What's next for the SEOAL?

[Dundas]

Rumor is Gallia turned down the invite to the OVC. If that is true, I think that shows Gallia isn't ready to give up on their league just yet. I'd almost bet the SEOAL has already reached out to someone. If Gallia thought there was no hope for the SEOAL, they would've been foolish to turn down the OVC. That makes me think there is something in the works for SEOAL expansion.

[GalliaGrad78]

Looks like the Blue Devils have a meeting next week about joinning the OVC.....

The band is playing as the ship goes down.

I see Logan as the odd man out when the league folds. No one wants them so I guess they will have to be independent for a while.

Anyone remember when all the Gallia and Jackson folks were beating there chests about never leaving the SEOAL?

Lots of talk and speculation. No facts. Seems you are happy about the possibility of the SEOAL folding? Now that my friends is a sad state of affairs.

[warrior90]

Hope the rumor is true that Gallia turned down the offer. We still have a good nucleus of schools to build around with Warren, Logan, Gallia, and Jackson. I think they will add someone and I hope Marietta might be that someone. I have heard a lot of rumblings from Marietta fans and a few coaches about the ECOL and Marietta having no real rivalries in their league.

[A-Town Big Dog]

Hope the rumor is true that Gallia turned down the offer. We still have a good nucleus of schools to build around with Warren, Logan, Gallia, and Jackson. I think they will add someone and I hope Marietta might be that someone. I have heard a lot of rumblings from Marietta fans and a few coaches about the ECOL and Marietta having no real rivalries in their league.

I know a couple of coaches at Marietta and none of them wanted the ECOL to begin with (and I believe the AD who made the move to the ECOL left immediately following) but they are only under contract with the ECOL until the end of the 2015 season I believe.

[Paladin]

Lets get something straight--- no matter what the Marietta AD wanted to do, he had no authority to move them to the ECOL WITHOUT SCHOOL BOARD APPROVAL. Where they dumb enough to do so ? Obviously ! Anyone, I mean anyone, who thought the move to the ECOL was BETTER than staying in the SEOAL was dumber than a box of rocks. The coaches probably knew what awaited them. The rest were clueless.

[loganlocos]

I will miss the competition that the SEOAL provided........but for my Portsmouth Trojans, the OVC is in the long term a better option. Our enrollment has been under 200 boys for the last half of a decade, and probably won't get any significant gains in the near future. It is tough to compete with our numbers on a consistent basis, although I am very proud to see the Trojans win SEOAL titles in boys basketball, boys and girls tennis. Portsmouth will compete well in the OVC because the enrollments of the member schools are fairly similar.

What was once thought as a great idea to bring Zanesville, Ironton, Chillicothe, and Portsmouth into the SEOAL came back to haunt the league, and could very well have led to Athens and Marietta leaving as well.......and I think that travel, rather than the increased level of competition, was the reason for the demise. Travel is such a big issue in today's high school athletics, not just in SE Ohio, but around the state. Look at the state's largest conference, the OCC......there's not much travel in any direction for any of the members. More travel incurs more cost, and being cost efficient is critical to the survival of HS sports.......and when you don't win very much, fans don't come, and money doesn't come through the turnstiles as a result.

I hope the SEOAL stays together, and I think it can, but it will take some creative thinking on the part of SEOAL school administrators. Best wishes to the SEOAL!!

GO TROJANS!!

Dave -

You're always a class act. No doubt SEOAL expansion did wonders for the league in regards to basketball. Adding Zanesville, Chillicothe, and Portsmouth brought a whole new level of play to our league.

While I think Portsmouth's departure is in the best interest of both PHS and the SEOAL, I'll miss having more opportunities to talk sports with TrojanDave.

Good Luck in the OVC, look forward to seeing you at "The Barn" here in Columbus or at the Convo down in Athens.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

I will miss the competition that the SEOAL provided........but for my Portsmouth Trojans, the OVC is in the long term a better option. Our enrollment has been under 200 boys for the last half of a decade, and probably won't get any significant gains in the near future. It is tough to compete with our numbers on a consistent basis, although I am very proud to see the Trojans win SEOAL titles in boys basketball, boys and girls tennis. Portsmouth will compete well in the OVC because the enrollments of the member schools are fairly similar.

What was once thought as a great idea to bring Zanesville, Ironton, Chillicothe, and Portsmouth into the SEOAL came back to haunt the league, and could very well have led to Athens and Marietta leaving as well.......and I think that travel, rather than the increased level of competition, was the reason for the demise. Travel is such a big issue in today's high school athletics, not just in SE Ohio, but around the state. Look at the state's largest conference, the OCC......there's not much travel in any direction for any of the members. More travel incurs more cost, and being cost efficient is critical to the survival of HS sports.......and when you don't win very much, fans don't come, and money doesn't come through the turnstiles as a result.

I hope the SEOAL stays together, and I think it can, but it will take some creative thinking on the part of SEOAL school administrators. Best wishes to the SEOAL!!

GO TROJANS!!

