Long time reader, but this was interesting enough to make an account for. I don’t really get the move for Leipsic. BVC schools have faired very well at the state level over the last decade, the league is clearly providing a good testing ground to prepare teams for statewide competition, Leipsic has battled LB well in football over the years, and has had no issues with VB. So who are they trying to get away from? The small schools perhaps, but again playing Vanlue and Arcadia hasn’t stopped them making the playoffs in football, in fact I would argue it’s a benefit, as you can rest some players and get healthy with a sort of bye week. Also note, BVC schools only play 8 league games, so no guarantee they would even play them annually. Trading rivalries and shorter travel for the unknown seems unnecessary
Leipsic Leaving BVC
- Thread starter jafo
- Start date
Barring half of those teams making BVC departure announcements soon, and the NWC schools blindsiding the rest of the NWC (after unanimously voting Leipsic in as an invited member), then I would say this big rumor is a big falsity.
Even though I kind of like the list LetsGoBig gave, I cant see Ada/Bluffton/Columbus Grove breaking the ties they have had over the many years with likes of Spencerville, Delphos Jefferson and especially neighbors, Allen East.
My guess is there's some things going on behind the scenes and a bigger picture here. Potential for more teams to leave. Stability with even playing fields would be key for any school. If I'm not mistaken, Liberty Benton rules the schools in basketball, volleyball, and track. There's alot more than just football at play. Money is always at play. There's alot at stake to uproot. I agree.
Every current member has been in the league for over 50 years. Allen East, Grove, Jefferson and Spencerville since 1947. Its going to take alot to break up the NWC. I've heard no rumors of any more departures. I would never say never, but would say this isn't even on the radar of schools currently.
Honestly I have said before, to replace Paulding look at Bath. I know it would be tough for Bath to leave the WBL, but they have gotten smaller (same amount of boys as LB) and are in D5, and have struggled in WBL for years now. I think demographic and geographic, they fit in with NWC.
Totally agreed that LB wins the all sports banner annually. But, the men’s basketball team has not won the league in several years and Leipsic is an upper half team in all sports. So, switching leagues to give your woman’s track team a better chance to be successful, sounds crazy? Plus every sport, outside of football makes the playoffs, so winning state is in play for everyone. As you mentioned it mig be a deep rooted issue, would be interesting to see a school explain the move more.
StateChampion2012
MAC Homer
I dont mind this idea. I was actually thinking about something similar while at work today. But not with 11. You could go 12 and split the league by adding Allen East or Elmwood, I hate the idea of split leagues though. Or you can skip Patrick Henry and go with 10 and use the MAC model or WBL model. What ever would work best.
But this brings me to my next point. Why would near half the NWC want to essentially implode and abandon their current league when it has been working for them for so long. I like the NWC. I think it's a great and stable league. I dont see their members doing this to each other. Fun to brainstorm ideas though!
ghsknightsfan
love the Knights and Grey Ghosts!
would be cool if someone could map out all the area teams, then we could really brainstorm
danville96
Well-known member
Yeah. It looks like a pipe dream of an expanded BVC with some NWC thrown in. The NWC is about as stable as it comes. Fully expect leipsic and various other schools to join. Could be as many as 12 members when set and done.
ghsknightsfan
love the Knights and Grey Ghosts!
now, who else do we think joins??
McComb
Liberty Benton
Parkway
Delphos St Johns
Hardin Northern
Lima Perry
Van Buren
these are the potential fits i see
McComb
Liberty Benton
Parkway
Delphos St Johns
Hardin Northern
Lima Perry
Van Buren
these are the potential fits i see
RollingTrain
Well-known member
I find it odd that Leipsic would withdraw without have a 110% option in the bag. Maybe the other options are that strong and they didn’t want to delay. I mean I guess they do have a concrete offer from the NWC, but it seems risky shopping. Then again, what do I know?
