‘Good teams everywhere.’ Lexington coaches react to new high school football alignment.

A few Lexington high school football teams have some new rivals and new scheduling challenges for the next two seasons after the Kentucky High School Athletic Association Board of Control approved the realignment of its districts and classes on Wednesday.

Defending Class 5A champion Frederick Douglass’s move to Class 6A was among the major moves resulting from the KHSAA’s regular examination of school enrollments for its classification system. Other shakeups included Lexington Catholic dropping from Class 4A to 3A, Louisville Central’s return to Class 3A down from 4A and Middlesboro’s drop from 2A to A

Lexington’s nine teams saw no changes from the initial proposal released by the KHSAA on Monday. All six of Fayette County’s public high schools — Bryan Station, Frederick Douglass, Henry Clay, Lafayette, Paul Laurence Dunbar and Tates Creek will play in Class 6A, the division for the largest boys’ enrollments.

Douglass will play in District 8 along with Bryan Station, Madison Central and George Rogers Clark. That move supplants former District 8 rival Oldham County, which moves to Louisville-centric District 5. The other Lexington public school teams all play in District 7.

“It will be a heck of a challenge,” Douglass Coach Nathan McPeek said. “We were in 6A the first two years of our program, so we knew eventually our enrollment would get back to that point.”

Next season will also mark the first schedule in some time that Fayette County Public Schools will not require all of its football teams to play each other, a decision that offers each team more scheduling flexibility.

Douglass plans to keep playing Tates Creek and Boyle County as out-of-district foes and will take on Louisville’s Trinity in 2023, as well, McPeek said. That leaves three dates for McPeek to fill. It’s unlikely that Scott County will be in those plans since the Cardinals remain in Class 5A. The Broncos and Cardinals have been grouped together in both Class 6A and 5A since Douglass was founded in 2017.

“I’m looking out-of-state as well to try to fill our schedule,” McPeek said. “We’ll do the best we can.”

Lexington Catholic dropped from Class 4A to Class 3A and lost Boyle County as a district rival. Since Bourbon County also dropped to Class 3A, the Knights retain the Colonels as a district foe and add Lloyd Memorial (Erlanger) and Pendleton County to the schedule. Lloyd Memorial was a 2A team the last four seasons and went 10-4 in 2022. Pendleton County went 0-11 in 3A last year.

LexCath Coach Bert Bathiany said his team intends to keep Boyle County on its schedule.

“The fact of the matter is that our numbers are middle-of-the-pack 3A, so we’re going to play where they put us and just go and try to win a state championship,” Bathiany said. “There are good teams wherever you go. You’ve still got to go through CAL, you’ve still got to go through Central, Belfry … Bell County’s really, really good, Lawrence County’s really, really good. … winning a state championship is not easy.”

Lexington Christian’s district in Class 2A underwent dramatic change. While Washington County (3-8) remains, gone are former state champions Danville and Somerset. In their place are Fort Knox, Shawnee and a new W.E.B. DuBois team that won’t be ready for postseason play until 2024. Fort Knox went 4-7 in Class A last season. Shawnee was 2-8 in Class 2A.

“Every cycle brings new surprises and challenges. We have little input in that,” said LCA Coach Doug Charles, who has lined up out-of-district games for 2023 against three 2022 state champions — Pikeville, Christian Academy-Louisville and Pikeville. “We’ll just play the cards we’re dealt.”

In Class A, Sayre, which only began playing varsity football again in 2020 after a decades-long hiatus, will play in the new District 5 along with Berea, Eminence and Frankfort. That will make for shorter road trips than the Spartans had as a late addition to District 7 with Pikeville and Hazard the last two seasons.

“Travel-wise it certainly makes sense,” Sayre Coach Chad Pennington said. “We’re excited. Those three teams are closer to us and can create some natural rivalries and some really good competition. We had a great game against Frankfort last year.”

The KHSAA regularly adjusts its six-class system based on enrollment. Unlike some of the KHSAA’s most recent four-year realignments, due to concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic effect on enrollments, the KHSAA is limiting this classification to the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

As part of its deliberations, the board considered a number of alignment requests from schools who asked for relief based on its initial proposal. The board took the following actions:

▪ Approved Harlan’s request to play in Class A District 7 rather than District 8 due to travel considerations during the regular season. Harlan presented letters from District 7 schools supporting its move. District 7’s fifth-place team would fill District 8’s fourth-place vacancy in the postseason.

▪ Denied Leslie County’s request to move out of the new Class 2A District 6 that includes Somerset, Danville and Breathitt County. Leslie County also cited travel concerns.

▪ Denied West Carter’s request to pull back from an initial ask to play up in Class 3A, thus keeping it in 3A.

▪ Approved Rockcastle County’s request to play in Class 3A District 7 rather than District 4. Rockcastle cited travel and its traditional rivalries with District 7 teams Clay County, Knox County and Bell County.

▪ Approved Grayson County’s request to play in Class 5A District 4 rather than District 2. Grayson cited concerns about travel and participation.

