| It has been six years since the 16 schools that made up the Tri-County and Inter-County Leagues decided to merge into a combined two-tiered league called the ITCL. With this, the 2010-2011 school year, the league is completing it's fifth year of existance. Some schools have obviously benefited more dramaticaly than others, and those people that were instrumental in forming the ITCL, upon reflection, feel that all members have gained from this league merger. "Overall, I think the merger has worked well, especially for the lower tier. We have seen new schools such as Southern and Western Reserve start to win. And in both tiers the games are competitive each week and are a dog fight. You see very few 70-6 games these days. Plus, because the leagues are balanced, you are starting to see new rivalries being formed," former Southern Local principal Dennis Spisak would comment. Another administrator that has served as both a principal with board of control duties, and as a superintendent with excutives duties is Dennis Dunham from South Range. "I believe the merger has been a huge success. It appears that the vast majority of schools have already seen benefits of the new league." He would go on to say, "My experience as a coach, principal and superintendent has probably given me some insight that is somewhat different from others. I had a unique perspective of being in both leagues (ICL & TCL) as a player, coach and administrator. I envision the board of control and executive committee as a body overseeing the league but not micro-managing. This appears to be working. In short, I believe we have good people making the right decisions for our student athletes and member schools." |
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| "The merger came about because of football." Dennis Spisak |
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| "Now I wasn't there before the merger, but my understanding is that both leagues found it hard to compete. You know talent levels go in cycles, sometimes a school is real good, and sometimes they have real bad cyles," ITCL commissioner Paul Andraso would admit. Andraso was appointed commissioner of the league at the beginning of the merger. One reason the merger became a reality was the growing displeasure from the bigger schools with the athletic competition of the two leagues from top to bottom. There were even some schools that were briefly considered for a new mega-conference with members of the Trumbull Athletic Conference, plus some other schools in the area. But when Southern Local was unable to field enough players to complete the 2004 football season, the real catalyst to making a change was struck. "The merger came about because of football. The larger enrollment schools were not happy with beating up on the small schools in each league. Sebring and Southern were constantly being beaten by scores of 70-6 and the same could be said for Western Reserve and Jackson-Milton," Spisak would recall. "The bigger schools also felt that playing division six schools in football would hurt their chances to make the state playoffs and host an opening round play-off game. Thus, the ITCL was born." However, the merger did not come about without challenges. Some of those challenges still exist today, but according to Dunham those issues are looked at regularly. "I think it is critical to continue to evaluate the league, in all areas, to determine our success or lack of success." |
| But back in 2005, members from both the ICL and TCL had some skepticism about the two leagues merging. "The outstanding traditions that were associated with the TCL and ICL had to be taken into consideration with a great deal of sensitivity. The longer and more frequently we met, the better feel we had that this could ultimately work and most importantly benefit student athletes," Dunham remarked. Spisak would recall some more specific hurdles that had to be overcome to convince all member schools to come aboard. "The biggest road blocks at the time were travel and the possible small crowds for the major revenue producing sports. Instead of Southern just traveling in Columbiana County, now we were going all the way up to McDonald. Plus, we were afraid of losing the big money gates when Columbiana, Crestview, United, etc came to our school to play. Other road blocks dealt with scheduling minor sports, and how we pass out season awards for individual players. Both leagues had different award systems...like the TCL only had some 24 players make all league football while the ICL allowed up to 50-60 players make their all-league team." Andraso admitted there is no real way to resolve the travel issues that the schools face, especially the second tier of the league. "The schools in the second tier are happy being in a league. Schools like Southern and Wellsville realize how difficult it is to find a small school league in southern Ohio. Sure, everyone would like to be able to play someone only 15 minutes away. But we have segregated the league at the junior high level into the north, central, and south to help with travel at that level." Andraso would go on to comment that the ITCL is happy and content in it's current situation. "There are people on JJ Huddle and such that talk about expansion, but we are content with where we are, and we haven't had any real interest from anyone. The formation of the All-American Conference has really settled that." If the 2010 season is any indication, the fact that both Southern and United made the OHSAA playoffs for the first time in school history is a testiment that the league is working. So far there have been 9 different schools qualify for the playoffs, with McDonald having qualified all five years of the leagues existance. Others include Columbiana (4), Crestview (4), East Palestine (1), Leetonia (1), Southern (1), South Range (4), United (1), and Western Reserve (4). As far as schools moving tiers, as rumored on chat sites, Andraso said they (ITCL) are under a gag order until the EMIS numbers are officially released. But even then, as Andraso confirmed, the executive committee of the league would have to approve any changes. Northeast Ohio is a football driven region, and every school wants to be in the playoffs, and win league and state championships. The ITCL may not be perfect, but it has allowed the small schools in Trumbull, Mahoning, and Columbiana Counties an excellent opportunity to be their best, and reach those goals. The league has accomplished its mission so far. It may not be perfect, but it has provided, in theory, a level playing field for all members. |
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| Has the ITCL Accomplished it's Goal |
| Football Records Five Years Before VS ITCL Merger Columbiana 38-11, 35-15 Jackson-Milton 16-34, 13-37 Crestview 31-18, 42- 8 Leetonia 32-18, 28-22 East Palestine 25-25, 18-32 Lowellville 30-20, 19-31 Lisbon 30-19, 7-43 Mcdonald 25-25, 43-7 Mineral Ridge 34-16, 29-21 Sebring 3-46, 6-44 South Range 46- 4, 37-13 Southern 12-37, 26-24 Springfield 30-20, 21-29 Wellsville 18-32, 28-22 United 30-20, 26-24 Western Reserve 11-39, 40-10 |