In another thread people were discussing Logan not having a league affiliation and it got me thinking about the possibilities of a new D1/D2 league south of Columbus. I would love to see a league such as this....
Lancaster
Logan
Teays Valley
Hamilton Township
Groveport Madison
Canal Winchester
Newark
Zanesville
Logan is a big school but doesn't have the athletes and can't compete with similar size schools from the Columbus area. TV and HT are too big for the Mid-State League. Lancaster, Groverport, Canal Winchester, and Newark are not the same caliber D1/D2 schools as the other OCC schools. Throwing Zanesville in there would create some good rivalries with Newark and Lancaster.
If this "pretend" league would ever look to expand they could potentially add Tri-Valley, Athens, and possibly Chillicothe.
I think with a league like this every school would be competitive in all sports. I highly doubt anything like this will ever happen but it's fun to dream about it.
What say you?
"Hypothetical" new D1/D2 league south of Columbus
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MORBaseball
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Re: "Hypothetical" new D1/D2 league south of Columbus
I actually really like this. But Athens will never want to leave the TVC. Other than football and basketball (which they're a top 2 team every year) they win TVC titles just by being big. Last year they almost got 2nd in track to a very talented Ny team but the numbers boosted their ability to put more people in events compared to other TVC schools. I saw where their girls team has won it every single year since they joined.
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NYBuckeye96
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Re: "Hypothetical" new D1/D2 league south of Columbus
I would be shocked if a team left the OCC for two reasons -
1. The prestige of being in the OCC.
2. Any location not in the immediate Columbus vicinity is too boonies for those schools. They hate the drive to Lancaster as it is.
1. The prestige of being in the OCC.
2. Any location not in the immediate Columbus vicinity is too boonies for those schools. They hate the drive to Lancaster as it is.
Re: "Hypothetical" new D1/D2 league south of Columbus
Yeah travel washes most of that out, and no way Athens leaves and Chillicothe in the new FAC their location is good for that league.
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MORBaseball
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Re: "Hypothetical" new D1/D2 league south of Columbus
NYBuckeye96 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 15, 2017 3:37 pm I would be shocked if a team left the OCC for two reasons -
1. The prestige of being in the OCC.
2. Any location not in the immediate Columbus vicinity is too boonies for those schools. They hate the drive to Lancaster as it is.
1) "Prestige of being in the OCC"??????? There's nothing prestigious about it if you can't compete and haven't won a league title in any sport in several years. The OCC might seem prestigious to some on the outside looking in, but to those who are on the inside and constantly getting their brains beaten in (in all sports) there's nothing prestigious about it. LOL
2) None of the schools I listed for this hypothetical new league are in Columbus. That's part of the point. Everybody in the OCC hates driving to Lancaster, Newark, even Canal. So those teams, along with Groveport who also can't compete in the OCC should consider dropping out and forming a new league like the one I proposed.
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NYBuckeye96
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Re: "Hypothetical" new D1/D2 league south of Columbus
Lancaster is too big for the smaller schools in your league. They need to stay with the Picktowns. Groveport Madison should be the cut off size as far as students. Not for sure right off but Zanesville might be the smallest of these. I would put Sheridan in to replace Lancaster. Newark is right behind Groveport and could go either way at anytime.MORBaseball wrote: ↑Wed Nov 15, 2017 12:14 pm In another thread people were discussing Logan not having a league affiliation and it got me thinking about the possibilities of a new D1/D2 league south of Columbus. I would love to see a league such as this....
Lancaster
Logan
Teays Valley
Hamilton Township
Groveport Madison
Canal Winchester
Newark
Zanesville
Logan is a big school but doesn't have the athletes and can't compete with similar size schools from the Columbus area. TV and HT are too big for the Mid-State League. Lancaster, Groverport, Canal Winchester, and Newark are not the same caliber D1/D2 schools as the other OCC schools. Throwing Zanesville in there would create some good rivalries with Newark and Lancaster.
If this "pretend" league would ever look to expand they could potentially add Tri-Valley, Athens, and possibly Chillicothe.
I think with a league like this every school would be competitive in all sports. I highly doubt anything like this will ever happen but it's fun to dream about it.
What say you?
