Pop quiz time. What do the numbers 51-0, 41-14, 49-7 and 63-20 have in common?

Unless you’re a Howland fan, you’re probably stumped. They’re the scores from the Tigers’ victories over Struthers, Campbell, Salem and East Liverpool last season.

The All-American Conference starts this fall and its main purpose is to help correct the competitive imbalance that’s crept up in the Metro Athletic Conference and Trumbull Athletic Conference the past few years.

The top four teams in the MAC over the past two years — Howland, Canfield, Poland and Niles — went a combined 32-0 against the league’s other four teams: Salem, East Liverpool, Struthers and Campbell. Few of the scores were close.

Some of it (but not all of it) is due to enrollment size. Canfield, the biggest school, has more than twice as many boys in grades 10-12 as Campbell, the smallest school.

The TAC had a similar problem. Although the games were usually more competitive, the league’s four best teams over the past two years (Liberty, Hubbard, Lakeview and Girard) were a combined 29-3 against LaBrae, Brookfield, Champion and Newton Falls.

The AAC, like the two-tiered Inter Tri-County League, is designed to fix that.

The AAC breaks down like this: Canfield, Poland, Howland, Niles and Beaver Local compete in the Red Tier, which features the biggest schools. Hubbard, Struthers, Lakeview, Salem and Liberty are in the White (or medium-sized) Tier. Campbell, Girard, Champion, Newton Falls, LaBrae and Brookfield are in the Blue (or smallest) Tier.

It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s a step forward.

“Losing by 50 doesn’t help a program and winning by 50 doesn’t help a program,” said AAC commissioner Clem Zumpella. “You’re never going to have everyone happy, but this should make people happier.”

But are they? Good question. A week after 15 school superintendents voted unanimously to form the AAC in January of 2007 (East Liverpool opted out), principals at the TAC schools voted unanimously not to join the league. They were overruled, but there are still a lot of coaches and administrators who aren’t happy about the new setup, either because their schedule got tougher or the new league doesn’t go far enough in fixing the problem.

A few teams even tried to form their own league with teams in Ashtabula County.

Football, obviously, controls everything league-wise. Boardman and Fitch compete in the AAC at the junior high level, but the only way those schools would ever be considered for the Red Tier is if they competed in everything but football.

Teams are locked into the AAC for two years and Zumpella is hoping teams go into the league with an open mind.

“We’re enthusiastic,” he said. “Most of the old rivalries are still there and hopefully teams will build new rivalries because of the competition.”

Brookfield coach Randy Clark, who has just 32 players on his team, is one of the guys who should benefit from the new setup. He still has non-league games against Hubbard and Liberty, but at least now he knows his team has a chance to win a league title.

“It’s better than what we had,” Clark said. “Year in and year out, it gives us something to compete for.”

The two-tiered Inter Tri-County League, which enters its third year, has been (for the most part) a success. Smaller schools like Western Reserve have been able to compete for league titles. Bigger schools like South Range are better prepared for the postseason. There are fewer lopsided games (does anyone want to see another Mineral Ridge-Sebring game?) and there are more big games, which is good for the fans, the teams and the gate. (Football pays a lot of bills.)

Is it perfect? No.

Is it better? Yes.

And isn’t that the point?

Ursuline favored in Division V

For what it’s worth, four of the five prep reporters from the Plain Dealer picked Ursuline as the preseason favorite for the Division V state title. (The other was Kirtland.)

It’s tough to argue. I think Ursuline and Howland are the Valley’s two best teams, at least on paper.

Turf wars

The number of area schools getting field turf has exploded in recent years. Fitch, Canfield, Poland, Warren Harding, East Palestine and Girard all have turf. If you count YSU (where Chaney, East, Mooney and Ursuline play home games), Warren JFK (which plays at Mollenkopf) and Youngstown Christian (which plays at Canfield), there are 12 area schools playing home games on turf. Plus, Mooney has turf for its practice field.

FieldTurf fields (which are closer to grass than the old artificial turf fields) cost between $450,000 and $800,000 and are guaranteed for eight years.

Personally, I think that money would be better spent on press boxes.

Videos, videos, videos

If you’ve never been to scoutingohio.com, you’re missing out.

You can watch videos of most of the area’s best players and the top players from around Ohio (including Newark Licking Valley RB/LB Storm Klein, an Ohio State recruit who is probably the front-runner for Mr. Football).

So, if you’ve ever said to yourself, “I wish I could see John Simon’s highlight video set to Jimi Hendrix and Red Hot Chili Pepper songs,” you’re in luck. Make sure you catch Liberty’s Fitzgerald Toussaint, too. It’ll remind you of Reggie Bush. (The college version.)

And if you’re really lucky, you can watch it at work and call it research. That’s what I did.

X Joe Scalzo covers sports for The Vindicator. Write him at scalzo@vindy.com.