So how many teams are officially IN the Northern Kentucky Youth Football League now?

 

Erlanger

South Kenton

River Ducks

Newport

Red Devils

Ludlow

Campbell County Youth

Union

Fort Mitchell

Taylor Mill

Bengal Tigers

Walton

Cooper Jags

Boone County

NKY Bandits

And teams play Grant County and Highlands Youth Football to fill schedules.

I’m sorry, to answer the other part the league has grown.

 

Official members are River City (DYF & BYF) , Red Devils, Newport, Campbell County Youth, Spartans, Ludlow, Bengal Tigers, Taylor Mill, Erlanger, South Kenton, Bandits, Union Raiders, Walton.

 

The league has a working relationship with Boone County, Cooper, Fort Thomas, Grant who all competed in the league last year. But are not official member organizations.

There will not be a true NKYFL senior division. Like discussed before, everyone involved knew this was coming and honestly have looked at options over the last couple seasons as to adapting the league.

 

Highlands will play the Norseman Conference. Dayton & Bellevue NKMSSA going forward. Red Devils & Bengal Tigers are still in the process of deciding which way to go with their senior programs.

 

As far as the NKYFL, the divisions will still be starters, midgets, juniors, along with more teams than ever fielding midget youth, and junior youth so I see those levels continuing to grow.

 

The league is also in the process of phasing in the new school age cut off (Aug 1). The goal being to make sure kids are aligning more with their grade level throughout. The original may 1st date aligned with baseball, but doesn’t make much sense anymore as the league has transitioned more towards school feeders and now eventually Middle school feeders.

 

Definitely sounds like the right plan. I'll be glad to see the age cutoff change. As I mentioned before, there have always been a few 7th graders who struggle as 8th graders because they spent their 7th grade year playing against 5/6th graders.

 

As far as where the Bengal Tiger kids will play, it should be pretty easy. Most will likely play for Holmes (who are doing a nice job building their MS program), and a few will end up at Woodland (because some of Latonia is in Woodlands district). The Tigers barely had enough for a team last year, so very few kids are being affected. For the Red Devils, those that go to Campbell County will obviously be able to play for them. Hopefully, New Cath will get their MS team back up and running as well for those kids.

Yeah, with all the changes going on I think this is the perfect time for Newport Central Catholic to get their program back running. That will ensure all the private school kids who intend on attending NCC have a feeder to play for.

I saw that. I hadn't realized Ryle, Conner, Cooper, Boone and Lex Cath had formed their own conference separate from the NKMSAA. I don't know how much program crossover there is between the middle school level and high school level with those programs, but it sounds like those teams should offer some good competition for Ft. Thomas.

 

Yeah it's not doing out 7th/8th graders any good not providing them with Quality outside Competition rather than play each other 4 times in our own League! We're pretty excited to be part of the Norseman Conference.

There will not be a true NKYFL senior division. Like discussed before, everyone involved knew this was coming and honestly have looked at options over the last couple seasons as to adapting the league.

 

Highlands will play the Norseman Conference. Dayton & Bellevue NKMSSA going forward. Red Devils & Bengal Tigers are still in the process of deciding which way to go with their senior programs.

 

As far as the NKYFL, the divisions will still be starters, midgets, juniors, along with more teams than ever fielding midget youth, and junior youth so I see those levels continuing to grow.

 

The league is also in the process of phasing in the new school age cut off (Aug 1). The goal being to make sure kids are aligning more with their grade level throughout. The original may 1st date aligned with baseball, but doesn’t make much sense anymore as the league has transitioned more towards school feeders and now eventually Middle school feeders.

 

Fort Thomas but we all know what you meant!:thumb:

I wish the NKMSAA would just drop Football and let the teams play as a MS out in the open like most of the state. Heck let teams form like Union, Cooper and Conner. Doing that would open up a whole lot of possibilities. I think the NKMSAA is good with basketball but football they are way behind the curve.

 

It would also be great to see the Norse Conference expand. I have no idea about Cov Cath because they play across the river I think. I’d like to see them in that conference along with some other schools.

I wish the NKMSAA would just drop Football and let the teams play as a MS out in the open like most of the state. Heck let teams form like Union, Cooper and Conner. Doing that would open up a whole lot of possibilities. I think the NKMSAA is good with basketball but football they are way behind the curve.

 

It would also be great to see the Norse Conference expand. I have no idea about Cov Cath because they play across the river I think. I’d like to see them in that conference along with some other schools.

 

Are the rest of the middle school programs around the state just on their own when it comes to scheduling and which teams they play? Who organizes things elsewhere outside of northern Kentucky? Are there conferences or districts? Are there other areas of the state that have localized leagues? I don't know much about middle school football aside from the portion that I know about middle school football in northern Kentucky.

