Kentucky Class 6-A football 'Super District' to change
Louisville's so-called "Super District" for Class 6-A high school football will lose one of its superpowers starting in 2015.
The Kentucky High School Athletic Association on Tuesday released a draft alignment for the 2015-18 seasons that breaks up the Class 6-A, District Four that currently includes Male, Manual, St. Xavier and Trinity.
Barring any changes by the KHSAA's Board of Control at its May 12 meeting, Male, Manual and St. X will join Butler and Pleasure Ridge Park in the new Class 6-A, District Three. Trinity will be placed with Ballard, Eastern, Jeffersontown and Seneca in Class 6-A, District Four.
Officials from both Male and Manual argued against being paired with St. X and Trinity before the current alignment went into effect in 2011, and Male coach Chris Wolfe still wasn't sure what to make of the changes announced Tuesday.
"PRP was in the state final (in 2012), and Butler has been in the state semifinals two of the last three years … so it will clearly be the toughest district again for us," Wolfe said. "It's just hard to understand how they do it. They moved Seneca with Butler and PRP (in 2011), and the school hasn't moved as far as I can tell. And now they're back on the east side.
"You never know what you're going to get. It seems it's about what's the flavor of the month this year?"
Manual coach Oliver Lucas joked that he was glad other schools would get a chance to have Trinity — a 22-time state champion —in their district.
"I just couldn't understand why they put us four together to beat up on each other," Lucas said. "It serves no purpose."
Class 6-A will continue to include 32 schools, all qualifying for the playoffs. But instead of creating eight districts with four teams apiece, the KHSAA settled on three five-team districts, three three-team districts and two four-team districts. For purposes of the playoffs, teams that finish in fifth place in five-team districts will serve as No. 4 seeds in districts with just three teams.
That choice was made to keep some Louisville and Northern Kentucky schools from having to compete in the same district during the regular season.
"In the regular season, that will keep costs down and the rivalries strong," KHSAA commissioner Julian Tackett said. "Then in the postseason — when football coaches love to travel anyway — we'll set the brackets and go on. … The tiebreaker in all of this was to minimize travel."
The realignment featured class moves for several Louisville-area teams that already had been announced: Southern (6-A to 5-A), Fern Creek (6-A to 5-A), Oldham County (6-A to 5-A), Jeffersontown (5-A to 6-A), Atherton (4-A to 5-A), Doss (4-A to 5-A), Fairdale (4-A to 5-A), Waggener (4-A to 3-A) and Moore (4-A to 3-A).
One result of Trinity's new district could be a decrease in games against out-of-state opponents. The Shamrocks have played six out-of-state teams each of the past three seasons, but both coach Bob Beatty and assistant athletic director Rob Saxton said the school would like to keep Male and Manual on the schedule, along with the four new district opponents and longtime rival St. X.
That would leave three open spots for out-of-state opponents on a 10-game schedule.
"If Male and Manual want to continue to play us, we'd love that," Saxton said. "That means less wear and tear on our kids. Not everybody would agree, but I think that helps Kentucky high school football in the long run."
Among significant moves statewide, Highlands and Covington Catholic were granted requests to jump from Class 4-A to 5-A and were placed in the same district along with Grant County and Dixie Heights.
Central, which won five Class 3-A championships from 2007-12, will have a new district partner in four-time state champion Bardstown, which moved up from 2-A. Mayfield, which has won three of the past four Class A titles, will move up to 2-A.
Jason Frakes can be reached at (502) 582-4046 and followed on Twitter @kyhighs.