It was announced recently on these pages that the Sidney Yellow Jackets were dropping from Division II to Division III in football for at least the next two seasons.
Now it’s also official at the Sidney boys basketball team will also drop, from Division I to Division II, according to numbers released recently by the Ohio High School Athletic Association.
The Sidney girls basketball team will remain in Division I.
“Size-wise, we fit in a little better in D-2 than D-1,” said head Sidney boys coach Andy Slaughter. “It’s tough to compete with schools twice our size. Look at the teams that have dominated D-1, they have a lot more boys than we do. And that’s just a lot more to choose from. And what really gets you when you play schools like that is their depth. That’s something schools our size struggle with.”
Sidney will have 383 boys in the upper three grades when school commences later this year, and the cutoff for Division I is 388. Schools with that number and more are in the biggest division.
With Division II including schools with 201 to 387 boys, Sidney goes from one of the smallest schools in its division to one of the biggest.
“We’ve always been right on that line,” said Slaughter. “But competitive balance will kick in with the next count, so we don’t know how long we’ll stay in D-2.”
Of course, the drop in divisions won’t affect Sidney’s regular-season schedule. But once postseason play starts, there will be a lot of new opponents.
“There is still a lot of talent in division two in southwest Ohio,” said Slaughter. “Piqua dropped down to division two, and Dunbar, Chaminade and Trotwood will all be in that division too. But size-wise and depth-wise, it helps us. Now we’re actually among the bigger schools in our division.”
Following is a look at the divisions, and where local and area schools falls:
BOYS BASKETBALL
D-I, 388 and over
D-II, 201 to 387 — Sidney 383.
D-III, 116-to-200 — Anna 157, Versailles 159
D-IV, 115 or less — Botkins 75, Fairlawn 76, Fort Loramie 77, Houston 103, Jackson Center 37, Lehman 69, Minster 95, New Bremen 71, New Knoxville 52, Riverside 104, Russia 47.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
D-I, 370 and over — Sidney 405.
D-II, 196 to 369
D-III, 110 to 195 — Anna 140, Versailles 177.
D-IV, 109 or less — Botkins 67, Fairlawn 62, Fort Loramie 82, Houston 105, Jackson Center 55, Lehman 71, Minster 104, New Bremen 102, New Knoxville 72, Riverside 82, Russia 47.
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Transfers
Coach Slaughter confirmed that Tyren Cox is transferring to Piqua for his senior season.
The 6-foot-2 Cox averaged 5.0 points and 4.1 rebounds per game for the Yellow Jackets last season, and was a sometime starter. Cox also played for the Yellow Jacket football team and finished last season with 19 receptions for 171 yards and a touchdown.
He will reportedly continue to live in Sidney, meaning he will have to sit out the first half of both the football and basketball seasons.
“I haven’t talked to Tyren,” said Slaughter. “Our goal is to make sure we do everything to help the kids so they want to be here and be part of the program. We wish Tyren nothing but the best.”
