By CODY LEIST

PDT Sports Writer

Administrators from the member schools of the Southeast Ohio Athletic League will conduct a meeting this coming Wednesday in Jackson.

Among the topics that might be on the agenda will be the state of the league after last week’s news the number will drop from six to five. Various media outlets in Chillicothe and Circleville reported the Chillicothe Cavaliers will bolt from the SEOAL to the South Central Ohio League after the 2012-2013 academic year, pending board approval.

According to a report from WBEX-AM in Chillicothe, travel costs were a reason for Chillicothe’s departure. The Cavaliers applied last spring to be admitted to the Mid-State League but were denied.

If it does go through, this will make the fifth school since Chillicothe’s arrival in 2006 to leave the SEOAL. Zanesville and Marietta both went to the East Central Ohio League, Athens is a member of the Tri-Valley Conference’s Ohio Division and Ironton went independent.

The move makes Gallia Academy, Logan, Jackson, Portsmouth and Warren the only members of the league after completion of next season. That is if there are no additions or subtractions from now until August 2013.

This is not the first time Chillicothe has left a conference within the last 10 years. The Cavaliers joined the SEOAL in August 2006 when they left the Columbus-based Ohio Capital Conference.

It will not be the first time Chillicothe has been a member of the SCOL. The Cavaliers — along with Circleville, Greenfield McClain, Hillsboro, Washington Court House and Wilmington — were charter members of the league when it was formed Nov. 4, 1922 at the Cherry Hotel in Washington Court House and started competing in 1923.

Members of the SCOL voted unanimously to add Chillicothe and Wilmington to the league after Mount Sterling Madison-Plains and London signed on to participate in the Mid-State League’s Ohio Division starting August 2013. The Hurricane will come into the league in the 2014-2015 season for their second go-around.

Currently, the SCOL comprises of Clarksburg Clinton-Massie, Hillsboro, London, Madison Plains, McClain, Miami Trace and Washington Court House. Lees Creek East Clinton will join the league this fall.

The SCOL first dissolved after the 1930-31 year but reemerged in the 1936-37 year. The league crumbled again after the 1993-94 campaign with the current seven-school format restarting in the fall of 2003.

Information from the Chillicothe Gazette, Circleville Herald, Washington Court House Record-Herald and Wilmington News Journal contributed to the report.

Cody Leist can be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 242, or cleist@heartlandpublications.com.