GO LOGAN..The anti-Christ is among us
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Raider6309
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Re: "Hypothetical" new D1/D2 league south of Columbus
This obviously isn’t happening in any way shape or form...but I kinda like it for the most part
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CruiserChief95
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Re: "Hypothetical" new D1/D2 league south of Columbus
This isn't as far fetched an idea as you might think. I've heard that Logan has reached out to as many as 15 schools to possibly form a new league. I know this because Groveport was one of the schools contacted. Now of course schools would have to leave their own leagues, which would be more painful for some schools than others, but think about it for a second. I would call it the "Southeast Metro Athletic League". Kinda gives it that flavor of being attached to the "big city" of Columbus. Member schools off the top of my head would be Logan, Groveport, Hamilton Township, Sheridan, Canal Winchester, Teays Valley, Whitehall, Licking Heights, Newark and maybe Zanesville.
That would be a pretty darn good league, IMO. Outside of Zanesville, travel is pretty good and certainly no worse than some of the games in the OCC(Newark to anyone in the OCC). It would also be a very competitive league with old rivalries maintained and new ones built.
Now, I'm also realistic in that this may have been a hail mary by Logan to see what's out there and nothing will likely come of it. But, I do know this from living in Groveport. Being in the "mighty OCC" has done us NO favors. Getting our heads kicked in across the sports spectrum from the Picktowns, Grove City, Lancaster, Gahanna and Westerville schools gets old and a more competitive environment would be a welcome change.
That would be a pretty darn good league, IMO. Outside of Zanesville, travel is pretty good and certainly no worse than some of the games in the OCC(Newark to anyone in the OCC). It would also be a very competitive league with old rivalries maintained and new ones built.
Now, I'm also realistic in that this may have been a hail mary by Logan to see what's out there and nothing will likely come of it. But, I do know this from living in Groveport. Being in the "mighty OCC" has done us NO favors. Getting our heads kicked in across the sports spectrum from the Picktowns, Grove City, Lancaster, Gahanna and Westerville schools gets old and a more competitive environment would be a welcome change.
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CruiserChief95
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CruiserChief95
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Re: "Hypothetical" new D1/D2 league south of Columbus
Seems that the word is out now, per the LDN, that Logan is trying to form a new D1/D2 league of area schools. I personally think it is a great idea and hope that it can get past the meeting stages. What say you? and let's keep the conversation civil.
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CruiserChief95
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Re: "Hypothetical" new D1/D2 league south of Columbus
Last edited by CruiserChief95 on Thu Nov 30, 2017 9:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
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CruiserChief95
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Re: "Hypothetical" new D1/D2 league south of Columbus
LOGAN — Orphaned by the folding of the Southeastern Ohio Athletic League several months ago, Logan High School’s sports teams have been searching near and far for an athletic conference in which to participate.
With their quest to join an existing league having reached a standstill, LHS administrators have taken matters into their own hands and are looking at the possibility of forming a new athletic conference consisting of larger schools east and south of the Interstate 270 outerbelt.
LHS administrators met with representatives from Canal Winchester, Groveport, Lancaster, Mount Vernon, Newark, Reynoldsburg, Teays Valley and Zanesville high schools last week.
While all are currently members of other athletic conferences, all have expressed interest in continuing discussions about forming their own stand-alone league. All of said schools are from one-school districts.
More than half of them (Canal Winchester, Groveport, Lancaster, Newark and Reynoldsburg) are currently members of the Ohio Capital Conference, one of the nation’s largest high school leagues that currently has 31 members.
A fourth school from the Olentangy district will join the league in a couple years upon completion of a brand-new campus, which will match the conference’s all-time high-water mark of 32 members.
The OCC is currently dominated by multiple-school districts, with seven districts accounting for 20 members. Four schools (Central Crossing, Grove City, Franklin Heights and Westland) comprise the South-Western District, with three schools from Westerville (North, South and Central), Olentangy (Olentangy, Liberty and Orange), Dublin (Coffman, Jerome and Scioto), Hilliard (Davidson, Darby and Bradley) and two each from Pickerington (North and Central) and Worthington (Kilbourne and Thomas Worthington).
The other members are Gahanna, Marysville, Upper Arlington, Delaware, Big Walnut and New Albany.
Mount Vernon is a former OCC member and is now a member of the Ohio Cardinal Conference. Teays Valley is in the Mid-State League and Zanesville, once a member of the SEOAL, resides in the East Central Ohio League.
In a news release sent to local media Wednesday evening, the Logan-Hocking School District pointed out that, during the recent winter sports parent/athlete meeting, it was shared that the administration was in the process of sending letters to schools who might possibly be interested in forming a new league.
