Today 6A is but after this season 5A will be the toughest class to win a title in. #TheHighlandsEffect

 

3A is tougher than both.

 

So, let me get this straight. Basically, what you're saying is that if you put PRP, Manual, Meade County, and Simon Kenton in 5A or 3A they would have a tougher time winning state titles in those classes then they would in 6A..... All of this due to fact that Belfry, Central, Boyle Co., Lex Cath, Highlands, BG, CovCath etc. are stronger programs than Trinity, St. X, Male and Scott County. I'm just not buying that........

 

Now, if you say that 3A has the deepest pool of possible state contenders than any other class I would be inclined to agree with you. But, the quality and separation of the top level teams is much different in 6A.

So, let me get this straight. Basically, what you're saying is that if you put PRP, Manual, Meade County, and Simon Kenton in 5A or 3A they would have a tougher time winning state titles in those classes then they would in 6A..... All of this due to fact that Belfry, Central, Boyle Co., Lex Cath, Highlands, BG, CovCath etc. are stronger programs than Trinity, St. X, Male and Scott County. I'm just not buying that........

 

Now, if you say that 3A has the deepest pool of possible state contenders than any other class I would be inclined to agree with you. But, the quality and separation of the top level teams is much different in 6A.

 

That's not what we are saying...we are saying it is a tougher path for the teams in that class. Would a 6A team fair better playing in a lower class? Yeah...I mean come on... obviously.

 

With that said the depth of elite teams one would have to defeat is the toughest in the new Western 3A.

 

In 6A you may very well have the four best teams in the State..but they are also going to cancel each other out. McCracken County for example only will have to see one of those elite teams... a Simon kenton may not even have to see one until the Finals.

 

By contrast look at 3A... no matter which district you are in there is a strong chance in order to win a Championship you are going to face a minimum of 3 teams who have hoisted a trophy over the past 10 years.

 

Imagine being Bardstown... a potential Top 10 team in 3A...

 

Your playoff path will most likely be:

vs. Garrard County (Potential Top 10-12 Team)

@ LexCath (Potential Top 4 team)

@ Central (Top 4) or Boyle County (Top 4)

@ Tilghman (Top 5)

vs. Belfry (Top 4)

 

A Top 10 team very well could have to defeat another Top 10 team in Round 1@ Home and then beat 4 of the Top 5 overall teams in their class away from Home.

 

BRUTAL!

That's not what we are saying...we are saying it is a tougher path for the teams in that class. Would a 6A team fair better playing in a lower class? Yeah...I mean come on... obviously.

 

With that said the depth of elite teams one would have to defeat is the toughest in the new Western 3A.

 

In 6A you may very well have the four best teams in the State..but they are also going to cancel each other out. McCracken County for example only will have to see one of those elite teams... a Simon kenton may not even have to see one until the Finals.

 

By contrast look at 3A... no matter which district you are in there is a strong chance in order to win a Championship you are going to face a minimum of 3 teams who have hoisted a trophy over the past 10 years.

 

Imagine being Bardstown... a potential Top 10 team in 3A...

 

Your playoff path will most likely be:

vs. Garrard County (Potential Top 10-12 Team)

@ LexCath (Potential Top 4 team)

@ Central (Top 4) or Boyle County (Top 4)

@ Tilghman (Top 5)

vs. Belfry (Top 4)

 

A Top 10 team very well could have to defeat another Top 10 team in Round 1@ Home and then beat 4 of the Top 5 overall teams in their class away from Home.

 

BRUTAL!

 

I agree that is brutal for Bardstown... But, they have a better chance of making it through that scenario to win state than the 6th ranked team does in Class 6A. Because, once again, the separation and quality of teams at the top are much better in 6A. If I were Bardstown I would hedge my bets on winning state going through 5 weeks of that then having to beat Trinity just once. Since you brought up McCracken County I will tell you this. I think Bardstown has a MUCH better shot to win state than McCracken Co. McCracken Co. may have a better chance to win their region, but not state.

 

What you just laid out proves (and, as I said earlier that I would agree with) that 3A has the most teams capable of winning the state championship in their class.

 

Maybe Guru can explain exactly what he wanted with his question, but I am taking it for face value as what is the toughest class to win state in. Not looking at different teams in particular because then we could have 220 different strands.

 

Look at it another way. I think if Highlands and BG were in 6A there would be some years every now and then where they would compete for a state title in 6A. But, anyone who think that BG or Highlands would have the same amount of state titles as they have won in the last 10 years if they were in 6A are just out of their minds. But, I would safely say that if Trinity was in the same class as Highlands and BG they would have the same amount of state titles in the last 10 years and if they didn't it would maybe just be one less.

Maybe Guru can explain exactly what he wanted with his question, but I am taking it for face value as what is the toughest class to win state in.

 

I speak "Guru": His premise was, why would two teams move to 6A (when they don't have to), when they would have an easier path to winning a state title in 5A.

I speak "Guru": His premise was, why would two teams move to 6A (when they don't have to), when they would have an easier path to winning a state title in 5A.

 

My thoughts there would be that they were looking at direct competition in their region. When they heard that HHS and CovCath were moving up to 5A they ultimately thought that their path to a region title would be less obstructed in 6A than it would be in 5A leading them to the possibility of deeper playoff runs. But, their chances of winning a state title are definitely not better in 6A.

 

Maybe the better question to help us is the flip side of what we're looking at. Why did DIXIE HEIGHTS agree to move down to 5A when other schools were bumping up to 6A? I think the answer to that is they feel that they have a better shot to win State in 5A even with playing in a region with HHS and CovCath than they did having to try to beat Trinity once in 6A.

