Sunday, February 20, 2000
NORTHERN KY. INSIDER
Highlands hopes to avoid realignment to Class AA
BY NEIL SCHMIDT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Above any football opponent, Highlands fears fate. Teetering on the brink of a classification change it wouldn't want, Kentucky's most successful program now entrusts its hope to a higher power: the Kentucky legislature.
Katie Stine, a state senator from Fort Thomas, introduced a bill Feb.3 which would give football teams the option of playing in a higher classification than they are assigned. The bill was shipped to the Senate's education committee and has not yet met a vote there.
Stine said she had heard concerns from fans in Fort Thomas about the possibility of Highlands falling from Class AAA to AA in the 2001 season, when schools are next realigned.
The current Kentucky High School Association format, adopted in 1998, lines up the state's 216 football schools by enrollment — the 54 largest in AAAA, the next 54 in AA, and so on. Highlands and Franklin-Simpson are tied for the state's smallest AAA enrollment (803).
The thinking: With Highlands having Kentucky bests in state championships (14) and winning percentage (.764 in 85 seasons), it could be unfair to drop the big fish into a smaller pond.
“I just can't see us having to play in AA,” Highlands coach Dale Mueller said. “We are in a situation where we have just such great tradition, I don't think it would be fair for other AA schools. In AAA, it's more fair.”
Stine insists she suggested the bill idea to Highlands officials, not the other way around. There were 11 Kentucky teams voluntarily playing up a class before the KHSAA ended that practice last season, and Stine said schools statewide should be allowed to express their opinions on this issue, through their legislators.
“The whole theory behind KERA (the Kentucky Education Reform Act) was that kids could advance at their own capability,” Stine said. “It was kind of a way to allow kids to be the best they can be. This bill seems to me in the spirit of that idea.”
What would Highlands lose with a drop to AA? Prestige, perhaps. More significant are the established rivalries with its local district rivals — and the gate receipts which follow.
The Bluebirds would likely join Newport and Lloyd in a district which includes several downstate teams — Fleming County, Russell, East Carter, etc. That means increased travel costs.
Should the bill pass, the potentially AA-sized Bluebirds may elect to jump two classes to AAAA. Having gone 55-3 the past four years with a national ranking each of those seasons, Highlands can clearly play with anyone in the state.
“I think you'd find people across the state are for this bill,” Mueller said. “People in AA don't want Highlands in AA. We won (the title game) 48-10 this year and 56-7 the year before in AAA. If we were in AA, it probably would have been worse.”
Neil Schmidt is The Enquirer's Northern Kentucky sports reporter. Call him at (606) 578-5582 or e-mail nschmidt@enquirer.com.
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