The numbers don't jive. Neither does the PIAA's effort to do anything about them.

Such are the opinions of Karns City School District superintendent Larry Henry and Lewistown High girls basketball coach Kevin Kodish, who are continuing their push for separate public and private high school postseason basketball tournaments.

Only now they are appealing to state legislators instead of the PIAA itself.

"We are trying to get legislation introduced that would give the PIAA a legal option of setting up separate tournaments," Henry said. "Without such legislation, the PIAA fears the legal ramifications of trying to enact such tournaments.

"If we can get enough legislators to support this bill, there's a much better chance of getting it on the floor," he added. "We're hoping local legislators jump on the bandwagon with this."

Kodish agreed.

"There's no guarantee anything will change if a bill is signed into legislation," he said. "But without it, there's no chance of the PIAA making a move. They don't want a lawsuit from somebody on their hands."

While private schools represent 25 percent of the PIAA membership, they have won 75 percent of the state basketball titles in recent years.

The numbers are particularly lopsided in the smaller divisions. Karns City is the last public school to win a PIAA Class AA girls basketball title, doing so in 2000. Of the 44 boys and girls PIAA Class AA and A basketball state champions crowned since 2000, 38 have been private schools.

In Quad-A and Triple-A, state titles have been rather evenly divided between public and private schools over the past decade.

Nine of the 16 teams in the finals this year were private schools. Five of the eight champions were private school programs.

"The smaller divisions are where the discrepancy really is," Union boys basketball coach Karen Davis said. "Private schools can draw from much larger areas whereas the drawing base for Class AA and A public schools is very small.

"It isn't fair. It isn't a level playing field. Elk County Catholic pulls players in from all over. Public school coaches located in that region can lose their best players to them.

"We are not affected so much because we're fairly far from there, but it's those public school coaches nearby a private school who I feel sorry for," she added.

Mars boys basketball coach Rob Carmody played for and previously coached basketball at North Catholic.

"At Mars, we really haven't been affected by it," he said of the private school domination. "It really doesn't impact bigger schools until the state tournament.

"When I was at North Catholic, though ... yeah, I'd say we had an advantage."

North Catholic is a Class A school in terms of enrollment, but it played as a Class AA program in boys basketball.

"We voluntarily played up a division," Carmody said.

"Maybe if it was mandatory for private schools to play up one division, that would help," Davis said. "But I'd be in favor of separate playoffs, too."

Lincoln Park, a private school that is only three years old, won the 2009-10 WPIAL Class A title.

"We're just trying to circulate the word on this issue," Kodish said. "Public feedback will hopefully encourage legislators and the PIAA to take a long look at this."

Even if legislation is passed, Central Catholic athletic director and boys basketball coach Chuck Crummie doesn't anticipate separate public and private school tournaments.

"There just aren't enough private schools to make it happen," Crummie said. "It's not feasible. In Quad-A, for example, there's us and Erie (Cathedral) Prep and that's it. Who are we going to play?

"Philadelphia still has a Catholic league of 10 or 12 teams. But in the western part of the state, the teams aren't here. If we had the teams, I wouldn't care. I wouldn't have a problem with it."

Crummie admitted that the lower classifications, particularly in girls basketball, have some issues.

"I suppose that's true," he said. "Having two teams from the east and two from the west in the finals and all being private schools — a lot of people have a problem with that.

"At the same time, some people still think it's the 1950s, 60s or 70s, with recruiting going on," Crummie added. "I know we don't recruit and I'm pretty certain other private schools around here don't either."

Henry and Kodish have been pushing for separate tournaments for a number of years now.

"I don't even remember how we came together on this, except that we've been fighting for a common cause and just found each other," Henry said.

"It's starting to impact other sports now, too. Girls soccer and football are starting to feel the affects."

LaSalle College, a private school, won the PIAA Quad-A football title last fall.

New Jersey, New York and Maryland have separate private and public school postseason basketball tournaments. In New Jersey, the private school champion then plays the public school champion to determine an overall champion.

"New Jersey does it right," Carmody said. "A weekend tournament of champions — public school champs vs. private school champs — would attract so much interest in Pennsylvania.

"I don't know how they'd fit it in timewise, though. We have (sports) seasons bumping up against each other now," he added.

Crummie said New Jersey "has so many Catholic schools that the two-tournament system works for them."

Henry recalled the excitement in the Karns City community the year the Gremlins won the state tournament.

"That state final ... it seemed like our entire town was there. It was bedlam, such a feeling of community pride," he said. "When a private school is in a state final, there's 12 to 15 parents in the stands. There's no sense of community achievement.

"I'd love for more school districts to get a fair shot at experiencing what our community was fortunate enough to experience. I guess that's what this is really all about."

A phone call to the PIAA office about this issue was not returned.