We can agree to disagree.

 

Holy Cross is pretty much a non-factor and St. Henry is controlled by basketball people which makes CCH the only major Catholic football program in Boone and Kenton County.

 

Location, location, location.

 

But not in NK. NCC is right up there but I know yous said Boone and Kenton. But HC isn't a complete non factor, I think they should carry the rivalry over to football soon. (CCH vs. HC)

with the addition of junior high football starting this year.

 

Hear me now, if Coach Brossart gets it rolling at CCH they will be in a class with T and X.

 

This is the only worthy response::jump:

There is already a NKY that is in the same "class" as T and X, and that is Highlands... I find it odd that the guru somehow left HHS off this list

Not on a consistent basis. Occasionally, yes, like in 2007, but not regularly.

I'll provide an additional response (and a long one at that ), although the Ru and I have discussed this privately on multiple occassions. While I definitely think CovCath is making a step forward creating its own 7/8 team (like NewCath did several years ago), I'm not sure its going to elevate them to T and X status.

 

I'm not sure I agree with Ru that Holy Cross and St Henry won't attract some of the better Catholic kids that otherwise would have attended CovCath, even if the 7/8 grade team is successful. Plus with Ryle and Simon Kenton building strong programs (and arguably Ryle already has a strong program with a ton of potential yet to be realized) and Dixie and Beechwood already having strong programs, there are plenty of other successful programs for kids to choose other than CovCath. In other words, a lot of the good football players in Boone and Kenton aren't going to be funnelled into CovCath because their "home" football programs aren't making a committment to football.

 

Contrast that with J County as I understand it. Other than X and T, there really are only two other programs in all of J County that I'd consider strong: Male and Manual (and there is some issue as to what is going on at Male from what I read on here). Thus in a county as populated as J County, if you are a real good middle school football player that wants to play at a successful high school program, there really are limited choices: Manual (if you can get into it), Male, X and T.

 

Whereas, in N. Ky. with its smaller population (and thus fewer good football players), there are far more choices of successful programs to dilute that talent, including not only the aforementioned 4, but Highlands and NewCath also (which are probably no more than 20-25 minutes from most of Kenton and Boone County).

 

Of those 6 other alternatives, 5 are public schools, which if a kid lives in those districts, the kid can attend for free whereas attending CovCath will cost thousands of dollars each year. Given the ever increasing cost of college, I think the concept of paying thousands of dollars for high school education becomes quite daunting for a lot of parents, particularly if there are free, academically sound public schools (with free public transportation) nearby making a big committment to football.

 

And unlike J County, the public schools up here haven't had to deal with the busing issue that J County had to deal with in the past and don't have the disciplinary problem stigma that, based on what I read on here and am told, is associated with some of the J County public schools. And further unlike X and T that benefit occasionally from some good Indiana athletes crossing the River, I think it is highly unlikely that you will see good Ohio football players leaving Ohio to play football at CovCath no matter how good CovCath becomes because of the quality of high school football played in Ohio.

 

Bottom line: the situation in N. Ky is dramatically different from J County or Lexington for that matter. With multiple counties and a great number of cities up here (creating more community feel and tighter community loyalty) I think there is more pressure to play at the "home" school if the home school is doing the right thing than there is in J County.

 

One possible drawback to CovCath creating its own 7/8 grade team (and I think the benefits far outweigh this drawback) is the fact that if you remove the Catholic kids from the NKYFL, there is less opportunity for them to influence the non Catholic kids that they otherwise would have played with, to attend CovCath. We all know that kids playing on successful youth leagues all talk to each other about how they all need to go to the same high school and win state championships. It happens all the time in all sports. With the Catholic kids no longer playing on the NKYFL teams, that situation or opportunity to influence goes away, doesn't it? And over the years, hasn't CovCath got some very good non-Catholic kids from Boone County (in particular)? One can wonder if that will happen to the degree it has in the past if the Catholic kids are no longer playing side by side with them in the NKYFL teams on the 7th and 8th grade teams. I fully realize that the ability of non-Catholic kids to influence the Catholic kids to attend the public school likewise is eliminated, but I think overall, the public schools benefit more from that "separation".

 

But again, even if this "theory" is correct, I still see the benefit of having your own 7/8th grade team outweighing that drawback.

 

Who knows, Ru may be right in thinking it could propel CovCath to the X and T level, but I don't think he is (although I do think it will improve CovCath). And I hope he is right, because CovCath improving will only cause Highlands to improve. Better competition begets better teams.

 

Could someone provide a list of the high schools that have their own 7/8 grade teams and play in the school league.

