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Geography, travel are factors in new ITCL division plan
By Curtis Pulliam
The Inter Tri-County League has split into three divisions for most sports starting this spring.
Andy Hake, Western Reserve football and track coach, is not too concerned about the change.
“I liked how the setup was,” Hake said of the format that had the eight largest schools in Tier One and the eight smallest in Tier Two. “But I guess I understand the move geographically and with travel, it might make sense.”
The league now has Red, White and Blue divisions.
Golf, volleyball, basketball (boys and girls), baseball, softball and boys and girls track will compete in the new three division system. Cross country, soccer and wrestling will compete in one division due to lack of teams.
The Red Division consists of Crestview, East Palestine, South Range, Springfield and United.
The White Division has Columbiana, Leetonia, Lisbon, Southern and Wellsville.
The Blue Division is Jackson-Milton, Lowellville, McDonald, Mineral Ridge, Sebring and Western Reserve.
League commissioner Paul Andraso says it was time for a change from the total enrollment system.
“The old method was causing problems,” Andraso said. “We have six to nine schools that are so close in enrollment.”
Andraso says the change has been talked about for a few years now and it was only a matter of time before the switch was made.
The format is similar to the All-American Conference. Asked if the AAC was the model, Andrasao said, “Yes and no. It wasn’t the exact model.”
Andraso says the two main reasons for the change were teams didn’t bounce between divisions and geography.
Superintendents agreed to implement the plan as soon as they could.
“We wanted to have it in the spring as opposed to fall because it gives us time to put it in place and work out any kinks,” Andraso said. “There are only four sports in the spring, it makes things easier.”
Eric Fender, Springfield boys basketball and assistant softball coach, was somewhat surprised by the decision.
“My initial reaction was ‘How’s it going to work?’” Fender said. “I think it is just going to take some getting used to.”
Fender was happy to be in the same division as rival South Range but says the new format won’t be easy.
“Change is hard and some people don’t want to see change,” Fender said. “It is going to be very different.”
Hake doesn’t want the league to add teams in with too big of an enrollment difference.
Salem has shown interest about joining the conference.
“You have to be careful who you bring in,” Hake said.
Hake is a fan of possible crossover match-ups.
“I do like the opportunity to play some of the tough schools like South Range, Springfield and Crestview,” Hake said. “That’s always fun.”
But whether two or three divisions in the ITCL, Hake is excited for fall to roll around.
“We are going to play ball and not worry about it,” Hake said. “We are excited about our schedule. We have no beef with it.”