WELL SAID DAVE. ------------i can't believe that people still don't actually see that the seoal is not a good fit for teams like ironton and Portsmouth these days. i loved it in the 70's as a young'un traveling there on the greyhound. but i wasn't paying for the fuel. and at that age never knew anything about the other sports traveling halfway across the state on school nights, then getting home at 1 or 2 am, before school starts the next day.just as the landscape is changing in college football, i see more of it for ohio high school football. it only makes good sense. i have no trouble like ironton going to Columbus saint Charles tonight to play them, because it is a Friday game. but as dave said , about the enrollment it is what it is, ironton has 162 boys , they almost fell from d4 to d6, only missing it by 6 boys. st. Charles was d1 last year before the change, they are now a huge d2 school, and all male. we cannot compete against that.we used to , but not at the present time, just too many horse on these teams. i look for this game to be very ugly tonight, after getting drilled by a huge Johnson central ky. team last week, a trip to saint Charles tonight, and next week a trip back to Columbus to play bishop Hartley next week. we may not have enough healthy kids left to play the last 2 games, i mean that literally. it looks like a mash unit on the sidelines now. i never thought i'd see the day that Chesapeake wheelersburg, and piketon were bigger schools enrollment wise than ironton, but it is reality now.st. Charles smashed Columbus desales last week like 36-0. i remember the days of constantly every year the fighting tigers playing desales very competitive, and sometimes winning. generally the fighting tigers were leading, and desales would come from behind and win, they just had too many fresh horses, when a team has 100 athletes on the field, and jv's not dressing, and you have 35/38 kids. it doesn't add up. sometimes desales would bring in 11 fresh bodies at a time, all the same size, huge.and tonight we play an all male d2 school that thumped them. it will not be pretty. but that was a different era. i fear i'll see ironton in the ovcin the very near future but the majority of the school's in the ovc now have a larger enrollment than ironton. i'd love to see ironton in the soc , but don't think that will happen. and ironton is struggling to get a full schedule now as an independent, as a result of their past success with teams like this. but that may be years away competing with these schools again, if ever. we may have to bite the bullet and downsize. but i promise you one thing, if ironton leagues up, their non conference schedule will still look like nobody else's for a school their size. because that has worked for so many decades. ----but things, and times , they are a changing. YTB

[dazed&confused]

I think if all hatchets could be buried it would make sense to get Athens and Marietta back in the SEOAL fold and keep it a 6-team league. Barring that I think Logan could seek TVC for all non-football sports, schedule those five other teams in football somehow and fill out the schedule with Zanesville, Newark, Teays Valley, maybe Circelville and Sheridan. Nelsonville would be a fruitful and compelling Jamboree game every year.

[pitt87fan]

Having kids that played at Marietta last few years I can tell you the level of competition between the SEOAL and the ECOL is night and day. The ECOL has been good for their sports as they have had to step up their game. The couple of people you have talked to at Marietta that don't like the league must not like good competition each night. I did.

[Paladin]

Really Pitt ? You are currently 1-5 and finished 1-9 and 2-8 the previous 2 years. Stepped up their game , huh ? LOL ! You have yet to beat D-VII Rosecrans in that league. The simple fact is Marietta is overmatched. You are not competitive AT ALL. lol

Time to rethink the SEOAL. Along with that "great" power Athens !

[Pol pot]

Not only in Football, Marietta has been irrevelant in every sport in the ECOL.

[Paladin]

In fact, I couldn't recall that you ( Marietta) had beaten ANYONE in the ECOL ., so I went back and checked the records at Joe Eitels and lo and behold................ in this your 3rd season in the ECOL you have won ONE game -- River View who went 2-8 the year you barely beat them, 14-9. Yep, its really done wonders to "step up" your kids game, lol. Heres a hint -- you are about to win game #2 this week-end against Rosecrans with their 13 Frosh & Soph on their 16 man squad and then get blown out the rest of the way. I have no idea what the justification was for leaving the SEOAL to move to the ECOL, but it is the stupidest move I've seen in H.S. sports. Your kids aren't going to win jack there.

[93Bulldog]

I have no idea what the justification was for leaving the SEOAL to move to the ECOL, but it is the stupidest move I've seen in H.S. sports.

River Valley joining the Ohio will trump that one.

[Dundas]

I have no idea what the justification was for leaving the SEOAL to move to the ECOL, but it is the stupidest move I've seen in H.S. sports.

River Valley joining the Ohio will trump that one.

Ill bet River Valley wins a league football game within their first 10 years of being a member.. that's about how long it took Alexander.

[wolfmannum8]

I see no reason that the league could not survive with 4 teams if we have to. It may make scheduling a little more creative, but not impossible. I always have enjoyed the competition between Jackson and Athens, and would not mind seeing them back in the league. I was never a big fan of Portsmouth in the league. Just didn't seem to add much except maybe in Boys B-Ball, which obviously has not been a vital part in recent years of the Jackson sports scene.

[Raider6309]

I have no idea what the justification was for leaving the SEOAL to move to the ECOL, but it is the stupidest move I've seen in H.S. sports.

River Valley joining the Ohio will trump that one.

river valley should be in the hocking for football. If they go 10 and 0, then move to the ohio. Putting river valley in the league might drive Athens out if they don't get the number 1 seed next year

[C-Bolt]

I can't see why Athens would ever want to leave the TVC,they got a good little thing going there.After next year them football games will become a lot more competitive

[seoal83]

From what i hear league will survive. i heard that the new teams could be added before Christmas. And even though only one of the teams seem to be a done deal this is what this league may look like for 2015-2016

1. jackson
2. logan
3. gallia academy
4. point pleasant
5. warren
6. marrietta
7. parkersburg
8. parkersburg south.

[Ironman92]

From what i hear league will survive. i heard that the new teams could be added before Christmas. And even though only one of the teams seem to be a done deal this is what this league may look like for 2015-2016

1. jackson
2. logan
3. gallia academy
4. point pleasant
5. warren
6. marrietta
7. parkersburg
8. parkersburg south.

Yuck. A SE league with 3 WV teams lol

[pfloyd]

... foreign teams in the SEOAL???!!!! Pt.Pleasant AGAIN???!!! with the Parkersburg contingent???!!!!! ughhhhhhhhhh ...