 

There is something that playing Trinity does to you in terms of bringing a sobering reality to your competitiveness. This is meant as absolutely no slight to Highlands at all. But, speaking as someone who has played both of them there is a distinct difference between Highlands and Trinity. Maybe you have to play Trinity to really understand that.

That's not what we are saying...we are saying it is a tougher path for the teams in that class. Would a 6A team fair better playing in a lower class? Yeah...I mean come on... obviously.

 

With that said the depth of elite teams one would have to defeat is the toughest in the new Western 3A.

 

In 6A you may very well have the four best teams in the State..but they are also going to cancel each other out. McCracken County for example only will have to see one of those elite teams... a Simon kenton may not even have to see one until the Finals.

 

By contrast look at 3A... no matter which district you are in there is a strong chance in order to win a Championship you are going to face a minimum of 3 teams who have hoisted a trophy over the past 10 years.

 

Imagine being Bardstown... a potential Top 10 team in 3A...

 

Your playoff path will most likely be:

vs. Garrard County (Potential Top 10-12 Team)

@ LexCath (Potential Top 4 team)

@ Central (Top 4) or Boyle County (Top 4)

@ Tilghman (Top 5)

vs. Belfry (Top 4)

 

A Top 10 team very well could have to defeat another Top 10 team in Round 1@ Home and then beat 4 of the Top 5 overall teams in their class away from Home.

 

BRUTAL!

There is a difference in most competitive and toughest class.

 

3A may be the most competitive but that makes it easier to win a state title because there are so many capable of doing it. In 6A there are only a couple teams that have ever won it which makes that the toughest.

I'm not a mathematics genius by any means, so be gentle. I don't really feel there is a correct answer to this question honestly.

 

If we look back @ the champions since the KHSAA made the move to 6 classes for the 2007 season here is the breakdown:

 

6A - 3 different champions - Trinity(6) St. X (1) Scott Co. (1)

5A - 3 different champions - Highlands (4) Bowling Green (3) Pulaski Co. (1)

4A - 5 different champions - Highlands (3) Boyle Co. (2) Bell Co. (1)

Lexington Catholic (1) Collins (1)

3A - 3 different champions - Central (5) Belfry (2) Paducah Tilghman (1)

2A - 4 different champions - Fort Campbell (3) NCC (2) Desales (2) Holy Cross (1)

1A - 4 different champions - Mayfield (4) Beechwood (2) LCA (1) Hazard (1)

 

There has obviously been some shifting of a few teams during this time (Highlands for example moving classes albeit still winning championships in doing so), but here is the team breakdown per class & % of teams that have won @ that level:

 

6A - 32 teams 9% of the teams have won a title in the last 8 years

5A - 39 teams 8% " " "

4A - 37 teams 14%

3A - 39 teams 8%

2A - 38 teams 11%

1A - 32 teams 13%

 

From the looks of it to me, its hard to win a championship @ any level especially with the number of dominant repeat winners that we see.

I'm not a mathematics genius by any means, so be gentle. I don't really feel there is a correct answer to this question honestly.

 

If we look back @ the champions since the KHSAA made the move to 6 classes for the 2007 season here is the breakdown:

 

6A - 3 different champions - Trinity(6) St. X (1) Scott Co. (1)

5A - 3 different champions - Highlands (4) Bowling Green (3) Pulaski Co. (1)

4A - 5 different champions - Highlands (3) Boyle Co. (2) Bell Co. (1)

Lexington Catholic (1) Collins (1)

3A - 3 different champions - Central (5) Belfry (2) Paducah Tilghman (1)

2A - 4 different champions - Fort Campbell (3) NCC (2) Desales (2) Holy Cross (1)

1A - 4 different champions - Mayfield (4) Beechwood (2) LCA (1) Hazard (1)

 

There has obviously been some shifting of a few teams during this time (Highlands for example moving classes albeit still winning championships in doing so), but here is the team breakdown per class & % of teams that have won @ that level:

 

6A - 32 teams 9% of the teams have won a title in the last 8 years

5A - 39 teams 8% " " "

4A - 37 teams 14%

3A - 39 teams 8%

2A - 38 teams 11%

1A - 32 teams 13%

 

From the looks of it to me, its hard to win a championship @ any level especially with the number of dominant repeat winners that we see.

 

Johnny,

I'm not much of a math guy either but I am a History guy. And being a History guy that looks like a small sample size. And, going back to the creation of Class 4A in the 70's If we look at the state tiles won in the highest classification since that time (4A to the new 6A) what we would find is that almost 75% of the state titles in KY's highest classification have been won by just 2 teams. And, we all know who those two teams are. So, my crystal ball would say that as time goes on in the 6 class setup it will look the exact same way.

But, your point about it being difficult for many teams to win state in any class due to repeat winners is well taken.

There is a difference in most competitive and toughest class.

 

3A may be the most competitive but that makes it easier to win a state title because there are so many capable of doing it. In 6A there are only a couple teams that have ever won it which makes that the toughest.

 

Considering Belfry and Central have pretty much ruled 3A with an iron fist I would say it also qualifies in that sense.

 

All it takes is pulling one upset in 5A and 6A for some teams to have their championship path open up. In 3A you may have to pull off 2 or 3 major upsets.

We have a vote for 5A!

I vote 6A simply for the fact that if Manual is your 4th or 5th best team in your classification that's pretty legit to me. However, Highlands or BG are capable to win 6A most years or at least be very competitive. 6A to me is just a little deeper with Trinity being the class of the commonwealth.

 

Most folks I talk to don't think McCracken could ever win it all in 6A. I strongly disagree. They have the numbers, facility and most importantly an area of fast talented kids. That program should be able to recruit itself and be the hallmark of WKY.

5A football is WKY should be very competitive this year and might see a shift of different teams being in the mix.