▪ Denied South Oldham’s request to play in one of the Louisville districts rather than Class 5A District 5. South Oldham cited travel concerns.

In other action Wednesday the board:

▪ Approved a recommendation to allow football teams to play up to two games against lower-classification opponents without suffering a corresponding RPI calculation penalty for such “down-play” games.

▪ Approved a new state championship for female bass fishing. Commissioner Julian Tackett said the competition for girls could be held in conjunction with the co-ed event and will take place this season.

▪ Approved Jenkins’ request to return to the 14th Region where it will play in the 53rd District in basketball, baseball, softball and volleyball next school year.

▪ Confirmed Winchester Country Club as one of the State First Round Tournament golf sites.

KHSAA’s new football alignment

(Lexington teams in bold).

CLASS A

District 1: Ballard Memorial, Caverna, Fulton County, Russellville.

District 2: Bethlehem, Campbellsville, Holy Cross (Louisville), Kentucky Country Day.

District 3: Bellevue, Dayton, Newport, Newport Central Catholic.

District 4: Bishop Brossart, Holy Cross (Covington), Ludlow, Trimble County.

District 5: Berea, Eminence, Frankfort, Sayre.

District 6: Fairview, Nicholas County, Paris, Raceland.

District 7: Harlan, Lynn Camp, Middlesboro, Pineville, Williamsburg.

District 8: Hazard, Paintsville, Pikeville.

CLASS 2A

District 1: Caldwell County, Crittenden County, Mayfield, Murray.

District 2: Edmonson County, Fort Campbell, Owensboro Catholic, Todd County Central.

District 3: Clinton County, Green County, Metcalfe County, Monroe County.

District 4: Fort Knox, Lexington Christian, Shawnee, Washington County, WEB DuBois.**

District 5: Beechwood, Bracken County, Carroll County, Gallatin County, Owen County, Walton-Verona.

District 6: Breathitt County, Danville, Leslie County, Somerset.

District 7: Floyd Central, Knott County Central, Martin County, Prestonsburg.

District 8: Betsy Layne, East Ridge, Pike County Central, Shelby Valley.

CLASS 3A

District 1: Hancock County, Hopkins County Central, McLean County, Trigg County, Union County, Webster County.

District 2: Adair County, Butler County, Franklin-Simpson, Glasgow, Hart County.

District 3: Central, Christian Academy-Louisville, Elizabethtown, LaRue County.

District 4: Casey County, Garrard County, Marion County, Mercer County.

District 5: Bourbon County, Lexington Catholic, Lloyd Memorial, Pendleton County.

District 6: Bath County, East Carter, Fleming County, Lewis County, Russell, West Carter.

District 7: Bell County, Clay County, Knox Central, McCreary Central, Rockcastle County.

District 8: Belfry, Estill County, Lawrence County, Magoffin County, Morgan County, Powell County.

CLASS 4A

District 1: Allen County-Scottsville, Calloway County, Hopkinsville, Logan County, Paducah Tilghman, Warren East.

District 2: Bardstown, Breckinridge County, John Hardin, Nelson County, Thomas Nelson.

District 3: DeSales, Doss, Jeffersontown, Valley, Waggener, Western.

District 4: Franklin County, Henry County, North Oldham, Shelby County, Spencer County, Western Hills.

District 5: Covington Catholic, Grant County, Harrison County, Holmes, Mason County.

District 6: Ashland Blazer, Boyd County, Greenup County, Johnson Central, Rowan County.

District 7: Boyle County, Lincoln County, Russell County, Taylor County, Wayne County.

District 8: Corbin, Letcher County Central, Perry County Central, Whitley County.

CLASS 5A

District 1: Apollo, Graves County, Madisonville-North Hopkins, Marshall County, Muhlenberg County, Owensboro.

District 2: Bowling Green, Greenwood, Ohio County, South Warren.

District 3: Atherton, Butler, Fairdale, Iroquois.

District 4: Bullitt Central, Grayson County, Moore, North Bullitt, Seneca.

District 5: Anderson County, Collins, Scott County, South Oldham, Woodford County.

District 6: Boone County, Conner, Cooper, Dixie Heights, Highlands, Scott.

District 7: East Jessamine, Madison Southern, Montgomery County, West Jessamine.

District 8: Harlan County, North Laurel, Pulaski County, South Laurel, Southwestern.

CLASS 6A

District 1: Christian County, Daviess County, Henderson County, McCracken County.

District 2: Barren County, Central Hardin, North Hardin, Warren Central.

District 3: DuPont Manual, Meade County, Pleasure Ridge Park, St. Xavier.

District 4: Bullitt East, Fern Creek, Male, Southern.

District 5: Ballard, Eastern, Oldham County, Trinity (Louisville).

District 6: Campbell County, Great Crossing, Ryle, Simon Kenton.

District 7: Henry Clay, Lafayette, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Tates Creek.

District 8: Bryan Station, Frederick Douglass, George Rogers Clark, Madison Central.

**: Not eligible for district postseason competition until at least 2024.

Withdrawn from district play: Jackson County, Phelps.