Northern 10 Athletic Conference Looking to Expand
Volume 3 Issue 33
The Northern 10 Athletic Conference announced on November 8th that they seeking to expand to 12 schools to create two six-school divisions.
The conference certainly sits at eight schools across three counties.
The History of the N10
The Northern 10 Conference was created out of the remnants of the North Central Conference (1962-2014) and the Midland Athletic League (1985-2014). The founding members were Buckeye Central, Bucyrus, Crestline, Colonel Crawford, Mohawk, Ridgedale, Seneca East, Upper Sandusky and Wynford.
Crestline left after one season after struggling with numbers and competitiveness. Ridgedale left in 2021 after failing to field a football team.
The remaining 8 schools have held strong and have not shown interest in expanding before despite interest from outside schools. That tune seams to have changed as both Buckeye Central and Bucyrus have struggled to remain competitive against the other remaining schools. The solution, as it appears, is to expand to create an upper and lower division to increase competition amongst the least competitive school. This would explain the reasoning not to simply expand back to 10 schools.
Who are the Leading Candidates?
As we know, football scheduling dominates conferences. Therefore, do not expect expansion to go towards schools that do not field a football team.
The number one candidate on everyone’s mind is Willard. They have applied for the Northern 10 but were denied as the conference was not seeking expansion. Given their size and location, they are many people’s top pick for the conference.
The remaining three spots? That is much more unclear. There is part of the Northern 10 that would like to expand more to the south and east to schools like Lucas (Richland County), and both Marion Pleasant and Elgin. However, there is another contingent that would like to expand more into Seneca County to schools like Hopewell-Loudon and Tiffin Calvert (Calvert would be the only private school in the conference).
Galion has also been mentioned as a potential target, although they would be noticeably bigger in enrollment but do schedule many of the Northern 10 schools already. There has also been talk about possibly bringing back Crestline and Ridgedale as both would be on the same competitive level as Bucyrus and Buckeye Central.
How Would This Affect Other Conferences?
Realignment with the Northern 10 is expected to affect multiple conferences, depending on which way the conference expands.
If the Northern 10 expands to the south and east the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference and Northwest Central Conferences would be affected. The potential for Pleasant or Galion to join would drop the MOAC down to 6 schools. The MOAC would most certainly look to Lexington and Mansfield Madison to fill those gaps. If Marion Elgin (or even Ridgedale) were to join, it would be unlikely that the Northwest Central Conference would fill those spots and they would most likely continue with the schools they currently have.
Expansion into Seneca County would have ripple effects on the River-Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference, although it would be unclear if departing schools would need to be replaced as divisions change depending on the sport. Although it would undoubtly have som effect on the SBC as Willard is the top target.
If Lucas were join, it would have minimal impact on realignment as they are already in a bare-bones conference and would take one of the four opening spots, softening the blow for other conferences.
What is Next?
The Northern 10 is accepting membership applications until the end of January. It is unclear how many, or what schools, are planning on applying. It is also unclear so far how many schools will make their application public. The Northern 10 also did not mention when they would announce the four schools they select or when the four schools would begin competition.