalries, Louisville schools against Louisville schools and Lexington schools against Lexington schools. Northern Kentucky hosted neighborhood rivalries, with some schools in different cities so close together they could see each other's stadium lights on Friday nights.
With the advent of the present playoff system in 1959, a new kind of rivalry arose, district rivalries. But district rivalries come and go, as the Kentucky High School Athletic Association continually tweaks the alignments.
Some rivalries weren't always rivalries-like Danville and Boyle County.
Last year the two schools combined for a 29-1 record and two state championships in the same county. The only loss for either? Boyle's 47-0 thumping of neighbor Danville.
But, as Danville coach Sam Harp says, "It wasn't always a rivalry."
And Boyle coach Chuck Smith agrees. "We weren't very good for a long time."
That's changed.
"Obviously Boyle has always been a rival but they went through a period where they were down," Harp says. "But it's a fierce rivalry now."
Smith is in his 10th season at Boyle County and the program has made significant progress since he took over. But it seemed like it would take forever for the Rebels to beat Danville.
"For the first couple of years I was here it wasn't even a close game," he says. "Then in 1995 we beat them for the first time in 19 games and we've won four out of the last five."
Last year's thrashing caused the Admirals to take stock, Harp says. "We didn't play well and they just humbled us. We felt embarrassed."
The Danville defense made sure no one else rang up 47 points on them the rest of the season. The Admirals posted shutouts in four of the next seven regular-season games, gave up only 20 points in those seven games, then breezed through the playoffs.
Meanwhile Boyle County hasn't lost a game in more than two years, though the schedule gave Danville a chance to rectify that August 31 when they hosted the Rebels.