2015-16 Divisions

[4thgoal]

I was looking through the new enrollment numbers and seeing what teams may be changing divisions this fall. There are actually several.

Boys Teams Moving to D3 from D2
Northwest
Minford

Chillicothe boys drop from D1 back down to D2
Portsmouth West boys move from D3 to D2
Zane Trace boys move from D3 to D2

Girls Teams Moving to D3 from D2
Zane Trace
Westfall

Waverly's new girls team will be D2

[goUK]

Gallia Academy is on the brink of a major change. With playing in the ovc and dropping to D3 they will have much more success.

[4thgoal]

Gallia Academy is on the brink of a major change. With playing in the ovc and dropping to D3 they will have much more success.

Hopefully they keep some of the tougher games. I agree that not facing Athens, Warren, etc. in the tournament should allow them much more success. Dumping all of the larger schools for games that they can easily win will not help the program advance. With only 4 teams having soccer, will the OVC recognize soccer as a sport that will have a league champion?

[jinks]

What are the four teams in the OVC?

[4thgoal]

What are the four teams in the OVC?

South Point, Fairland, Chesapeake and Gallia Academy

[4thgoal]

Also, if Rock Hill is starting a junior high team, they could soon be the 5th OVC team

[Pedro]

I don't see Gallia Academy moving down in the boys division. They have 225 boys and last cycle cutoff was 200 for D3. Also, South Point with 193 boys plus 15 from the STEM group puts them over 200. I would be surprised to see them move to D3. We'll see when OHSAA post the final tournament divisions. I heard that with 4 teams that soccer will be recognized as a league sport in the OVC. This will eliminate the Lawrence County Cup.

[cghs82]

I don't see Gallia Academy moving down in the boys division. They have 225 boys and last cycle cutoff was 200 for D3. Also, South Point with 193 boys plus 15 from the STEM group puts them over 200. I would be surprised to see them move to D3. We'll see when OHSAA post the final tournament divisions. I heard that with 4 teams that soccer will be recognized as a league sport in the OVC. This will eliminate the Lawrence County Cup.

I don't think the OVC having soccer as a league sport will eliminate the Lawrance County Cup. Right now, an OVC conference schedule would be double round robin, which would only be 6 games of the maximum 15 games a team can play. Adding St. Joe for 2 games a season covers 8 games of the maximum 15 games, and St. Joe is independent so they will be flexible in scheduling. Even if Rock Hill adds Soccer and becomes the 5th OVC Soccer team, the Lawrence County Cup wouldn't be in any jeopardy. There would still be 5 games (7 without Rock Hill) left to schedule non-conference/league for the Lawrence County OVC teams.

[cghs82]

I don't see Gallia Academy moving down in the boys division. They have 225 boys and last cycle cutoff was 200 for D3. Also, South Point with 193 boys plus 15 from the STEM group puts them over 200. I would be surprised to see them move to D3. We'll see when OHSAA post the final tournament divisions. I heard that with 4 teams that soccer will be recognized as a league sport in the OVC. This will eliminate the Lawrence County Cup.

I don't think the OVC having soccer as a league sport will eliminate the Lawrance County Cup. Right now, an OVC conference schedule would be double round robin, which would only be 6 games of the maximum 15 games a team can play. Adding St. Joe for 2 games a season covers 8 games of the maximum 15 games, and St. Joe is independent so they will be flexible in scheduling. Even if Rock Hill adds Soccer and becomes the 5th OVC Soccer team, the Lawrence County Cup wouldn't be in any jeopardy. There would still be 5 games (7 without Rock Hill) left to schedule non-conference/league for the Lawrence County OVC teams.

Plus it gives St. Joe's kids an opportunity to compete in a league even if it's only in soccer, and if I remember right, Gallia Academy doesn't have Girls Soccer so the Lawrence County Cup will definitely have to stay around for Girls Soccer since there would only be 3 OVC girls soccer teams.

[4thgoal]

Actually the maximum games allowed is 16. Somehow I did miss the Gallia enrollment number. Either it changed after an appeal or maybe my eyes are failing me. I wonder if Portsmouth would ever establish high school soccer again? I know they have been trying to get their youth soccer program started back up. They could have a lot of flexibility in fields between the Coliseum, Spartan Stadium, and the SSU turf.

[cghs82]

Actually the maximum games allowed is 16. Somehow I did miss the Gallia enrollment number. Either it changed after an appeal or maybe my eyes are failing me. I wonder if Portsmouth would ever establish high school soccer again? I know they have been trying to get their youth soccer program started back up. They could have a lot of flexibility in fields between the Coliseum, Spartan Stadium, and the SSU turf.

Not sure why I was thinking 15 was maximum. And with Portsmouth's numbers, if they can get the players, it's possible they could have a boys team and girls team. And it would be nice to see Gallia get a girls team also if they can.

[EHSoccer]

OHSAA will officially release divisions on Tuesday. After some fairly extensive work, I project the division 3/2 cutoff to be 190. Gallia for sure gonna stay D2. South Pt is close. Northwest and Minford indeed appear to be D3.

[4thgoal]

What is your projected cutoff for girls?

[cghs82]

Well it's Tuesday and it's after 4 PM and still nothing on divisions yet as far as I know.

[4thgoal]

The new divisions are as follows:
Boys
D1 370 or more
D2 185-369
D3 184 or less

Girls
D1 352 or more
D2 184-351
D3 183 or less

http://www.ohsaa.org/members/sptdivis15.htm

[4thgoal]

The changes I have noted for this fall will be:

Minford boys move down to D3
Northwest boys move down to D3
Portsmouth West boys move up to D2
Zane Trace boys move up to D2
Zane Trace girls move down to D3

[marietta]

Looks like Chillicothe boys will drop back down to D2 as well.

Marietta girls will be D2 again. No more trips to the northeast.

[Bucknuts]

Just looking at Boys D2 with respect to SE Dst tourny divisions. Last year there were 18 teams, 9 assigned to North Division and 9 assigned South.

If I am interpreting divisions / teams correctly, Northwest and Minford (both from the South) drop to D3. That would leave 7 in the South Division.

Chillicothe, Portsmouth West and ZT move to D2. Portsmouth West would go South to fill one of the two spots. I would assume that ZT (just north of Chillicothe HS) would go north, bumping Waverly to the south.

That would put both the North and South at 9 teams, and Chillicothe HS still to be placed. I would think Chillicothe would be placed in the North with the other Ross County / Chillicothe teams (Unioto and ZT) but who knows.

That is assuming divisions are aligned North / South again.

I think East / West (using Rt 23 as a boundary) would produce nearly identical results. Waverly and Portsmouth West could go West with Logan Elm going East.

I am still for seeding all teams and doing away with North / South, etc...

[goUK]

Division 2 is so spread out. A lot of driving for even the first round. I think a neutral location would be best. When looking at a map, not sure where would be best. Piketon, rio grande and logan seem to be the only choices but are not convenient for all. Jackson would be best, i dont see them benefitting from home field because everyone is used to turf now.

[cghs82]

Looking at Girls Soccer, if I'm correct, both Division 2 and 3 now have 16 teams each. I wonder if the SEODAB will try to split each division's in southeastern Ohio district into 2 8-team georgraphical sectionals to hopefully cut down on sectional travel.

As for Boys Soccer in Division 2, I agree with Bucknuts on how to assign if North/South, but spreading teams from West Portsmouth to Marrieta is pretty ridiculous. I think the SEODAB should to go East/West for sectionals and this is what I came up with, which is similar to Bucknuts' idea.

West
SCHOOLS: CHILLICOTHE, HILLSBORO, MCCLAIN, MIAMI TRACE, PORTSMOUTH WEST, UNIOTO, WAVERLY WASHINGTON (WASHINGTON CH), ZANE TRACE. (9)

East
SCHOOLS: ATHENS, CIRCLEVILLE, FAIRFIELD UNION, FAIRLAND, GALLIA ACADEMY, JACKSON, LOGAN ELM, MARIETTA, SOUTH POINT, WARREN. (10)

I moved Circleville east along with Logan Elm mainly to keep conferences together (East: Marrieta, MSL, OVC, SEOAL; West: SCOL, SOC, SVC) though I could see them going West. Just an a thought.