[Westside]

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WYMT) - Hazard High School is appealing a ruling by the Kentucky High School Athletic Association that would keep the school's football program in Class A District 7 for the 2015-2018 seasons.

A proposed draft of the realignment placed Hazard in Class A District 8, along with Jenkins, Phelps, Pikeville, and South Floyd, However, when the final draft was released in May of 2014 Hazard was moved back to District 7.

According to an email sent from Hazard Principal Happy Mobelini to KHSAA Commissioner Julian Tackett, Hazard was "in favor" of the move to District 8 but was moved back to District 7 "against (their) will."

Several other schools have contacted Commissioner Tackett, voicing their support of the appeal, citing a number of issues with keeping Hazard in District 7; gas, travel, geography, etc.

No representative of Hazard or the KHSAA was available for comment.

The KHSAA will discuss the appeal, among other topics, at its Board of Control Meeting on Monday, July 14.

Proposed Realignment
Class A, District 7
Harlan
Lynn Camp
Pineville
Williamsburg

Class A, District 8
Jenkins
Hazard
Phelps
Pikeville
South Floyd

Final Realignment
Class A, District 7
Harlan
Hazard
Lynn Camp
Pineville
Williamsburg

Class A, District 8
Jenkins
Phelps
Pikeville
South Floyd

http://www.wymt.com

[64SUR]

Proposed Realignment hazard should have a say.Final Realignment don't pass the smell test for me....Go Dawgs. :Cheerlead

[PHSForever]

Proposed Realignment hazard should have a say.Final Realignment don't pass the smell test for me....Go Dawgs. :Cheerlead

Lol. You just want Hazard out of Williamsburg's district. :-)

Realistically, Hazard's travel would remain roughly the same either way the alignment works out.

[64SUR]

I could care less PHSForever..:popcorn: just sayin

[Jarons]

Put them in Raceland, Paintsville, and Fairview's district. That way all districts will have at least 4 teams and everyone will be happy.

[HDE]

Hazard should be in District 8.
Someone from District 8 should move over to the Paintsville district to keep four teams in each.
There's no reason not to keep the districts even.

[mysonis55]

64 definitely wants Hazard outa the burg's district.

[PHSForever]

:hilarious: that'd be arguably one of the toughest 1A districts in the state. For that reason, it will never happen. For what it is worth, I could care less about the competition. If they end up in Pikeville's district, fine. At least one good district game a year now that matters. As it stands, district play only helps Pikeville in terms of reps and playing time for the depth chart. That is why they constantly have a tough schedule, to get ready for playoffs.

Put them in Raceland, Paintsville, and Fairview's district. That way all districts will have at least 4 teams and everyone will be happy.

[bac2369]

When would the ruling of this be final??

[HDE]

Isn't South Floyd the closest to Paintsville?

[footballfever]

Harlan LC PVille and Wburg all wrote letters in support of Hazard move.

[bac2369]

Apparently no one wants hazard in there district.

[mysonis55]

Wonder why?

[Scotty_Bronson]

South Floyd was in the Raceland district at one point. I can speak on behalf of most in Raceland by saying we'd welcome them with open arms. Much like Pikeville, we need an extra good game on the schedule. Logistically though, the next team down 23, which I believe is South Floyd, would make the most sense. Hell, put all the East contenders in one district. Idc. Lol. I really wish they would make winning the district mean something. If u want kids to get experience, thats fine. But give the no one seed a bye and make them atleast have a challenge. Wburg, Hazard, Pikeville, and Raceland never saw a game until the Region. Same for the west. Take the no 1 team from the district or at most the top 2. Tht would still be descent matchups. Even though in recent years, the only district in the east thats had competition within the district (games decided by 2 tds or less) has been Raceland and Fairview. Its safe to say that the no 2 from our district(Raceland) would handle the other districts no 2s with relative ease. Case in point the last 4 years the district winner hasnt played an outside the district opponent in the 2nd rnd. For several years Raceland and LCA(same district) faced one another for the Region. Wish they coukd change it up and make things mkre competitive.

[64SUR]

Wonder why?

How far is Fulton county,Fulton City and Russellville from Mayfield....Just curious nicker:

[RunItUpTheGut]

Lets call it what it is. As of now Wburg and Hazard are by far the top two teams in that region, with Pikeville being the only other relevant school.

Of course they don't want to be in the same district. It cuts there district titles in half most likely.

[Scotty_Bronson]

If Hazard ends up in Pikeville's district, how would the regions change up?

[Panther Thunder]

If Hazard ends up in Pikeville's district, how would the regions change up?

Williamsburg would have to play both Hazard and Pikeville in the Playoffs. That would be the biggest change. As of now, Pikeville would play both Hazard and Williamsburg. All of that being in "most years".

[Scotty_Bronson]

Who the heck would be in Raceland's region. Outside of their district. It all baffles me how tey could even considered doing a 3 team district then stick 5 in another, then everyone still makes the playoffs snd the 5th place team from that district becomes the 4th seed in the 3 team district. Ok...that makes alot of sense. What in gods name are they thinking?

[zaga_fan]

Proposed
Jenkins - 58 mins
Paintsville - 1 hr 12 mins
Pikeville - 1 hr 16 mins
South Floyd - 1 hr 4 mins
averages out to 1 hr 7.5 mins

Final
Pineville - 1 hr 38 mins
Williamsburg - 1 hr 40 mins
Harlan - 1 hr 18 mins
Lynn Camp - 1 hr 28 mins
averages out to 1 hr 31 mins

It's definitely a difference - and I don't see why it would be a big deal to change it.

One district is going to have 5 teams and that district is going to have either Williamsburg/Hazard or Pikeville/Hazard.

