Marietta and Rosecrans admitted to ECOL today

[NYBuckeye96]

Marietta and Zanesville Rosecrans were admitted to the ECOL today at the ECOL league meeting.

The new ECOL will look like this:

Black Division:
Cambridge
Dover
Marietta
New Philadelphia
Zanesville

White Division:
Claymont
Coshocton
Meadowbrook
River View
Rosecrans

[Zanes-Vegas]

Beat you to it!

And they're not done yet, though I think they're not likely to add anyone else south of 70.

[GoChiefs]

Uh-oh..Where's Army??? LOL

[Orange and Brown]

We knew it was going to happen it was just a matter of formality.

[Zanes-Vegas]

As far as Marietta, yes. Rosecrans, no. But .... from my discussions, the ECOL did some deep research with RHS and found them to be a strong fit, believe it or not.

[NYBuckeye96]

http://www.coshoctontribune.com/article ... 4/91202015

December 2, 2009


Rosecrans, Marietta join ECOL

Staff Report

After adding Zanesville earlier this year, the East Central Ohio League has increased to 10 teams with the additions of Rosecrans and Marietta on Wednesday.

The league will split into two divisions for football, volleyball, boys and girls basketball, softball and baseball.

Cambridge, Dover, Marietta, New Philadelphia and Zanesville will be grouped into one division, and the other will feature Claymont, Coshocton, River View, Meadowbrook and Rosecrans.

In football, each school will play their four divisional games with 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.

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

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

[bman]

With a league with so much history it has to be a question if the SEOAL will survive at this point? Now Portsmouth, Chillicothe, Jackson, Logan, Gallipolis and Warren are left and Warren would appear to be fruit the TVC could pick off since the other big county school has departed to another league.

[bman]

^ Well I hope so. For a league with so much history, it'd be sad to see the SEOAL go away.

[GoChiefs]

With a league with so much history it has to be a question if the SEOAL will survive at this point? Now Portsmouth, Chillicothe, Jackson, Logan, Gallipolis and Warren are left and Warren would appear to be fruit the TVC could pick off since the other big county school has departed to another league.

Army is that you? Seriously though...the league will be just fine! There is 6 teams in the league! Is there any other leagues in Ohio with that amount of teams? I'm gonna say probably.

[WHSwarrior]

WE ARE NOT LEAVING FOR THE TVC!!!!!!!! WARREN IS STAYING IN THE SEOAL!!!!!

We tried to make the football playoffs this year, and we still would have had a tough time making it with our CURRENT schedule, even if we had gone 9-1. Why would we downgrade to the TVC?

There just are not any other good fits at this time. We're in the SEOAL, we're in second place for the AST, and we like it.

End of story.

[Zanes-Vegas]

gahs ... I would estimate about 2+ hours to Dover via school bus, but it's almost all interstate.

[Zanes-Vegas]

As I noted to you otherwise ... I don't think it's the trip to Gallipolis. It would be more the trips to Ironton, Portsmouth, Jackson, Chillicothe and Logan. We made those trips similarly, and they're not easy.

[91raider97bobcat]

From Marietta it's 80 miles to New Philly, 83 to Dover, but all via I-77

[Zanes-Vegas]

Tack on a few more from the school to the interstate and the interstate to the school, on a school bus -- 2 hours-ish. We get to MHS in about an hour-fifteen or so.

[NYBuckeye96]

Marietta was playing a few of the ECOL teams as non-league games already. They must prefer the smooth interstate travel to the twisty two lane roads they drive to most of the SEOAL schools. The teams are just as far away, but the roads are much better.

[91raider97bobcat]

Here's the question that I have though...will Marietta petition the OHSAA to move back to the Eastern District now? Washington County is classified as being in the Eastern District, but for some reason 4 of the 6 schools are currently part of the Southeast District.

Of course, nothing makes sense with the OHSAA

[mister b]

The drive from Marietta to Chilly is around 105 miles; 2 hours by car, slightly longer by bus.

The drive from Marietta to New Philly/Dover is around 85 miles, 1 1/2 hours by car, slightly longer by bus.

By going to the ECOL, Marietta cut down on travel time for all sports, compared to the travel in the SEOAL.

The games Marietta will be playing in the ECOL is 99% interstate travel. This makes for better comfort of the kids and safer road conditions, especially during the winter sports season.

Marietta has saved money and improved the travel conditions for it's students and those that will follow the teams, boys and girls, on the road.

[NYBuckeye96]

Here is a longer article......

http://www.timesreporter.com/sports/x19 ... -Rosecrans

ECOL adds Marietta, Rosecrans
By Hank Keathley
The Times-Reporter
Posted Dec 02, 2009 @ 04:52 PM
Last update Dec 02, 2009 @ 10:57 PM
The East Central Ohio League is growing again.

After accepted Zanesville as the eighth member recently, the ECOL added two more schools Tuesday with Marietta and Zanesville Rosecrans.

Marietta will join Dover, New Philadelphia, Cambridge and Zanesville in the big-school division, while Rosecrans will be grouped with Claymont, Coshocton, Meadowbrook and River View in the small-school division.

The teams won’t compete in football for two to three years and they likely won’t compete in basketball, baseball, softball and volleyball next year, but should take part in the league in track, wrestling, swimming, golf, soccer and tennis.

Marietta was expected, but Rosecrans was something of a surprise based on its enrollment numbers.

Rosecrans has 44 boys and 45 girls. The other nine schools in the league average 309 boys and other schools in the small division only average 254 boys.

“We considered their enrollment, but we also considered the fact that they’ve had a lot of outstanding success in athletics,” said ECOL commissioner John Neighbor. “They’ve won state championships in basketball and they’ve hosted football playoff games.”

The format for scheduling calls for teams to play opponents in their own divisions with one mandatory crossover game in football. Others can be added, but won’t count in league standings.

In basketball, baseball, softball and volleyball, each team will play other divisional opponents twice and play once against teams in the opposite division.

A scheduling meeting for athletic directors has been set for January to work out details.

“Hopefully, we’ll get everything worked out that day,” Neighbor said. “Junior high scheduling will probably be done on a regional basis and right now we’re talking about having baseball and softball doubleheaders with Marietta to limit travel.”

Zanesville is already making an appearance with the ECOL in football. The Blue Devils will replace Marietta on New Philadelphia’s 2010 schedule in Week 3.

“I see all this as being positive,” said New Philadelphia AD Tom Farbizo. “I think the long-range goal of the league is to have two strong divisions and the only way to do that is to expand.

“When you’re trying to expand, you’ve got to answer the door when somebody comes knocking. Maybe since we’ve added these two, some of the other schools that have been hesitant will step up now.”

Farbizo said he’s anxious to see how scheduling works out for the league.

“Nothing’s been etched in stone yet,” he said. “We’ll have our meeting and see what happens.”

Any other schools interested in joining the league should contact Neighbor at (740) 922-0954 or (330) 934-0240, or e-mail john.neighbor@yahoo.com.

[mister b]

"When you're trying to expand, you've got to answer the door when somebody comes knocking. Maybe since we've added these two, some of the other schools that have been hesitant will step up now." Said New Philly AD Tom Farbizo.

Did anybody notice but this happened under a full moon? Strange things happen when the moon is full.

Now, will there be another defection from the SEOAL?

I just asked my Magic 8 Ball this question, "Will there be another defection from the SEOAL in the near future?" It answered, "It is decidedly so."

SPOOKY!!!!

[GalliaGrad78]

I am gonna miss the football games at Don Drumm. Good luck to ya!