BirdDog10
Well-known member
Keep dreaming.... not a chance Grove or Bluffton leave the NWC until the day it ceases to exist
BirdDog10
Well-known member
The only deeper it can go is to Pandora-Gilboa, which is only a 3 minute difference in travel than Columbus Grove... that would leave Ottawa-Glandorf as the only Putnam County school not in the NWC.
StateChampion2012
MAC Homer
LCC already got the boot once from the NWC already. Would they really want them back?
BirdDog10
Well-known member
Easy answer, no. They would not.
I’m not sure Leipsic would have another meeting tonight if it wasn’t for them entertaining/accepting the NWC offer. Maybe a 25% chance they turn down and roll the dice. There is likely a couple more intriguing players in the game and if Leipsic comes, others could follow. BUT. I’ll go back to my old saying all along. Money talks. The NWC is a fairly wealthy conference with a good following.
Leipsic to Leave Blanchard Valley Conference After 2021-2022 School Year - 419Sports.com
Update: Leipsic's Extra Curricular Activities Board voted to accept the Northwest Conference's invitation. It will then be voted on by the Leipsic Board of Education at their next meeting. In a 5-0 vote, the Leipsic Board of Education voted for the Vikings to leave the Blanchard Valley...
419sports.com
Interesting listen on 419 sports from 93.1. Marty Banister seems to insinuate that Leipsic to the NWC is a done deal and He/Kreinbrink spoke of it off air but then it’s walked back. They jokingly talk about dancing around the subject at the end....I’m sure there is legs to the idea of starting a new conference, but it sounds as if it’s likely too difficult to get done. Kreinbrink also mentions 2-3 teams being added to the NWC and travel not being a significant factor.
Fireman878
Member
Elmwood probably wouldn’t leave the NBC to many rivalries and definitely shorter drive time but I would like it because I am an Elmwood grad
RollingTrain
Well-known member
They have been in talks with the SBC within the last six months.
Fireman878
Member
Well I guess u never know
If the BVC had the stones they would kick Vanlue and Arcadia to the curb and look for a couple replacements. The BVC is a proud conference with a strong core of schools. Keep these schools intact and bring in an Elmwood, Patrick Henry, or LCC to keep the league together and make it stronger.
Those teams are founding members from 1922. No set of stones will ever be big enough to kick them unless a new conference is formed, in my opinion. I think Leipsic seen that writing on the wall and walked away. This, however, puts some of the current schools at a disadvantage. Vanlue and Arcadia don’t do much for Liberty Benton in sports such as football. But, again, liberty benton is also a founding member. It’ll be interesting what transpires with the conference in the next couple of years.
A little long, but indulge me. ☺
There has been a bit of friction in the BVC as it has tried to stay together the last couple of years.
Some of the smaller schools resent L-B's size, success, facilities, etc. Understandable from their perspective. The smaller schools also enjoy the gates games against L-B bring, though.
Other schools in the conference, especially in football, would like nothing better than to jettison Vanlue and a few other schools that bring little or nothing to the table athletically or facilities wise.
That's a tough position for both sides of the equation.
I do know that L-B and some others would like nothing more than to wrestle Grove and Bluffton away to form something new. Informally, they've tried that. Ada was turned down by the BVC during their last round of expansion. Interestingly enough four BVC schools: P-G, Leipsic and North Baltimore and Riverdale (Forest was a member pre-consolidation) were NWC members.
I wouldn't be surprised if something went down to form an NWC North and South or an entirely new conference. The BVC, as it stands now, probably won't survive in the long term without some changes.
Here's a look at some of the schools that may be in play to make a switch:
L-B -- Solid in just about all sports, boys basketball not the power it once was.
Van Buren -- Well-rounded program with all sports the NWC sponsors.
McComb -- Great football program, other sports so-so. Surprising that it doesn't travel particularly well in football.
Pandora-Gilboa -- Solid in football, good basketball history. Fields most NWC sports, would think they'd feel similar to Leipsic with rival Grove right up the road.
