Will shrinking 1A rosters sink the 6 class system?

[frankdracman23]

Article in the Enquirer today about Dayton only having 20 players in uniform for last game. Bellevue only had about the same number in uniform for their game with Beechwood. Brossart nearly did not field a team this year and has about the same number.......

 

Given that the overall number of football playing boys is down nationwide (most likely due to concussion worries and other injury worries) and likely within the state of KY .......if the rosters shrink much more could it lead to the end of the 6 class system in KY?

 

If some 1A schools can only field 20 player rosters or drop the sport while those at the top of the class continue to have sizeable rosters could it lead to fewer classes with maybe less school in the largest and smallest classes and more schools in the middle classes?

 

Something like the 16 smallest in 1A and 16 largest in 6A and the rest of the schools divided into two or three classes in between?

[sidelinedoc]

Raceland dresses 50+, counting Freshmen. Pikeville does about the same. I know Fairview and Paintsville are dressing in the 30's. I am not sure that all 1A teams are having trouble with numbers. Heck, some 1A teams are dressing more than 4 and 5A teams. There are bigger schools with number issues, so this isn't a small school problem.

[sidelinedoc]

I guess what I am trying to say is, 1A lack of participation will not be demise of the 6 Class system. Overall participation in football may cause it to be addressed but it isn't a 1A problem per say.

[frankdracman23]

Raceland dresses 50+, counting Freshmen. Pikeville does about the same. I know Fairview and Paintsville are dressing in the 30's. I am not sure that all 1A teams are having trouble with numbers. Heck, some 1A teams are dressing more than 4 and 5A teams. There are bigger schools with number issues, so this isn't a small school problem.

 

But that's what I am saying. Originally the argument for 6 classes was that there was too much of a numbers gap between the largest and smallest schools in each class under the 4 class system. So if say 5 years from now when the alignment is ready to be looked at again.......what if the 12 largest schools in 1A have roster sizes of 40-50 and the 20 smallest have 15-20?

[autopart101]

I guess what I am trying to say is, 1A lack of participation will not be demise of the 6 Class system. Overall participation in football may cause it to be addressed but it isn't a 1A problem per say.

There should be a minimum number of kids to field a team. I mean 20 kids. That's just not going to be a competitive team at any level.

[frankdracman23]

And the same could go for 2A thru 6A. If the bottom 20 teams in 2A average 25 on their rosters and the top 10 average 60 that could be a problem. Add in XX number of schools that do not have Soccer as a Fall sport adding that sport (or maybe another Fall sport is approved by the KHSAA) and the numbers could go down even more.

[wkufan1]

What about the difference in 6A roster sizes and enrollment numbers. Scott County has 1,217 kids, while Boone has 726, that is a difference of 491 kids, the difference in 1A is just Fulton City and Beechwood is 134 kids. I've seen 6A schools with 20 kids dressed and some with 100 kids dressed. Those smaller sizes are never going to compete with the larger schools. If you really want to make things competitive go to 4 or 5 classes and let teams move up and down based on if they make the Final 4 in that class(they move up a class), make the playoffs they stay in that class, miss the playoffs(they move down a class). Base it on 2 year cycles, that way the weaker programs will end up in the same classes and the stronger programs will end up together. Or let you schedule whoever you want and allow the playoffs to be filled out by a ranking system. Something does have to change , because of all the blowouts in the 1st round of the playoffs. Make 11 game schedules and only let in the top 2 in districts. Something has to change though.

[frankdracman23]

What about the difference in 6A roster sizes and enrollment numbers. Scott County has 1,217 kids, while Boone has 726, that is a difference of 491 kids, the difference in 1A is just Fulton City and Beechwood is 134 kids. I've seen 6A schools with 20 kids dressed and some with 100 kids dressed. Those smaller sizes are never going to compete with the larger schools. If you really want to make things competitive go to 4 or 5 classes and let teams move up and down based on if they make the Final 4 in that class(they move up a class), make the playoffs they stay in that class, miss the playoffs(they move down a class). Base it on 2 year cycles, that way the weaker programs will end up in the same classes and the stronger programs will end up together. Or let you schedule whoever you want and allow the playoffs to be filled out by a ranking system. Something does have to change , because of all the blowouts in the 1st round of the playoffs. Make 11 game schedules and only let in the top 2 in districts. Something has to change though.

 

If you read my thread post I could envision the largest 16 schools and the smallest 16 schools being in a class. So that could address some of the gap but there could still be a roster gap especially between the large school group.

[uk#1fan]

Article in the Enquirer today about Dayton only having 20 players in uniform for last game. Bellevue only had about the same number in uniform for their game with Beechwood. Brossart nearly did not field a team this year and has about the same number.......

 

Given that the overall number of football playing boys is down nationwide (most likely due to concussion worries and other injury worries) and likely within the state of KY .......if the rosters shrink much more could it lead to the end of the 6 class system in KY?

 

If some 1A schools can only field 20 player rosters or drop the sport while those at the top of the class continue to have sizeable rosters could it lead to fewer classes with maybe less school in the largest and smallest classes and more schools in the middle classes?

 

Something like the 16 smallest in 1A and 16 largest in 6A and the rest of the schools divided into two or three classes in between?

 

All you really need is 15 kids to play and stay in the game.

[frankdracman23]

All you really need is 15 kids to play and stay in the game.

 

Understood. But the chances of a 15-20 man roster winning against a 40-50 man roster are a lot less. And the chances of the bottom 16 football playing schools having a large roster gap are less than a group of 32. Same as with the largest 16.

[gchs_uk9]

I've argued for a few years that the KHSAA could devise a system where the 16 smallest schools could play 8-man football. If any of those 16 want to play 11-man, then #17 (and on up) would have the option to play 8-man. But I doubt that will ever happen.

[Little Ram]

If you want to compare the difference between the numbers on a 6A team and a 1A team, it won't work, IMO. 1A Raceland has beat teams throughout each class for years. The size of the roster doesn't matter, IMO. If a team has 20 players, if I were the coach, I would be doing a whole lot of conditioning. But what can be argued is the depth of talent between the classes. Regardless of the argument, there will be teams with zero wins at the end of each season in every class and in every state. It even happens from time to time in the NFL. It will happen.

[Dr.Feelgood]

I've argued for a few years that the KHSAA could devise a system where the 16 smallest schools could play 8-man football. If any of those 16 want to play 11-man, then #17 (and on up) would have the option to play 8-man. But I doubt that will ever happen.

 

I think the problem with this and the other theories is logistics. There would probably be a massive amount of travel required for that type of system. I would be willing to bet that these small schools would not be able to afford that kind of expense. Heck, some of the larger schools might not be able to either.

[frankdracman23]

I think the problem with this and the other theories is logistics. There would probably be a massive amount of travel required for that type of system. I would be willing to bet that these small schools would not be able to afford that kind of expense. Heck, some of the larger schools might not be able to either.

 

If you went to a 16 team group there would be no district games. Small schools could make their schedules against teams that have similar size rosters in their geographic area maybe playing some current 2A schools that usually have a small roster. Then everyone makes the playoffs. 4 playoff games to win it all.

[hrcarrier]

It is as much about enrollment; some schools have more, others don't. Dayton only had 36 students in its senior class last year, which is likely the average size of Class A football teams statewide.