Football: No divisional change for Shelby County schools

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No divisional and regional assignments changed for Shelby County schools when the Ohio High School Athletic Association released its breakdowns for 2023 on Wednesday.

But one neighboring school that has proved to be a roadblock in the playoffs is back in Division VII.

After winning the Div. VI state title last year, Marion Local has dropped back down to D-VII, where it was from 2019 to 2021.

The Flyers will join Fort Loramie, Lehman Catholic, Riverside and Minster in Division VII, Region 28. All of those teams were in Region 28 last year.

The Flyers won their 13th state title last year when they beat Kirtland in the Div. VI title game. They won the 2021 Div. VII state title, beating Fort Loramie and Riverside by lopsided scores in regional games on their way.

Midwest Athletic Conference rival New Bremen knocked off the Flyers 24-17 in a regional final in 2020 on its way to its first state title. Fort Loramie played Marion Local close in a regional final in 2019 but lost 24-21 in overtime. The Flyers won their next three games by lopsided scores (including a 27-0 win over New Bremen) to earn the D-VII title.

Marion Local was just over the threshold in Div. VI last year but a slight drop in competitive balance numbers now have landed the squad back in the smallest division.

Anna remains in Division VI, Region 24, along with Versailles. The Tigers were knocked off 35-3 by Marion Local in a regional semifinal last year after winning the D-VI title in 2021, when the Flyers won the D-VII title.

Sidney remains in Division II, Region 8.

Next school year is the second of two-year cycle of base enrollment data the OHSAA gets from the Ohio Department of Education. The association said in a release it uses competitive balance data from the previous season every year to create a new adjusted enrollment count for football.

Contact Bryant Billing at (937) 538-4818, or follow @SidneyOHSports on Twitter and @BryantBillingSDN on Facebook.

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