Warren ponders invitation from ECOL; SOC turns down Jackson

[NYBuckeye96]

http://www.timesjournal.com/sports/arti ... adfcf.html

Warren ponders invitation from ECOL; SOC turns down Jackson for membership

Posted: Thursday, May 14, 2015 1:00 am
By CRAIG DUNN For The Times-Journal

Warren High School has been invited to join the East Central Ohio League.

However, whether the Washington County school — currently one of the few remaining members of the Southeastern Ohio Athletic League — accepts the offer is completely up in the air.

Warren athletic director Debra Proctor informed SEOAL athletic directors about the invitation at the league’s monthly meeting on Wednesday, but said no immediate decision is planned.

She noted the Warren Board of Education will not act upon the invitation at next week’s monthly meeting and there will likely be several weeks’ worth of discussion.

It’s no secret the SEOAL — the longest non-city high school conference in the state — is in danger of extinction.

Portsmouth leaves the league at the end of the current school year, and charter member Gallia Academy departs following the 2015-16 school year, leaving just Logan, Jackson and Warren.

Also on Wednesday, Jackson High School officials were informed that their petition to join the Southern Ohio Conference was turned down by an 11-4 vote.

In recent months, Jackson has either applied for — or had inquiries/discussions with — the SOC, Tri-Valley Conference, South Central Ohio League and Ohio Valley Conference about possible membership.

All have either voted Jackson down, indicated Jackson was too large of a school, or expressed little to no interest in expanding their leagues.

Portsmouth and Gallipolis will become the seventh and eighth members of the OVC.

Gallia Academy will play a dual SEOAL/OVC schedule in all sports except for football next season.

Logan High School is still waiting to see if there will be any additional movement among leagues and conferences in Central Ohio.

Although the Licking County League is said to be expanding by five Division I and Division II schools, the LCL has already said it will not consider Logan because Hocking County is not contiguous to Licking County.

Logan has also expressed interest in the Mid-State League and Ohio Capital Conference.

Although neither league is currently expanding, each conference has one opening to fill: the OCC recently lost charter member Mount Vernon to the Ohio Cardinal Conference, and the MSL will lose Ohio Division member Madison Plains to the Ohio Heritage Conference.

The 10-school ECOL will lose Urichsville Claymont to the Inter-Valley Conference at the conclusion of the 2016-17 school year.

Should Warren accept the ECOL’s invitation, it would join two former SEOAL members — Marietta and Zanesville — along with Dover and New Philadelphia in the big-school Scarlet Division.

Warren could not join until the 2017-18 school year.

Cambridge, currently in the Scarlet Division, would then drop to the smaller Gray Division to hook up with Meadowbrook, Coshocton, River View and Zanesville Rosecrans.

ECOL officials have met with Warren administrators, who in turn have discussed the matter with their coaching staff.

More discussion is planned as Warren ponders moving to the ECOL, finding a closer league, or becoming independent while also maintaining a skeletal SEOAL with Logan and Jackson.

A couple months ago, Warren agreed to become a part of the 52-school Ohio Valley Athletic Conference, a conglomerate of varied-sized schools in eastern Ohio and West Virginia, in order to schedule a few additional games and play in conference tournaments in various sports.

Warren already plays several OVAC members in several sports and many OVAC schools have dual athletic conference memberships.

Cambridge and Meadowbrook from the ECOL are also in the OVAC.

Losing Claymont means ECOL membership would drop to nine schools, and league rules stipulate there must be 10 schools in order to maintain the current big school-small school divisional format.

If there are less than 10, all of the teams would be rolled into one division.

That would mean, for example, a small school such as Zanesville Rosecrans would have to play a big-school power such as New Philadelphia or Dover on a yearly basis.

The ECOL considered Warren and Steubenville as possible 10th members and recently decided to extend the invitation to Warren.

A three-school SEOAL with Logan, Jackson and Warren won’t be a long-term solution, and all three schools plan to continue their quest to find another conference.

But until that happens, they will remain together and play for conference titles and invite other area schools to be associate members in various sports.

Athens and Alexander are already associate members in boys and girls soccer, as is Athens in boys and girls tennis.

