February 17, 2000

Rumors run rampant about league realignments

By Dave Feltner
Sports Editor

It can be downright dizzying, trying to absorb all the rumors floating around about conference swapping among Northwest Ohio high schools.

It seems, these days, just about every high school has its name spinning through the rumor mill.

It is quite normal for schools to throw around idle chit-chat about leaving their respective leagues and inquiring about joining others. But in recent months it seems everyone is throwing in their hat.

For those not privy to recent rumblings, rumors have ranged from Upper Sandusky and Bucyrus leaving the Northern Ohio League and North Baltimore and Mohawk leaving the Midland Athletic League to a super conference forming with as many as 20 Northwest Ohio schools.

Wednesday in Bowling Green a private meeting, apparently spearheaded by Northwood and Gibsonburg of the Suburban Lakes League, was held to discuss possible realignment.

Twenty-four schools were invited, including Rossford and the entire SLL.

Also invited were North Baltimore, Carey, Hopewell-Loudon, Mohawk and Seneca East of the Midland Athletic League, Danbury and Ottawa Hills from the Toledo Area Athletic Conference, Liberty-Benton and Van Buren from the Blanchard Valley Conference, Oak Harbor and Port Clinton from the Sandusky Bay Conference, Fostoria from the Great Lakes League, Upper Sandusky from the NOL and Riverdale from the North Central Conference.

The MAL's parochial schools &emdash; Calvert, Fremont St. Joe and St. Wendelin &emdash; were not invited. Neither were the MAL's non-football playing schools &emdash; Old Fort, Bettsville and New Riegel.

Hopewell-Loudon Athletic Director Mary Ruth Crandall confirmed that the schools invited to the Bowling Green meeting were encouraged to invite other schools not on the list who may be interested in realignment.

"The bottom line for us is we're just looking out for the best interests of our student athletes," Mohawk AD Bret Margraf said.

A couple of things should be cleared about this whole process.

First, all of the talk about realignment is just that &emdash; talk. No one has officially left any of the aforementioned conferences or leagues, and no one has started a new conference. The meeting in Bowling Green was essentially held to spark interest.

Second, most of the MAL schools in the A-T coverage area invited to the BG meeting are not interested in realignment. Hopewell-Loudon, Carey and Seneca East declined to attend. Mohawk was represented.

"Even if we lose only one school, we still plan on staying," Seneca East AD Joe Zirger said. "We also have assurances from the three Catholic schools that they aren't going to form a Catholic League."

Crandall and Carey AD Kent Asher agreed.

"We chose not to attend because we're happy where we are right now," Crandall said.

Asher added, "We're happy with where we're at right now. We want to stay right where we are. I know a lot (of other schools) don't feel that way, but as long as things stay pretty much they way they are right now, we're happy."

It will be interesting to watch what, if any, events take place surrounding the NOL. Columbian entered the league in the fall of 1954, and there have been no changes in the NOL since.

Almost 50 years without a change in a high school league is almost unheard of, but enrollment trends have separated the schools.

Columbian (885), Bellevue (640), Galion (635) and Shelby (629) have the largest enrollments in the top three grades, followed by Norwalk (599) Willard (563), Upper Sandusky (507) and Bucyrus (448).

"We talk unofficially as ADs and administrators all the time," Columbian AD Dale Brown said. "But that's strictly just chit-chat, throwing out school's names basically based on geography and things like that. I know Lexington, Vermilion and Clyde have been talked about in the past, but that's just idle talk.

"We certainly won't close the doors to anyone," Brown said. "But we all feel the NOL is a solid league with strong ties."

Brown also added that Fostoria (605 enrollment) has inquired about joining the NOL in recent years.

It's no secret that Fostoria is essentially getting pushed out of the GLL. The additions of Findlay and Sandusky, and the future additions of Lorain Southview and Lorain Admiral King are making the GLL too big for Fostoria to compete on a consistent basis.

Fostoria, along with Lexington (711 enrollment) would be nice fits for the NOL should Upper Sandusky and Bucyrus jump ship.

But that, just like all the other talk, is merely speculation.

Only the future holds the true answers.