Beech Tree News Network

UPDATE:  Tonight's boys' semifinal games in the Touchstone Energy All "A" Classic have cancelled and rescheduled for Thursday night.  Owensboro Catholic will face Whitesville at 5:30 p.m. and Butler County will play McLean County at approximately 7:30 p.m.  This weather-related schedule change will combine both the boys and girls championship games on Friday night.  The Owensboro Catholic-McLean girls' championship game will be at 6.  The boys' championship game will follow and will feature the Catholic/Trinity winner against the Butler/McLean winner.  Butler County High is the host school for the 2014 Third Region All "A" Classic.

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Butler County High School is set to host the 2014 Third Region All "A" Tournament.  Sponsored by Touchstone Energy, the tournament provides a format for schools with smaller enrollments to compete against each other in regional and statewide competition.  

The tournament will kick off on Saturday, January 18 and will run through Friday, January 24.  The Butler County Lady Bears will play on Monday, while the Bears will take to the court on Tuesday.  The girls' championship will be Thursday, January 23 and the boys' championship will be on Friday, January 24.

Four games are on tap for Saturday.  Frederick Fraize girls (1-11) will play Owensboro Catholic (14-2) at 1 p.m.  At 2:30 p.m., Frederick Fraize boys (4-9) will play Owensboro Catholic.

At 4:30 p.m. in girls' action, McLean County (6-9) will square off against Hancock County (5-8).  The McLean County boys (6-9) will play Hancock County (8-3) at 7 p.m.

The Whitesville Trinity Lady Raiders (6-9) will play the Frederick Fraize-Owensboro Catholic winner on Monday at 6 p.m.  

The Butler County Lady Bears (6-8) will play the McLean County-Hancock County winner on Monday at 7:30 p.m.

On the boys' side, Whitesville Trinity (6-5) will play the Frederick Fraize-Owensboro Catholic winner at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.  The Butler County Bears (11-4) will face the McLean County-Hancock County winner on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. 

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History of the Kentucky Touchstone Energy All "A" Tournament:  

The groundwork for the Kentucky All-A-Classic was formed in 1980 through the efforts of coaches like Stan Steidel of Dayton, Father Ed Heile of Covington Latin, Bill Frey of Covington Holy Cross and others.  The inception of a small school basketball tournament began in January of 1980.  The first Class "A" Tournament was held at Holy Cross High School in Latonia with eight teams.  In 1981 it moved to Bellevue with ten teams, all from Northern Kentucky.

The 1982 to 1989 Classic went statewide by inviting six Class A schools from around the state to compete with the ten northern Kentucky schools.  In 1990 the All "A" Classic experienced a dream come true:  A statewide championship tournament with sixteen boys' regional tournament winners competing in Lexington in February.  Then in 1991 the All "A" Classic expanded to include the field of 16 boys' regional winners and included four girls' sectional winners competing in the statewide finals.  In 1992, the statewide tournament again expanded to include eight girls' teams and in 1993 included the full complement of 16 boys and 16 girls’ teams.

Source:  www.allaclassic.org.