OHSAA announces fall sports divisions

The era of Competitive Balance in the Ohio High School Athletic Association has officially begun.

The OHSAA on April 6 announced new divisional breakdowns for the upcoming fall sports season, which for the first time will includes Competitive Balance data for football, volleyball and both boys and girls soccer.

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 nonpublic 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. We are very pleased that this is now off the ground and we can see the results. We’ll continue to gather feedback and see what changes, if any, the committee wants to propose to the membership to vote on in the future.”

Locally, the biggest shift will be felt in football, where nine of the NewsHerald area’s 30 schools will be moving divisions through the Competitive Balance measure. That list includes:

• Lake Catholic and Benedictine: move up from Division III to Division II.

• Chardon and Chagrin Falls: move down from Division II to Division III.

• West Geauga: moves from Division III to Division IV.

• Hawken: moves from Division V to Division IV.

• VASJ and Gilmour: move from Division VI to Division V.

• Richmond Heights: moves from Division VI to Division II.

Two volleyball teams will have new divisional homes next year, with Hawken moving up to Division II and Fairport Harbor moving up to Division III.

In girls soccer, NDCL and Geneva both move up to Division I, while Gilmour and Hawken move up to Division II. Beachwood drops from Division II to Division III.

In boys soccer, both University and Lake Catholic are bumped up to Division I, while Chardon goes down to Division II and VASJ goes from Division III to Division II.