By Thomas Grant Jr.
Wildcat Stadium is the site for the annual Battle of Lexington.
Crosstown rivals Lexington and River Bluff will hold its annual matchup Friday night. It’s the 13th meeting between the two District One schools with the Wildcats holding a 7-5 advantage.
However, the Gators have won the last two meetings. They also enter the matchup as the higher seed according to the Maxpreps.com RPI ratings for Class 5A.
River Bluff (7-2, 2-1) is a fifth seed in the Upper State rankings which gives it a first-round home game. Regardless of Friday’s outcome, the Gators can move no higher in the standings.
A win by Lexington (6-3, 2-1) would give it second place in the region and the first-round home game. Adding to the drama of Friday’s game is the presence of former River Bluff head coach Blair Hardin, who’s now a Wildcats’ assistant coach.
River Bluff head coach Perry Parks called it a ‘distraction’ regarding the Hardin storyline. He’s more focused on keeping his players ‘level-headed’ and expects Lexington “to come out swinging”.
“We want to finish this season the right way,” he said. “We’ve got one more game left in the regular season schedule. We’ve won our fair share of games for sure. This is one we’ve had circled for a long time. We definitely want to finish the season 8-2.”
Photo by www.lexingtonhswildcats.com