And while Gallipolis is leaving the SEOAL after next school year, GAHS administrators indicate they plan for their boys tennis, boys soccer and boys golf teams to remain as associate members once they’ve joined the OVC.

[NYBuckeye96]

I think the ECOL would be a good fit for Warren. Nice highway travel to most schools.

ECOL Scarlet -
Zanesville 450
New Philadelphia 343
Dover 336
Marietta 317
Warren 302 (also in the OVAC)

ECOL Gray -
Cambridge 253 (also in the OVAC)
River View 232
Meadowbrook 204 (also in the OVAC)
Coshocton 202
Bishop Rosecrans 49

The game vs. Marietta would have league implications once again and is a short drive. Zanesville is a somewhat reasonable drive. New Philadelphia and Dover are long drives, but I'm sure one would be a home game and the other an away game each year, so that is only 1 long road trip within the division each year. For the smaller division schools, only Bishop Rosecrans would be a somewhat reasonable drive. However, both Cambridge and Meadowbrook are in the OVAC, along with Warren. This means any time Warren plays Cambridge or Meadowbrook, they could kill two birds with one stone as the game would count in both ECOL and OVAC standings. According to the OVAC Rating System, OVAC teams only need to play 3 other OVAC teams to qualify for the championship, and points are awarded based on the school size of the teams you beat in the OVAC. http://www.ovac.org/Pdf/football_r/Football_Ratings

Theoretically, Warren's schedule could look like this:

Rotating Non Conference Game #1
@ Rotating Non Conference Game #2
Parkersburg
@ Parkersburg South (OVAC)
Meadowbrook (ECOL/OVAC)
@ Cambridge (ECOL/OVAC)
@ Dover (ECOL)
New Philadelphia (ECOL)
Zanesville (ECOL)
@ Marietta (ECOL)

Maybe Cambridge and/or Meadowbrook could make an arrangement with Warren to play annually as an OVAC game in years the game was not to count as an ECOL conference game. Or, maybe Parkersburg is not an annual game (I made it one here since they are so close geographically, even though they aren't in the ECOL or OVAC). Rotating teams in the other division would give a closer opponent to Warren in years they played Bishop Rosecrans. Those rotating non conference games could be played against former rivals in the SEOAL or TVC.

If you think about it, those few long road trips won't be any longer than the ones Warren would have to play if things remain as they are now. Warren might have even more longer trips if things remain as they are now.

[cghs82]

I think the ECOL would be a good fit for Warren. Nice highway travel to most schools.

ECOL Scarlet -
Zanesville 450
New Philadelphia 343
Dover 336
Marietta 317
Warren 302 (also in the OVAC)

ECOL Gray -
Cambridge 253 (also in the OVAC)
River View 232
Meadowbrook 204 (also in the OVAC)
Coshocton 202
Bishop Rosecrans 49

The game vs. Marietta would have league implications once again and is a short drive. Zanesville is a somewhat reasonable drive. New Philadelphia and Dover are long drives, but I'm sure one would be a home game and the other an away game each year, so that is only 1 long road trip within the division each year. For the smaller division schools, only Bishop Rosecrans would be a somewhat reasonable drive. However, both Cambridge and Meadowbrook are in the OVAC, along with Warren. This means any time Warren plays Cambridge or Meadowbrook, they could kill two birds with one stone as the game would count in both ECOL and OVAC standings. According to the OVAC Rating System, OVAC teams only need to play 3 other OVAC teams to qualify for the championship, and points are awarded based on the school size of the teams you beat in the OVAC. http://www.ovac.org/Pdf/football_r/Football_Ratings

Theoretically, Warren's schedule could look like this:

Rotating Non Conference Game #1
@ Rotating Non Conference Game #2
Parkersburg
@ Parkersburg South (OVAC)
Meadowbrook (ECOL/OVAC)
@ Cambridge (ECOL/OVAC)
@ Dover (ECOL)
New Philadelphia (ECOL)
Zanesville (ECOL)
@ Marietta (ECOL)

Maybe Cambridge and/or Meadowbrook could make an arrangement with Warren to play annually as an OVAC game in years the game was not to count as an ECOL conference game. Or, maybe Parkersburg is not an annual game (I made it one here since they are so close geographically, even though they aren't in the ECOL or OVAC). Rotating teams in the other division would give a closer opponent to Warren in years they played Bishop Rosecrans. Those rotating non conference games could be played against former rivals in the SEOAL or TVC.

