Sports in N. Kentucky (Lexington, Louisville: showing, travel, layoffs)

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I am torn between several areas around Louisville. For instance, I like Crestwood, Prospect, Taylorsville, Fisherville, and Eminence. I am trying to find everything I can to try and narrow down my home search. Can anyone provide info. on High School sports. I'm looking for which high school has the better Football and Men's soccer team, and what high school is better for college recruitment. I prefer public schools, but am willing to go private if necessary. (My son plays both sports here in Cali. - and my youngest is showing similar interests.)
Thank you.

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Hello and thanks for taking an interest in the Louisville area. I guess I'll be the first to answer your questions.

I'm looking for which high school has the better Football and Men's soccer team, and what high school is better for college recruitment. I prefer public schools, but am willing to go private if necessary.

Well, you are definately in the right part of the state. Football isn't really a huge sport in KY (this is basketball country here) and really is fairly lowly profile outside of the Louisville area (not saying Louisville is the only part of the state that has football, but it is basically treated as a filler until basketball season). This has been good and bad...Louisville has consistently had the best teams (which most of the rest of the state resents....more on that later).

Anyway, let me give you a basic breakdown of Louisville high school football. Louisville area high schools have been dominant in football for decades. The top dogs have consistantly been St. Xavier (private), Trinity (Private) and Male (public). These three schools have won every 4A football title except one since 1992 and have been 13 of the 15 finalists since 1997. In addition, most of the championship games have been blowouts (20+ point victories). Trinity and St. Xavier have won 20 Class 4-A championships in the past 30 years.

As one can imagine, Louisville has several very intense rivalries. The annual game between St. Xavier and Trinity draws over 35,000 fans and is the second largest attended high school sporting event in the country (they play it in Papa John's Cardinal stadium which is home to the U of L Cardinals). The 2002 KY State 4-A Football Championship between Male and Trinity is listed as one of the top 50 sporting events of all time by many critics (Trinity won 59 - 56). There has also been a lot of talent that has come out of the area (most recently, Brian Brohm (Trinity) and Michael Bush (Male) who both play for U of L and are both considered Heisman candidates).

The annual Male-Manual football rivalry, one of the longest running high school football series in the U.S., began in 1893. St. Xavier, on the other hand, is the only school in Kentucky to have won a state championship in every Kentucky High School Athletic Association sanctioned sport for males. St. X has one of the most successful athletic program in Kentucky. In 2005, St. Xavier was ranked #14 in "Sports Illustrated" Best High School Athletic Programs. The swim team, The Tiger Sharks, have won eighteen consecutive state swimming championships, their 42nd swimming title overall which is a national record. The annual football game with rival Trinity at Papa John's Stadium is the largest game in the state, typically drawing over 35,000 or more fans. The St. X powerlifting team has won four stright National Titles at the Powerlifting National Championships.

Project X has already completed a new tennis facility, complete with concessions and seating for 300 spectators. Currently, a new baseball stadium is under construction. In the near future, Project X will provide for a 6,800 seat football stadium, complete with two private suites, an 8-lane rubberized track, new space for offices and lockerrooms and a 2,000 seat basketball arena. Upon completition, St. X will have some of the best athletic facilities in the nation. Trinity, menwhile, holds the state record for football championships (16). In 2005, Trinity remodeled their football stadium to be able to play football, lacrosse and soccer, adding Fieldturf. Trinity's power lifting team won a national championship in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In April 2005, Trinity's lacrosse team won its third straight title, and Trinity's ice hockey team won its second straight title that same year.

Recruiting wise, all three schools are fertile ground for colleges. Obviously, U of L has strong ties to the region and recruits players (most recently Bush and Brohm).

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BluegrassPrep annually ranks KY high schools teams. Here are the top 4 for 4-A football.

1. Male (Louisville)
2. Trinity (Louisville)
3. Saint Xavier (Louisville)
4. Pleasure Ridge Park (Louisville)

http://www.bluegrasspreps.com/php/4a.php

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This has been good and bad...Louisville has consistently had the best teams (which most of the rest of the state resents....more on that later).

