Lake, Bay schools to withdraw from SBC

NORWALK — The first phases of another shift in member schools within the Sandusky Bay Conference is underway this week. It started Tuesday night when Sandusky City School's Board of Education unanimously approved a recommendation for the district to withdraw from the SBC in order to form a new 10-team conference with current SBC Lake and Bay division members that will begin play in the 2026-27 school year. The series of events continued Wednesday night when the Norwalk BOE also voted on the move. Perkins also held its monthly BOE meeting Wednesday night as well. Clyde, Huron and Tiffin Columbian will hold the conference's final board meetings of the month Feb. 24. "Norwalk High School is excited to move forward in the creation of a new league with the nine other schools (in the current Sandusky Bay Conference Lake and Bay football divisions)," Norwalk athletic director Josh Schlotterer said. "Conversations began in June about frustrations all ten schools had with the current league format. With not being able to come up with a compromise that worked for all of the divisions, the decision to move on collectively was made." The SBC Lake and Bay divisions announced in mid-January that they were exploring the possibility of creating a new league. The new conference would consist of current Lake football schools Clyde, Columbian, Norwalk, Perkins and Sandusky as well as Bay members Bellevue, Edison, Huron, Port Clinton and Vermilion. "Norwalk has a strong connection with the other schools and communities who are joining us in this new conference," Schlotterer said. "We look forward to working with them in its formation." The River Division voted in December to accept Margaretta and Willard as full-time members. With Northwood joining in the fall, the River could have its own 13-team league, but there is speculation that the small schools won't stick together. Vermilion athletic director Andy Stillman told his school board Monday night that the new league will maintain two divisions. "The Lake and Bay schools realized it's gonna be a lot easier for us to get things done for the betterment of those 10 schools if we separate from the River Division and go on our own," Stillman said. "Makes things cleaner, easier to understand and more attractive to potential new members." Stillman said conversations began last August about equalling out the SBC's football divisions, ideally with three six-team divisions. Eighteen of the current 22 SBC members play football. "Specifically, we suggested to Margaretta and Willard, who are in the River for football, to come up to the Bay," Stillman said. "To even it out, Bellevue would move to the Lake. "That was voted down by the River Division. Although Willard is larger than Edison and Huron and almost (as large as) Port Clinton — so they are the correct size for the Bay Division — that was voted down. The River Division has the numbers, so to get something passed in the conference is very difficult." Margaretta and Willard each participate in the River Division in football, but play in the Bay in other sports, including basketball, volleyball, baseball and softball. Stillman said that Vermilion — the eastern-most SBC member that plays plenty of Lorain County teams — is happy in the SBC and has no interest in jumping to the Lorain County League. "I'm not willing to sacrifice swimming, boys and girls tennis, boys and girls golf for whatever attractiveness there is with the LC8," he said. The SBC Lake and Bay expressed last month an interest in possibly adding members, but their options are limited. Two Lorain County schools that were of interest — Firelands and Keystone — apparently are staying in the Lorain County League. "We have a lot of respect for their league (the SBC). I think it's a great league," Keystone AD Jeff Holzhauer told the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram in late January. "But right now we're having so many transportation issues just getting our kids to Lorain County schools on time. "Joining the SBC would put a lot of strain on our transportation department, and then you also worry about, are kids going to come to support each other?" Stillman said that if the Lake and Bay break away, the SBC name could be coming with them. The league is expected to keep a two-division format. "The SBC name actually might just stay with us," he said. "It sounds like, just rumors, that those 13 (River) schools are going to be really split." For 73 years from the fall of 1944 through the 2016-17 school year, Norwalk was a member of the Northern Ohio League with current SBC members Willard and Bellevue. The NOL remained the same eight schools from 1954-2002 with Bellevue, Bucyrus, Galion, Norwalk, Tiffin Columbian, Shelby, Willard and Upper Sandusky. Bucyrus left following the 2001-02 school year and was replaced by Fostoria. After the 2010-11 school year, Fostoria went to the Northern Buckeye Conference, while Galion and Upper Sandusky went to the North Central Conference, which later became the Northern 10 after the 2013-14 school year. Sandusky then joined the NOL after 2011, and Ontario came in two years later. The last major shakeup came when six of the NOL schools — minus Ontario — were invited and accepted the invitation to the SBC. Ontario went to the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference, and were joined by Shelby one year later. Prior to the fall of 2017, the SBC went to its current three-division format with the addition of the former NOL schools. Note: Sandusky Register sports editor Brian Kollars contributed to this story.