If you think about it, those few long road trips won't be any longer than the ones Warren would have to play if things remain as they are now. Warren might have even more longer trips if things remain as they are now.

Aren't Marietta and Parkersburg considering the OVAC as well? If they are, maybe they could start a 4-team league within the OVAC like the PVC and Marietta and Warren could also compete in the ECOL as well, assuming Warren accepts the ECOL's invitation, which I think would be stupid for Warren to turn down.

[edforshey]

Parkersburg and Marietta are both not in the OVAC.

[cghs82]

Parkersburg and Marietta are both not in the OVAC.

I know they're not, but I think I've seen somewhere where it was said Parkersburg and maybe Marietta were considering it and if they both joined, a little league could be started with Marietta, Parkersburg, Parkersburg South, and Warren and Marietta and Warren could still compete in the ECOL and OVAC assuming scheduling works out.

[edforshey]

Parkersburg turned down the OVAC to stay in the MSAC instead.

[warrior90]

I think Warren would be crazy to turn down the ECOL. I think they will accept it and as NYbuckeye said play cambridge and meadowbrook to help the ovac portion. This will be some tough competition in all sports and they will really have to step up to compete, but it will only make us more prepared for the tourneys. Football will be the downside but it is not like we are a powerhouse no anyway.

[cghs82]

Parkersburg turned down the OVAC to stay in the MSAC instead.

After doing some research, it looks like Parkersburg was forced to stay in the MSAC by the conference. It looked like the only way to leave was to pay $5000 and never play anyone in their conference in the regular season so long as you're not in it.

[Keyser_sozeThrice]

Jackson turned down by SOC

www.timesjournal.com

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Gozer the Traveler. He will come in one of the pre-chosen forms. During the rectification of the Vuldrini, the traveler came as a large and moving Torg! Then, during the third reconciliation of the last of the McKetrick supplicants, they chose a new form for him: that of a giant Slor! Many Shuvs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Slor that day, I can tell you!" - Ghostbusters

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

SAY WHAT I MUSTA MISSED THAT WEEK AT SCHOOL

[ONE OF A KIND]

Jackson turned down by SOC

http://www.timesjournal.com

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Gozer the Traveler. He will come in one of the pre-chosen forms. During the rectification of the Vuldrini, the traveler came as a large and moving Torg! Then, during the third reconciliation of the last of the McKetrick supplicants, they chose a new form for him: that of a giant Slor! Many Shuvs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Slor that day, I can tell you!" - Ghostbusters

All this means is Jackson will ask to join the TVC again.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

gotcha.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

:aaaaa46

[noreply66]

maybe after their football program falls off

[marietta]

I can say with 100% confidence that Marietta has no interest at all in joint the OVAC.

[cghs82]

Any updates on whether or not Warren is joining the ECOL?

[warrior90]

Warren board rejected the ECOL. This is the small passage from the Marietta Times.

"The board also discussed a recommendation to join the East Central Ohio League for athletics but the resolution failed due to concerns over travel times and cost.

"Our problem is for the size we are and the geography, we're stuck," said board member John Nichols."

So when / if the SEOAL folds we will be in the OVAC as our primary league.

[noreply66]

I'm giving Warren a big hand with staying with the SEOAL even with things looking bad.

[EasternDspy]

OVAC is awesome cool conf championship game

[Scotty Hobart]

Warren board rejected the ECOL. This is the small passage from the Marietta Times.

"The board also discussed a recommendation to join the East Central Ohio League for athletics but the resolution failed due to concerns over travel times and cost.

"Our problem is for the size we are and the geography, we're stuck," said board member John Nichols."

So when / if the SEOAL folds we will be in the OVAC as our primary league.

Just hang in there and keep asking to join the TVC. Southern will keep working to get you in so they can dodge Wahama and Trimble so I would guess if a few more town mayors write letters eventually they will add teams to the TVC. Nelsonville wants to dodge Athens too so you will keep getting their vote.