No expansion for MVL

The votes are in, and there will be no changes coming to the Muskingum Valley League.

Principals from league schools met Monday to vote on two expansion proposals, one for adding three teams and another to add one.

Neither passed, league commissioner Scott Welker confirmed late.

"They have decided that they are going to stay the way it is," Welker said.

League principals originally met in September after receiving interest from Cambridge, Coshocton and Meadowbrook — current members of the East Central Ohio League — and jointly formulated the two proposals.

The first was to add Meadowbrook and remain a one-division format, the same as when River View was a member of the league before joining the ECOL. It was denied by a 5-3-1 count — 75 percent of the league must vote in favor, or seven of the nine schools.

In the second proposal, all three schools would have joined and the league then would have split into two divisions. The North Division would have featured Cambridge, Coshocton, John Glenn, Meadowbrook, West Muskingum and Tri-Valley; Crooksville, Maysville, Morgan, New Lexington, Philo and Sheridan would have comprised the South.

John Glenn principal Steve Brooks said two proposed division alignments were discussed at the September meeting based on geography, size and current competitive status of the schools, one of which didn't make it to vote. It was Maysville that proposed, the North-South alignment, he said.

It was voted down 4-4-1.

Welker declined to divulge who voted in which direction.

"I think there are a lot of people concerned about seeing other leagues fold," Welker said. "This is the second-oldest league in the state. It has been around forever, and I think there is a lot of pride in the MVL, a lot of administrators that grew up in the MVL and they like things the way they are. I think that had a lot to do with the voting."

Welker, a Maysville graduate also with close ties with Tri-Valley, said the league meets each school year to discuss expansion. That brought upon the vote this year.

"The nice thing is it's a really strong league now," Welker said. "People say Tri-Valley needs to leave because they're too big and Crooksville needs to leave because they're too small. The only thing that really matters is football. If they could find a way to let anyone in (the playoffs) that goes .500, nobody would be complaining."

Welker doesn't envision any expansion talks in the near future.

"I won't say never," he said. "We talked about this today. They're always looking at opportunities; at this time they have chosen to stay with the way things are. It's a principal's vote. It's their league."

At least one league principal was pleased with the results.

"We have a strong and stable league," West Muskingum's Ray Peyton said. "And I am proud of the work everyone puts into it."

sblackburn@zanesvilletimesrecorder.com

740-450-6723

Twitter: @SamBlackburnTR