The 17^th annual Hatfield & McCoy Senior Bowl game being played tonight should be a good one. There are several talented football players that graduated last spring in the contest.

The game features some of the best from southern West Virginia and eastern Kentucky. The Mountain State holds a 10-6 edge in the game, but Kentucky won handily last summer.

The West Virginia head coach is led by the youthful Joey Fields, an up and coming young coach, who is an assistant at Mingo Central. Kentucky is led by Jeff Norman, a Belfry native, who has coached at several schools in the Bluegrass State.

Several local players will be featured in the game. (See related game story on this page for names of some of the starters.)

There are players with both size and speed in the game. It could be a high scoring contest, which should delight local fans. The game is similar to the old Kiwanis Senior Bowl game that started back in 1957 and was played at Lefty Hamilton Park.

After that game was dropped by the local civic club, Matewan head coach Yogi Kinder started a similar contest at the Matewan High School Field.

This year the game will be played at the new James H. “Buck” Harless Stadium on the campus of Mingo Central High School located on the King Coal Highway near Red Jacket. If you haven’t been there, coming from Williamson, just turn right at the Taylorville (Wirt Marcum) Bridge on Rt. 52 and follow the road up the hill. You will come to a ‘Y” intersection. Turn left and it’s just a short drive south. You will pass the new high school on the right and immediately after that is the new football complex.

The field has the new field turf, just like many of the college and professional playing surfaces, and also like Belfry’s Haywood Field. The kickoff time is scheduled for 8 p.m. There will also be a queen crowned at halftime. Six former homecoming queens are vying for the title of the 2012 Senior Bowl crown.

SHORT STUFF: The Miners Sports Network (MSN) will carry the 2012 Hatfield-McCoy Bowl Game, live on the web via Ustream, and on 103.5 FM (within two miles of Harless Stadium) on Saturday, July 28. So bring your headset radios and listen to the game while you watch it. That will help you keep up with who the players are. A program with numerical rosters and souvenir T-shirts will be available for purchase as you enter the stadium.

MSN is the official media outlet of all Mingo Central Athletics and broadcasted all of the home football games last season for the Miners. Both Pre-game and Post-game shows are planned. The broadcast is set to start promptly at 7:30pm and conclude 15 minutes after the end of the game. Several guests are to be featured throughout parts of the game. Log on to: ustream.tv/channel/miners-sports-network.

… WXCC radio will also broadcast the game on 96.5 FM. My buddy Joe Kinzer will be doing the play by play. The 100,000 watt station can be heard in the entire region. So if you can’t make it to the game, tune in for all of the coverage.

… Sam Huff will be honored at West Virginia University’s football game against James Madison on Saturday, September 15, at Fed Ex Field in Landover, Maryland. The kickoff time is 4:30 p.m. Huff is both a Mountaineer and a NFL legend. He is one of the greatest defensive players in the history of the game.

… Former Mingo Central basketball coach Duane Estepp has returned to Lincoln County and will coach at Guyan Valley Middle School. He will coach football and boys basketball this coming school year. A return to Wildcat Country is a homecoming for Estepp. He graduated from Guyan Valley back in 1982 and later coached at the high school, which was gobbled up by consolidation into the Lincoln County High School.

(Kyle Lovern is the sports editor for the Williamson Daily News. Comments or story ideas can be sent to klovern@williamsondailynews.com)