Marietta and Rosecrans admitted to ECOL today

[Auburntgrfan]

The only sad thing I can see is there ia all of the league in closer proximty and then Warren out her by ourselves on our own little island. All of you to the West and us. With economy the way it is, the costs will soon play a huge part in the league.

[Zanes-Vegas]

Mr. Farbizo, BTW, is a well-respected administrator state-wide. He was also recently an ad-hoc member of the OHSAA Board of Control. Having him "out front" in this effort has vital, IMO.

And I would suspect Marietta would petition the OHSAA to be moved to the East District.

[NYBuckeye96]

Here is another article......

http://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/ ... -join-ECOL

December 3, 2009


Rosecrans, Marietta schools join ECOL

BY BRIAN GADD
Staff Writer

ZANESVILLE -- The East Central Ohio League has grown to 10 teams, but there's still room for more.

Rosecrans and Marietta were approved by principals from the league's other schools Wednesday.

They join Zanesville, which was admitted in October, but one or two more schools could be added, League Commissioner John Neighbor said.

Others that have expressed interest during the past six months include Buckeye Trail, Ridgewood and Harrison Central. Tri-Valley and West Holmes had been invited to an expansion meeting last May but did not attend.

"It's still open for applications," Neighbor said. "It would be perfect if we had eight and 10 is ideal. But if we get only one more school, the principals are OK with divisions of six and five teams."

Rosecrans Athletic Director Mike Bullock said the school was excited about the opportunity.

"We're obviously excited and look forward to being a part of a regional home," Bullock said. "It's a great opportunity for Rosecrans to benefit from the league as much as the league will benefit from Rosecrans."

Bullock added that Zanesville's admission into the league, as well as a chance to cut down on travel, were key factors in Rosecrans' interest.

"Not having to drive to West Virginia, to Shadyside, Frontier ... Those trips made it hard to schedule during the week," he said.

When Zanesville was announced as the eighth team, the league decided to go to a two-division format -- with small-school and big-school divisions.

The divisional format will be in place for football, volleyball, boys and girls basketball and softball and baseball, with division champions crowned in each.

The five-team divisions will group Cambridge, Dover, Marietta, New Philadelphia and Zanesville into one, while the other will feature Claymont, Coshocton, River View, Meadowbrook and Rosecrans.

In football, each school will play their four divisional games and one crossover game, while the other five sports will have teams play divisional foes twice with one game against each team in the other division.

Even with Zanesville (Division II) being much larger than Rosecrans (Division VI) in football, Neighbor said, "Don't you think if they played, the stadium would be filled at $6 a head? There's a lot of interest for that sort of thing."

There will be one division for soccer and tennis, and the ECOL will hold league tournaments for wrestling, cross country, track and field and swimming.

With the crossover games, particularly for football, as well as junior high and freshman sports, Neighbor said schedules would likely be determined regionally.

"Claymont would play New Philadelphia and Dover, because they can sell a lot of tickets for that," he said. "I think the Zanesville junior highs have played Coshocton before. But it will probably be, the southern schools will play the southern schools, and the north the north. Marietta would probably play Zanesville, Meadowbrook and Cambridge."

Baseball and softball schedules could include three teams playing double-headers against each other on Saturdays, while playing those closer to home during the week, Neighbor said.

"You might have Marietta coming up and playing the Zanesville teams, Dover and Philly going to Zanesville," he said.

The league principals will meet again the first week of January to work out schedules for the junior high sports. Golf, tennis and soccer teams will likely be playing a full league schedule next season.

Football won't start until the 2011-12 season, Neighbor said.

The ECOL-Muskingum Valley League crossover games that were instituted in football are on hold.

"If we only get one more team in, then those will come back because there will be a spot on the schedule for them," Neighbor added.

The ECOL hopes to continue expansion. Any schools interested should contact Neighbor by calling (740) 922-0954 or (330) 934-0240 or e-mail john.neighbor@yahoo.com.

[NYBuckeye96]

Football won't start until the 2011-12 season, Neighbor said.

Looks like next year will be Marietta's final year in the SEOAL.

[Zanes-Vegas]

I brought up to some insiders yesterday that there would be the possibility, since we now share Sulsberger Stadium with Rosecrans, that we could be playing them on our campus but be the VISITING team. Bizarre!

[NYBuckeye96]

It appears to me that the ECOL has really worked hard to ensure that profits can be maximized for all teams involved. The fact that the division cross-over games will be determined by who is geographically close and can sell tickets instead of forcing certain teams to play each other shows to me that the ECOL is thinking revenue in all of this. Smart move.