This came about after much discussion from a steering committee of LHS administrators and former Logan coaches Ron Janey, Dale Amyx and Jim Robinson.
“The committee brainstormed league opportunities and options and what actions should take place in moving forward in finding a league for our athletic teams,” it was said in the news release.
“From this discussion sparked the process when LHS sent a letter of inquiry to nearly 20 schools in central and southeastern Ohio to see if there was an interest in forming a new league and nearly half responded.”
If this new conference comes to pass — again, it’s only in the discussion stages, and the list of interested schools very well could fluctuate and even expand — it would be chock-full of great rivalries, good, solid competition in all sports and, for Logan teams, travel that would be much better than it ever was in the old SEOAL.
In football, Groveport, Lancaster, Newark and Reynoldsburg are currently Division I, Canal Winchester, Logan, Mount Vernon and Teays Valley are Division II, and Zanesville is Division III.
Logan already plays Teays Valley; Zanesville is back on the schedule this fall; Canal Winchester is Logan’s pre-season OHSAA Jamboree opponent, and the Chiefs have also played Lancaster, Newark and Reynoldsburg in recent seasons.
Eight of the nine schools are DI in all other sports. The exception is Zanesville, the smallest of the nine schools, which fluctuates between DI and DII. Reynoldsburg is the largest.
Except in a few cases for Logan, the southern-most school and Mount Vernon, located furthest to the north in Knox County, travel would not be an issue.
A check of Google Maps shows that, with the exception of Mount Vernon (70 miles), Logan’s longest trip would be roughly 50 miles and 70 minutes to Zanesville, which was one of Logan’s shortest treks during the three seasons ZHS was a member of the SEOAL.
Logan would have an average drive time of approximately 45 miles and 55 minutes… numbers that drop even more when excluding the trip to Mount Vernon.
In the release, the LHS administration went on to state that additional meetings will be held over the next few months to see if these schools and possibly others want to go ahead and form a league.
However, they also stressed that LHS is also still maintaining discussions with the Mid-State League, Licking County League and Muskingum Valley League about possible membership.
Logan is currently in its first full school year without an athletic conference since 1925, when the SEOAL was born.
SEOAL membership reached as many as 10 schools in 2007 but gradually dwindled by one school nearly every season before Jackson departed for the Frontier Athletic Conference after the 2016-17 school year. That brought membership down to just Logan and Warren and ended the league after a 92-year run.
Like Logan, Warren also does not have a full-time conference but does participate in the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference, a 50-school league in eastern Ohio and western West Virginia that plays loose schedules with other members and declares its champions on a points basis and not via round-robin or double round-robin schedules.
The only Logan teams who currently play a league schedule are the boys and girls bowling teams, who participate in both the South Central Ohio Bowling Conference and the First Capital Conference.
With their quest to join an existing league having reached a standstill, LHS administrators have taken matters into their own hands and are looking at the possibility of forming a new athletic conference consisting of larger schools east and south of the Interstate 270 outerbelt.
LHS administrators met with representatives from Canal Winchester, Groveport, Lancaster, Mount Vernon, Newark, Reynoldsburg, Teays Valley and Zanesville high schools last week.
While all are currently members of other athletic conferences, all have expressed interest in continuing discussions about forming their own stand-alone league. All of said schools are from one-school districts.
More than half of them (Canal Winchester, Groveport, Lancaster, Newark and Reynoldsburg) are currently members of the Ohio Capital Conference, one of the nation’s largest high school leagues that currently has 31 members.
A fourth school from the Olentangy district will join the league in a couple years upon completion of a brand-new campus, which will match the conference’s all-time high-water mark of 32 members.
The OCC is currently dominated by multiple-school districts, with seven districts accounting for 20 members. Four schools (Central Crossing, Grove City, Franklin Heights and Westland) comprise the South-Western District, with three schools from Westerville (North, South and Central), Olentangy (Olentangy, Liberty and Orange), Dublin (Coffman, Jerome and Scioto), Hilliard (Davidson, Darby and Bradley) and two each from Pickerington (North and Central) and Worthington (Kilbourne and Thomas Worthington).
The other members are Gahanna, Marysville, Upper Arlington, Delaware, Big Walnut and New Albany.
Mount Vernon is a former OCC member and is now a member of the Ohio Cardinal Conference. Teays Valley is in the Mid-State League and Zanesville, once a member of the SEOAL, resides in the East Central Ohio League.
