Maroon Beech

IMO Class 4A is by far the most competitive. Boyle, CovCath, Highlands, Corbin, Franklin Co., Johnson Central and Tilghman. May have left others out. No other class has that many excellent programs at the top.

Glad Baylor and Bentwood Academy are in Division 2 here in Tennessee so we do not have to play them. They will be a hand full!

Fantastic post! I was present at three of these games, but the Trinity vs. Male game is hard to beat!

I like the format here in Tennessee. Two separate Divisions for Public and Private. Of course, there are 50 private schools here as opposed to 20 in Kentucky. The TSSAA tried the multiplier (1.4 I think) for a few years before completely separating the two divisions. We have a private school three miles from us and we and the other seven public high schools in our county don’t play them in any sport. There are exceptions where public plays private during the regular season (Montgomery Bell Academy vs. Pearl-Cohn is an old rivalry) but in the playoffs it is completely separated. Public Division 1 has six classes (300 schools) and Private Division 2 has three classes (50 schools). Of course, there is still the on going argument of open-enrollment school systems vs. districts that enforce specific school zones within the Public Division.

Indeed it has been "Title Town" for a long time. Thanks Coach!

Coach Bernard Brandt was an assistant at Madisonville-North and became head coach after Coach Sexton departed. Wasn’t he from Danville?

To the point about the elite Private school teams in Kentucky being able to win the State Championship in a higher Class, they absolutely can. OMI the reason for this move by the KHSAA is the same that it was in Tennessee years ago, Private schools being disproportionately represented in the KY State Championships (5 of the 12 teams competing in 2025). Tennessee tried the 1.4 multiplier for Private schools that chose to stay in Division 1 (Public) instead of moving to the newly created Division 2 (Private) several years ago. It appeared to be an intermediate step and the TSSAA finally resolved that there should be a total split between D1/D2 for playoffs. A few Public schools still play Private schools in the regular season (Montgomery Bell Academy vs. Pearl-Cohn is an old traditional game) but most public schools do not play the Private schools. None of the seven Public schools in my county play D2 schools in any sport. Being from Kentucky I realize there are far fewer Private schools than here in TN (51 divided into three Classes). There was still controversy after the D1/D2 split as the smaller schools in the Private Division, as the imbalance between them and the larger D2 schools was significant. That is why the two smaller classes have 19 and 20 teams while AAA has only 12 (MBA, Brentwood Academy, Baylor School, Ensworth, etc.). I not sure there is a magical way to "even" the competition. In all six classes of D1 (45 to 53 teams per class) there are usually 4 to 6 programs you can pencil in as playing in the TN State Championship Games. In D2 there is even less variance in teams playing for the "Gold Ball." Some of the schools in the D2 Division have zero chance of competing with the top teams in their Class. Whether Public of Private, some programs are just historically stronger year to year. Arguments can be made as to why (more resources, better coaching, community support, families moving into a particular school district to play, etc.) but OMI that cannot be altered. We've had numerous families move from bordering Metro Nashville into our School District because those schools are so bad (academically and athletically).

I remember those great teams of Coach Sexton as a kid in Madisonville. Two straight State Runners-Up with running backs Sonny Collins and Larry Jones. Collins broke his ankle the first game of the season in 1971 but the Maroons, behind Jones, advanced to the final game. If I remember correctly, lost to Highlands in 1970 and Bryan Station in 1971. I think Coach Sexton moved to Evansville Central the following year.

This looks very similar to what the TSSAA did here is TN about 15 years ago. The private schools could accept the multiplier (1.4 if I remember correctly) to stay in the D1 Public Division or move to D2 Private Division. It was an intermediate step before the complete D1 (public)/D2 (private) split a few years later. May be an "apples and oranges" comparison because of the small number of Private schools in KY was compared to the 50 in TN.

Not a bad non-district schedule. ? Four 6A teams, LexCath, Highlands & the 2A State Runners-up. Should have them ready for the playoffs!

In Tennessee middle school history does not count. I would guess the KHSAA rule would be similar.

I agree that is questionable that a 0-10 or 1-9 team needs to be the playoffs facing a District champion in the first game. As others have stated, maybe taking a break from District play and play a schedule that allows the program to compete, get some wins and hopefully increase the numbers of kids wanting to play before returning to District play. Leveling the playing field in never going to happen as some programs are just stronger year in and year out. In our case, of the six non-Region games, we scheduled three 6A teams (2-1 results), one 5A team that was in the quarterfinals this year, a 4A team that played in the State Championship two years ago and a 2A Metro Nashville school that played in the State Championship two seasons past. We finished 8-1 with one "non-contest" due to weather (tie score when the game was called) and made it to the third round of the playoffs, losing to the eventual 5A State Championship. Even though we didn't have a real close Region game (which is not the usual case) I still consider our schedule tough and got us ready for the playoffs. I'm saying you can schedule tough games even if your Region (District) isn't the best competition.