Can we say packed house for the Zanesville vs. Rosecrans games????

So much for the theory of big schools shouldn't play small schools.

Bottom line, it all comes down to revenue.

[Zanes-Vegas]

Our girls teams play Rosecrans, our soccer teams play Rosecrans. There have been occasional basketball games, but it's been awhile (even though the RHS coach, Todd Rock, is a teacher at ZHS!). Football really hasn't been desirable mostly because of the difference in school size. There used to be a wide chasm here between the two schools ("anti-" going both ways), but while some of that lingers, it seems to be getting less and less. My suspicion is that the ZHS community would be very supportive of Rosecrans in the ECOL excepting when the two of us must face each other.

[trojandave]

Portsmouth is now settling in to being in the SEOAL.......and it looks to be a long term committment to the league.......thank goodness.......I love to see PHS competing in the league......but with Marietta leaving, I don't think the SEOAL can afford to lose anyone else, because I don't see a line forming outside the league office for membership applications.

[dhs22p]

Anyone know who else is interested in joining the ECOL?

[Paladin]

With 44 boys, someone at Rosecrans must be stupid. Sure, BB will compete and so will the Spring sports, but FB is another matter. Rosecrans has no business stepping on the field with Dover, New Philly , Cambridge or Zanesville. Marietta I'd take on. We played some of the other schools years ago and remember hanging a 50-0 game on Meadowbrook. Can't see RHS hanging in FB now. Even Marietta will get some butt kickings.

[Zanes-Vegas]

They actually won't face those schools, at least not often, and especially if the league adds a couple more small schools shortly. They'd only have one crossover under the "current" format.

[gtowntiger78]

Marietta has some other issues on the horizon as well. Starting in 2010 or 2011, they have to pay Marietta College $50K per year for the use of Don Drumm Stadium. That was the agreement when the college purchased the stadium from the HS. That's $50K for only 4 - 6 home games. Don't know where that money will come from. With the levy failure, who knows, maybe pay to play will arrive in Marietta soon.

The Marietta times has yet to pick up this story. Asleep at the wheel maybe.

[GalliaGrad78]

I think that the proper term is "play to participate". I was corrected on that last year. There is no guarantee to "play"

I can't remember when GAHS implemented "play to participate", but it has been in effect for awhile. Presently $90 per sport, per child. Soon to be $120, I hear.

[Zanes-Vegas]

We strictly refer to ours as a transportation fee. Only those activities that utilized school transportation are required to pay it, so marching band is no different than football, for that matter. Ours is $135 for one activity, capped at $270 for an individual with two or more activities, and $405 for a family with three or more activities. The money is not used for anything other than transportation costs.

We were fortunate to eliminate it at our middle schools this year -- it was starting to hurt participation -- and we'd really like to end it altogether. But the reality is that is the fee will be there for the foreseeable future.

[mhs95_06]

I don't think the problem for Marietta in the SEOAL was the safety or comfort of the travel to the former SEOAL schools, as the trips to Gallia, Jackson, and Logan were all not bad at all, with Jackson and Logan now days being nearly all 4 lane. And the trip to Warren may have been the windiest. I think the killer was the 100+ trips to Chillicothe and way out Portsmouth, and the fact that the nice trip to Athens, who was most central in the league, was lost.

[MttaFan]

And its not just the bus rides, it's gates as well. You'll see more Marietta fans make the drive to Dover, New Philly, and Zanesville via I 70 and 77 than to Portsmouth and Chilly, and vice versa.

The SEOAL is a great league but high school sports are a business of its own these days, and this is a money decision. Most of us on the forum look at the wins/losses perspective of moves like this, but AD's and school boards are looking mainly at budgets, and those aren't getting any bigger anytime soon.

[Zanes-Vegas]

gahs4ever ... that would be Zanesville you're forgetting! LOL

The thing about the ECOL regarding fans is this -- existing ECOL fans travel well. Dover, NP, Cambridge, Coshocton, etc. While Dover fans, as an example, might not like a longer trip to Marietta for a football or basketball game, they still go. With few exceptions, we didn't see that in the SEOAL. As the two Marietta folks noted just above you, money now drives a lot of these decisions. You might want to take a few more losses if you know you're going to generate more revenue to fund your programs.

