Northwest switching from SOC 2 to SOC 1?

[little doggy]

only thing that will happen is they will flip their schedule , they will be in Div. 1 and play some if not all of Div. 2 in first weeks instead of last weeks, someone needs to be added to d2 because trying to find 6 non conference games is going to be rough, and will their be a floating bye week for the d2 in the last weeks or is it where each team played northwest or is the d2 conference games all moved back to the last four weeks, good for some not good for others

[ZacBrownBand]

Northwest 2011

Southeastern (4-6) W 25-13
Sciotoville Community School (7-4) L 27-34
Huntington (0-10) W 48-21
Notre Dame (7-3) W 23-20
Symmes Valley (10-2) L 17-28
Wheelersburg (7-3) L 7-34
Minford (4-6) L 0-43
Valley (12-0) L 7-42
Portsmouth West (10-2) L 7-55
Waverly (3-7) L 20-55


Zach, if you look at Northwests schedule from this past season you see they played 3 SOCI teams and lost to 2 of them. So they may not fair all that much better in the lower tier, but I still think it's a better fit for them. At least they shouldn't go 0-5 over the last 5 weeks of the season almost every year.

Well the games certainly are closer. Definitely a better fit for NW. The games against SOC 1 teams were all pretty close games. And like you said the last 5 games, they should not be losing those. No offense to their program but they flat out outplayed by everyone those games. I think this gives them a better shot at winning.

[ohiostbucks99]

i first thought this was a good move for northwest..mayb another school moving into the bigger division(ports.ironton) if it is for competition reason why isnt west being moved in basketball because there basketball is just like northwest football

[kahn]

This is a good move. I saw three schools voted against it, I can imagine it was Green, East and Notre Dame. Symmes Valley usually beats the Mohawks and since they're a bigger school, that helps in playoff points, so I guess they supported it.

I always thought it would be neat to have some kind of method wherein the SOC I winner swaps places with the SOC II last place team every year, but obviously that's not a really feasible thing with scheduling.

Anyway, hopefully this will result in the SOC II schools needing another game fitting Portsmouth into their schedules when possible. If they all end up playing the Trojans, maybe they'll let bygones be bygones and let them in the league.

Coach Fry seems to be doing a great job with Northwest and this gives them a chance to continue that momentum. Maybe when it's revisited, they can move back to the SOC II in a stronger position.

[CharlieHustle]

I think it's a great move for the Northwest boys, you want all kids to be able to compete, no matter what school you root for....but maybe it's unfair to the much much much smaller SOC I schools. There is pro's and con's.

But now the SOC needs to allow Portsmouth in! It is so unfair that Portsmouth athletes have to travel 3 hours away just for a conference game. You cannot hold it against the Portsmouth people now, that 40 years ago they didn't want in. They would not dominate in football like many years ago...and it would create friendly in town rivalries.

[frank-n-beans]

This moved has been long overdue. It might be the only way NW can build a program. Valley did it when the league first went to 2 divisions as they were a pretty pitiful program. Crabtree turned it around and then moved up to D2. When Oak Hill came in to the league their FB program was pretty bad and take away the 3 previous years, continue to be.

kahn, why would you assume Green, East and ND would vote against it? All 3 compete and usually beat NW on a consistant basis?

[Jeep-ster]

PHS in the SOC-2 if ONLY in football. In basketball, NW is still SOC-2 and there are 8 teams per division. Adding PHS would make one to many teams. The league is strong the way it is in basketball.

[oneoak]

When Oak Hill came in to the league their FB program was pretty bad and take away the 3 previous years, continue to be.

The Oak Hill football program when they entered the league in 1992 was actually in pretty good shape although, admittedly, the schedule wasn't very challenging. The following is from the Jackson Chamber of Commerce website.

"In 1986, Oak Hill joined the Southern Valley Athletic Conference with predominantly Gallia and Meigs county schools, and also hired Jeff Conroy to be their new head coach. Instant success was found by both.

Conroy was 37-3 in his four years at Oak Hill, and won first 21 league games and three league titles. Scott Bartholomew continued the tradition and had no losing seasons in his eight years at Oak Hill and posted an all-time winning record of 52-28 as in 1992 Oak Hill moved into the Southern Ohio Conference.

From 1986 through 2001, Oak Hill had but one losing season in 16 years."

The 2-8 record in 2011 was the only losing record in the past five years. The Oaks were 33-17 over that five year span including the 2-8 record. The lean years were actually from 2002 through 2006 whcih included an 0-10 season in 2005.

I don't like being in the SOC I for football but I do like the league for the other sports both in terms of the competition and the travel. The SOC II is a very strong football league and I don't think we're ready to compete there. We and Northwest are in a difficult position for football. We are much bigger than the other SOC I schools for football but don't have any good options to go elsewhere. Also, if Oak Hill were to leave the SOC I and Northwest didn't move down there would only be four teams left in the league.

[Charles Farquar]

Siderman Oak Hill according to the Ohsaa website is 20 boys over D6 they are not big DV and certainly not DIV

[Slim Jim]

Why is going to take til 2014 to go into effect?