In a news release sent to local media Wednesday evening, the Logan-Hocking School District pointed out that, during the recent winter sports parent/athlete meeting, it was shared that the administration was in the process of sending letters to schools who might possibly be interested in forming a new league.
This came about after much discussion from a steering committee of LHS administrators and former Logan coaches Ron Janey, Dale Amyx and Jim Robinson.
“The committee brainstormed league opportunities and options and what actions should take place in moving forward in finding a league for our athletic teams,” it was said in the news release.
“From this discussion sparked the process when LHS sent a letter of inquiry to nearly 20 schools in central and southeastern Ohio to see if there was an interest in forming a new league and nearly half responded.”
If this new conference comes to pass — again, it’s only in the discussion stages, and the list of interested schools very well could fluctuate and even expand — it would be chock-full of great rivalries, good, solid competition in all sports and, for Logan teams, travel that would be much better than it ever was in the old SEOAL.
In football, Groveport, Lancaster, Newark and Reynoldsburg are currently Division I, Canal Winchester, Logan, Mount Vernon and Teays Valley are Division II, and Zanesville is Division III.
Logan already plays Teays Valley; Zanesville is back on the schedule this fall; Canal Winchester is Logan’s pre-season OHSAA Jamboree opponent, and the Chiefs have also played Lancaster, Newark and Reynoldsburg in recent seasons.
Eight of the nine schools are DI in all other sports. The exception is Zanesville, the smallest of the nine schools, which fluctuates between DI and DII. Reynoldsburg is the largest.
Except in a few cases for Logan, the southern-most school and Mount Vernon, located furthest to the north in Knox County, travel would not be an issue.
A check of Google Maps shows that, with the exception of Mount Vernon (70 miles), Logan’s longest trip would be roughly 50 miles and 70 minutes to Zanesville, which was one of Logan’s shortest treks during the three seasons ZHS was a member of the SEOAL.
Logan would have an average drive time of approximately 45 miles and 55 minutes… numbers that drop even more when excluding the trip to Mount Vernon.
In the release, the LHS administration went on to state that additional meetings will be held over the next few months to see if these schools and possibly others want to go ahead and form a league.
However, they also stressed that LHS is also still maintaining discussions with the Mid-State League, Licking County League and Muskingum Valley League about possible membership.
Logan is currently in its first full school year without an athletic conference since 1925, when the SEOAL was born.
SEOAL membership reached as many as 10 schools in 2007 but gradually dwindled by one school nearly every season before Jackson departed for the Frontier Athletic Conference after the 2016-17 school year. That brought membership down to just Logan and Warren and ended the league after a 92-year run.
Like Logan, Warren also does not have a full-time conference but does participate in the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference, a 50-school league in eastern Ohio and western West Virginia that plays loose schedules with other members and declares its champions on a points basis and not via round-robin or double round-robin schedules.
The only Logan teams who currently play a league schedule are the boys and girls bowling teams, who participate in both the South Central Ohio Bowling Conference and the First Capital Conference.
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formerfcfan
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Re: "Hypothetical" new D1/D2 league south of Columbus
Logan to the MSL just took a hit yesterday. Effective 2019, Harvest Prep is playing in the Ohio Division for football only. Even though it is an interdivisional move, it is in essence a new addition to the Buckeye/Ohio scheduling situation. One less spot in potential expansions.
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formerfcfan
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Re: "Hypothetical" new D1/D2 league south of Columbus
On the proposed league, thoughts:
Lancaster, Newark and most likely Reynoldsburg will be a package deal. I don’t see them leaving the OCC.
Lancaster, Newark and most likely Reynoldsburg will be a package deal. I don’t see them leaving the OCC.
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Sportfan97
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Re: "Hypothetical" new D1/D2 league south of Columbus
Being a long time Lancaster fan I can say that they will probably seriously consider a league like mentioned in the article. Groveport, Canal Winchester, Teays valley, Newark, and Logan are all schools that Lancaster regularly schedules games against in many of their sports.
Lancaster’s current conference consists of the following
Pickerington Central
Pickerington North
Gahanna Lincoln
Reynoldsburg
Grove City
All Columbus suburb schools with rosters consistently filled with D1 college prospects in all sports. Lancaster has more in common with the Logan, Newark, Zanesville..etc. than they do with most of the above listed schools.
The Lancaster AD would definitely take historical ticket revenues into consideration and see that football and basketball ticket sales are significantly higher for a Logan game than say a Gahanna Lincoln game. Old timers (myself included) would love seeing historic conference rivals newark and Zanesville back back in the same league as Lancaster. Travel time for all sports grades 7-12 would be greatly reduced saving the school money.