If this happens and Cov Cath becomes like X & T, will we split the district so Highlands & Cov Cath have a shot to play in the state finals.

Leatherneck, as always a well thought out and well stated opinion. I can see your argument and you may be very right. A question that I have is, will the opening of Cooper make a difference?

 

I don't know the answer, and I doubt many would know the answer right now, but I am sure that many of you NKY people have a better feel for the mind set of the people involved with Cooper then I. Will more people, possibly, enroll in CovCath rather then attend a brand new school, where they will have to build a program from the bottom up? Now of course, this could be true for other schools as well. I guess what I am saying is if people have the choice of going to another school, will they chose CovCath, or will they chose other schools first?

 

And, all though I agree with you about the number of quality programs in a relatively small area, some of those programs can change over a short amount of time. NCC has become a very good program. I don't think many would disagree that CovCath has become a very good program. What is to stop them from that continued success? And we all know if you have a successful program, players will come. Highlands is very successful, and I dare say they draw a few players based on that success, that they would not draw if they were consistently a 5-5 or 6-4 team.

One thing that hurts CovCath is the presence of Beechwood, because Beechwood is a program that year in and year out competes for a state title, but they also allow certain players the opportunity to play much earlier than they would at CovCath.

 

LN, as for your theory, that is a good point. Who knows if a kid like Josh Blesser would have attended CovCath if not for playing with all the future Colonels on Raiders (he could have been anyways, I don't know). But what is going to happen to the Raiders and Spartans if this thing really takes off? Because I have a sibling in 6th grade who played Raiders last year who would absolutely LOVE to have Covington Catholic on his jersey. And especially due to the fact that he is going to be a 1st year Senior for the Raiders (which means his playing time will be minimal), I wouldn't be surprised to see him switch over. Also, I will be influencing him and all of his buddies to go play for CovCath :lol:

 

Furthermore, Trinity and X have the high tuition and rigorous academic schedule that Covington Catholic has, so if we can model what we do after them we will be in great shape.

 

But as mentioned, this can only do wonders for CovCath, no way it can hurt.

Leatherneck, as always a well thought out and well stated opinion. I can see your argument and you may be very right. A question that I have is, will the opening of Cooper make a difference?

 

I don't know the answer, and I doubt many would know the answer right now, but I am sure that many of you NKY people have a better feel for the mind set of the people involved with Cooper then I. Will more people, possibly, enroll in CovCath rather then attend a brand new school, where they will have to build a program from the bottom up? Now of course, this could be true for other schools as well. I guess what I am saying is if people have the choice of going to another school, will they chose CovCath, or will they chose other schools first?

 

And, all though I agree with you about the number of quality programs in a relatively small area, some of those programs can change over a short amount of time. NCC has become a very good program. I don't think many would disagree that CovCath has become a very good program. What is to stop them from that continued success? And we all know if you have a successful program, players will come. Highlands is very successful, and I dare say they draw a few players based on that success, that they would not draw if they were consistently a 5-5 or 6-4 team.

 

 

Thanks. The opening of Cooper might have a short term benefit for CovCath, but I don't think it will. The to be seniors next year don't have to go to Cooper; rather they can stay at Boone, Ryle and Conner. So if any kids are upset that they are going to have to go to Cooper, it will be to be juniors, sophomores and frosh. I can see some of them saying "its going to take a while for Cooper to be really good and I want to play at an already good program like CovCath". But I can see on the other hand kids wanting to be part of the group that started football at Cooper. A whole lot of that decision will be influenced by Cooper's new coach and the community loyalty to the new school.

 

You are obviously right about strong programs attracting athletes. Which was the point I was making. Unlike J County which from what I know has only a couple of strong alternatives to X and T, there are a lot of them (comparatively) in N. Ky. If some of those programs were to fall apart and CovCath remained strong, CovCath would benefit (as would Highlands, Beechwood and the other programs remaining strong). And options that didn't require thousands of dollars in tuition would probably benefit more than CovCath I would think.

 

Anything can happen I guess, but I don't see many programs up here getting weaker. If anything, I see more and more programs up here doing things to get better. Campbell County is a great example of my point. I think Dayton and Bellevue are getting stronger. I know that Holmes is getting better. The increasing popularity of football in Ky is being recognized by school administrators and I think that will cause a lot of programs to get better. As that happens, it will be much harder for any program (including not only CovCath but also Highlands) to be funnelled a lot of good athletes from other districts/areas. And that's a great thing. The "free market" if you will, will create more parity and a more level playing field, as opposed to some arbitrary rules mandated by the KHSAA.