That's one reason why some around here would rather Zanesville get into the MVL -- the gates would probably be outrageous. We play Tri-Valley home-and-home this winter (first games with the Scotties in about 18 years or so), and it's expected both gyms will be full. For both of us, that's a lot better than scheduling some non-conference games with schools that probably wouldn't bring the bacon like we will for each other. And the travel time between the school buildings is about 15 minutes or so.

Considering Marietta's long-standing membership in the SEOAL, I would bet that they properly researched and vetted this decision. But I also bet that it's been going on since before the ECOL appeared on the horizon for them.

Like you, I believe the SEOAL will survive, in some form or another.

[NYBuckeye96]

The Marietta Times has finally reported on this. Here is the Marietta side of things....

http://www.mariettatimes.com/page/conte ... l?nav=5025

Marietta accepts invitation into ECOL

By Kevin Pierson, kpierson@mariettatimes.com POSTED: December 4, 2009

For several months rumors have abounded that Marietta High School would be the next in a lengthy line of schools to depart the Southeastern Ohio Athletic League.

Turns out those rumors will be coming true.

Following a unanimous vote of acceptance Wednesday evening Marietta will depart the SEOAL and join the East Central Ohio League.

Zanesville, Ironton and Athens have already left the SEOAL. Zanesville is now a member of the ECOL while Athens is in the Tri-Valley Conference and Ironton will have an independent schedule next year.

"This was a decision fueled economically. The distance that we have to travel from any of the contests has been extreme. Portsmouth, Ironton (which is leaving the SEOAL at the end of the year), Chillicothe...those are all teams, they're outskirt teams in terms of our area. When we look at the ECOL, and they approached us, we're going to reduce our travel time. Our furthest opponent will be about 90 miles away," said Marietta Athletic Director Rick Guimond.

Marietta was one of two teams accepted into the ECOL during Wednesday's meeting as Zanesville Bishop Rosecrans was also accepted into the league.

Bishop Rosecrans is currently a member of the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference, of which the school has been a member since 2007.

Prior to its' membership in the OVAC Bishop Rosecrans was a member of the Columbus Catholic League.

It is unclear whether Rosecrans will remain a member of the OVAC, which has several members affiliated with other leagues. Authorities with Bishop Rosecrans declined comment when contacted by the The Times Leader in Martins Ferry.

With the addition of Marietta and Bishop Rosecrans the ECOL will be split into two separate divisions.

Marietta, Dover, Cambridge, New Philadelphia and Zanesville will form the large school division while Claymont, Coshocton, Meadowbrook, River View and Rosecrans will form the small school division.

Marietta's decision to join the ECOL was based on economics, but the ECOL's invitation was geared towards developing better competition in the league in its' main sport - football.

"You had Dover, Philly and Cambridge. Their football programs and Claymont, Meadowbrook and River View, they were about a million miles apart. It got to the point where we really had an inbalance in football," said ECOL Commissioner John Neighbor.

While the addition of Marietta and Rosecrans is expected to make ECOL schools more competitive with one another, the Tigers shouldn't expect less competition than they received as a member of the SEOAL.

"I think they have sports where they have great strength. I would say it's a fairly good football league, but I don't think the SEOAL is anything to sneeze at," Guimond said.

The move to the ECOL was one of several options Marietta had been pursuing as the school had begun seeking options outside the SEOAL when gas prices reached upwards of $3 a gallon a couple years ago.

"We had been looking at options before when gas prices were up so high. It's not just affected the schools it's also affected individuals. When gas prices are $3 and above it makes it difficult for parents to make those long trips as well," Guimond said.

In recent months Marietta had considered a move to the OVAC and had been rumored to be headed to several other leagues as well.

The ECOL move developed in a short period of time and provided the right balance of competition and economic sense for Marietta.

"It was an opportunity that came about relatively recently. We've kind of decided as a district this is the direction we're pursuing to see if it will be a good match for us," Guimond said.

With 10 schools now part of the ECOL, league schools schedules will change in each of the sports.

In football teams will play each school in their division once and have one crossover game with the other division, leaving five nonconference games to be scheduled.

Basketball, baseball, softball and volleyball will have schools play two games with each team in its division and one against each of the schools in the opposite bracket.

One division will be used for soccer and tennis while league champions in track, wrestling, golf and swimming will be determined in a one day tournament.

The two divisions are broken down by proximity as well, which helps favor travel time.

"I drove from Claymont, from my house in Dennison, to Marietta High School in 75 minutes and I drove 60 miles an hour. I didn't think that was too bad," Neighbor said.