Riverdale -- Boys basketball on an upswing, football is in the middle of the BVC pack. Pretty good all-around athletics and facilities,
Arlington -- Football a playoff contender every year. Best boys basketball coach in the conference and girls basketball has won a state title. Still, not sure they want anything to change. Any change is bad in Arlington.
Patrick Henry -- Don't discount the Pats. They are the smallest school in the NWOAL and have won 3 NWOAL titles (2 football, 1 GTR) since 2008. Put the northern BVC schools in the mix, maybe Grove or Elmwood, and they may just listen.
Elmwood -- Tough to break ties with the rest of the schools in the NBC, but they are neighbors with Van Buren and McComb and have some ties with L-B. Trouble is they are competitive in everything in the NBC, except football which has struggled for quite some time.
That leaves: North Baltimore (struggles in just about everything except baseball, softball), Vanlue (admire their guts, but 8-man is just around the corner), Cory-Rawson (8-man seems inevitable, not strong in basketball either) and Arcadia (similar to others, although with solid girls sports).
There has been a bit of friction in the BVC as it has tried to stay together the last couple of years.
Some of the smaller schools resent L-B's size, success, facilities, etc. Understandable from their perspective. The smaller schools also enjoy the gates games against L-B bring, though.
Other schools in the conference, especially in football, would like nothing better than to jettison Vanlue and a few other schools that bring little or nothing to the table athletically or facilities wise.
That's a tough position for both sides of the equation.
I do know that L-B and some others would like nothing more than to wrestle Grove and Bluffton away to form something new. Informally, they've tried that. Ada was turned down by the BVC during their last round of expansion. Interestingly enough four BVC schools: P-G, Leipsic and North Baltimore and Riverdale (Forest was a member pre-consolidation) were NWC members.
I wouldn't be surprised if something went down to form an NWC North and South or an entirely new conference. The BVC, as it stands now, probably won't survive in the long term without some changes.
Here's a look at some of the schools that may be in play to make a switch:
L-B -- Solid in just about all sports, boys basketball not the power it once was.
Van Buren -- Well-rounded program with all sports the NWC sponsors.
McComb -- Great football program, other sports so-so. Surprising that it doesn't travel particularly well in football.
Pandora-Gilboa -- Solid in football, good basketball history. Fields most NWC sports, would think they'd feel similar to Leipsic with rival Grove right up the road.
Riverdale -- Boys basketball on an upswing, football is in the middle of the BVC pack. Pretty good all-around athletics and facilities,
Arlington -- Football a playoff contender every year. Best boys basketball coach in the conference and girls basketball has won a state title. Still, not sure they want anything to change. Any change is bad in Arlington.
Patrick Henry -- Don't discount the Pats. They are the smallest school in the NWOAL and have won 3 NWOAL titles (2 football, 1 GTR) since 2008. Put the northern BVC schools in the mix, maybe Grove or Elmwood, and they may just listen.
Elmwood -- Tough to break ties with the rest of the schools in the NBC, but they are neighbors with Van Buren and McComb and have some ties with L-B. Trouble is they are competitive in everything in the NBC, except football which has struggled for quite some time.
That leaves: North Baltimore (struggles in just about everything except baseball, softball), Vanlue (admire their guts, but 8-man is just around the corner), Cory-Rawson (8-man seems inevitable, not strong in basketball either) and Arcadia (similar to others, although with solid girls sports).
BirdDog10
Well-known member
According to the Findlay Courier, Leipsic has accepted the NWC’s invitation and is just waiting on board approval.
This answers the other idea brought up in this thread: no. The founding members of the NWC will not be breaking off to form a conference with the upper half of the BVC.
Reminds me of the famous post-WW II confession by a German Lutheran pastor:
That's probably why no one has the stones to kick another school out...they know they could be next.
RollingTrain
Well-known member
Have to say, I never thought Leipsic would be the replacement....