Friday, April 7th, 2017
OHSAA announces divisional changes
Cavs, Flyers, Redskins, Indians will all compete in Division VI football
By Gary R. Rasberry
Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry
Division VI in high school football could be the toughest division this upcoming school season after the Ohio High School Athletic Association released its divisional breakdowns on Thursday.
The 2017-18 school year will be the first to utilize Competitive Balance roster data for football, volleyball and soccer during the fall sports season.
In football, which has 718 participating teams, 75 schools moved up to a higher division due either to a higher base enrollment number or an increase due to the Competitive Balance enhancement.
One of the most notable divisions is Division VI, where defending state football champion Marion Local will be joined by last year's Division V state runner-up Coldwater, which actually dropped a division due to Competitive Balance. Fort Recovery, the Division VII state champion in 2015, moved up to Division VI due to an increase in the base enrollment figures. Also in Division VI, and likely in the same region with Coldwater, Marion Local and Fort Recovery when divisional maps are announced in June, will be Parkway and St. Henry.
The only other team that will shift divisions this upcoming football season will be St. Marys, which drops from Division III to Division IV.
The rest of the area football teams will remain in their 2016 divisions: Celina (Division III), Minster (Division VII), New Bremen (Division VII), Versailles (Division V), Anna (Division V) and Delphos St. John's (Division VII).
Ottawa-Glandorf is the only other Western Buckeye League team besides St. Marys to change divisions, dropping from Division V to Division VI.
In volleyball, Minster will move up from Division IV to Division III this fall while several teams - Fort Recovery, Parkway and St. Henry - will move down from III to IV. Celina and St. Marys remain in Division II and New Bremen, Marion Local and New Knoxville will stay in Division IV.
All the area soccer teams will remain in their 2016 divisions for 2017. Celina and St. Marys will be in Division II for both boys' and girls' soccer and Coldwater stays in Division III for girls soccer.
Another change is the possibility that teams could switch divisions every year. In the past, enrollment breakdowns were down every two years.