 

 

As for Cov Cath's football, they were struggling to find what they thought was a consistently challenging schedule year to year. They had started adding in occasional games against teams in Cincinnati's Greater Catholic Youth League and then were eventually invited by the GCYL to become a full member of their league, and they did so. With things moving and changing around northern Kentucky middle school football landscape like they have over the last 6 or 7 years, I think Cov Cath is happy keeping their Colonel Youth Football teams in the comparatively stable and consistent Greater Catholic Youth League.

Are the rest of the middle school programs around the state just on their own when it comes to scheduling and which teams they play? Who organizes things elsewhere outside of northern Kentucky? Are there conferences or districts? Are there other areas of the state that have localized leagues? I don't know much about middle school football aside from the portion that I know about middle school football in northern Kentucky.

 

At last count there were 22 conferences across the state. There are about 50 or so teams that play an independent type schedule (just schedule games with other teams.) Most teams play about 6-8 conference games (a conference can be as small as 4 teams), and then fill in the rest with non conference games like high school.

I wish the NKMSAA would just drop Football and let the teams play as a MS out in the open like most of the state. Heck let teams form like Union, Cooper and Conner. Doing that would open up a whole lot of possibilities. I think the NKMSAA is good with basketball but football they are way behind the curve.

 

It would also be great to see the Norse Conference expand. I have no idea about Cov Cath because they play across the river I think. I’d like to see them in that conference along with some other schools.

 

Some schools just don’t have the money for that, and honestly for middle schoolers winning a NKMSAA championship will mean a lot to them.

 

Ludlow’s HS success is directly related to the success they’ve had at the MS level

Some schools just don’t have the money for that, and honestly for middle schoolers winning a NKMSAA championship will mean a lot to them.

 

Ludlow’s HS success is directly related to the success they’ve had at the MS level

 

Cost and travel is a very big part of it. Remember, the Boone County teams are not part of a school program (although they work closely with the schools). The NKMSAA also coordinates start and end dates to allow players to transition smoothly into Basketball season. In some ways it would be nice to play statewide...for example Beechwood and Woodland had very good teams this year, and it would have been interesting to see how they would have competed statewide. Same thing with Campbell County last year. But the NKMSAA is well run, and as was said has been instrumental in helping teams like Ludlow and Scott improve at the high school level.

How does it affect the cost? How would leaving the NKMSAA affect cost? One of the reasons some schools don’t play in the NKMSAA is how (or at least they use to) they scheduled it where you had one home game. You were the host site one weekend. If you play outside you get 4-5 gates a year plus your concessions. You would be playing many of the same schools and traveling in about the same area. It wouldn’t be any different than how the teams travel for basketball. It would open schools to play different teams. Most MS football if not everyone is finished by the time NKMSAA starts practice and games.

 

There really isn’t a downside or much of one to Football leaving the KMSAA or at least opening it up so those teams can play teams out in the state.

Not true at all. All of Union Raider kids are Ryle kids. Period. The Norseman Conference is 100% a football conference and all of the kids that are feeding these teams are being fed to their high schools and are based on school districts. We have approached the Kenton County schools numerous times about playing non conference games but they will not play any of us because they say that "the teams in our conference are select" but that is not true. They will not even go to the table to discuss even though they have "open enrollment" and Boone Co does not. Very hypocritical since they let CCH 7th join and New Cath join in the past. Their loss now. They are certainly not providing the best opportunities or competition for their kids. In retrospect, we are glad not to be tied to the middle schools for many reasons that I cannot describe in a post. Just for the record we have reached out to Cov Cath about exploring some game action or conference affiliation.

We started last year with the four Boone County schools and have already expanded with the strong addition of the Birds and Lex Cath. We have also already been in discussions with others about expansion for next season.

I'm pretty sure these aren't school based teams (although boundaries are likely based on school districts and they are basically feeder teams to each school). I know one of the sticking points the Union Raiders, and Fort Thomas has had preventing them from joining the NKMSAA is that they would not limit team members to players just from their own school district.

 

I wish Boone County Schools would just endorse middle school football. It would be great for all of Northern KY to have all the teams in one league.

 

Sorry, this is a double post but did not attach the first time.

 

Not true at all. All of Union Raider kids are Ryle kids. Period. The Norseman Conference is 100% a football conference and all of the kids that are feeding these teams are being fed to their high schools and are based on school districts. We have approached the Kenton County schools numerous times about playing non conference games but they will not play any of us because they say that "the teams in our conference are select" but that is not true. They will not even go to the table to discuss even though they have "open enrollment" and Boone Co does not. Very hypocritical since they let CCH 7th join and New Cath join in the past. Their loss now. They are certainly not providing the best opportunities or competition for their kids. In retrospect, we are glad not to be tied to the middle schools for many reasons that I cannot describe in a post. Just for the record we have reached out to Cov Cath about exploring some game action or conference affiliation.