The landscape of high school football changed last week with the KHSAA approving the district alignment for the next two seasons.
While many of the local schools stayed in the same district with many of the same opponents, several schools saw big shakeups.
Warren Central moved up from Class 4A to 6A, while Franklin-Simpson moved down from 4A to 3A. The moves by the Dragons and Wildcats also had repercussions in the district both were previously a part of with Logan County, Paducah Tilghman, Calloway County and Hopkinsville joining Warren East and Allen County-Scottsville to create a rare six-team district.
“I wasn’t surprised once I saw what was happening with Franklin-Simpson, Hopkins County Central and Madisonville-North Hopkins moving up or down in their respective classes,” Logan County coach Todd Adler said. “There weren’t a lot of options for teams we could play being on what we call the western side or southern side of the state. I knew they weren’t going to two three-team districts.”
While Adler wasn’t surprised, Franklin-Simpson coach Max Chaney said he was surprised that his team moved.
“My (athletic director) nor I really saw it coming,” Chaney said. “We’ve been on the low end of 4A for several years now, but that has kind of been how it has been. I was shocked. You think you have a schedule set and then you have to wait to see what your district is going to be and where you are going to be going.”
Warren Central moved up to 6A after requesting the jump. Originally the Dragons were moving into a district with Bowling Green, South Warren and Greenwood in 5A, but Warren Central requested to stay in 4A or jump up to 6A if the 4A option wasn’t possible. The Dragons are now in a district with Barren County, Central Hardin and North Hardin.
“I’m fine with it,” Warren Central coach Mark Nelson said. “This is exactly (like) when I was at Greenwood. We jumped to 6A. It wasn’t a big deal back then, so why is it a big deal now? I don’t have any negativity towards it at all. All I can do is think about my kids.
“I feel like at this point and time the best thing for us to do is make our own decisions on what we want to do and not worry about anybody else except for our kids.”
Nelson added playing in 6A was the best way to continue to build a program that snapped a 61-game losing streak in the season opener and went on to finish 5-5 in the regular season.
“That’s what we are doing,” Nelson said. “We are just thinking about our kids and what is best for our kids. I’m excited about where we are at. I would like to be in 4A, but we are not. We are going to compete wherever we are at.”
Franklin-Simpson enters a new district with Glasgow, Butler County, Hart County and Adair County. The Wildcats are familiar with most of the new opponents. Franklin has faced Glasgow in each of the last six seasons and scrimmaged Hart County and Butler County last year.
“The kids are excited – playing some new people, going to some new places,” Chaney said. “I am excited for it too. I’m also excited because my non-district schedule is basically playing a bunch of the guys I was playing during the district. I don’t have to travel too far for the non-district games.”
Chaney said there has been a lot of scrambling to rework the schedule since last week’s announcement. He estimates that he has had at least four or five schedules, including originally having Hart County as Franklin-Simpson’s season opener.
Adler said he already had games penciled in that ultimately had to scratch or change. With a six-team district, it forced Logan County to move Greenwood from week five to week four.
“There are just a lot of moving pieces and a lot of things that were very frustrating, not only to myself to talking to other coaches around the area – getting that schedule to work out was very difficult,” Adler said.
There were also the logistics for travel for the 4A schools, with Calloway County and Paducah Tilghman both lengthy trips for area schools.
Adler said all of the coaches immediately started texting and had a Google Meet videoconference on Friday to discuss scheduling, agreeing to limit schools on the edges to one trip to the other side of the district per season.
“That’s something our district really took into consideration,” Adler said. “We made sure that we didn’t have to make Calloway and Paducah in the same year or Paducah to Allen County and Warren East in the same year. We know it is a haul back and forth.”
The 4A district could also lose a school during the two-year cycle. Hopkinsville could be only a one-year deal since it is slated to consolidate with Christian County at the start of 2024-25 school year.
“Luckily for us, we do have something in place for us if they do consolidate,” Adler said. “From what we are hearing, the consolidation is going to happen. If they don’t consolidate, then everything would stay the same.”
Normally, the KHSAA approves alignment in four-year increments, but the board elected to adopt a two-year alignment so that the realignment process could begin anew next year (in conjunction with the receipt of fall 2023 enrollment numbers) to allow completion by February 2024, giving schools more than one year to resolve scheduling issues for 2025 and beyond.
“I think it is fair that they did a two-year window because I do think schools will be moving,” Adler said. “It makes it a little tougher scheduling, but I do think two-year realignment was fair just because the numbers were so off. I know a lot of schools were petitioning that their numbers weren’t right. Hey, let’s do it again in two years and see wherever everything shakes out.”{&end}
