North Coast League

North Coast League
Data
Classification	OHSAA Division II, III, and IV
Established	1984
Members	13
Sports fielded	10 boys and 9 girls
State Championships	41
Country	United States
Region	Midwest
States	1 - Ohio

The North Coast League (NCL) is a high school athletic conference for Catholic schools in Greater Cleveland, Ohio.

Member schools

The North Coast League was founded by six parochial high schools in 1984. Its original members were Cleveland Central Catholic, Holy Name. Lake Catholic, Padua Franciscan, St. Peter Chanel, and Trinity. Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin (1991) and Elyria Catholic (1995) joined the league shortly after it was founded. The schools were then separated into two four-team divisions based on enrollment. Villa Angela-St. Joseph joined the league in 2004 and Archbishop Hoban in 2005, but Cleveland Central Catholic left, creating unevenly sized divisions. Central Catholic re-joined the league in 2006, creating a balanced ten-team lineup.

In 2011, the NCL added Beaumont, Benedictine, Walsh Jesuit, and Warren John F. Kennedy high schools. Elyria Catholic left the league to join the West Shore Conference. Benedictine is an all-boys school and Beaumont is an all-girls school, so twelve schools compete in most sports, in two divisions of six schools each.^[1]

St. Peter Chanel left the North Coast League on July 1, 2013 due to the school's closing. St. Thomas Aquinas joined the North Coast League on that date. In 2014, Holy Name announced that they would be leaving the North Coast League for the new Great Lake Conference effective July 1, 2015.^[2] Later that year, Youngstown Christian School, which is currently independent of a league, was unanimously accepted to replace Holy Name.^[3] YCS is the first North Coast League school that is not operated by a Roman Catholic diocese or order.

The NCL is currently made up of 13 schools across 7 counties in northeast Ohio. The schools are separated into two divisions, based on their enrollment. The Blue Division consists of larger schools, while the White Division is made up of smaller schools.

Blue Division

^A Beaumont (all girls) and Benedicine (all boys) compete as a tandem.

White Division (smaller schools)

Former Members

Rivalries

Archbishop Hoban vs. Walsh Jesuit

Benedictine vs. Cleveland Central Catholic

Benedictine vs. Lake Catholic

Benedictine vs. NDCL

Cleveland Central Catholic vs. VASJ

Lake Catholic vs. NDCL

Lake Catholic vs. Walsh Jesuit

Trinity vs. Cleveland Central Catholic

State championships

This chart only includes state championships won by the schools while in the North Coast League.

Scheduling

Football

During the season, every school must play five league games, one against every other school in its own division. They are generally played the final five weeks of the season. Schools are also allowed to schedule schools in the other division, however these games are considered independent and do not count in NCL standings. Prior to 2011, each school played an additional school in the other division in a "crossover" game. The crossover opponents rotated on two-year stints.

Other sports

In other sports, such as basketball and volleyball, where more games are played during the season, each school must play 10 games against NCL opponents. Every school plays every other school in its division twice (once home, once away) Schools are also allowed to schedule schools in the other division, however these games are considered independent and do not count in NCL standings. Prior to the 2011 expansion, schools played 13 games: a home-and-away series against division opponents and a single game against inter-division foes.

In other sports such as track and swimming where schools have "meets" instead of individual games, there is one NCL meet for all schools in the league. For ice hockey a tournament is played in December to determine the conference champion as teams do not play an NCL schedule during the regular season.

References