Blanchard Valley Conference

The Blanchard Valley Conference is an Ohio High School Athletic Association affiliated athletic league located in Hancock, Putnam, Seneca, and Wood Counties in northwest Ohio. Its name derives from the Blanchard River, which runs through the area in which the schools are located. Findlay, which is part of the Three Rivers Athletic Conference, and Fostoria St. Wendelin, which is part of the Sandusky River League in all sports but football, are the only high schools in Hancock County that are members of the Ohio High School Athletic Association that are not part of the BVC.

The BVC is well known for being a power conference for girls volleyball and basketball. Every year many schools are state ranked in both sports. In the last few years, Pandora-Gilboa, Leipsic, & McComb have been ranked within the top 5 range and finishing within top 5. (Findlay)Liberty-Benton has also contributed to the power of the conference in Division 3 the last 2 years. The first polls for Division 4 volleyball include, McComb as #2, Leipsic #6, Pandora-Gilboa #7, and Arlington #11. The last year a Blanchard Valley School has finished with a perfect season record was in 2010 when Pandora-Gilboa finished 21-0, and 24-1 overall losing to BVC school McComb, who also had an impressive record that season with only one loss (Pandora-Gilboa) before heading into tournaments, in Regional Finals. McComb also finished with an undefeated season in 2013 and 2014! In 2014, McComb finished as the OHSAA State-Runners Up and expected to once again repeat its state appearance in the 2015 tournament! Within Seasons to come, Hopewell Loudon will be adding to the volleyball power, as they won 5 consecutive state titles from 1995-2000 and have several runners-up titles as well

Girls Basketball is huge in the BVC too. Within the last few years, Liberty Benton has won a state title and runners up title, Arlington has won a state title, Riverdale was a final for contender, and Pandora-Gilboa and (maybe) Arcadia were regional runners-up.

Current members

The member schools of the Blanchard Valley Conference.

1. Leipsic and Pandora-Gilboa are also current member of the Putnam County League.

2.Charter Member 3.May need to check the conference name, P-G won conference title in another conference other than the BVC & NWC once.

Former Members

Inter-Conference Rivalries

Pandora-Gilboa & Leipsic (Dual Conference Rivalry) |- Arlington &Liberty-Benton |- Van Buren & North Baltimore |- Arcadia & Vanlue

Recent expansion

Three schools of the possible four wanted joined the BVC in 2014. This expansion was nicknamed the "Liberty-Benton membership-extension addition" because of the size of (an) additional school(s) is "keeping Liberty-Benton in the conference." Supporting Evidence of this nickname comes from Liberty-Benton officials commenting on spectator and media statements of the school needing to apply for a new conference because of the school is placed in Division V for football as all other schools in the conference were only in Division VII. School Officials said the school would have to look for a new conference by 2016 if the expansion didn't pass.

League history

The BVC's roots lie in the Hancock County League often known as the Little 9/8/7 League, which formed in 1922. Arcadia, Arlington, Liberty-Benton, McComb, Mount Blanchard, Mount Cory, Rawson, Van Buren, Vanlue were the founding members. Cory-Rawson was formed by the consolidation of Mount Cory and Rawson in 1950. The eight team lineup lasted for another decade, until Mount Blanchard (due to consolidate into Riverdale in 1962) joined the Hardin County League.

The remaining seven members decided to reorganize the league in 1965 and add other schools, giving birth to the BVC. Hardin Northern, Leipsic (football only), and Westwood signed on to make the conference a 9 member/10 football member conference. When Westwood was absorbed by the Bowling Green City School District in 1966, Pandora-Gilboa replaced them in the league for the 1966-67 school year in football only. Leipsic and Pandora-Gilboa were both members of the Putnam County League for all non-football sports at this time.

Leipsic and Pandora-Gilboa were able to work out schedules with the PCL to be able to join the BVC in all sports, while keeping membership in both conferences, in 1971.

On April 19, 2012, Ada High School of the Northwest Conference, along with Calvert, Hopewell-Loudon, and North Baltimore of the Midland Athletic League made pitches to join the BVC after answering a letter of interest made in February 2012.^[1]

On May 21, 2012, the BVC extended invitations to Hopewell-Loudon and North Baltimore with the following report coming from the Findlay Courier:

By an 8-0 vote, with two abstentions, member schools of the Blanchard Valley Conference on Monday voted to approve expansion. North Baltimore and Hopewell-Loudon were formally invited to join the league. Those two schools have until July 1 to accept. Expansion would take effect for the 2014-15 school year. BVC officials still hope to add two more schools to eventually make the conference a 14-team league. Football would be split into two divisions, based on boys enrollment figures combined with a multiplier of wins over the previous four seasons. The schools would then be ranked 1-12 (or 1-14, if two more schools are added); odd-number ranked teams would make up one division and even-number ranked teams the other. There will be no North-South, East-West or straight enrollment-based split of divisions. Under a 12-team format, each football team would play the other teams in its division once, have two crossover games with the other division and an eighth conference game against a team in the same slot in the other division. Each school would have a second non-conference game on its schedule. All other sports will be in a single-division format. The two BVC members who are also part of the Putnam County League, Leipsic and Pandora-Gilboa, will remain full members of the PCL.^[2]

North Baltimore accepted the BVC's invitation on June 19, 2012 and Hopewell-Loudon did the same a day later.^[3] Both schools joined for the 2014-15 season.

In April 2013, BVC President Traci Conley indicated the BVC wanted to expand to 14 members and first sent an invitation to Riverdale High School.^[4] Riverdale accepted the invitation on April 22, 2013,^[5] which meant the BVC wanted to pursue a 14th member to join the league. Riverdale's membership in the N10 was terminated shortly thereafter,^[6] and they would likely not have joined the BVC until 2015-16 at the earliest, but with Hardin Northern dropping football in 2013, Riverdale was admitted for all sports beginning in 2014.^[7]

In May 2013, Upper Scioto Valley publicly indicated that they were interested in joining the BVC as its 14th member, since they felt that its league, the Northwest Central Conference was no longer stable.^[8]

In late 2013, the NWCC extended an invitation to Hardin Northern, which also required a response by March 1, 2014.^[9] After suspending Hardin Northern from league play in football from 2013-2015, the BVC voted 9-1 (HN the lone dissenting vote) to refuse a guarantee that Hardin Northern would return to the league for that sport.^[10] This pressure caused Hardin Northern's school board to decide on February 19, 2014 to withdraw from the BVC and apply to the NWCC for membership.^[11] The NWCC accepted Hardin Northern as a full member for 2014-15 on March 19, 2014, with football joining in 2015-16.^[12]

With Hardin Northern's departure, the BVC will likely remain at an even 12 schools for the time being. It's not a matter of if but when Arcadia and Vanlue consolidate.

Enrollment

The current enrollments of the twelve BVC schools.^[13]

Football champions

See also

• Ohio High School Athletic Conferences