North Union has found themselves a new conference to compete in. Starting as early as the 2018 school year the Wildcats will be competing in the Central Buckeye Conference (CBC).
The Wildcats voted on Monday at a board of education meeting to accept an invitation from the CBC on the condition that London City Schools move with them. London was also extended an invitation to compete in the CBC,and will the move as well. At a school board meeting on Tuesday the Red Raiders voted to make the move to the CBC.
“London was big because it gave us an even number in the conference with (Jonathan) Alder joining the CBC last year,” said Nick Hajjar, Athletic Director at North Union High School. “It just makes everything work well to have an even number of schools.”
The move came at a time when the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference, North Union’s previous conference, saw the loss of several schools to neighboring conferences.
Fairbanks, who made the move to Ohio Heritage conference last year in all sports except football. This football season will be the first year for the Panthers in OHC competition. North Union will see a familiar face in the CBC. Jon Alder, transitioned to the conference last year and will be competing in the CBC this season, but will be placed in the other division of the conference.
“We started investigating other options, met with some (athletic directors) and the commissioner of the CBC and we just clicked,” added Hajjar.
The CBC is composed of two different divisions; the Mad River Division and the Kenton Trail Division. The Mad River Division is composed of Benjamin Logan, Indian Lake, Urbana, Graham, Springfield Northwestern and now North Union, while the Kenton Trail Division is made up of Jonathan Alder, Bellefontaine, Springfield Shawnee, Kenton ridge, Tecumseh and London.
“With any decision you have to think about what is best for the kids,” said Hajjar. “We have very similar communities with the schools, plus the CBC does a good job of recognizing their big schools versus the smaller schools with the two divisions.”
North Union will have some stiff competition in the Mad River Division. North Union is a division V school in football along with Northwestern. All of the other remaining schools in the Mad River Division (Ben Logan, Indian Lake, Urbana and Graham) are all division IV schools.
Indian Lake was last years football division champion and both Indian Lake and Benjamin Logan made it to the post season with the Lakers making it to the Region 14 semi-finals.
“We hope to be competitive,” said Hajjar. “We sat down with all of the coaches and we all thought it would be a good move.”
With the move coming so close to this school year it could take up to the 2020 school year before the Wildcats make the leap to the CBC, said Hajjar. Until then they will stay put in the MOAC.