FINDLAY — Believe it or not, Liberty-Benton High School once had only an average to below-average overall athletic program in the Blanchard Valley Conference before the early 1990s.
But, with a change in demographics that included an influx of new housing development and a brand new high school in the mid-’90s, the Findlay school grew into the conference's largest combined boys and girls enrollment.
With that growth, L-B turned into a perennial sports juggernaut in the BVC and has been deemed by its conference opponents as too big to remain.
Roughly a year ago, representatives from the other BVC schools reached an understanding with L-B administrators that the Eagles would have to find a new league home elsewhere and would have four years to do so.
“It was basically an agreement between us and the BVC, knowing that we have outgrown that league,” said L-B athletic director Nate Irwin of the impending split. “We have been a league member for a long time, but obviously we saw it and they saw it.
“So, we agreed to leave in four years, and they agreed to that. If there wasn't a mutual agreement, I don't know what would've happened.”
A year ago, four years was seemingly a comfortable time frame.
One year into that ultimatum, however, Liberty-Benton has explored potential options with other leagues around northwest Ohio and has yet to locate a new home for its athletic programs.
“We've explored many options,” Irwin said. “There's very few leagues looking to expand at the current time.”
There is no denying the logic behind the requested exit.
According to enrollment figures utilized by the Ohio High School Athletic Association for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years — figures used to establish divisional classifications in each sport — Liberty-Benton has 163 boys and 203 girls in grades 10-12 for a combined enrollment of 366 in these grades.
That is more than double the total enrollment in grades 10-12 at seven of the other nine current BVC member schools – Arcadia (66 boys, 65 girls, 131), Arlington (61-60, 121), Cory-Rawson (73-65, 138), McComb (83-73, 156), North Baltimore (70-54, 124), Pandora-Gilboa (76-54, 139), Mount Blanchard Riverdale (122-102, 224), Van Buren (142-117, 259), and Vanlue (24-26, 50).
This advantage in enrollment numbers has had a direct correlation to the Eagles' combined boys-girls success within the BVC as highlighted by the following sampling:
■ Football: 10 BVC titles since 2004; 45-0 BVC record 2004-08
■ Volleyball: 9 titles since 2002; 6 in a row (60-0 BVC record)
■ Boys basketball: 21 titles since 1992; 14 unbeaten BVC seasons
■ Girls basketball: 20 titles since 1992; 7 in a row, 76 straight BVC wins
■ Boys track: 28 of the past BVC 30 titles
■ Girls track: 23 straight BVC titles, 37 of past 39
“Really, probably any league we end up in, we're not going to have the same number of league titles that we have in our current league setup,” said Irwin, formerly the school’s highly successful girls head basketball coach, including a 27-0 state championship season in 2009-10. “We have some good programs in many of our sports, and our coaches do challenge themselves and play some tough nonleague schedules.
“So, there would be a learning curve, and we wouldn't win as many league titles. But, you can still work to get better and continue to have success come tournament time when you're playing schools your same size.”
Before the Northern Buckeye Conference added Maumee from the Northern Lakes League and Oak Harbor from the Sandusky Bay Conference (Bay Division) to replace departures by Elmwood (to the BVC) and Woodmore (to the SBC River Division) beginning in 2023-24, Liberty-Benton had expressed interest in joining that conference.
The NBC is content with its current eight-team mix — which includes Eastwood, Fostoria, Genoa, Lake, Otsego, and Rossford — and that door is closed.
“Enrollment-wise, that's the league that makes the most sense for us, because we'd be right in the middle,” Irwin said of the NBC. “We wouldn't be the biggest or the smallest.
“Travel-wise, it would be easy drives up I-75. Geographically and enrollment, we fit in that league probably better than any league. The NBC is the most like us in demographics and enrollment.”
Early in 2023, L-B expressed an interest in joining the SBC, likely a spot in the conference's mid-level Bay Division, but schools from that conference declined. Geography was the deal breaker.
