SHELBY – High school athletes in Shelby may end up competing in three different conferences in three years as Shelby prepares to move yet again, this time to the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference.
The move was announced at the Shelby Board of Education meeting on Monday evening, when the district accepted an invitation to join the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference (MOAC) at the earliest reasonable date. The district will subsequently withdraw from the Sandusky Bay Conference (SBC), where it will compete during the upcoming 2017-18 school year.
A timeline for joining the MOAC will be determined at a later date.
According to Superintendent Tim Tarvin, the invitation to the MOAC came after North Union notified the conference it would be moving to the Central Buckeye Conference (CBC). North Union joins London in moving to the CBC, bringing that league up to 12 teams.
“That took the MOAC down from eight schools to seven,” Tarvin said. “We’ve had prior conversations with folks of the MOAC, and we have contacted the Sandusky Bay Conference and they are aware of our actions.”
Two years ago, Shelby applied for membership to the MOAC. The Whippets were looking for a landing spot after the 70-year Northern Ohio League (NOL) disbanded following the 2016-17 school year. Six of the seven NOL members, including Shelby, were extended invitations to join the SBC.
The SBC expanded to a 15-member, two-division format for the 2016-17 school year when the short-lived Sandusky River League (SRL) ceased operation. All six SRL schools, along with Tiffin Calvert of the Toledo Area Athletic Conference and independent Vermilion, moved to the SBC.
When the Northern Ohio League schools come on board, the Sandusky Bay Conference will boost its membership to 21 and add a third division for the 2017-18 school year. Each division features seven schools based on enrollment.
The seventh NOL member, Ontario, accepted an offer to join the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference in the fall of 2017. Ohio Cardinal Conference (OCC) member Clear Fork also is headed to the MOAC for the 2017-18 school year, not long after the OCC decided to vote Clear Fork out of the conference at the conclusion of the 2017-18 school year.
The MOAC originally had 16 members divided into two eight-team divisions, until 10 of those schools announced they would leave the conference. The addition of Shelby brings the MOAC’s membership back to a more manageable eight schools, joining MOAC Red Division members Ontario, Clear Fork, Galion, Marion Harding, Marion Pleasant, River Valley and Buckeye Valley.
“We found the two-division, eight-team set-up was not as cohesive,” MOAC commissioner Terry Williams told Richland Source in March 2016.
The upcoming 2017-18 school year is the first and perhaps only year that Shelby will play in the SBC. A timeline for joining the MOAC will depend on how London and North Union fit into the schedules of the CBC, and subsequently, how Shelby fits into the schedule of the MOAC, which could be either in 2018-19 or 2019-20.
“I told the commissioner of the MOAC that I would have a conversation with him later this week to let him know how the board meeting went, and to see how they would like us to proceed with regard to scheduling and how soon we can join, because that has yet to be determined,” Tarvin said.
The biggest reason for moving to the MOAC was location, Tarvin said. The travel time to most schools in the SBC would be at least an hour, making late returns during the school nights a challenge.
“We appreciate the fact that the Sandusky Bay Conference gave us an opportunity to be in that conference, they have some great schools and great relationships, no question about it,” Tarvin said. “But we have to always consider what’s in the best interest of our kids, our teams and our organizations.”
Joining the MOAC also provides the opportunity to rekindle longstanding relationships and traditions with neighboring schools, particularly Galion and Ontario.
“We’re talking about still being in a very competitive, balanced league by going to the MOAC and we give our kids and parents and community more of an opportunity to attend these events because of their proximity,” Tarvin said.
The Board of Education expressed their support for joining the MOAC, but also voiced a need for some consistency in the future.
“I do believe we’re going to be with a group that is pretty solid; there could be one or two tweaks in the future but I think for the most part we’re done,” said Shelby High School Principal John Gies. “It’s just hard to imagine we spent 70 years in one league, and now all of a sudden we’ll be in two leagues in two years.”
“We feel good about everything we’ve heard from folks at the MOAC, they’re thrilled to have us and we’re thrilled to be going to them,” added Tarvin. “Hopefully it’s a cohesive, long-standing arrangement for everybody.”
