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ITCL remains together at least for now
Superintendents
reject 3 proposals
By Tom Williams
BEAVER TOWNSHIP
After considering proposals to disband or strengthen the league, the superintendents of the Inter-Tri County League schools on Wednesday chose to do nothing.
For now.
While the league remains intact for the 2017-18 school year, not everyone is happy with status quo.
During Wednesday’s 90-minute meeting at South Range High School, three proposals were presented and rejected.
“I just blew up at them and asked for a motion to adjourn,” said Paul Andraso, ITCL commissioner. “There was a second so we left.”
As school officials departed the South Range auditorium, several declined a request for an interview.
Hours later after tempers had calmed down, Andraso said the superintendents have agreed to another meeting.
“It could be early next week,” Andraso said. “Hopefully, this time [something] will pass.”
The 16-member league was formed in 2006 when the Inter-County League and Tri-County League merged. Wednesday’s meeting was called because some of the league’s smaller schools are unhappy with the success of larger schools South Range, Crestview and Springfield.
The meeting was not about those three schools asking to be released so they could pursue joining other leagues such as the All-American Conference or the Northeastern Buckeye Conference.
Last summer, the league split into three tiers after using a big school and little school divisions for eight seasons.
The five largest schools (Springfield, South Range, Crestview, East Palestine and United) were in the Red Tier.
Five Columbiana County schools were put in the White Tier (Lisbon, Columbiana, Wellsville, Southern and Leetonia).
The remaining six schools (Western Reserve, McDonald, Mineral Ridge, Jackson-Milton, Sebring and Lowellville) made up the Blue Tier.
Opinions were split on the creation of three tiers. Last summer, Mark Assion, Jackson-Milton’s head football coach, said he liked the grouping of the smaller schools in his tier but said the two crossover games the league scheduled with teams in the Red Tier were problematic.
For the Crestview game, Assion estimated that the Bluejays would have at most 30 players whereas the Rebels would dress closer to 70.
One of the proposals that was rejected dealt with trying to bolster the league by adding Mathews (Northeastern Athletic Conference) and Campbell (All-American Conference White Tier) for three six-team tiers.
Andraso said the rejected proposal dealing with the addition of Mathews and Campbell will be tweaked before the superintendents gather again.
The call for a breakup comes during a school year in which some non-traditional powers have done well. In football, East Palestine ran the table against South Range, Crestview, Springfield and United to win the first Red Tier crown. Lisbon defeated Crestview and East Palestine, but lost the White Tier crown with an overtime loss to Columbiana.
In boys basketball, Lisbon (20-1) is the league’s top team. But in girls basketball, South Range again is the dominant program.
A major problem facing the league’s athletic directors is the schedule for 2017-18. Andraso said the schedule should have been set three months ago.