COLUMBUS, Ohio — Fourteen high school teams across all fall and winter sports, including football and basketball, will move up to Division I for postseason competition during the 2024-25 school year.
In Northeast Ohio, no football teams are opting to move up.
In fact, only one football team in the state will move to Division I — Westerville Central from the Columbus area — after the Ohio High School Athletic Association announced Wednesday which schools submitted petitions. The process spawned from the OHSAA’s move in February to expand many sports’ postseason divisions for the upcoming school year.
While no Cleveland or Akron area football teams opted to move up, neither are any boys basketball teams.
However, Cleveland west-side rivals Magnificat and St. Joseph Academy both opted to move back up to Division I in girls basketball. Both had previously competed in the state’s largest division, but initially moved down with the OHSAA’s expansion to seven divisions. Magnificat reached the Division I state semifinals last season.
The option to move up to Division I, and only Division I, will be conducted on a year-by-year and sport-by-sport basis. Football already had seven divisions, but the OHSAA’s changes significantly impacted other fall and winter sports, including girls tennis, soccer, girls volleyball and basketball. With that change, member schools passed a referendum in May that allows them to petition the OHSAA for a move up to Division I. Schools had until June 3 to request the move.
The OHSAA said on Wednesday no requests were denied and schools have until June 25 to request a move up in wrestling. Spring sports, including baseball and softball, will have their divisional assignments presented to the OHSAA board of directors in August for approval. Schools will have until Sept. 13 to request a move up to Division I in those spring sports.
With the 14 teams that are moving up in fall and winter sports, some teams are moving down to Division II. Here is a full rundown of the schools impacted by petitions to move up with Northeast Ohio schools bolded:
Kenston moves to D1
Notre Dame Cathedral Latin moves to D1
Ashtabula St. John School moves to D1
Westerville Central moves to D1
No schools move down to D2 as number of teams in D1 still rounds to 10%
Cincinnati Elder moves to D1
Columbus St. Charles moves to D1
Cincinnati Sycamore moves to D2
Cleveland Heights moves to D2
Walsh Jesuit moves to D1
Westerville South moves to D2
St. Joseph Academy moves to D1
Magnificat moves to D1
Normandy moves to D2
Pataskala Watkins Memorial moves to D2
Cincinnati Elder moves to D1
Thomas Worthington moves to D2
Cincinnati Seton moves to D1
Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame moves to D1
Magnificat moves to D1
St. Joseph Academy moves to D1
Euclid moves to D2
Grove City Central Crossing moves to D2
Westerville North moves to D2
John Marshall moves to D2
Contact sports reporter Matt Goul on X (@mgoul), Threads (@mgoul) or email (mgoul@cleveland.com).
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