Heritage Christian Academy plans to make the move to the Kentucky High School Athletic Association after approval by the school’s board of directors.
HCA Athletic Director Candy Hayes said the move has been approved by the board and the application has been sent to the KHSAA for approval.
She said travel is the main reason for the move to the KHSAA in addition to the recent exodus of schools from the KCAA to the KHSAA.
HCA is a member of the Kentucky Christian Athletic Association. However, Heritage Christian currently offers seven varsity sports. No other KCAA school west of Elizabethtown offers more than two.
KHSAA bylaws prohibit its member schools to play regular-season games against non-association schools, such as KCAA schools like Heritage. Scrimmages between the schools are allowed.
In baseball, softball, and soccer, the closest KCAA opponent for Heritage is North Hardin Christian which is around 125 miles away. There would roughly be 60 KHSAA schools within the 125-mile radius of HCA.
Heritage would likely be placed in the Second Region and Eighth District along with the other four Christian County schools – Hopkinsville, University Heights, Fort Campbell, and Christian County. That would make the 8th District the only one in the region with five schools.
Joe Angolia, communications director for the KHSAA, said district and region alignments are voted on by the KHSAA Board of Control following recommendations from its staff.
Under KHSAA bylaws, new member schools are ineligible for district and region postseason play during a two-year probationary period. However, Heritage would be immediately eligible to compete in the All A Classic and the Kentucky Christian Athletic Conference, which consists of several small Christian schools.
HCA would likely be the eighth All A school in the Second Region, joining Caldwell County, Crittenden County, Dawson Springs, Fort Campbell, Livingston Central, Lyon County, and University Heights.
There are ten All A schools in the First Region, six in Region Three, and seven in Region Four.
HCA could choose to use the All A region as its culminating tournament in its early years of KHSAA membership if it chooses. Angolia said a school can choose to withdraw from the KHSAA postseason before the draw is conducted without penalty.
Hayes said HCA would likely not compete in district play in the first few years of KHSAA membership.
Heritage Christian Academy opened in 1994. They joined the KCAA about eight years later and have won state championships in several sports, most recently in softball and volleyball.
In 2020-21, HCA offered varsity sports in volleyball, boys’ soccer, boys’ and girls’ basketball, boys’ and girls’ cross country, baseball, and softball.
Heritage fielded a girls’ soccer team as recently as three years ago as the KCAA looked into the feasibility of adding the sport. The sport wasn’t sanctioned, but Heritage can again look at adding the sport as a KHSAA member.
HCA also offers archery but opted to compete through NASP and not the KCAA.
Other sports that a small school like Heritage could add to its athletic tree and is offered by the KHSAA include bass fishing, bowling, golf, and tennis. Hayes said there has already been interest from students in expanding the tennis program at HCA.
Other former KCAA schools such as North Hardin Christian, Somerset Christian, and Glasgow Christian also opted to make the move the KHSAA citing travel as the main reason.
Hayes said the school will investigate athletic facility upgrades in the near future with lights on the baseball and softball fields the top priority. She also said restrooms will be added to the outdoor concession stand for the baseball and softball fields.
Once the application process is completed, the KHSAA Board of Control will vote at a future meeting whether to accept HCA as a member school.
Heritage Christian Academy has an enrollment of 116 students in grades 9-12 and 175 students in 7-12. Its high school enrollment is roughly the same size as current KHSAA member schools Christian Fellowship and Frederick Fraize and larger than First Region schools Fulton City, Community Christian, and St. Mary. However, it would replace University Heights as the smallest school in the Second Region.
