Ada to leave the Northwest Conference and join the Blanchard Valley Conference

Volume 2 Issue 19

Big news in the high school sports world this week. The Ada Bulldogs have announced they are leaving the Northwest Conference to join the Blanchard Valley Conference.

The news comes after years of rumors and rumblings about whether Ada would want, or be able to, stay in the Northwest Conference. Ada is a school with an OHSAA enrollment of 102 for boys and 86 for girls. They also offer 14 sports.

Ada leaving is just the latest domino to fall in the changing landscape of Northwestern Ohio conferences. Some have pointed to Upper Scioto Valley and Lima Perry leaving the conference at the turn of the century is what ultimately led to this point. However, This series of changes really started once Holgate moved to the Buckeye Border Conference in 2021. That move allowed Paulding to leave the Northwest Conference, which it had been a member of since 1967, to replace Holgate in the Green Meadows Conference. That allowed Leipsic to leave the BVC and replace Paulding in the NWC. This all also coincides with the the mass exodus of the BVC, where Liberty-Benton announced they will leave by 2026 and that Cory-Rawson and North Baltimore announced they will leave at the end of this school year to join the Northwest Central Conference.

The enrollments for the new look NWC and BVC would look as followed:

NWC

• Bluffton - 146-B / 132-G

• Allen East - 133-B / 123-G

• Spencerville - 150-B / 103-G

• Delphos Jefferson - 103-B / 118-G

• Columbus Grove - 121-B / 99-G

• Lincolnview (No FB) - 109-B / 102-G

• Convoy Crestview - 97-B / 88-G

• Leipsic - 91-B / 78-G

BVC

• Liberty-Benton - 163-B / 203-G

• Elmwood - 154-B / 139-G

• Van Buren - 142-B / 117-G

• Riverdale - 122-B / 102-G

• Ada - 102-B / 86-G

• McComb - 83-B / 73-G

• Arcadia - 66-B / 65-G

• Pandora-Gilboa - 76-B / 64-G

• Arlington - 61-B / 60-G

• Vanlue (No FB) - 24-B / 26-G

Ada is clearly going to get a competetive bump. They are going from the 3rd smallest school in the NWC to the fifth biggest in the BVC. This move will bring the BVC to 9 football schools and 7 football schools for the NWC. This is definitely a scheduling nightmare. It also has not been announced when Ada will join the BVC. By the time they do some of the schools listed may no longer be able to field a team or will have left the conference.

This moves poses new questions about how the conference landscape will look going forward. Will the NWC look to swap Ada for Liberty-Benton? Will Lima Central Catholic try to push their way back into the NWC? Will the BVC end up dissolving entirely? Will there be some kind of merger between the BVC, NWC and NWCC? Only time will tell, but this certainly will not be the last domino to fall.

Leading Updates

• Casey Santoro (Bellevue) has transferred to Florida Gulf Coast basketball.

Notable Game Updates

• On April 30th Ethan Wolf (Minster) had one reception for 26 yards and a touchdown in a DC Defenders win over the Seattle Sea Dragons in the semifinals.

• On May 3rd Matt Wisler (Bryan) picked up the save for the Toledo Mud Hens while pitching two innings and giving up no hits while throwing three strikeouts.

• On May 5th Chris Bassitt (Curtice/Genoa) faced 26 batters and gave up no earned runs on only four hits across seven innings in a Blue Jays win over the Pirates.

• On May 5th Nigel Hayes-Davis (Toledo/Whitmer) had 12 points in a Fenerbahce win over Olympiacos.

• On May 6th Ryan Mikesell (St. Henry) had 13 points in a Le Portal loss to Le Mans.

• On May 6th Zak Kirk (Maumee) placed 5th in the 5k at the Oregon Twlight with a personal best time of 13:47.79.

Interesting Reads

• Zia Cooke begins her pro basketball journey

• Natasha Howard embraces 'big responsibility' of mentoring young Dallas Wings

• Briggs: OK, what's the biggest sporting event Toledo could dream of hosting?

• Jared Anderson, Bob Arum, and the making of boxing's next superstar

• Hot start has top-ranked Eastwood baseball living in the moment

• Archbold grad Newman having immediate success hitting, pitching for BGSU baseball

• 3-sport standout Mike Brown joins Sandusky athletic hall of fame

• Maleah Clinton's numbers, positive approach stand out

• Ada latest Lima area school to switch conferences

Just For Fun

Every member of the BVC and NWC ever

BVC

• Arcadia (1926-)

• Arlington (1926-)

• Cory-Rawson (1949-23)

• Findlay Liberty-Benton (1922-2026)

• Hardin Northern (1965-14)

• McComb (1926-)

• Mount Blanchard (1922-60)

• Mount Cory (1922-49)

• North Balitmore (2014-23)

• Pandora-Gilboa (1966-)

• Rawson (1922-49)

• Riverdale (2014-)

• Van Buren (1922-)

• Vanlue (1922-)

• Westwood (1965-66)

NWC

• Ada (1947-?)

• Allen East (1965-)

• Beaverdame (1956-64)

• Bluffton (1952-)

• Columbus Grove (1947-)

• Convoy Crestview (1970-)

• Delphos Jefferson (1947-)

• Elida (1947-72)

• Forest (1947-62)

• Gomer (1956-69)

• Harrod (1947-65)

• Lafayette (1947-65)

• Leipsic (1962-64 / 2021-)

• Lima Bath (1964-66)

• Lima Central Catholic (2006-13)

• Lima Perry (1966-04)

• Lima Shawnee (1947-53)

• Lincolnview (1965-)

• North Baltimore (1967-69)

• Ottawa-Glandorf (1964-67)

• Pandora-Gilboa (1951-67)

• Paulding (1967-21)

• Spencerville (1947-)

• Upper Scioto Valley (1966-01)