Metro Athletic Conference (Ohio)

The Metro Athletic Conference is an association of eight high schools and their associated middle/junior high schools located in the northeast region of the U.S. state of Ohio. Four member schools are in Summit County, three are in Portage County, and one in Medina. The league was formed in 2019 and scheduled to begin competition in 2020, comprising all eight members of the former Portage Trail Conference Metro Division. While competition was set to begin in all sports in August 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic initially put competition in many sports in jeopardy, with golf being the only sport to begin interscholastic at the outset. Eventually it was announced by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine that all sports were allowed to compete under special guidelines outlined by the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA).

Current members
School Nickname Location County Colors[1] Enrollment[lower-alpha 1] Middle school Year joined
Cloverleaf High School Colts Westfield Medina Green, white

   

 675[2] Cloverleaf Middle School 2020
Coventry High School Comets Coventry Summit Blue, gold

   

 666[3] Coventry Middle School 2020
Field High School Falcons Brimfield Portage Red, white, black

     

 497[4] Field Middle School 2020
Norton High School Panthers Norton Summit Red, black, white

     

 872[3] Norton Middle School 2020
Ravenna High School Ravens Ravenna Portage Blue, white, red

     

 592[4] Brown Middle School 2020
Springfield High School Spartans Lakemore Summit Red, gray

   

 693[5] Springfield Junior High School 2020
Streetsboro High School Rockets Streetsboro Portage Blue, gold

   

 616[4] Streetsboro Middle School 2020
Woodridge High School Bulldogs Peninsula Summit Maroon, silver, white

     

 687[3] Woodridge Middle School 2020
  1. Enrollments are for grades 9–12 even if other grades are housed in the same building

History

A previous Metro Athletic Conference existed primarily in Mahoning, Trumbull, and Columbiana Counties until 2014. It was founded in 1972 as the Mahoning Valley Conference and renamed Metro Athletic Conference in 1994. The conference merged with the Trumbull Athletic Conference in 2014 and formed the All-American Conference.[6]

The current Metro Athletic Conference was established in April 2019 after the superintendents of all eight school districts that made up the Portage Trail Conference (PTC) Metro Division voted to move forward with establishing a new league separate from the PTC to begin play in August 2020. Reasons given for leaving the PTC included concerns over officiating, scheduling, and league operations, along with the desire for a third-party commissioner and more educational opportunities.[7][8] The name had been chosen by the time the split from the PTC was made official in June 2019.[9]

Inaugural season

Interscholastic competition began in August 2020 with golf, but the COVID-19 pandemic put several other sports in jeopardy.[10] Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced on Tuesday, August 18, that all sports, including contact sports, may proceed with the plans laid out by the Ohio High School Athletic Association.[11] For football this would mean one inter-school scrimmage followed by a modified 6-game regular season with every team qualifying for the state playoffs.[12] For the Metro Athletic this would mean that each team would play every other school in football except one in 2020.

Conference champions
Year Football Boys golf Girls golf Boys cross country Girls cross country Boys soccer Girls soccer Girls tennis Volleyball Boys basketball Girls basketball Wrestling Baseball Softball Boys track Girls track Boys tennis
2020-21 Streetsboro Cloverleaf Cloverleaf[13] Woodridge[14] Woodridge[14] Norton Streetsboro, Norton Woodridge[15] Coventry Norton Norton Norton

References
  1. "Member School Directory and Athletic Schedules". MyOHSAA.org. Ohio High School Athletic Association. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  2. "School detail for Cloverleaf High School". National Center for Education Statistics. 2018–19. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  3. "Search for public schools: Summit County". National Center for Education Statistics. 2018–19. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  4. "Search for public schools: Portage County". National Center for Education Statistics. 2018–19. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  5. "School detail for Springfield Junior/Senior High School". National Center for Education Statistics. 2018–19. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  6. "About the Conference". AACOhio.net. All-American Conference. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  7. Rosenblum, Jonah; Leonard, Michael (April 11, 2020). "Portage Trail Conference shakeup?". Record-Courier. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  8. Rosenblum, Jonah (April 15, 2019). "Portage Trail Conference Metro superintendents to 'move forward' in new conference discussions". Record Courier. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  9. Kreider, Derek (June 20, 2019). "Norton school board OKs membership to new athletic league". Akron.com. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  10. Beaven, Michael (August 10, 2020). "More schools consider delaying sports". Akron Beacon Journal. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  11. "Governor Gives Green Light for Contact Sports, Urges Caution". ohsaa.org. August 18, 2020. Retrieved August 23, 2020.
  12. "OHSAA Adjusts Season if Football is Approved by Governor". ohsaa.org. August 7, 2020. Retrieved August 23, 2020.
  13. Susan, Jenior (2020-09-20). "Waterloo kicks off postseason with runner-up finish". Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  14. Rosenblum, Jonah (2020-10-16). "Big day for Falcons at MAC Championships". Record-Courier.com. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
  15. Mayer, Nick (2020-10-16). "Abigail Decker named MAC Tennis Player of the Year". woodridgeathletics.com. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
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