SCIOTO COUNTY — For once, or so it seems, there isn’t any alteration from one football season to the next —in regards to what divisions and/or regions Scioto County’s clubs will reside.

That’s because — following back-to-back seasons of some switch-a-roo regions by Division VII schools East, Green and Notre Dame — that same trio is playing for a second consecutive season in Region 27, while the county’s only Division VI squad Valley is back again in Region 24.

Thus, the more things changed the past two years, they stay the same for this season.

The Ohio High School Athletic Association recently announced its football divisions and regional assignments for the 2023 campaign —and none of the county’s nine programs are in a different division OR region than they were a year ago.

Hence, those playoff games are going to be against fellow Southeast District teams —or even against, once again, the East and Central Districts.

All five of the county’s Division V programs return to Region 19 —Portsmouth, West, Wheelersburg, Minford and Northwest, with Northwest moving back up to the Southern Ohio Conference Division II schedule after a decade of competing in the smaller SOC I.

That’s because of South Gallia joining the SOC I for football beginning this season, as the Rebels are also a Division VII and Region 27 team.

But Northwest’s numbers are concerning to the point of a lack thereof —as the Mohawks’ adjusted enrollment for football in 2023 is 165, as the three smallest schools in all of Division V are at 158.

Wheelersburg’s adjusted enrollment is at 195, with Portsmouth at 179, Minford at 176 and West at 168.

There has been widespread rumors and Internet message board gossip and speculation that Northwest was looking to replace some of its SOC II opponents —but per the Arbiter schedule site as of Friday morning, all of the Mohawks’ new league opponents remain in place.

Northwest was previously playing Valley and Oak Hill as non-league foes, as the Oaks are in the SOC II for the fifth straight season —and for the second straight in Division VI and Region 23.

The Oaks, with an adjusted enrollment of 155, are one of four teams with the third-largest Division VI enrollment in the entire state.

Valley’s is at 131 —followed by the Division VII schools Notre Dame (71), Green (68) and East (57).

Northwest and Eastern shared the SOC I championship last season, as Eastern —a Division VI program last year —is back in Division VII and Region 27 this fall.

The Eagles’ and Ada’s adjusted enrollment is at 112, just below the 114 — the largest Division VII adjusted enrollment — of both Patrick Henry and Covington.

South Gallia’s adjusted enrollment is at 83, while Symmes Valley (104) is back in Division VII and Region 27 for a second straight season.

Waverly, long a Division IV and Region 16 program with an adjusted enrollment for 2023 of 249, is easily the largest SOC school.

Portsmouth plays in the Ohio Valley Conference, and following Fairland’s moveup from Division VI to Division V for 2022, there are no divisional and/or regional changes within that league.

The Dragons, in the not-too-distant memory, were as high as a Division IV program.

Gallia Academy (230 adjusted enrollment) is the largest OVC school, followed by Ironton at 197, Fairland at 191, Portsmouth at 179, Chesapeake at 173, South Point at 164, Rock Hill at 151 and Coal Grove at 142.

Only Gallia Academy is a Division IV team, while Rock Hill and Coal Grove are back in Division VI for another year.

The Education Management Information System (EMIS) is a statewide data collection system for Ohio’s primary and secondary education, including demographic information, attendance, course information, financial data, and test results.

The OHSAA uses enrollment data provided by the Ohio Department of Education to determine each school’s base enrollment numbers for girls and boys sports, which will again be used for the 2023-24 academic year.

Divisional breakdowns for the sports that utilize competitive balance data — which include soccer, volleyball and football for the fall — are reconfigured every year, while non-competitive balance sports are reconfigured every two years using only base enrollment numbers.

Only three schools moved up a division due to their EMIS numbers, while a dozen moved down.

The number of schools moving up or down a division due to competitive balance was also a difference of nine —16 total moving down, and seven going up.

Speaking of competitive balance, the talented and highly-touted Ironton Fighting Tigers — the three-time recent Division V state runner-up (2019, 2020 and 2022) —saw their CB number dip from 24 to 20.

Last year, with an enrollment of 201, Ironton was THE largest Division V program — thanks to a 2021 competitive balance number that was indeed 24.

A CB of 25 would have made those Fighting Tigers the smallest Division IV program, but now New Lexington (204 adjusted enrollment) lands that distinction of being the largest Division V school.

The Panthers are also in Region 19 —alongside Ironton and the five aforementioned Scioto County teams.

Wheelersburg, incidentally, has a high competitive balance number of 19.

The 2023 football regions are posted at www.ohsaa.org.

These are not the final lists of schools that will be eligible to participate in the 2023 playoffs, as schools have until Oct. 1 to make changes to their tournament participation.

In addition, multi-high school districts that restructure their high schools are required to have their enrollment reclassified as of Sept. 10, which may change their assigned tournament division.

The 10-week regular season begins the week of Aug. 14, with the top 16 schools in each region qualifying for the playoffs that begin the final weekend in October.

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Information from the Ohio High School Athletic Association was used in this story.

Reach Paul Boggs at (740) 353-3101 ext. 1926, by email at [email protected], or on Twitter @paulboggssports © 2023 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved