Most would agree that the Northern Lakes League needs to add at least one team as quickly as possible to create an even number of two six-team divisions.
That addition would eliminate most of the awkward scheduling.
One possible future addition that is plausible, based on mutual need, is that current Blanchard Valley Conference member Liberty-Benton could be a candidate to join the NLL’s smaller-school Cardinal Division. The Eagles have dominated the BVC in most boys and girls sports for the past two decades, and in an agreement with the conference’s other significantly smaller schools, will exit after the 2024-25 school year.
Although L-B would be the smallest NLL member enrollment-wise (163 boys, 203 girls when NLL was formed), the Eagles have first-rate facilities, have a long history of being competitve in boys and girls tournament play, have some room for open-enrollment expansion in the Findlay area and have yet to find a new league home elsewhere.
Some in the area may also hold out hope that the NLL would someday invite Toledo's three Catholic-school football teams (now in the CHSL) to join the fold to create two seven-team divisions.
Such a move may require the three Catholic schools, if invited, to all join the Buckeye Division, waiving the NLL's stated policy to create the divisions strictly by enrollment size.
Such a pipe-dream maneuver – which would also add Toledo's all-girls Catholic schools Notre Dame and St. Ursula to the NLL mix for girls sports in the Buckeye Division – would allow Central Catholic, St. Francis, and St. John's to join the NLL's biggest public-school football teams (Whitmer, Perrysburg, Findlay, and Anthony Wayne) in a seven-team Buckeye Division.
It would also enable the Buckeye's smallest current football teams (Northview and Springfield) to find a more competitively suitable mix with the five current Cardinal Division teams (Bowling Green, Clay, Fremont Ross, Napoleon, and Southview).
Again, the simple policy fix would be that the Catholic schools agree to participate exclusively in the Buckeye Division, regardless of enrollment, something similar to the Ohio High School Athletic Association's competitive-balance system.
No one is holding their breath on that future scenario, but it does have merit from a competitive standpoint, and may alleviate a potential NLL split down the road when the smaller schools in the Buckeye Division grow weary of being overwhelmed.
First Published October 26, 2023, 3:38 p.m.
