ONTARIO — The tournament trail got a little rockier for the Warriors.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association released its divisional and regional alignments for the 2025 football season Thursday and the biggest local storyline involves Ontario.
The Warriors will move up to Division III after reaching the Division IV, Region 14 championship game last fall.
Ontario reported a male enrollment of 241 boys in grades nine through 11 as of October 2023. That number alone would land the Warriors comfortably in Division IV. Ontario’s competitive balance number of 29 bumps Ontario’s adjusted football enrollment to 270, three above the cutoff for Division IV.
According to the OHSA, competitive balance was voted into place by the OHSAA member schools in May 2014.
“Competitive Balance is a process which makes modifications to how schools are placed
into tournament divisions in the team sports of baseball, basketball, football, soccer, softball and volleyball. The modifications are based on which students are actually on each respective roster. The roster data collection takes place in ArbiterGame within the ‘Students’ tab, and the data is entered by each respective athletic administrator or his/her designee. There is a window either near or after the conclusion of each season when roster data is required to be entered and a deadline date when all roster data must be received. Failure to submit roster data may result in penalties as determined by the OHSAA. Refusal to submit roster data or falsification of roster data may result in removal from the OHSAA tournament,” according to the OHSAA.
(Below is a PDF explaining the OHSAA Competitive Balance rule.)
Ontario will slot into Region 10 of Division III, along with Mansfield Senior, Madison and Lexington. The Warriors competed in the Division III playoffs in 2022 and 2023 before dropping to Division IV last year. The Warriors fell to eventual Division IV state runner-up Sandusky Perkins 28-21 in the Region 14 championship game.
Shelby, Clear Fork and Galion all remain in Region 14. All three teams advanced to the playoffs last fall.
There was a major regional shake-up for area schools in the small-school divisions.
Crestview moved to Region 23 of Division VI from Region 22. Crestview is the northernmost school in Region 23, which runs through the southeast part of the state to the Ohio River.
Likewise, Lucas and Crestline find themselves in a new region after reaching the playoffs in the rugged Region 25 of Division VII. The Cubs and Bulldogs shifted to Region 27, which encompasses the southeast part of the state. Crestline is the northernmost and westernmost school in Region 27, which now also includes defending Division VII state runner-up Hillsdale.