At the conclusion of the 2015 12th Region girls’ soccer tournament, the Boyle County Lady Rebels were on top of the mountain, thanks to a 1-0 victory over West Jessamine in the championship game of the tournament.

In 2014, it was the Lady Colts topping Boyle in the regional final by holding off the Lady Rebels by a 3-1 margin.

In 2016, these two 12th Region powerhouses are going to meet for all the marbles once again for the third year in a row.

Boyle punched its ticket to this year’s 12th Region tournament title game on Wednesday night by holding back a spirited East Jessamine squad by a final score of 4-1, improving its record overall on the season to 24-1.

Lady Rebel head coach Brian Deem stated afterwards that his club didn’t necessarily bring its ‘A’ game into the match-up against the Lady Jaguars, but the bottom line is the fact the Lady Rebels are playing for a regional title yet again.

“I thought tonight we kind of went out there and was just scrambling and were very unorganized,” stated the Lady Rebel coach after his club’s victory over East. “We went in and talked to our kids at the half, and I was upset, and I didn’t do a very good job of coaching them and getting them mentally focused,” Deem added. “I put this one on me, and they were able to fight through it and get two goals by halftime. At the half, we made a few adjustments and they came back and did a good job of the second half.”

For Boyle, the Lady Rebels’ two big offensive threats certainly came through at crunch time when their club needed them the most.

Kylie Thompson and Emmie Harris scored two goals each, and that duo helped break open a scoreless affair very late in the opening half of play.

Thompson’s first goal of the contest came with just over 13 minutes left in the first period, giving the Lady Rebels the lead for good at 1-0. A goal by Harris off a free kick with 3:55 left in opening half extended the Lady Rebel lead out to 2-0 — a deficit that a valiant East club could not overcome.

“Boyle County is tough, and we knew that coming into this game, because they’ve been doing it all season,” pointed out East head coach Zach Welch after the game.

“We knew that we were going to be an underdog tonight, and Boyle County is just a great team,” Welch said. “Kudos to Brian (Deem), because he does a very good job over there and Boyle County is just a great team.”

The Lady Rebels eventually stretched out their lead over East to 4-0 in the second frame, once again thanks to Thompson and Harris, who also scored a goal each after halftime.

East finally broke through and got on the board with 6:48 remaining in the contest, thanks to a free kick from Sarah Rocco that cut the Lady Rebel lead to 4-1 at that juncture of the game.

With the win by Boyle, it sets up a showdown for the third year in a row that will pit the Lady Rebels against West. And, something will certainly have to give in this monumental clash on Thursday night from Southwestern High School.

The Lady Colts will bring a very respectable, 19-4-1 record into the finals, which includes a perfect 7-0 mark against regional foes.

Boyle, meanwhile, is a perfect 8-0 this season against teams inside the 12th Region.

Thursday’s championship game between the two clubs will mark their first meeting of the season, and will get underway from Southwestern beginning at 6:30 p.m.