Last week, the Ohio High School Athletic Association released the division and region assignments for the upcoming high school football season. There are major changes this season, thanks to the addition of a seventh division in high school football.
Over the upcoming days and weeks, we'll examine some of the changes and what they may mean for area high school football teams. We'll start today with our primary team of interest, Blanchester.
Blanchester checks in at 204 boys for the upcoming two-year cycle, which puts them in Division V for the upcoming season. They were nine boys away from remaining in Division IV, a fate which Clinton-Massie is having to deal with. We'll speak more on the Falcons and their tough road to repeating as state champions in a later blog post.
When the state was divided, 27 teams were placed in the southwest Ohio region. With only two regions in Division I, it is probable that this region will be Region 18.
Blanchester finished 6-4 in 2012, which was good enough for 13th in Region 16. However, several of the teams that finished ahead of the Wildcats will no longer be regional opponents in 2013.
In addition to the Falcons as mentioned above, Norwood, Batavia, Bishop Fenwick and Carlisle all remained in Division IV. In addition, Westfall, who finished 9-1 and second in Region 16 in 2012, moved with Blanchester to Division V but was placed in the southeastern Ohio region.
Two teams that joined Division V with Blanchester would have finished ahead of the Wildcats if they were in the same region in 2012. North Union moves from Division IV to V with Blanchester, but leaves the central region for the southwest region. North Union's Wildcats finished the regular season 10-0, good for 4th in the brutally difficult Region 14. They defeated Galion 40-21 in week 11 before falling to Bishop Hartley 43-0 in the regional semifinals.
The other team joining the new Division V that would have finished ahead of Blanchester is West Jefferson. They were in the old Division V, Region 20 in 2012 and finished just outside the playoff picture in ninth.
So, the following is a list of the new Division V southwest region, with team records, playoff points and 2012 region listed:
The keg game at Centerville as part of the season kickoff will be obviously a difficult game. Waynesville, New Richmond, Batavia and Norwood are likely very important games. If Blanchester can go 3-1 against those four teams, and win their other five games, that could be their road to 8-2.
Over the upcoming days and weeks, we'll examine some of the changes and what they may mean for area high school football teams. We'll start today with our primary team of interest, Blanchester.
Blanchester checks in at 204 boys for the upcoming two-year cycle, which puts them in Division V for the upcoming season. They were nine boys away from remaining in Division IV, a fate which Clinton-Massie is having to deal with. We'll speak more on the Falcons and their tough road to repeating as state champions in a later blog post.
When the state was divided, 27 teams were placed in the southwest Ohio region. With only two regions in Division I, it is probable that this region will be Region 18.
Blanchester finished 6-4 in 2012, which was good enough for 13th in Region 16. However, several of the teams that finished ahead of the Wildcats will no longer be regional opponents in 2013.
In addition to the Falcons as mentioned above, Norwood, Batavia, Bishop Fenwick and Carlisle all remained in Division IV. In addition, Westfall, who finished 9-1 and second in Region 16 in 2012, moved with Blanchester to Division V but was placed in the southeastern Ohio region.
Two teams that joined Division V with Blanchester would have finished ahead of the Wildcats if they were in the same region in 2012. North Union moves from Division IV to V with Blanchester, but leaves the central region for the southwest region. North Union's Wildcats finished the regular season 10-0, good for 4th in the brutally difficult Region 14. They defeated Galion 40-21 in week 11 before falling to Bishop Hartley 43-0 in the regional semifinals.
The other team joining the new Division V that would have finished ahead of Blanchester is West Jefferson. They were in the old Division V, Region 20 in 2012 and finished just outside the playoff picture in ninth.
So, the following is a list of the new Division V southwest region, with team records, playoff points and 2012 region listed:
| 2012 | ||||
| Record | Points | Region | ||
| 1 | CHCA | 9-1 | 21.2531 | R16 |
| 2 | North Union | 10-0 | 20.9000 | R14 |
| 3 | Milton-Union | 8-2 | 18.9500 | R16 |
| 4 | Madeira | 9-1 | 17.6000 | R16 |
| 5 | Shroder | 8-2 | 16.6851 | R16 |
| 6 | Brookville | 6-4 | 13.6000 | R16 |
| 7 | Waynesville | 7-3 | 13.6000 | R16 |
| 8 | West Jefferson | 7-3 | 11.5500 | R20 |
| 9 | Blanchester | 6-4 | 11.2348 | R16 |
| 10 | Chaminade-Julienne | 6-4 | 11.2153 | R16 |
| 11 | Badin | 5-5 | 10.5813 | R16 |
| 12 | Mariemont | 5-5 | 9.7000 | R20 |
| 13 | North College Hill | 6-4 | 9.3418 | R16 |
| 14 | Greeneview | 4-5 | 8.3333 | R16 |
| 15 | Clark Montessori | 6-4 | 7.4520 | R20 |
| 16 | Springfield Northeastern | 4-6 | 6.5505 | R14 |
| 17 | Purcell Marian | 3-7 | 5.6429 | R20 |
| 18 | Middletown Madison | 4-6 | 3.4500 | R16 |
| 19 | Reading | 4-6 | 3.4000 | R16 |
| 20 | East Clinton | 3-7 | 3.3000 | R16 |
| 21 | Bethel-Tate | 2-7 | 2.0556 | R16 |
| 22 | Deer Park | 1-9 | 1.3000 | R20 |
| 23 | Clermont Northeastern | 1-9 | 1.0571 | R16 |
| 24 | Finneytown | 1-9 | 0.7500 | R16 |
| 25 | Northridge | 1-9 | 0.4500 | R16 |
| 26 | Roger Bacon | 0-10 | 0.0000 | R16 |
| 27 | Preble Shawnee | 0-10 | 0.0000 | R16 |
Obviously, it won't be an easy path to the playoffs. But it isn't impossible either. Obviously Blanchester will need no worse than an 8-2 record to have a good shot. The schedule, courtesy of Joe Eitel's website:
| 8/30 | A | Clinton-Massie (0-0) | ||||
| 9/6 | H | East Clinton (0-0) | ||||
| 9/13 | H | Waynesville (0-0) | ||||
| 9/20 | A | Bethel-Tate (0-0) | ||||
| 9/27 | H | Williamsburg (0-0) | ||||
| 10/4 | A | New Richmond (0-0) | ||||
| 10/11 | H | Batavia (0-0) | ||||
| 10/18 | A | Norwood (0-0) | ||||
| 10/25 | H | Goshen (0-0) | ||||
| 11/1 | A | Clermont Northeastern (0-0) |
Again, the road to the playoffs won't be easy. Not only do they have the teams that finished ahead of them on that list, but count on bounce-back seasons from teams like Badin, Chaminade-Julienne and Middletown Madison. The bottom line is simple: Blanchester will have to go 8-1 in their final nine games. That will likely get them in.
We'll continue to have website updates at radiokor.com throughout the season. I should have the 2013 football schedules up sometime this week. Not sure on internet radio broadcasts this year. Financially, it really hasn't been very profitable. We'll have to see if there is any interest in helping us continue those.
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