An Option for Galion?

by GalionLive • January 27, 2012 • Schools & Health, Sports • 1 Comment

This week has been a busy one in the continuing saga of the soon-to-be defunct North Central Conference — and it seems a good time to catch up with reports and rumors.

When last we posted on the subject, Upper Sandusky had voted to withdraw from the NCC in favor of joining the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference, a league composed of Marion, Morrow, Delaware, Knox, and Morrow County Schools. With the arrival of new members, this league will now be splitting into East and West Divisions. This decision by Upper left Galion, Ontario, and Lucas without a sports home starting with the 2014-2015 school year, as a three-team conference is not a viable scenario.

Fast forward to this week. According to unconfirmed reports, the athletic directors of seven schools within a much shorter driving distance have already met with the intention of forming a reconfigured Ohio Cardinal Conference — and Galion is listed among those in attendance. Those schools are: Mansfield Senior, Mansfield Madison, Lexington, Ashland, Clear Fork, Galion, and Ontario. The same source suggests that Shelby has also been invited to this new OCC.

Of these schools, three are Division 2, one is Division 3, and three are Division 4. Galion would be the second smallest school in the OCC, with Ontario having a smaller enrollment.

And, to add a bit more confusion to the mix, it is now suggested that Galion has now been extended an invitation to join the MOAC.

The MOAC would provide the Tigers with more comparably sized schools (actually Galion would be one of the largest schools in the conference) but with longer driving times. The OCC would provide closer distances but with more competition against larger schools. At least a couple of those schools have enrollments which are declining faster than Galion’s, however.

In an interesting note, Gannett is reporting that the Bucyrus Board of Education voted to leave the NCC as expected at last night’s meeting, but failed to immediately join the new N10 with the four other Crawford County schools. The stated reason was a desire to examine options, however the administration in Bucyrus is solidly behind the N10 move.