COLUMBUS – New divisional breakdowns for the upcoming fall sports of football, volleyball and soccer were approved by the Ohio High School Athletic Association Board of Directors during its January meeting last Thursday. The 2018-19 school year will mark the second school year competitive balance roster data is used in football, volleyball, soccer, basketball, softball and baseball.
The board also approved a modification to the business rules for competitive balance, removing the previous regulation that allowed a school to move up only one division due to competitive balance. As a result, two schools in football moved up two divisions.
There was virtually no movement with local teams in the new division assignment. The only team affected was Fairland who moves up to join Gallipolis in Division IV.
Teams in Division V in football include Ironton, Rock Hill, Chesapeake, South Point and Portsmouth.
Fairland moves up to Div. IV in football and joins Gallipolis. Coal Grove remains in Div. VI while Symmes Valley is in Div. VII again.
The 2018-19 school year will mark the second year of a two-year cycle for using base enrollment data provided by the Ohio Department of Education. Every year for those sports affected by competitive balance, sport-specific roster data from the previous season is used to modify the enrollment data in those sports based on factors that OHSAA member schools approved by referendum vote in 2014.
The lists linked below contain the schools that were registered to qualify for the 2017 tournaments. They are not the final list of schools that are competing in 2018. The list of schools participating within each division could change prior to the 2018 tournaments, including both deletions (schools that are not playing in 2018 or suspended) or additions (new schools opening or consolidations, etc.).
“Competitive Balance continues to be a journey we are all on together,” Dr. Dan Ross, OHSAA Executive Director, said. “The early approval of the 2018 fall sports divisional breakdowns is the result of countless hours of work by our staff and our member schools. The competitive balance committee continues to meet and study the process and the results, and we continue to receive feedback from our member schools.”
For a list of fall sports and their division assignments, use the following links:
2018 Football Divisional Assignments:
http://www.ohsaa.org/Sports-Tournaments/Football/Football-2018
2018 regions and playoff format will be announced in May.
2018 Volleyball Divisional Assignments:
http://www.ohsaa.org/Sports-Tournaments/Volleyball/Volleyball-2018
2018 Soccer Divisional Assignments:
http://www.ohsaa.org/Sports-Tournaments/Soccer/Soccer-2018