[Strikeout King]

Now that the 14th region is completely over for this season, let's take a look at next year's 14th region.

53rd District:

Knott County Central (27-7): Lose best player in Isaac Caudill but return everyone else. question is, does coach King return with his health issues?

Cordia (19-12): The lions lose 3 starters (that I'm aware of) McDonald, Keita, Mercado, Ebune but return some quality players in Glasgow, Frazier and Hidalgo.

Letcher County Central (7-21): The Cougars lose 3 including their best player, Raglin. Bentley and Stacy are gone as well.

June Buchanan (10-18): The Crusaders came on strong towards the end of the season but not enough to advance past the first round of the district tournament. According to KHSAA, they return everyone from this year.


54th District:

Perry County Central (20-8): The Commodores seen their season come to an end the hard way losing by 27 to Knott Central in the semi's of the 14th region tournament on their own home floor. Chandler Caudill, Richard Cornett, Sam Turner and Jacob Woolum all graduate but the Commodores do return Noah Back, Camron Turner among several other key players.

Hazard (13-14): Coach Holland knew this was gonna be a rebuilding season for the Bulldogs, good news is, they only lose Chase Pennington and Koby Holbrook.

Leslie County (15-9): Despite taking a 4 game win streak into the post season and matched up good with their first round opponent Perry Central through the regular season, the Eagles fell 72-58 in the opening round of district play and if that isn't a enough, they lose quite a bit this season to graduation; Tyler Dixon, Nick Hoskins, Skyler Mitchell, Cullen Pennington, Cole Sizemore and Colin Smith. That's 85-90% of their scoring, they only return one of their leading scorers in Darron Whitaker.

Buckhorn (9-20): Miserable season for Coach Hoskins but the good news is they only lose 1 from this year's team in Nicholas Stidham.


55th District:

Breathitt County (14-19): After struggling most of the season, Breathitt County came on late but not enough to get past the Knott Central Patriots in the first round of the region tournament. Bobcats lose several key players in Trey Noble, Todd Noble, Taheton Stacy, Jordan Watts, Emanuel Wilson, Everett Johnson.

Wolfe County (16-15): A preseason region contender became a pretender when they failed to beat any of the top teams, Perry Central, Knott Central, Estill County. They even lost to Breathitt County in the district championship, on the same floor that they defeated Breathitt County by 30 just a few weeks before. Next year is truly a rebuilding season for Coach Creech and the Wolves with the loss of Deven Stone (Wolfe's best player), Jacob King, Nathan Landshaw, Shawn Lindon. that's 4 starters.

Jackson City (6-21): The Tigers started 3-1 and everything spiraled down hill from there, they would only win 3 more games the rest of the season and if that wasn't enough problems, their best player, Cam Turner transferred to Perry Central in the middle of the season. Jarred Mullins is the only graduating player according to KHSAA.

Riverside Christian (2-26): Not being mean but Riverside will be Riverside.


56th District:

Estill County (26-7): The Engineers are 14th region champions for the first time in school history. It's a dream come true for all the players, fans and the community. However, next year, Estill County will take a step back. They will return the best PG in the region in Joe Benton but they lose region player of the year, Caleb Bonny, Andrew and Lane Doty and Kevin Richardson. that's 4 of their 5 starters. They do have some good size and length on the team in Dyllon Long and Logan Napier and they will probably contend if not win another district title but winning back to back region titles maybe a little stretch for them next season.

Powell County (15-14): The Pirates had an up and down season all this year and not to mention they lose several of their starters, Payton Barnett, Drew Ginter, Carlos Hernandez and Jared Ratliff. They do return PG DeShaun Williams, Bryce Merrion among several other key players. Question is, does long time and legendary head coach, Dave Fraley calls it quits and retires or does he come back for 1 more season, looking for that 700th career win?

Owsley County (12-16): The Owls had a really good season this year, better than what they had in the past several years and it looks like everyone returns so next year could be even better than this season.

Lee County (0-30): Really ugly season for Lee County, didn't even score a 1,000 points and got blowed out every game. Blake Coomer is the only one Lee County loses so next year should be some what better but can they get a W?