“We met with the SBC back around February,” Irwin said. “They met with a couple schools and were looking to expand, but then they decided not to. The travel distance was a huge concern. That league is big, but they're all kind of in that same little 45-minute bubble, and we're quite a bit outside of that bubble.
“They will always be open to discussion. We had that discussion, and they voted against expanding at that time.”
Currently, Liberty-Benton is watching changes to the south in the Northwest Conference, which will lose two current members to the BVC — Ada and Leipsic — which are the smallest enrollment schools in the NWC.
“They're trying to move on that quickly,” Irwin said of the NWC. “They've had weekly meetings, and they're looking to fill those two open spots. I don't know who has all received an invite.
“We have had informal discussions and shared that we have an interest. But there has been no formal application or no formal invite. Just discussions with their governing board and our superintendent and principal.
“We're open to anything at this point, to be honest. We have a little time, but three years will go by fast.”
Ada has been approved to begin play in the BVC in 2024-25, and Leipsic, a former BVC member, is awaiting an approval from the NWC to also exit after 2023-24.
The NWC extended an invitation to Rockford Parkway of the Midwest Athletic Conference. Parkway, which has struggled to compete in the MAC, decided not to accept.
“Some of those schools are close,” Irwin said of the NWC membership. “Bluffton, Allen East, Columbus Grove are all within 20 minutes of us. But, on average, the drives would be like 40-45 minutes with the longest being around an hour.”
But combining comparable school size and reasonable travel distance seems to be a tough ask for L-B.
“The SBC liked us, but the travel was just too crazy for everybody, so they said no,” L-B football coach and former co-athletic director Scott Garlock said. “Really, there is nobody else right now except maybe the Northwest Conference, which has had some movement.
“We're going to try to push to get in there, but I think they've already reached out to some other schools to come take [Ada and Leipsic's] places. That's kind of where we are right now. Nothing else is open.”
The Eagles would also have the largest enrollment school in the NWC, although the margin is slimmer.
The NWC's remaining seven schools are Allen East (133 boys, 123 girls), Bluffton (146-132), Columbus Grove (121-99), Convoy Crestview (97-88), Delphos Jefferson (103-118), Van Vert Lincolnview (109-102), and Spencerville (105-103). Lincolnview does not have football, so adding two members is a conference priority.
Although currently a long shot, the Northern Lakes League could ultimately come into play for L-B. The NLL has expanded to an awkward number of 11 members beginning with the 2023-24 school year.
For the 2023 football season, the larger-enrollment (Buckeye) division of the NLL will include a six-team mix of Anthony Wayne (546 boys, 521 girls), Findlay (642-551), Northview (495-488), Perrysburg (649-629), Springfield (397-437), and Whitmer (843-777).
Bowling Green (344-330), Clay (424-422), Fremont Ross (400-400), Napoleon (236-200), and Southview (406-408) will play in the lower-enrollment (Cardinal) division for football.
In all other NLL sports in which divisions are in place, Springfield will compete in the lower division.
“We have not formally contacted them about any kind of offer to join the NLL,” Northern Lakes League commissioner Richard Browne said of Liberty-Benton. “What we've been told from them is that they're currently looking to do some things down in that general area.
“Size-wise, they'd be the smallest school in the NLL. But, if we got to 12 schools, it would make our lives a little bit easier as far as scheduling. If we could add a 12th team, great. If we could add a 13th and 14th school, even better.”
The NLL is not a current option for L-B, but that could change.
“About a year ago our superintendent [Mark Kowalski] had some conversations with Richard Browne to see what they were doing,” Irwin said. “If they were ever to get a few more schools and be able to do a two-division thing with 16 schools, that would definitely be a league that we would have some interest in.
“The current set-up is not really ideal for us. Their bigs are just too big when it comes to crossover games and stuff like that. But, the schools that are in their bottom few, enrollment-wise, if they could find a few more of us to join that, that would be something that we would entertain.”
First Published June 23, 2023, 10:00 p.m.