What I mentioned here has to do with a new proposal from KHSAA (Kentucky High School Athletics Association). Currently, Kentucky is ruled by a 4 class football system (determined by enrollment). There are some problems with this set-up currently (i.e. in the 4-A class you can have schools with an enrollment of 600 having to playing St. X which has 1,000+ all male students). A six-class realignment for Kentucky high school football has been preposed for Kentucky by KHSAA. What the change boils down to is, beginning with the 2007 season (if the motion is approved), 87 percent of the teams in the state will make the playoffs. That (in my opinion) is way too many.

Weaker teams in the postseason = more blowout games in the early rounds.

Teams will be allowed to play up in class, so any alignment is far from being final. In addition, KHSAA has said that the new alignment would be based on the number of boys enrolled in each school, not the overall enrollment.

More to the point of why these discussions have been bad for Louisville schools is that KHSAA has also changed the playoff format for 2006. Basically, regardless of whether or not Trinity and St. X are the two best teams in the state, they will not be able to meet in the state final.

In a move designed to cut expenses and increase attendance for early-round games, the KHSAA revamped its playoffs for the 2006 season and perhaps beyond. A team's first two postseason games will be played against district opponents (the No. 1 team in a district plays No. 4, and No. 2 plays 3). Under the old setup, teams traveled beyond their districts for early games. The KHSAA added another element, a draw to determine playoff opponents after those first two games.

At the behest of the board's football committee, Tackett drew district pairings Monday. In Class 4-A, for the state's largest schools, District 4, which includes St. X, Male, Manual and Pleasure Ridge Park, drew District 5 (Trinity, Ballard) for the 2006 playoffs. A team must win five games to take the state crown. Last year Trinity defeated St. X 14-6 for the 4-A title at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. Under the new setup, the perennial powers would meet in the third round if they survived that long.

St. X athletic director Alan Donhoff, who attended yesterday's meeting, noted afterward: "You've got some historically pretty good programs in Louisville that will be dwindled down to one after the first three rounds of the playoffs. That's a shame, but it's a one-year deal. We don't know what's going to happen with reclassification, don't know what's going to happen with the future of the draw."


So we'll just have to wait and see how it all shakes out.

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One last post before I head off to bed....I assume that your title "Sports in N. Kentucky" means Northenr Kentucky. Just as a minor point of clarification, Northern Kentucky generally refers to the three counties directly south of Cincinnati. Jefferson County is officially in the Bluegrass region of the state, but for all intensive purposes (it isn't much like the rest of the bluegrass region), you could just refer to it as the Louisville region/area. Just a helpful tip that will help ya with the locals and other people who read the post ;-) Good Luck with your search and hope your son finds a good school!

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As for soccer...no clue on that, sorry :-( Best I can do is tell ya a snippet about Javanon Soccer Club in Loisville.

Javanon Soccer Club won its first national championship at the U-16 level in 1997. This year 10 of the club's teams won state tournaments. The total is two short of the club record set in 2000. Javanon 87, currently the club's U-19 team, has won the Kentucky state championship seven of the last eight years. It was the state runner-up in 1998 and 2002. Javanon 87 also won its region in 2003 and finished third in the national tournament. Players and coach Bruce Yeagle said this is the deepest the team has been.

http://www.javanon.com/

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Found this on soccer:

Preseason soccer polls

It's not just football teams preparing for the new fall season. Soccer teams across the state are also gearing up for their first contests to be held on Aug. 14.

Here are the coaches association polls for the soccer season:

1 St. Xavier - Louisville
2 Lexington Catholic
3 St. Henry
4 Manual - Louisville
5 Trinity - Louisville
6 Bowling Green
7 Oldham County - Suburb of Louisville
8 Highlands
9 Ballard - Louisville
10 Greenwood
11 Bishop Brossart
12 Scott County
13 Daviess County
14 Paul Dunbar

South Oldham (17) and Male (21) were also ranked.

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http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/blog.html is a blog for the courier journal. Currently, he is previewing area high school football teams.

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BTW, Javanon just won the U-19 National Championship