Living in Tennessee (but a proud Kentuckian) we face similar "situations" here. For example, my school is D1/5A (Public/Class 5A of six). There are 59 schools in D1/5A, which we are about 10th largest and play in a five team Region (TN does not have Districts). Our crosstown and Region rival is in the top 5 in enrollment in 5A. These two schools have won the Region for at least the past ten seasons we've been in Class 5A together (both schools moved up to 6A for a cycle before a new high school opened and re-districting resulted). Two other Region teams are in the bottom five in enrollment in 5A, one moving up from 4A this cycle as they were the largest 4A school last cycle. They finished 2nd in our Region this season. The fifth Region school is a Metro Nashville school and is average enrollment for 5A. They are 1-19 overall and 0-8 in District play the past two seasons. They scored 6 points in four District games this season, while dressing less than 25 players and had four coaches. My question is how do you make that team competitive? Not being harsh, but they could move them down to 2A and still not be "competitive." When we played there this season, there were less than 50 fans on the home side. The other four Region schools have great community support, dress about 50-80 players (Soph. thru Sr.) and average more than 2,000 fans for a home game. IMO, I don't see moving the successful teams up a class (or two) just because they are successful. There are always going to be programs that are more successful thru better coaching, better student-athlete participation, better community support, etc. Just my opinion.

The D1/D2 split works in Tennessee because of having enough private schools (about 50) to make it work. The largest class 3A has 10 +/- while the two smaller classes have about 20 each. Travel is a factor as the vast majority of the D2 schools are located in Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga and Knoxville.

If I remember correctly some of the Private Schools were attempting to stay in Division 1 by using work study, non-scholarship, etc. The TSSAA used the multiplier to make these schools “play up.” Finally the TSSAA ruled that all private schools move to D2. To even thicken the debate further, some of the public schools were wanting school districts with open enrollment having to use the multiplier to “even the playing field.” Now that would have been interesting! ?

Here in Tennessee the TSSAA tried the multiplier for Private Schools (1.5 I think) to determine their class. Finally they separated all Private schools into Division 2 with three classes (about 60 schools total). Division 1 remained with six classes (about 300) of the Public schools. I realize Kentucky doesn’t have that many private schools, but IMO it gave the public schools, especially in the smaller classes, a better chance at making the finals. Of course, Alcoa (a 3A public school) won 10+ straight championships. They finally moved up to 4A in 2025 and won the championship again. My understanding is Alcoa moved up voluntarily. That program is not the normal program but obviously they are doing something right.

Great write up (as usual)!

Great move. Atmosphere this year at Bowling Green High was much better than the huge stadium at WKU. BGHS is a great facility!

Our new Shackle Island Stadium (Beech High School, Hendersonville TN) is about 4,500. Like Colonel said, at my size I don’t want to have 18” of seating area. We have 220 chair backs, all in the home side. I’m in the pressbox, so I have more than 18” of seating area! ? Kentucky has some huge stadiums. I’ve been to the new Bowling Green stadium a few times. Their home side is massive.

All three did amazing work (South Warren a run to the State finals in their first year in 6A and Boyle Co. winning 4A in what some thought would be a rebuilding year), but Stoney turning Danville around from 23 straight losses to 9-3 in his first year is strong!

Shackle Island Stadium Beech High School Hendersonville TN

In Tennessee, the TSSAA gets 50% of the gate in playoff games. They do pay the game officials. The home team keeps 25% but is responsible for security, cleanup, etc. The visiting team gets the other 25% but is responsible for their own travel expenses. On long trips (buses, meals) playing a home team that draws few fans, they often lose their shirts. Several years ago a local team from the Nashville area had to travel to West TN and Memphis in consecutive weeks and racked up quite a deficit!

Watch out for my old school, the Mighty Mop Men!

Guru; Not football related, but I attended a CPA conference recently and one of the speakers talked about both the "good" and "bad" aspects of AI. Some of the "bad" examples were frightening.

Curious on why Highlands didn’t go for two when they scored. Easy answer would be they expected more scoring in the game.