[Westfan]

Enrollment is the basis how our divisions are set in Ohio. I know this is a league, but saying "we aren't good at that sport, so we'll drop back; but we are good at that one so we'll stay there" is stupid. Oak Hill and NW should be either SOC II or out all-together. As has been said, West has been bottom dwellers in basketball for a long time, but we take our beatings and try to get better, which we are.

Schedule wise, is this a good thing for NW? They already play most of the SOC I schools. So now they have to find non-conference games, as most of their non-conference games now will be conference games. Most SOC II will drop them like a bad habit because of points. Will they be able to find games they can compete in without driving 100 miles?

Other thing is why do we have umpteen threads a year about Portsmouth and the SOC II? Do you think this is gonna save your program? With Northwest moving, playing in the SOC II will get you 2 extra games (Minford and Waverly), with you already playing West, Wheelersburg, and Valley next year. I bet if you can match the dates up, Minford will play and beat you now.

[kahn]

Frank,

Good call, on second thought, that wasn't a safe assumption, my bad. I do wonder who voted against the move.

[Portsmouth98]

Other thing is why do we have umpteen threads a year about Portsmouth and the SOC II? Do you think this is gonna save your program? With Northwest moving, playing in the SOC II will get you 2 extra games (Minford and Waverly), with you already playing West, Wheelersburg, and Valley next year. I bet if you can match the dates up, Minford will play and beat you now.

#1: At least half these threads are started by posters who support SOC schools we already play who want the games to mean more., or SEOAL schools who want us out of the league because they don't want to travel to ptown anymore.

#2: I'd rather travel 25 minutes to lose to Minford than 3 hours to lose to Logan or Warren.

[FarAwayFalcon]

Enrollment is the basis how our divisions are set in Ohio. I know this is a league, but saying "we aren't good at that sport, so we'll drop back; but we are good at that one so we'll stay there" is stupid. Oak Hill and NW should be either SOC II or out all-together. As has been said, West has been bottom dwellers in basketball for a long time, but we take our beatings and try to get better, which we are.

Schedule wise, is this a good thing for NW? They already play most of the SOC I schools. So now they have to find non-conference games, as most of their non-conference games now will be conference games. Most SOC II will drop them like a bad habit because of points. Will they be able to find games they can compete in without driving 100 miles?

Other thing is why do we have umpteen threads a year about Portsmouth and the SOC II? Do you think this is gonna save your program? With Northwest moving, playing in the SOC II will get you 2 extra games (Minford and Waverly), with you already playing West, Wheelersburg, and Valley next year. I bet if you can match the dates up, Minford will play and beat you now.

I think you have some good points siderman. Is this good for NW? Yes. Is it good for the SOC I or II? I don't really think it is. Why should the conference have to make up for the shortcomings at NW? It's not 'our' fault that NW cannot field a competitive team.

My biggest beef with it is that it's not like NW has done their absolute best to compete at football over the years. The school board and other administrators out there have run off every single decent coach to give it a go. If the school system was really committed and still couldn't field a decent team I would feel different. But with the district half-doing a football program I do not feel sorry for them, the kids yes, the district, no.

[eagles73Taylor]

I think Northwest should look at themselves, not just what division they are in. They have had a carousel of coaches in football the last 5 years, is this the only reason, no but it doesnt help. Northwest is an anomally for this area, they are big, but only because their district covers as much square miles as it does. If you look at the population density, they are just like everyone else in the area.

First, Northwest get some solidity at coaching which I think they have. Second, if you start building your program and you still can compete in the future against the SOC II teams look at moving leagues all together. Of course this is just my opinion.

[osu 77]

Are they going to drop off everyones schedule in the SOCII?

[Sider_PC]

I have heard the only team they plan on keeping on the schedule is Minford.

[blue53]

PDT quoted them as saying Valley and Minford, maybe

[FarAwayFalcon]

PDT quoted them as saying Valley and Minford, maybe

If I'm Valley and Minford, I don't know how I would feel about that. Other than short bus ride there's not a good part to this game.

[Westfan]

2011 AND 2012 ENROLLMENT NUMBERS

OHSAA
ID School Name City OHSAA
District Boys Girls
Enrollment Class Enrollment Class

1166 NORTHWEST MC DERMOTT SOUTHEAST 187 AA 158 AA
1186 OAK HILL OAK HILL SOUTHEAST 160 AA 156 AA

484 SCIOTOVILLE COMMUNITY PORTSMOUTH SOUTHEAST 74 A 70 A
1178 NOTRE DAME PORTSMOUTH SOUTHEAST 37 A 48 A
668 GREEN FRANKLIN FURNACE SOUTHEAST 64 A 66 A
1514 SYMMES VALLEY WILLOW WOOD SOUTHEAST 96 A 83 A

Just look at those numbers. 187 and 160 boys competing against schools with 74, 37, 64, and 96. Tell me how this is fair to those schools? NW's new colors should be blue, red, and YELLOW.