It just makes more sense to keep Hazard and the other schools from making the longer drives... but I don't make the rules

[TigerBlues]

South Floyd was in the Raceland district at one point. I can speak on behalf of most in Raceland by saying we'd welcome them with open arms. Much like Pikeville, we need an extra good game on the schedule. Logistically though, the next team down 23, which I believe is South Floyd, would make the most sense. Hell, put all the East contenders in one district. Idc. Lol. I really wish they would make winning the district mean something. If u want kids to get experience, thats fine. But give the no one seed a bye and make them atleast have a challenge. Wburg, Hazard, Pikeville, and Raceland never saw a game until the Region. Same for the west. Take the no 1 team from the district or at most the top 2. Tht would still be descent matchups. Even though in recent years, the only district in the east thats had competition within the district (games decided by 2 tds or less) has been Raceland and Fairview. Its safe to say that the no 2 from our district(Raceland) would handle the other districts no 2s with relative ease. Case in point the last 4 years the district winner hasnt played an outside the district opponent in the 2nd rnd. For several years Raceland and LCA(same district) faced one another for the Region. Wish they coukd change it up and make things mkre competitive.

I thought Paintsville tested the hell out of Pikeville in the regular season but that's just me. I'm sure Jetpilot will eat me alive now for posting this.

[Panther Thunder]

Proposed
Jenkins - 58 mins
Paintsville - 1 hr 12 mins
Pikeville - 1 hr 16 mins
South Floyd - 1 hr 4 mins
averages out to 1 hr 7.5 mins

Final
Pineville - 1 hr 38 mins
Williamsburg - 1 hr 40 mins
Harlan - 1 hr 18 mins
Lynn Camp - 1 hr 28 mins
averages out to 1 hr 31 mins

It's definitely a difference - and I don't see why it would be a big deal to change it.

One district is going to have 5 teams and that district is going to have either Williamsburg/Hazard or Pikeville/Hazard.

It just makes more sense to keep Hazard and the other schools from making the longer drives... but I don't make the rules

A big reason why it would be hard to change it is scheduling. 2015/16 schedules are pretty much lined out. It would cause some headaches in that department. Other than that I agree with a lot of what you're getting at.

[mysonis55]

Mayfield and Russellville are about 2 hours drive from one another. Mayfield is about 30 min drive from Fulton and about 45 min drive from Fulton Co.

[jetpilot]

I thought Paintsville tested the hell out of Pikeville in the regular season but that's just me. I'm sure Jetpilot will eat me alive now for posting this.

Nobody can disagree with that TB.

[jetpilot]

Proposed
Jenkins - 58 mins
Paintsville - 1 hr 12 mins
Pikeville - 1 hr 16 mins
South Floyd - 1 hr 4 mins
averages out to 1 hr 7.5 mins

Final
Pineville - 1 hr 38 mins
Williamsburg - 1 hr 40 mins
Harlan - 1 hr 18 mins
Lynn Camp - 1 hr 28 mins
averages out to 1 hr 31 mins

It's definitely a difference - and I don't see why it would be a big deal to change it.

One district is going to have 5 teams and that district is going to have either Williamsburg/Hazard or Pikeville/Hazard.

It just makes more sense to keep Hazard and the other schools from making the longer drives... but I don't make the rules

Am I missing something? Hazard would play Phelps, not Paintsville.
Phelps is 1 hr, 58 minutes from Hazard so that changes the average to 1 hr 19 minutes. So with two road games a year Hazard is complaining about being on a bus 12 more minutes twice a year? Really?:lame:

[jetpilot]

Williamsburg would have to play both Hazard and Pikeville in the Playoffs. That would be the biggest change. As of now, Pikeville would play both Hazard and Williamsburg. All of that being in "most years".

The biggest change would be in even years like this year we know Pikeville will have the home field advantage throughout the playoffs, but with Hazard in the district we wouldn't know that. Bottom line, this isn't about travel at all. Hazard wants away from Williamsburg and would rather take their chances with Pikeville. Pikeville fans are probably insulted by this and I think Hazard will regret it, but you can bet that is their thinking. If Pikeville admin wrote a letter supporting Hazard in this they should have their heads examined. :popcorn: Edit: I just realized in the other post "Pville" almost assuredly means Pineville. Don't think Pikeville would write a letter on behalf of Hazard lol...

[64SUR]

Am I missing something? Hazard would play Phelps, not Paintsville.
Phelps is 1 hr, 58 minutes from Hazard so that changes the average to 1 hr 19 minutes. So with two road games a year Hazard is complaining about being on a bus 12 more minutes twice a year? Really?:lame:

Nothing will be change Khsaa Final Realignment is in the Lock box...with no keys to reopen it.nicker:

[mysonis55]

It's amazing to me how many teams in their dist are helping them complain. I wonder why they want to help them get into another dist?

[jetpilot]

Hazard should be in District 8.
Someone from District 8 should move over to the Paintsville district to keep four teams in each.
There's no reason not to keep the districts even.

Not really any facts supporting that. The team that moved into Paintsville's district from District 8 would have longer driving times than Hazard is complaining about.

Having the same amount of teams in each district is a different argument. It's a worthy goal that the KHSAA has not been able make happen. Hazard complaining about a few more minutes on the bus each year is a perfect example of why.

[jetpilot]

And I know that Phelps has been playing their home games at Belfry (Vipperman). Doesn't change the argument that distance and travel times are approximately the same for them either way. Bottom line: The KHSAA doesn't have a valid reason to agree with Hazard's appeal. Hazard's contention that the KHSAA can't read a map or use map software doesn't hold water in this instance.