(This story is the second in a series explaining the recent Ohio high school conference shake-up. Click here for part one.)
MOUNT VERNON — Mount Vernon wasn’t looking for a new conference home. But the Licking County League’s offer was too good to again refuse.
The LCL’s years-long courtship of Mount Vernon culminated in late-November when the school board accepted an invitation to join the league beginning with the 2024-25 school year.
The announcement means the Ohio Cardinal Conference, which has been Mount Vernon’s home since the fall of 2016, is again looking for an eighth member after welcoming New Philadelphia at the start of the 2022-23 school year.
Mount Vernon has been a target of the LCL dating to its departure from the suburban Columbus Ohio Capital Conference for the Ohio Cardinal Conference in 2016.
The LCL approached Mount Vernon again about three years ago, but athletic director Justin Sanford said the timing wasn’t right then.
“This goes all the way back, prior to my time (at Mount Vernon) and prior to Mount Vernon joining the Ohio Cardinal Conference. The LCL was in the mix, but at the time it just wasn’t right for Mount Vernon,” said Sanford, who is in his seventh year at Mount Vernon after spending 13 years as the AD at Gahanna Lincoln.
“The fit was better in the OCC with Clear Fork and Lexington being there, but as soon as we got in, Clear Fork left.
“About three years ago, the LCL approached us again. They were looking to expand into a big-school and small-school set-up. We entertained the conversations but it seemed like things were progressing toward some sort of expansion with the OCC.
“At the time, Zanesville was not a member of (the LCL), so they had an odd number of schools. We didn’t want to leave a conference with an odd number to go to a conference with an odd number. It just didn’t make sense.”
New Philadelphia accepted an invitation to become the Ohio Cardinal Conference’s eighth member in the spring of 2020. The move took effect at the onset of the current school year.
Meanwhile, Zanesville, which had been a member of the East Central Ohio League with New Philadelphia, joined the LCL for the 2020-21 school year.
The Licking County League had more to offer during its most recent sales pitch. Mount Vernon will be the 12th member in what has grown into a two-division league based on enrollment. Mount Vernon will slot into the big-school Buckeye Division along with Licking Heights, Watkins Memorial, Zanesville, Granville and Licking Valley.
“When the LCL approached us again, they had the pieces in place that weren’t there in our previous conversations,” Sanford said. “There would be an even number of teams and there would be cross-overs with the (small-school) division, which wasn’t on the table previously. Our furthest trip will be to Zanesville, which is 40 miles. Everything else will be between 20 and 30 miles.”
‘A Seat at the Table’
Travel was only one piece of the puzzle. Mount Vernon is a member of the Central District, but only plays a handful of regular season games each year against fellow Central District members. When it comes time to hand out postseason awards, Mount Vernon often goes under-represented on all-district teams.
“Our coaches sit at the table of the Central District meetings. They’re trying to get our kids recognized and you look around the room and we’ve played two of the 48 schools in the district. That means there are two or three coaches that have even seen our kids play,” Sanford said. “It’s hard for us to gain recognition for our kids when those schools don’t see us on a consistent basis.
“We’re hopeful that getting in with schools in the Central District, we’ll have some more advocates at the table when it comes time for our kids to get some recognition.”
X Factor
Perhaps the biggest factor in Mount Vernon’s decision to join the LCL is one nobody knows exactly how to account for in central Ohio.
Intel, the California-based semiconductor chip manufacturing company, broke ground on its $20 billion Licking County campus in September. The project is expected to create 20,000 jobs directly or indirectly and chip production should begin by 2025.
While Licking County will see the greatest impact from Intel’s arrival, officials expect significant spill-over into Knox County.
“It’s getting real now,” Mount Vernon Mayor Matt Starr said of Intel’s impact on the city’s economy during the time of the ground-breaking ceremony. “We know that because people are looking for homes. Families (are) looking for homes for their kids. Mount Vernon is positioned quite (well) to offer that.”
While it’s too early to tell if a Mount Vernon population boom is on the way, all signs point to it.
“Since the announcement of Intel, there are proposed and projected 1,000 new homes (to be built) in the Mount Vernon district,” Sanford said. “There’s no telling who is going to move in. Do they have families with kids who already are school-aged? Or are they younger families or single people? We just don’t know yet.
“What we do know is there is a significant amount of home constructions being proposed and even if a quarter of those new homes are filled by families that have school-aged children, it’s going to impact our district, whether at the elementary level or the middle school and high school levels.”