Junior high and freshman athletics will be operated on a regional basis, allowing younger athletes to have shorter trips and stay close to home on school nights.

The move to the ECOL could have a negative impact on area sports fans as it means that natural rivals for Marietta, such as the Warren Warriors, are no longer league opponents.

Marietta hopes to continue scheduling Warren as a non league game but it's not guaranteed at this time, Guimond said.

"I will do what I can to continue that relationship and it does sound as though they (Warren) want to continue it as well. I would think that this is a good rivalry. We're so close, it's great for the fans because you're talking about a 15 minute trip either way," Guimond said.

Though Marietta is currently still a member of the SEOAL there is some familiarity with ECOL schools.

The Marietta boys' basketball team will open its' season with a home contest against Cambridge tonight.

"There is a history already with some of these schools. We're playing Meadowbrook in basketball. We're playing Cambridge in basketball. We played New Philly in football," Guimond said. "We've seen a lot of these schools in one sport or another."

Prior scheduling commitments will keep Marietta as a member of the SEOAL and Bishop Rosecrans in the OVAC for at least an additional school year.

Schedules will begin to incorporate league opponents where possible in varsity sports with softball, baseball and track expected to be ahead of the fall and winter sports.

"I'm hoping the 2011-2012 school year can get almost all the sports scheduled in a league format," Neighbor said. "The only two that we may have a problem with will be boys basketball and football."

Marietta has been a member of the SEOAL since 1985 and will depart the league after more than 20 years as a member.

"It's a bitter sweet situation. Obviously we look at this as an opportunity and hopefully it will give Marietta High School some advantages in terms of getting our athletes home earlier and things like this. The downside is that the SEOAL is the oldest league I think in the state of Ohio. Very good competition, very good schools. That'll be the downside. We'll miss that," Guimond said.

Martins Ferry Times Leader sports editor Seth Staskey contributed.

[GalliaGrad78]

And its not just the bus rides, it's gates as well. You'll see more Marietta fans make the drive to Dover, New Philly, and Zanesville via I 70 and 77 than to Portsmouth and Chilly, and vice versa.

The SEOAL is a great league but high school sports are a business of its own these days, and this is a money decision. Most of us on the forum look at the wins/losses perspective of moves like this, but AD's and school boards are looking mainly at budgets, and those aren't getting any bigger anytime soon.

Good luck travelling well, while you're getting hammered. What does the gate at an away game have to do with it anyway? Good luck to ya.

[mister b]

The gate at an away came means nothing to the visiting team. It is the gate when the other team comes to your place that matters.

School budgets are stretched. ADs are scrambling to cut their costs. Some schools have gone to a pay to participate to help fund athletics and other programs outside the regular school day i.e. band. It is only a matter of time before you see the price of a ticket going up again. I remember when the price to a varsity contest was $2 for adults and $1 for students. Our school is at $5 and $3. Others are at $5 for all. I have ran across a couple that are $6 at the gate, presale is cheaper.

Cutting costs, mainly for transportation, is high on the list. Some districts bill their athletic departments for the transportation for contests. Add in the fact that today's student needs more credits to graduate than they did 30 years ago and that the state department of education requires every student to pass classes like algebra, (which they didn't 5 years ago and chemistry will be the next class all will have to pass) causes many students to need more study time. Because of this, travel time needs to be reduced for the student athlete.

The one down side to most conferences is that they want all schools to play each other from 7th grade up. I think it is ok to transport 9-12 graders a 100 miles for a game but not 7th and 8th graders. Junior high games should be closer, especially in southeastern Ohio where larger schools are spread out. A few of the larger schools will have 2 junior highs so this reduces the talent pool enough that they could play closer, smaller schools to reduce cost and travel. Even larger schools will have split junior high teams, which I think Marietta does. Split your talent evenly between the 2 teams and play smaller schools that are closer. Also, parents of these students like to see the children play the games, something you can't do when you get off work at 5pm and the game starts at 5:30 and you have to travel nearly 2 hours for a game.

Schools have to start thinking outside the box to provide better chances for the students. Schools in S.E. Ohio (especially the larger ones) are at a disadvantage compared to the schools around Columbus, Cincinnati and other larger Ohio towns that have multipule large schools to compete against.

Marietta, like Athens, made the right choice for their student/athletes by going to another conference that limits their travel to a maximum of 90 miles. Plus, the ECOL is basically an interstate travel league. Will they get beat badly in some sports? Yes, but they will compete well in others. You can't be the top dog in every sport.