Buckeye Eight Athletic League enters year 17 of battling
Harrison News-Herald Sports Writer
Conference realignment has dominated recent headlines in the college athletics world. Any informed sports fan has certainly heard the news of the seismic West Coast shift in the Big Ten, and ultimately the crashing fall of the PAC 12. Coincidentally, the Buckeye Eight Athletic League at the high school level has, and will, continue to experience significant change in their geographic footprint as well.
In 2020, founding member Buckeye Local opted out of the local sub-conference and into the more sprawling Mid-Ohio Valley League. The 10-team MOVL fields teams from Paden City, WV, to Sarahsville (Shenandoah). Another charter member bid farewell to the Buckeye Eight last year, the Edison Wildcats. While the Cambridge Bobcats replaced the Panthers, competing for the first time as a league member in the 2021-22 school year, a replacement has yet to be named for the Wildcats.
The carousel is not done spinning, either. A third founding member will exit the conference at the conclusion of this school year, as the Martins Ferry Purple Riders will drop from league competition at the conclusion of the Spring sports season. East Liverpool (originally joined in 2013) has also been a district that has been “in and out” the past couple of school years. Currently, the Potters are said not to be competing in the league this coming school year.
So where does that leave the remaining schools? The league will function with eight schools for this upcoming season, then drop to seven schools in 2024. This means without new members, it is highly possible divisional play will cease to exist past 2023-24. This coming year, Harrison Central will be joined in the North Division by former South Division running mate St. Clairsville. Beaver Local and Indian Creek will round out the North. Bellaire, Union Local, Cambridge and Martins Ferry will form the South Division in 2023.
In terms of football, St. Clairsville will once again begin the year as the league’s flag-bearer. The trio of Harrison Central, Bellaire and Beaver Local should also serve on the primary “watchlist” as the leaves begin to turn later this fall. With the expanded playoff format (16 teams per region), it is not completely out of the question to expect five, if not six playoff teams to come out of the Buckeye Eight. The four schools mentioned above are all strong postseason hopefuls, barring drastic injuries. Bellaire has a grueling 10-week run in front of them, but the Big Reds can find a way to week 11. While in the middle of a program rebuild, Martins Ferry has reworked their schedule to be more “playoff” favorable, and Cambridge is coming off of a 7-3 season that saw them advance out of the first round and nearly out of the second as an 11-seed.
The league’s football scheduling is in flux for this season due to the advanced planning often required for the sport, but there is still a handful of “league” games to circle on the calendar. Cambridge and Bellaire will square up on September 16. Harrison and St. Clairsville will play on Spetember 22. Although no longer in the same division, St. Clairsville will see Bellaire on September 30, and border rival Union Local on October 6. Beaver Local’s stiffest league opponent might actually be an inter-divisional matchup with Cambridge on October 13. The Beavers won’t see the Red Devils or the Huskies, and Bellaire is not in their division, therefore never regularly on their slate. The Battle for Sparky between Martins Ferry and Bellaire will cap off the regular season for both teams on October 21.
The marquee out-of-conference games to look for will deliver a heavy dose of the Big Reds and Red Devils. Bellaire will open up the season with Garaway, Barnesville, and then Fort Frye in week three. Absolutely no room for slouching in those contests. St. Clairsville will test their own mettle also, with Wheeling Central Catholic (September 8), Indian Valley (September 15), and Wheeling Park (October 13) all on the docket. The most interesting non-league tilts for Harrison Central may be a trip to Malvern in week three, and a trip to Waterford in week eight. Both meetings will be first all-time matchups for the respective schools, and both teams were playoff squads last season.
