[Diogenes]

It's not a private vs. public problem.

It's an urban vs. rural problem.

For example, in 5A, Highlands has the same advantage that St. X and Trinity have in 6A. When you can obtain your players from across the Greater Cincinnati Metro, that's a little different from, say, the Greater Paintsville Metro area that Johnson Central has to draw from. That's why Highlands and CovCath will dominate 5A, year in and year out.

It doesn't matter if the school is public or private. Many of the publics have the same advantage. Just being a private school doesn't unfairly tilt the playing field. You also need to look at where the school is. There are a lot of small private schools that are just as awful as the public schools. Until we actually force EVERY school to have a district and honor it, our playing field will never be will.

But perhaps to realize that the playing fields will ALWAYS be unfair, that you will ALWAYS have to work harder to achieve and be taken seriously if you come from a rural area instead of a big cityl...just like when they leave Kentucky, they will ALWAYS be perceived to be inferior because of their birth state until they prove otherwise...that might be the most valuable lesson kids in rural areas get from athletics, and hopefully they will take that lesson as motivation and not discouragement.