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Players, coaches react to ITCL changes
Not everyone likes
three-tiered setup
By Tom Williams
Change happens. Seldom does it go unnoticed.
The 16-team Inter Tri-County League splitting into three divisions after nine seasons with two tiers has generated mixed responses among the league’s football players and coaches.
Some are indifferent. Some would prefer things had been left alone.
“I wish they hadn’t [changed],” Lisbon tight end and linebacker Austin Rutecki said. “[I wish] they could have waited one more year to switch it.”
This season, Rutecki’s Blue Devils (2-0) are in contention to be the ITCL’s strongest team. But instead of competing against South Range (1-1), Crestview (2-0) and Springfield (2-0) for the Tier One crown, the Blue Devils are in the White Division with Columbiana (1-1), Wellsville (0-2), Southern (1-1) and Leetonia (0-2). The Devils should win it, although the Columbiana game could be interesting since the Clippers defeated Western Reserve (1-1) two weeks ago.
In the ITCL’s “redistricting,” the five largest schools — South Range, Springfield, Crestview, United (1-1) and East Palestine (1-1) — remain in what was Tier One, now known as the Red Division.
Lisbon’s division includes only schools in Columbiana County.
The third division — the Blue Division — has six schools from Mahoning and Trumbull counties: Western Reserve, Sebring (0-2), Lowellville (0-2), Jackson-Milton (2-0), McDonald (1-1) and Mineral Ridge (0-2).
Rutecki feels that adding a third division waters down the league.
“There’s going to be three [champions],” the senior said. “It’s like you won, but what would you have done if you were with the other teams?”
Despite the change, the Blue Devils will know just how good they are as South Range (Sept. 25) and Crestview (Oct. 30) remain on their schedule. Last week, Crestview pounded Columbiana, 57-29, proving the Rebels are strong as usual.
“It doesn’t matter to me,” Lisbon lineman Josh Craig said of the new divisions. “We’re playing [most of] the same teams.”
Springfield quarterback Graham Mincher feels the same way.
“The main thing with our league this year is [playing] South Range and Crestview, the biggest two competitors,” Mincher said. “It’s what’s it’s been the last eight, nine years.”
Mincher’s head coach, Sean Guerriero, feels that the Tigers have a tough schedule even though Lisbon is not on it.
“In the crossover games, we picked up Southern, Columbiana and Western Reserve,” Guerriero said. “That’s a team we haven’t faced since I’ve been here.
“Because of our non-league [schedule], this should be one of [the] toughest schedule that Springfield has ever had.”
Last fall, Jackson-Milton was in Tier One.
“The upper tier was a gauntlet,” Jackson-Milton linebacker Anthony Italiano said. “There were a lot of tough teams in the lower tier, too. We honestly feel we can compete a lot better with the teams we play this year.”
The biggest difference from the Red Division to the others is roster size. Whereas Crestview and South Range surpass 60 players, many of the teams in the Blue and White divisions are fortunate if they get 35.
“Putting us in a lower division helps us out a lot,” Jackson-Milton safety Adam Smith said. “We have low numbers — we always do.”
Smith’s coach, Mark Assion, said he believes there still needs to be some tweaking, referring to the crossover (out-of-division) games. This fall, the Bluejays play Leetonia and Crestview.
“We have 97 boys in the school, 45 signed up,” said Assion, who has about 30 players dressing. “It’s not fair for us to go up against a Crestview with 67 [players] and expect it to be a competitive game.
“I love my kids, don’t mistake what I am saying,” Assion said. “I’ll put my No. 1’s up against anybody, but attrition hurts.
“In a 10-game schedule, there is somebody who is going to get hurt,” Assion said. “Knowing that and trying to overcome that is a difficulty for every coach. Here at Jackson, that’s been a thorn in my side for 10 years.”
Assion said the advantage goes to the bigger teams who can easily replace players.
“When you’ve got 1s and 1As going against 2s, there is a significant drop-off,” Assion said. “When you go from a senior to a freshman, how is that fair to put a 14-year-old kid against an 18-year-old man?
“And let’s be honest, it happens more often than not because of how the scheduling gets done.”
Columbiana head coach Bob Spaite is dealing with one of the smallest rosters of his career. The Clippers have approximately 30 players.
Still, he misses the old format that sometimes had Columbiana competing in Tier One.
“I’m a traditionalist,” the league’s longest-tenured head coach said. “I always liked the two eight-team leagues, whether it was Inter-County or Tri-County, or if it was the ITCL with two tiers.
“I think that was a better deal, it made more sense,” Spaite said. “It’s going to take some getting used to — I don’t know if it will last.”
His quarterback, junior Mitch Davidson, said the change isn’t a big deal.
“It doesn’t really matter to me,” the Clippers’ record-setting QB said. “It’s the same thing — you have to bust your butt to win the league each year.”
More important to Davidson is that the Clippers still play Crestview.
“They play hard, they never quit,” Davidson said of the Rebels. “And since Crestview is two minutes from us, it’s like you’re playing in the backyard again.
“And you just want to beat backyard friends.”
That didn’t happen this time for the Clippers.
Lisbon and Crestview will meet in Week 10, most likely with playoff berths on the line. Last year, the Blue Devils defeated the Rebels, 41-35.
“It was huge for us because no one believed we could beat them,” Craig said.