When the Hopkinsville Tigers travel to Franklin-Simpson Friday night for the Class 4A regional championship game, it will mark the 5th playoff meeting between the two schools in the last twenty years. Hopkinsville holds a 3-1 edge in the previous 4 games in that time span.
In 2001, Hopkinsville hosted the Wildcats in the 2nd round of the Class 3A playoffs, and came away with a 36-16 win. The Tigers made it all the way to the semifinals before falling to Boyle County.
In 2003, the two teams met in the first round of the Class 3A playoffs. On their home field, the Tigers came away with a big 55-7 win. Hopkinsville would fall two weeks later to Paducah Tilghman in the regional final.
The two teams would meet up again in the 2005 Class 3A playoffs. In the second round, on their home turf again, the Tigers rolled to a 46-20 win. Hopkinsville was beaten the next week by Bowling Green.
While Hopkinsville and Franklin-Simpson played in the regular season in 2013 and 2014, they would not meet again in the playoffs until 2015. This time the Wildcats came out on top in a second round matchup in the Class 4A playoffs 28-21, this time on their home field. Franklin-Simpson would lose the next week to South Warren.
The two teams will battle for a regional title Friday night in Franklin.
