Ironton out of OVC in 2024.

[ohbuckeye2]

What if Ironton requested it? What were the other schools supposed to do? Not let them leave?

Rock Hill voted to not let them leave.

[transplant]

What if Ironton requested it? What were the other schools supposed to do? Not let them leave?

Rock Hill voted to not let them leave.

Thanks.

[icanpickem]

[Ironmen98]

Jackson wont quit playing .

[Run baby run]

I don't see Fairland, Gallia or Portsmouth playing them for more than 4 years. Honestly, if Ironton can find better opponents they won't have a need to play them.
This is good for Ironton Football. I personally think them being independent is much better for their program.

[RRX.2020]

would Perkins have the opportunities he has now if he at stayed at Valley? I think he would be playing basketball right now. Look how many kids got the opportunity to play at the next level playing at Ironton since Pendleton arrived. If I had a kid and wanted to play for a winning team and opportunity to play next level, He would go to Ironton and play.

[mustard]

would Perkins have the opportunities he has now if he at stayed at Valley? I think he would be playing basketball right now. Look how many kids got the opportunity to play at the next level playing at Ironton since Pendleton arrived. If I had a kid and wanted to play for a winning team and opportunity to play next level, He would go to Ironton and play.

Yep surprised Clary didn't come down. Oh Wait he's going to Marshall. Must of been luck.

[pistol]

My source said the vote was 8-0 which means Ironton voted to leave for football.

[XandOs]

would Perkins have the opportunities he has now if he at stayed at Valley? I think he would be playing basketball right now. Look how many kids got the opportunity to play at the next level playing at Ironton since Pendleton arrived. If I had a kid and wanted to play for a winning team and opportunity to play next level, He would go to Ironton and play.

Yep surprised Clary didn't come down. Oh Wait he's going to Marshall. Must of been luck.

I’ve heard that it’s a PWO

[mustard]

would Perkins have the opportunities he has now if he at stayed at Valley? I think he would be playing basketball right now. Look how many kids got the opportunity to play at the next level playing at Ironton since Pendleton arrived. If I had a kid and wanted to play for a winning team and opportunity to play next level, He would go to Ironton and play.

Yep surprised Clary didn't come down. Oh Wait he's going to Marshall. Must of been luck.

I’ve heard that it’s a PWO

[fielddaddy]

I don't see Fairland, Gallia or Portsmouth playing them for more than 4 years. Honestly, if Ironton can find better opponents they won't have a need to play them.
This is good for Ironton Football. I personally think them being independent is much better for their program.

The Portsmouth game will continue it’s one of the top rivalry games in Ohio.
Fairland will continue as long as possible with Fairland knowing it will only help them get better.
And Gallia loves the gate and challenge of playing Ironton from the SeOAL days.
The key will be playing these schools on the backend of the schedule if possible.

[JTEK]

would Perkins have the opportunities he has now if he at stayed at Valley? I think he would be playing basketball right now. Look how many kids got the opportunity to play at the next level playing at Ironton since Pendleton arrived. If I had a kid and wanted to play for a winning team and opportunity to play next level, He would go to Ironton and play.

Yep surprised Clary didn't come down. Oh Wait he's going to Marshall. Must of been luck.

I’ve heard that it’s a PWO

You don’t hear it but a lot of the Ironton kids are also PWO’s

[ohbuckeye2]

My source said the vote was 8-0 which means Ironton voted to leave for football.

Who actually votes, school board, AD’s?

I talked to a Rock Hill board member that voted not to let them out, maybe he was overruled lol.

[ohbuckeye2]

Yep surprised Clary didn't come down. Oh Wait he's going to Marshall. Must of been luck.

I’ve heard that it’s a PWO

You don’t hear it but a lot of the Ironton kids are also PWO’s

What’s a lot and who are they since you seem to know? Plus, you can’t play there if they don’t want you, preferred walk on or scholarship.

[Beergogglebluez]

I know we joke and give ironton hell but this seems a bit silly. Are teams really dodging them? Everyone says ironton needs to play up to improve but shouldn’t these schools want to improve as well. You take ironton off and schedule who? A wv school or lower competition. Seems silly to me. Now ironton gets to possibly schedule well known schools and travel and get exposure. Now even more kids will leave and wanna go there.

[RBH23]

I know we joke and give ironton hell but this seems a bit silly. Are teams really dodging them? Everyone says ironton needs to play up to improve but shouldn’t these schools want to improve as well. You take ironton off and schedule who? A wv school or lower competition. Seems silly to me. Now ironton gets to possibly schedule well known schools and travel and get exposure. Now even more kids will leave and wanna go there.

These other schools know they cannot recruit with Ironton, and so do not want to play against a local all-star team. Their decision to vote Ironton out is not shocking at all. This type of reaction happens all over the state. Example: why do you think Moeller had zero Cincy public schools on their 2022 schedule?

As for “Ironton playing bigger and better schools will bring in even more kids…”. That’s not necessarily true. We saw what South Range did to Ironton in the championship game. Putting Ironton up against top schools in D4 and up will only result in bad losses for Ironton. They simply are not at the level to truly play against the best D5 schools (and D6 schools) and no chance against the bigger school powerhouses. Kids will not want to sign up for a beating that will not impress college scouts.

[GoBucks1047]

Playing a little bit of catchup seeing some realignment news and rumors floating around and thought of a proposal. It seems like the FAC is interested in Waverly, and Oak Hill might be flirting with the TVC. I'm assuming Waverly wants to prepare better for D4 competition while Oak Hill wants an easier schedule. With Ironton football available, why not offer them a football-only invite into SOC II and rearrange SOC II football.

A-tier:
Ironton
Waverly
West
Wheelersburg

B-tier:
Minford
Northwest
Oak Hill
Valley

Each team plays their own tier annually, but only required to play 2 of the 4 teams from the other tier alternating every 2 years. This way there's only 5 required conference games scheduled allowing teams to be flexible with their 5 non-conf ganes. Teams can also schedule 1 or both teams they miss as non-conference if they desire.

Say for Burg and West, in years they miss Valley or Minford, they could still schedule them non-conf for the gate and keep their rivalry annual (I'm assuming they would want them separate so they would still have 4 non-conf games to schedule to their desires). An example would be West-Burg:
Waverly
Ironton
Valley/Minford
Oak Hill/Northwest
Minford/Valley (Non-conference)
4 Non-conf games (1 of 4 would be Jackson for Burg and Portsmouth for West)

Waverly I expect would probably do similar for their games keeping Valley and Minford annually, and use 1 of the other 4 non-conf games to play Piketon annually.

Ironton gets a few more games locally that should be improved competition vs. the OVC, but if they are contractually obligated to play Portsmouth, Gallia, and Fairland, they would only be left with 1 non-conf game including Jackson. If they aren't, and it's just a handshake agreement, I could see then Ironton either dropping Fairland and/or Gallia Academy or agreeing to alternate H&Hs with Fairland and Gallia Academy to free up a spot or 2 to schedule up in the non-conf. Would this be something Ironton would consider? Their schedule would look something like this:

Burg
West
Waverly
Valley/Minford
Oak Hill/Northwest
Portsmouth
Jackson
Fairland and/or Gallia Academy?
1-3 non-conf games

Oak Hill would still get Minford, Valley, and NW annually while alternating Waverly/Burg and West/Ironton to ease their schedule and still have 5 games available to schedule regionally. I could see Eastern (Pike), Wellston, River Valley, and Rock Hill as games of interest in the non-conf. If that's not good enough for Oak Hill and they bolt, then I would suggest adding Portsmouth as a full member to replace Oak Hill.

[TigerBob]

I don’t think there will ever be a scenario where Wheelersburg allows Ironton into their league. So I’d start there.

[TigerBob]

I know we joke and give ironton hell but this seems a bit silly. Are teams really dodging them? Everyone says ironton needs to play up to improve but shouldn’t these schools want to improve as well. You take ironton off and schedule who? A wv school or lower competition. Seems silly to me. Now ironton gets to possibly schedule well known schools and travel and get exposure. Now even more kids will leave and wanna go there.

Their decision to vote Ironton out is not shocking at all. This type of reaction happens all over the state.

Just so we know, this was an 8-0 vote. This wasn’t “voting Ironton out.” More of an agreement between all league teams. Everyone can see that Ironton vs. the Lawrence County schools wasn’t doing much good for anyone in football. In every other sport, it works great. Best of both worlds this way.

[pistol]

Will Ironton have problems getting games? The first three or four won't be an issue but after that, schools will be starting league play and just about all schools within a reasonable driving distance are affiliated with a conference.