Once again, a handful of schools are having trouble filling their schedule because of the scheduling grid the KHSAA maintains, stating that district games will be played in certain weeks.

 

Last year, Hopkinsville played only nine games. They tried picking up a 10th from Tennessee but they weren't a TSSAA school and the game wasn't allowed per KHSAA rules.

 

This year, Christian County only has nine games on the schedule. Their options for a 10th game was Chattanooga, Indianapolis, or Arkansas.

 

Is the grid causing scheduling issues for your school? Have you lost any rivalries because of the grid?

Powell County currently has only 8 games on the KHSAA/Maxpreps website. Have no idea if that's how many they are playing or if they have 2 other teams that haven't been added to KHSAA schedule.

 

I must ask, why do coaches/schools wait so long to update their current sports season schedules with that season right around the corner? several football teams haven't even updated their schedules on KHSAA yet and the season starts in about 2 months....LCA has 4 games scheduled on KHSAA, Powell County has 8, Eastern has 2, Ballard has 2 and they are plenty of other teams that are like that.

Last I heard Somerset, Madison Southern and Williamsburg all only had 9 games...but that could be fixed by now.

^ Madison Southern has 9 games according to their football website

The problems

1) 6 classes has caused a large number of 4 team districts across the board as we all know, with Class A and 6A being 99.9% all 4 team districts. Four teams thus equal only 3 district games for each school. In short, unlike the days of 4 classes when you had 6, 7, 8 and even 9 team districts; scheduling was easy...you had teams that were locked into playing you. Schools your size, in your area couldn't "run" from you (everybody is guilty of doing this now for the most part & I get it, people want to win) like they do now.

2) Having a non district game week 10 is the dumbest thing ever, a lot of teams struggle to find this last game bc of the above...heading into the playoffs, nobody wants to get ito a grudge match with somebody equal or better than them if they don't have to do so.

 

IMHO, this is the biggest problem of the 6 class system...not the 1st round blowouts.

The problems

1) 6 classes has caused a large number of 4 team districts across the board as we all know, with Class A and 6A being 99.9% all 4 team districts. Four teams thus equal only 3 district games for each school. In short, unlike the days of 4 classes when you had 6, 7, 8 and even 9 team districts; scheduling was easy...you had teams that were locked into playing you. Schools your size, in your area couldn't "run" from you (everybody is guilty of doing this now for the most part & I get it, people want to win) like they do now.

2) Having a non district game week 10 is the dumbest thing ever, a lot of teams struggle to find this last game bc of the above...heading into the playoffs, nobody wants to get ito a grudge match with somebody equal or better than them if they don't have to do so.

 

IMHO, this is the biggest problem of the 6 class system...not the 1st round blowouts.

 

 

Harry, typically I agree with most everything I read of yours, but this one I can see from a different perspective. I think not playing a District team in week 10 is a good idea. It was more relevant a few years ago. I believe the not playing in-district week 10 was implemented after the fiasco a few years back when they toyed with the playoffs and had teams play in-district during the 1st round. I remember for a couple years there it seemed like a lot of teams faced off week 10 and then turned around and played again 1st round. At any rate it allows for playoff pairings and planning to have an extra week to prepare in most all cases except for a few tie breaker situations that arise each year, and this is good for both the schools and the teams.

 

While I agree most teams don't want a slobber knocker week 10, most teams heading into the playoffs with a pretty good team also don't want a roll over week 10 either. I suppose it goes along the same lines as some coaches like to keep that week 10 slot OPEN and use it as a week to prepare for 1st round while others like to play and stay sharp. There are advantages to both and really it depends on the coaching staff and kids in the program and the mental approach to either path chosen....

 

A couple more points on this thread/topic and then I'll move on. 1st I don't know why some teams wait to schedule games so late in the game. I think that is the main thing leading to these teams having difficulty scheduling. I have heard that Madison Southern is actually promoting their 9 game schedule as a good thing as they will have an "extra" open week during the season.

 

 

Oh and on the 6 Class System and 1st Round Blowouts, The dirty little secret that Mike Fields and the few others who keep on that topic don't like to look at is, there have always been the fair share of 1st round blowouts and some very good football games thrown in there as well. Under the 4 class system, there were less because there were fewer 1st round games. Years ago when they only took the top 2 teams from each district, there were even fewer.

Christian County did pick up their 10th game last week with Fulton, Tennessee out of Knoxville. Defending 4A State champion.

The problems

1) 6 classes has caused a large number of 4 team districts across the board as we all know, with Class A and 6A being 99.9% all 4 team districts. Four teams thus equal only 3 district games for each school. In short, unlike the days of 4 classes when you had 6, 7, 8 and even 9 team districts; scheduling was easy...you had teams that were locked into playing you. Schools your size, in your area couldn't "run" from you (everybody is guilty of doing this now for the most part & I get it, people want to win) like they do now.

2) Having a non district game week 10 is the dumbest thing ever, a lot of teams struggle to find this last game bc of the above...heading into the playoffs, nobody wants to get ito a grudge match with somebody equal or better than them if they don't have to do so.

 

IMHO, this is the biggest problem of the 6 class system...not the 1st round blowouts.

 

 

1. Actually only 87.5%. I agree with your point though 100%.

 

2. I don't necessarily agree with #2 either. It may be true for some teams, or maybe even most, but I know Belfry has had success scheduling a very tough opponent for that last regular season game. For several years that has been Johnson Central and it has been a grudge match in every sense of the word. In our case, that game prepares us for the playoffs very well because we get a good test and a feel for what we still need to improve on. In our case, historically, the first playoff game, and sometimes the 2nd one have usually been against teams that were not playing on Belfry's level. That last regular season game is always a game where we have to come ready to play for 4 quarters, much like what we will face in the later rounds of the playoffs. So for us at least it is a good thing having a non district game week 10.