I am spinning this off from the NKY Top Ten thread. The issue being brought up there was that NKY is overrated when it comes to football and that EKY is the dominant region, at least outside Louisville. The time frame used in that thread was 20 years.

Reviewing the past 5 years, here is the breakdown for state titles:

Louisville - 7

Danville/Boyle/Somerset - 5

WKY (Used the broad definition and just went west of Louisville) - 5

EKY (did not give EKY Somerset but gave them Ashland) - 7

NKY - 6

Lexington/Georgetown  - 0

 

My takeaways:

1) Total titles is just one way to stack things up. It doesn't reflect things like Frederick Douglass having 3 finals' appearances.

2) Titles are spread out across the state with only Lexington being left behind (but if you lumped it in with Danville/Boyle and called it Central Kentucky, it wouldn't be).

3) I just cannot see from this metric how NKY is overrated nor how there is some big gap between any of the areas, let alone EKY and NKY.

I just posted this info in the other thread you mentioned and will add it to the discussion in here.

Since 2000, N. Ky. has won 25 state titles spread among five schools in every class level except 6A. At least three more schools have been in a title game since 2000 including two at the big school level (Dixie, Ryle).

17 minutes ago, Voice of Reason said:

I just posted this info in the other thread you mentioned and will add it to the discussion in here.

Since 2000, N. Ky. has won 25 state titles spread among five schools in every class level except 6A. At least three more schools have been in a title game since 2000 including two at the big school level (Dixie, Ryle).

Add SK to that list as well.  2008 they played Trinity in the championship after defeating Male @ Male for the "Public School Championship".  If I remember correctly, Male even had a trophy made.  I don't think they expected SK to win.

2 minutes ago, sportsfan41 said:

Add SK to that list as well.  2008 they played Trinity in the championship after defeating Male @ Male for the "Public School Championship".  If I remember correctly, Male even had a trophy made.  I don't think they expected SK to win.

Thanks. I believe Cooper played in the 5A title game around 2012? That was the third school I had in mind when I said three more schools.

Ashland is in East,KY. While it is not in the mountians it is still East,Ky.  We just add North but it's all still East,Ky in the #606. So You were Right to Add Ashland for East,Ky.

This is a really tough debate to have.

I like interesting topics though.

But it is a really tough debate to have.

Without spending too much time:

1. Blanketing regions isn't really fair because certain regions are isolated in class dispersement.

2. When it comes to KY, it is not so much the region as it is the individual powerhouse programs who dominate the State. The success of far Western KY is heavily weighed by Mayfield. The success of Jefferson County is heavily weighed by the Big 3 + Central. The weight of NKY is heavily weighted by Beechwood, Highlands, & CovCath. The weight of EKY is heavily weighted by Belfry, Pikeville, and Johnson Central. 

3. A few years ago we did some fun stuff on here by doing kind of a pound for pound comparison by Region based off population density. That's probably the only fair way to kind of loo at this. Even more so.. it's more about Counties who perform better per capita moreso than geographical regions. for example, Boyle County, KY was the per capita King and my guess is that still is the case.

4. The only geographical regions that seemingly underperformed were Southern Kentucky and Lexington. LCA and Frederick Douglass has helped the Lex case in recent years despite not getting a title. 

 

When it is all said and done, generally speaking, I will end with this:

5. Rural Football is going to tough to sustain success no matter where in the State you are. 

6. Metro Football means more talent, but usually that talent will flow to only a handful of ultra successful schools. You still get some bad football in metro areas.

7. Generally speaking where there is a football hot spot, there is usually some football dead zones nearby. I refer to this as talent pool flow. Talent flows to where success is and the success typically sustains itself. 

For anyone who has seen the movie "There Will Be Blood", think of the scene at the end where he talks about a straw and "I drink your milkshake". The better programs typically drink the talent from neighboring areas like a milkshake. Pike County is a good example. You have a pretty rural county (still decently populated considering) but you have two monster programs in Belfry and Pikeville. For the success they have, schools very nearby like Phelps, Pike Central, Shelby Valley, East Ridge, Betsy Layne, and Jenkins have traditionally struggled to compete. Those  programs have drank the milkshake of the others.