Changes in Kentucky high school footballThere have been changes in Kentucky high school football.Most notably, in realignment.The KHSAA issued the final approved team alignments in May for the 2027 and 2028 seasons. A handful of programs have been affected. Three are defending state champions, and a 2025 state runner-up.Kentucky Country Day Pushes BackKentucky Country Day (13-1), the 2025 1A state champion, will be moving up to 2A.While understanding the somewhat difficult task of aligning schools to proper classifications, KCD coach Matt Jones isn’t exactly thrilled with the outcome of the latest realignment."I look at this alignment not just as a head coach trying to win next week's game, but through the lens of someone who has dedicated decades to Kentucky high school football…Moving to Class 2A creates a severe operational and competitive strain on our program that textbook enrollment numbers simply don’t reflect,” Jones said in an email sent to High School on SI.He said the methodology is flawed and doesn’t take into account several factors, including the challenges specific to small private schools and unrestricted enrollment for Kentucky’s 51 independent public school districts. The KHSAA applied a 1.35 multiplier to football-playing private schools in the realignment process. Jones and former NFL quarterback and Sayre head coach Chad Pennington pushed back against the use of the multiplier for small private schools. Jones said the multiple doesn’t recognize the reality of small privates. “While our school has 155 boys enrolled, our actual football roster has averaged just 33 players over the last 16 years,” the 1A state champion coach explained. “Our tuition is $32,000 per year, and our academic standards are exceptionally rigorous; we are a highly specialized environment, not a sports academy. We do not have an open-enrollment draw, yet we are being penalized by an artificial multiplier based on a generalized drawing area.”Jones said the multiplier is arbitrary and not based on supporting data in relation to Kentucky.“It is also deeply concerning that the KHSAA has anchored Kentucky's future to an arbitrary 1.35 multiplier pulled directly from a 2000 Alabama high school study regarding athletic participation rates,” he said. “Applying a 26-year-old metric from a different state to modern Kentucky high school football is not data-driven policy—it is arbitrary guesswork.”As for open enrollment, Jones expressed that it puts schools like KCD at a real disadvantage. “If the goal of this rule is truly to address 'competitive balance' regarding geographic boundaries, the logic is deeply flawed,” Jones noted. ”The multiplier ignores independent public school districts, which operate with open enrollment and no tuition barriers, allowing them to draw student-athletes from across county lines completely unpenalized. True competitive balance cannot be achieved by selectively applying rules to one set of schools while giving a free pass to others with identical geographic advantages.”Other Private Schools on the MoveAnd continuing in the private school realm, Class 2A state champion Lexington Christian (12-3) will depart to 3A, and Christian Academy-Louisville (15-0), the defending 3A state champion, heads into 4A in 2027. Covington Catholic (9-4) will be reassigned to 5A, while Bethlehem (5-7) moves up to 2A from 1A.CAL coach Hunter Cantwell told High School on SI that he’s basically rolling with the punches and is focused on the school’s mission. "CAL looks forward to competing in what I believe to be Kentucky's strongest classification,” Cantwell said in an email. “Our main focus, though, is on using youth sports to grow young men and point them to Jesus. It is