MANSFIELD — The high school football landscape will look a little different this fall, especially in Ashland County.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association on Friday released its new divisional and regional assignments for the 2020 football season. Richland County was spared from the reshuffling, but three Ashland County schools will have new regional homes in the fall.
Hillsdale and Loudonville will change regions in Division VI, while Mapleton will drop from Division VI to Division VII.
There are more than 700 football-playing schools in the state and they are divided into seven divisions based on enrollment. Within each enrollment division, there are four geographical regions. The top eight teams in each of the 28 regions qualify for the playoffs.
Hillsdale, which has become one of the premier small-school programs in north central Ohio, will move from Region 22 to Region 21 in Division VI. The Falcons reached the Region 22 semifinals each of the past two years and qualified for the Region 22 finals in 2017. Region 22 is made up primarily of northwest Ohio schools, while Region 21 is comprised of schools in the Northeast part of the state.
Loudonville, which like backyard rival Hillsdale was a member of Region 22, will move to Region 23 of Division VI. Region 23 includes the southeast portion of the state.
Mapleton, which was previously a member of Division VI, Region 22 along with Hillsdale and Loudonville, dropped an enrollment division and is now in Division VII, the smallest division in the state. The Mounties were place in Region 25, which encompasses the northeast part of the state.
For north central Ohio’s four biggest high schools, it’s business as usual. Mansfield Senior, Madison, Lexington and Ashland will again call Division III, Region 10 home. Senior High won the regional title last fall and advanced to the Division III state championship game before falling in overtime to Trotwood-Madison.
There was some movement in Region 10 which could have playoff implications. Perennial power Cleveland Glenville, which was in Division II as recently as 2016, dropped from Division III, Region 10 to Division IV, Region 13. Glenville, which qualified for the Region 10 playoffs last fall, was the Division II state runner-up in 2013 and Division I state runner-up in 2009.
Ontario, Shelby, Clear Fork and Galion will again be in Division IV, Region 14. Shelby reached the regional semifinals last fall before falling to eventual Division IV state champ Clyde.
The biggest news coming out of Region 14 is that Ottawa-Glandorf, which beat Galion in the regional quarterfinals last fall, will drop to Division V, Region 18.
Wynford is still the area’s lone Division V school and will again call Region 18 home. In Division VI, Crestview, Colonel Crawford and Bucyrus are still in Region 22. In Division VII, reigning state runner-up Lucas is again in Region 25. Plymouth, Crestline and Buckeye Central are still in Region 26.
The 2020-21 school year is the second year of a two-year cycle using base enrollment figures provided by the Ohio Department of Education in the fall of 2018. A new two-year cycle of base enrollment numbers will begin with the 2021-22 school year.