One thing that hurts CovCath is the presence of Beechwood, because Beechwood is a program that year in and year out competes for a state title, but they also allow certain players the opportunity to play much earlier than they would at CovCath.

 

LN, as for your theory, that is a good point. Who knows if a kid like Josh Blesser would have attended CovCath if not for playing with all the future Colonels on Raiders (he could have been anyways, I don't know). But what is going to happen to the Raiders and Spartans if this thing really takes off? Because I have a sibling in 6th grade who played Raiders last year who would absolutely LOVE to have Covington Catholic on his jersey. And especially due to the fact that he is going to be a 1st year Senior for the Raiders (which means his playing time will be minimal), I wouldn't be surprised to see him switch over. Also, I will be influencing him and all of his buddies to go play for CovCath :lol:

 

 

Furthermore, Trinity and X have the high tuition and rigorous academic schedule that Covington Catholic has, so if we can model what we do after them we will be in great shape.

 

But as mentioned, this can only do wonders for CovCath, no way it can hurt.

 

 

In re the bolded part, I think CovCath's 7/8th grade teams will definitely take off. I don't think that's even debatable. The question is how much of an effect it will have on the Spartans. Its going to hurt the quality of play and the number of players, the question is: how much? And there will be ancillary questions raised like: when do the other schools that rely on the Spartans start their own 7/8 grade teams?

Thanks. The opening of Cooper might have a short term benefit for CovCath, but I don't think it will. The to be seniors next year don't have to go to Cooper; rather they can stay at Boone, Ryle and Conner. So if any kids are upset that they are going to have to go to Cooper, it will be to be juniors, sophomores and frosh. I can see some of them saying "its going to take a while for Cooper to be really good and I want to play at an already good program like CovCath". But I can see on the other hand kids wanting to be part of the group that started football at Cooper. A whole lot of that decision will be influenced by Cooper's new coach and the community loyalty to the new school.

You are obviously right about strong programs attracting athletes. Which was the point I was making. Unlike J County which from what I know has only a couple of strong alternatives to X and T, there are a lot of them (comparatively) in N. Ky. If some of those programs were to fall apart and CovCath remained strong, CovCath would benefit (as would Highlands, Beechwood and the other programs remaining strong). And options that didn't require thousands of dollars in tuition would probably benefit more than CovCath I would think.

 

Anything can happen I guess, but I don't see many programs up here getting weaker. If anything, I see more and more programs up here doing things to get better. Campbell County is a great example of my point. I think Dayton and Bellevue are getting stronger. I know that Holmes is getting better. The increasing popularity of football in Ky is being recognized by school administrators and I think that will cause a lot of programs to get better. As that happens, it will be much harder for any program (including not only CovCath but also Highlands) to be funnelled a lot of good athletes from other districts/areas. And that's a great thing. The "free market" if you will, will create more parity and a more level playing field, as opposed to some arbitrary rules mandated by the KHSAA.

 

 

Just curious, what do you think the % is of football players at CovCath that live in Boone County?

Just curious, what do you think the % is of football players at CovCath that live in Boone County?

 

I'd hazard a guess at like 10%. But I have no idea. But I'd say about 1 out of every 10 lives in Boone County. Now for how many of those actually debate between Catholic and Public schools, I have no idea.

I'd hazard a guess at like 10%. But I have no idea. But I'd say about 1 out of every 10 lives in Boone County. Now for how many of those actually debate between Catholic and Public schools, I have no idea.

 

 

I would agree with that number. Just got the impression from some Cooper would have a large impact on CovCath. While there may be some isolated decisions influenced, most of the decisions to attend a Catholic school or not were made before the first grade. If anything, the tougher decision for Boone County residents would be between CovCath and St. Henry. Not CovCath and Ryle, Boone, Cooper, or Conner.

Keep in mind, a lot of the students who go to private schools had a parent, grandparent, great grandparent go to that school. Obiliviously, I cant say it for all students but in most cases this is why they end up there. I do not think this program will effect the pee-wee leagues much.....

In Jefferson County we have baseball/soccer for the middles and I'd love to see football. Who else has football?

Keep in mind, a lot of the students who go to private schools had a parent, grandparent, great grandparent go to that school. Obiliviously, I cant say it for all students but in most cases this is why they end up there. I do not think this program will effect the pee-wee leagues much.....

It will- CovCath is known in part for their tremendous school spirit, and the middle-school kids are dying to be a part of the student section- they would want to wear the CCH on their jersey ASAP.