a blessing to always be able to work towards that end, regardless of what classification we find ourselves in."Public Schools See Changes, TooFranklin County (14-1), which lost to Boyle County in the 2025 4A title game, is 5A-bound in 2027. Elizabethtown (8-4) will move down to 3A after spending a two-year cycle in 4A.2027-28 KHSAA Football AlignmentCLASS 1ADISTRICT 1Ballard MemorialCrittenden CountyFulton CountyRussellvilleDISTRICT 2CampbellsvilleCavernaFort KnoxHoly Cross (Louisville)WEB DuBoisDISTRICT 3BellevueDaytonHoly Cross (Covington)Newport Central CatholicNewportDISTRICT 4Bracken CountyEminenceLudlowTrimble CountyDISTRICT 5BereaFrankfortNicholas CountyParisSayreDISTRICT 6HarlanLynn CampMiddlesboro High SchoolPineville, WilliamsburgDISTRICT 7East RidgeHazardPhelpsPikevilleDISTRICT 8Betsy LayneFairviewPaintsvilleRacelandCLASS 2ADISTRICT 1Henry ClayLafayettePaul Laurence DunbarTates CreekDISTRICT 2Edmonson CountyHancock CountyMcLean CountyOwensboro CatholicDISTRICT 3Clinton CountyGreen CountyMetcalfe CountyMonroe CountySomersetDISTRICT 4BethlehemDanvilleKentucky Country DayWashington CountyWesternDISTRICT 5BeechwoodBishop BrossartGallatin CountyOwen CountyWalton-VeronaDISTRICT 6Jackson CountyLewis CountyMorgan CountyPowell CountyWest CarterDISTRICT 7Breathitt CountyKnott County CentralLeslie CountyMagoffin CountyDISTRICT 8BelfryMartin CountyPike County CentralPrestonsburgShelby ValleyCLASS 3ADISTRICT 1Butler CountyMurrayUnion CountyWebster CountyDISTRICT 2Adair CountyCasey CountyGlasgowHart CountyMcCreary CentralDISTRICT 3Carroll CountyCentral, DeSalesHenry CountyShawneeDISTRICT 4BardstownElizabethtownLaRue CountyThomas NelsonDISTRICT 5Bourbon CountyEstill CountyLexington ChristianMercer CountyWestern HillsDISTRICT 6Bath CountyFleming CountyLloyd MemorialPendleton CountySt. Henry DistrictDISTRICT 7East CarterFloyd CentralLawrence CountyLetcher County CentralRussellDISTRICT 8Bell CountyClay CountyKnox CentralPerry County CentralRockcastle CountyCLASS 4ADISTRICT 1Calloway CountyHopkins County CentralMadisonville-North HopkinsPaducah TilghmanDISTRICT 2Allen County-ScottsvilleFranklin-SimpsonLogan CountyOhio CountyRussell CountyWarren EastDISTRICT 3John HardinMarion CountyNelson CountySpencer CountyTaylor CountyDISTRICT 4Breckinridge CountyChristian Academy-LouisvilleNorth OldhamShelby CountyValleyWaggenerDISTRICT 5Boyle CountyGarrard CountyLexington CatholicLincoln CountyDISTRICT 6CorbinHarlan CountyWayne CountyWhitley CountyDISTRICT 7Grant CountyHarrison CountyHighlandsHolmesMason CountyDISTRICT 8Ashland BlazerBoyd CountyGreenup CountyJohnson CentralRowan County Senior High SchoolCLASS 5ADISTRICT 1Apollo, Graves CountyMarshall CountyMuhlenberg CountyOwensboroDISTRICT 2Barren CountyBowling GreenGrayson CountyGreenwoodWarren CentralDISTRICT 3Bullitt CentralButlerDossIroquoisNorth BullittDISTRICT 4AthertonJeffersontownMooreSenecaSouth OldhamDISTRICT 5Boone CountyConnerCooperCovington CatholicDixie HeightsScottDISTRICT 6Anderson CountyCollins Franklin CountyScott CountyDISTRICT 7East JessamineMadison SouthernMontgomery CountyWest JessamineWoodford CountyDISTRICT 8North LaurelPulaski CountySouth LaurelSouthwesternCLASS 6ADISTRICT 1Christian CountyDaviess CountyHenderson CountyMcCracken CountyDISTRICT 2Central HardinMeade CountyNorth HardinSouth WarrenDISTRICT 3DuPont ManualFairdalePleasure Ridge ParkSt. XavierDISTRICT 4Bullitt EastFern CreekMaleSouthernDISTRICT 5 BallardEasternOldham CountyTrinity (Louisville)DISTRICT 6Campbell CountyGreat CrossingLarry A RyleSimon KentonDISTRICT 7Henry ClayLafayettePaul Laurence DunbarTates CreekDISTRICT 8Bryan StationFrederick DouglassGeorge Rogers ClarkMadison CentralAdd us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow