The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Competitive Balance era begins with fall sports
And so the Competitive Balance era begins.
On April 6, the Ohio High School Athletic Association announced new divisional breakdowns for the upcoming fall sports season, which include for the first time Competitive Balance rules that impact football, boys soccer, girls soccer and volleyball.
Division assignments are based on school enrollment numbers provided by the Ohio Department of Education, and then modified in football, volleyball and soccer based on Competitive Balance factors that OHSAA member schools approved by referendum vote in 2014.
Winter sports divisional breakdowns will be presented to the OHSAA board in June, with spring sports being presented in August.
“This is a journey that we have been on for more than eight years to get to this point,” Dr. Dan Ross, OHSAA commissioner, said. “Today’s approval of the fall sports divisional breakdowns is the result of countless hours of work by our staff and our member schools. For the first time in OHSAA history, enrollment isn’t the only factor in determining a school’s division in certain sports. But the journey isn’t over. We will study the results of this first go-around and discuss with the Competitive Balance Committee and the board.”
Of the 718 schools that play football in Ohio, 75 schools moved up to a higher division due to competitive balance and/or a higher base enrollment number. In volleyball (790 schools), 51 moved up a division. In girls soccer (522 schools), 24 moved up a division, while in boys soccer (571 schools), 30 moved up a division.
According to Competitive Balance regulations, the previous season’s roster data (grades 9-12) is used for affecting the following season’s additional roster count in the selected sports. The additional roster count is added to the school’s base enrollment number to determine the final adjusted enrollment count before divisional placements are made.
“The committee studied the competitive balance factors and we listened to the feedback from our member schools,” Ross said, noting that the first three Competitive Balance Proposals were voted down by the membership in 2011, 2012 and 2013. “As we’ve said all along, our goal is to keep public and non-public schools together in the same postseason divisions, but Competitive Balance will help place those schools in the correct division based on the makeup of their roster.”
Locally, the impact was minimal, with two football teams, two volleyball and one each of boys and girls soccer shifting.
• Football: Lutheran West moves up from Division V to Division IV, while Wellington drops from Division V to Division VI.
• Volleyball: Rocky River drops from Division I to Division II, while Elyria Catholic drops from Division II to Division III.
• Boys soccer: Lutheran West moves up from Division III to Division II.
• Girls soccer: Elyria Catholic drops from Division II to Division III.
While six team are shifting, only the Lutheran West football and boys soccer teams are listed as changing division due to Competitive Balance. The other four teams are listed as changing due to enrollment figures, but the OHSAA notes that any team changing due to enrollment figures could also be shifted due to Competitive Balance.
That is not something that Longhorns football coach Frank Petroff is going to worry about, though.
“It is what it is,” Petroff said. “It’s something out of our hands. We moved up, but we could have also moved down. There’s nothing we can do about it. All we can do is worry about winning games, the same as every year.”
Petroff said that while the jump in divisions at first seems jarring, it really is not. As a member of the Patriot Athletic Conference, seven of the 10 regular season games are locked in, and with most teams locking in nonconference opponents for multiple year deals, 2017 is going to feel like any other season.
“So we’re D-IV and Wellington is D-VI now, that’s only a change in number,” Petroff said. “Each team still has the same people. The running back we faced last year, he’s still there. Same goes for the quarterback. Just because divisions change, it does not mean that the personnel change.”