MANSFIELD — North central Ohio’s four biggest high schools will all compete in the same computer points region during the upcoming football season.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association recently released its divisional breakdowns and regional alignments for the 2019-20 school year and while no ground-shaking developments were unveiled, there were a couple of changes that will effect the local landscape.
The biggest shake-up for area fans is that perennial playoff qualifier Ashland will join Mansfield Senior, Madison and Lexington in Region 10 of Division III. The Arrows competed in Division II, Region 7 the past two years.
Ashland’s 2019 adjusted football enrollment, which takes into account base enrollment reported by each school to the Ohio Department of Education and competitive balance adjustment, is 369. The cutoff for Division III is 375.
The Arrows will join Madison (370), Mansfield Senior (318) and Lexington (296) in Region 10. The region is comprised of 27 schools in the northwestern part of the state and includes the Cleveland-area schools that fit the enrollment criteria.
Crawford County will see a slight shake-up as Wynford moves up from Division VI to Division V, while Bucyrus drops from Division V to Division VI. The Royals will compete in Region 18 of Division V with the likes of defending Division V state champ Orrville. The Redmen will be in Region 22 of Division VI, which will also include Mapleton. The Mounties moved up to Division VI after qualifying for the Division VII playoffs last year.
Other changes of interest to local fans occurred within Division VII. Lucas, which has been to the playoffs each of the past five years and was Region 27 runner-up last fall, has been relocated to Region 25. Lucas sits at the junction of three small-school regions encompassing the southeast, northeast and northwest portions of the state and has been grouped in with schools from those regions during its current playoff run. Region 25 includes schools from northeast Ohio and Lucas is among the most westerly school in the region.
Plymouth, which was in Region 25 last year, has been shifted to Region 26 is comprised of northwest Ohio schools and includes defending Division VII state champ McComb.
The 2019 football season will begin the week of Aug. 26.