Lancaster’s current conference consists of the following
Pickerington Central
Pickerington North
Gahanna Lincoln
Reynoldsburg
Grove City
All Columbus suburb schools with rosters consistently filled with D1 college prospects in all sports. Lancaster has more in common with the Logan, Newark, Zanesville..etc. than they do with most of the above listed schools.
The Lancaster AD would definitely take historical ticket revenues into consideration and see that football and basketball ticket sales are significantly higher for a Logan game than say a Gahanna Lincoln game. Old timers (myself included) would love seeing historic conference rivals newark and Zanesville back back in the same league as Lancaster. Travel time for all sports grades 7-12 would be greatly reduced saving the school money.
Re: "Hypothetical" new D1/D2 league south of Columbus
Just my opinion but I see this league will happen.
Lancaster
Logan
Zanesville
Newark
Canal Winchester
Hamilton Twp
Teays Valley
Groveport
I see no downside to it. Yes Hamilton Twp and Teays Valley will have to overcome getting out of the Mid State League but they are the Big Dogs (Enrollment wise) in a league that will probably have to end up going to 2 Divisions with 10 or 11 schools in each Division.
Lancaster, Newark and Groveport will have to get to point that the OCC is now a league of Massive schools districts with multiple high schools that allows open enrollment within the districts and allows transfers within the districts.
Zanesville will still be able to keep ECOL rivals with Dover, New Philly, Marietta and Cambridge by scheduling non league with them.
Logan will be competing with schools of like size.
The OCC will survive fine with Pickerington (2 schools), Westerville (3 schools), Olentangy (4 schools), Dublin (2 schools), Hilliard (3 schools), Southwest City (4 schools), and Worthington (2 schools) all going no where. Delaware and Marysville are kinda stuck-much like Logan does not have many options. Gahanna and Reynoldsburg size wise is not a good fit and will increase its travel times- stay in OCC. Big Walnut could either stay or jump to Mid Ohio Athletic Conference- this would be a option for Delaware if they wanted out of OCC.
New Albany would be a good fit for the new conference but travel times would increase and may keep them in the OCC.
What could happen when this league happen
Mid State League would go to 18 schools- leaving a possible 3 Divisions of 6 teams. Or this would be time Circleville, Logan Elm jump to Frontier Athletic Conference. Then Mid State could go to 2 8 teams Divisons.
OCC would go to 3 or 4 Divisions.
Lancaster
Logan
Zanesville
Newark
Canal Winchester
Hamilton Twp
Teays Valley
Groveport
I see no downside to it. Yes Hamilton Twp and Teays Valley will have to overcome getting out of the Mid State League but they are the Big Dogs (Enrollment wise) in a league that will probably have to end up going to 2 Divisions with 10 or 11 schools in each Division.
Lancaster, Newark and Groveport will have to get to point that the OCC is now a league of Massive schools districts with multiple high schools that allows open enrollment within the districts and allows transfers within the districts.
Zanesville will still be able to keep ECOL rivals with Dover, New Philly, Marietta and Cambridge by scheduling non league with them.
Logan will be competing with schools of like size.
The OCC will survive fine with Pickerington (2 schools), Westerville (3 schools), Olentangy (4 schools), Dublin (2 schools), Hilliard (3 schools), Southwest City (4 schools), and Worthington (2 schools) all going no where. Delaware and Marysville are kinda stuck-much like Logan does not have many options. Gahanna and Reynoldsburg size wise is not a good fit and will increase its travel times- stay in OCC. Big Walnut could either stay or jump to Mid Ohio Athletic Conference- this would be a option for Delaware if they wanted out of OCC.
New Albany would be a good fit for the new conference but travel times would increase and may keep them in the OCC.
What could happen when this league happen
Mid State League would go to 18 schools- leaving a possible 3 Divisions of 6 teams. Or this would be time Circleville, Logan Elm jump to Frontier Athletic Conference. Then Mid State could go to 2 8 teams Divisons.
OCC would go to 3 or 4 Divisions.
Re: "Hypothetical" new D1/D2 league south of Columbus
Newark
Zanesville
Logan
Canal
Teays Valley
Groveport
This is all that is need for a start
Zanesville
Logan
Canal
Teays Valley
Groveport
This is all that is need for a start
GO LOGAN..The anti-Christ is among us