Central Time Zone

You may need to adjust your clocks. Louisville is back in the Central Time Zone. And it may be spreading across the state. Louisville's Central High School is enjoying a time of nearly unprecedented athletic success. The change-over began on December 7, 2007 when the Yellowjackets upset traditional power Belfry to capture the Kentucky AAA State Football Championship. The realignment became complete in March of this year. That's when the Central boys' basketball team earned a berth in Kentucky's Sweet 16 Tournament by capturing the Region Six Championship. The Jackets had to wrestle the title away from the defending regional champions from Fairdale. Those twin successes are rare. Lexington Catholic and Central are the only high schools in the Commonwealth who captured a state championship in football and sent a team to the Sweet 16 in basketball during this school year. That prowess is returning pride to the school located in the west end of downtown Louisville. "I was driving down the street the other day," recalled Central football coach Ty Scroggins, "and I saw kids wearing Central shirts. Students are proud of their school. Not that they weren't proud before. But it's visible now." "Winning the AAA football championship is a life-changing feeling. Not many people can claim that during their senior year, their football team won," beamed Central student Briona Posey. "Going to the Sweet 16 allowed our students to get even more involved. This is a great accomplishment not just for Central but our whole community." Central High School Magnet Career Academy, as the school is now called, has an impressive athletics history. Banners at the school proclaim Central as National High School Basketball Champions in 1951, 52, and 56. The Jackets have twice won the boys' state basketball title---in 1969 and 1974. But since then, they haven't staged many banner-hanging ceremonies on West Chestnut Street. "We are going to have to build a new trophy case for the hardware," said Coach Scroggins. The first year football coach says more banner years are ahead for this program. "When I interviewed for this job, I told them we were going to win a state championship," said Scroggins who was a player on Fairdale's state basketball championship team nearly two decades ago. "We knew it was going to happen. We didn't foresee that we'd win it all in our first year." Scroggins says the football season that ended in December with a state championship celebration under the lights at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium began months earlier with his team sitting in the dark inside the basement weight room at the school. He forced his players to reflect on the loss that derailed Central's run to the Kentucky football title in 2006. "We went into basement and turned the lights out," said Scroggins. "We went through the entire game they played against Bowling Green. We made them visualize that team celebrating on our home field. Then we turned the lights on and challenged them to never let this happen again." In the quiet of the darkness, Central linebacker Ridge Wilson saw the light. "This feeling came into my heart--thinking about how it felt to be crying and how bad it felt. We didn't want that feeling anymore. Coach showed us newspaper clippings of our players crying on the ground. We decided we didn't want to feel that again." Basketball player Leevaughn Morris watched his buddies on the football team achieve something the school had not done before. "It inspired everybody a lot. We wanted to put Central High School back on the map." But wanting and winning are two different things. And getting the Central basketball players to buy into team success was a season-long struggle. Coach Doug Bibby says he's not certain how much of a bounce his basketball program got from the football team's championship season. "People ask me if the football carried over to the basketball. I don't think so because we had so many challenges during the season." Bibby's trouble began as soon as practice started in October. He had to remove several key players from the team due to bad grades and worse attitudes. "I didn't expect us to win the Sixth Region," said the cousin of NBA star Mike Bibby. "We just hadn't done the things during the season that are characteristic of a championship team. We were always searching for a leader. Trying to get these guys to come in every day and buy into the system was tough." So Bibby did something outrageous. He changed the system. Just two weeks before the beginning of post-season play, Bibby tossed out the team's offensive play book and made new defensive assignments. Bibby's players didn't see this daring move as coaching brilliance but as a basketball blunder. "We knew it would confuse the other team because it confused us as well," said junior guard Alex Morrison. "I didn't know how to go about it," said Wilson who plays both football and basketball at Central. "It was so close to win-or-go-home-time. We didn't know too much about the offense. We told him this wasn't going to work. We didn't believe in the coaching staff." And the on-court results proved that. The Jackets closed the regular season---under the new system---by losing three of their last four games. But when district tournament play began, Central's new approach brought with it new results---winning! The Jackets knocked off Portland Christian and Shawnee to capture the District 23 title. Then they dismantled Butler, Pleasure Ridge Park, and Fairdale to reclaim the school's first regional championship in boys' basketball in 30 years. "Going to State showed these guys that hard work, discipline and teamwork really does carry you a long way," said the 37-year-old coach. "I don't think we had the most talent in the Sixth Region, we just had everything to come together at the right time." And now, the entire school is coming together. Bibby says he noticed a big difference in the students who attend his math classes. "Kids seem happier. They are easier to teach," said the coach who used to serve as a mathematician for the U.S Commerce Department. "It's done so much for them. It's been great." Football player Ryondrae Wesley will graduate from Central High School later this month. His legacy for his school is the golden AAA Football Championship trophy that gleams among relics that Central athletes before him left as a legacy before he was born. "It's taught me that hard work pays-off. That you should never give up. Keep striving," said Wesley. "And more championships are on the way. It's Central's time!" Garry Gupton is a play-by-play broadcaster for Fox Sports Network, Insight Communications and Big Blue Sports, and an associate pastor at Highview Baptist Church.