COLUMBUS – Among Darke County’s varsity football teams, only Versailles will change divisions for the 2015 season.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association announced the divisions for the 2015 and 2016 football seasons. As in the past, the state’s largest schools will play in Division I and the state’s smallest schools will play in Division VII.
The only change among divisions for Darke County schools is Versailles moving up from Division VI to Division V. The Tigers made the playoffs this past season in Division VI.
Versailles will join fellow Midwest Athletic Conference rival Coldwater, the defending Division V state champion, in Division V. Additionally, MAC football team Anna also moved up to Division V from Division VI.
Greenville will remain in Division III. The Green Wave will be joined in Division III by fellow Greater Western Ohio Conference foes Piqua, Sidney and Vandalia-Butler, who all dropped down from Division II. GWOC member Trotwood-Madison also remains in Division III.
Arcanum will remain in Division VI. Fellow Cross County Conference members Bethel, Miami East, National Trail, Tri-County North and Twin Valley South plus MAC members Parkway and St. Henry all remain in Division VI with Arcanum. Also, Marion Local, who won state championships each of the past four seasons, will move up from Division VII to Division VI to join Arcanum.
Ansonia, Bradford and Mississinawa Valley all will remain in Division VII. Fellow CCC member Covington and MAC members Delphos St. Johns and Fort Recovery also will remain in Division VII. Defending Division VI state champion Minster and fellow MAC team New Bremen both will drop down from Division VI to Division VII.
GWOC members Beavercreek, Centerville, Fairmont, Lebanon, Northmont, Springboro, Springfield and Wayne all will remain in Division I.
GWOC members Fairborn, Troy, West Carrollton and Xenia will remain in Division II. GWOC member Miamisburg will drop from Division I to Division II.
The state’s 714 football-playing schools are placed in one of the seven divisions based on the number of boys in the ninth, 10th and 11th grades at each high school. In all, 72 schools with 627 or more boys (in the three grades) will compete in Division I, 107 schools with 423-626 boys will compete in Division II, 107 schools with 271-422 boys will compete in Division III, 107 schools with 201-270 boys will compete in Division IV, 108 schools with 150-200 boys will compete in Division V, 107 schools with 107-149 boys will compete in Division VI, and 106 schools with 106 or fewer boys will compete in Division VII.
The regular season will begin the week of Aug. 24 and will conclude Oct. 31 with 224 teams earning playoff spots. The state championships are scheduled for Dec. 3-5 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus. Divisions II, III, V and VII will play playoff games on Friday nights, and Divisions I, IV and VI will play playoff games on Saturdays.
For a complete lists of the OHSAA football division assignments, visit the association’s website at ohsaa.org.
