The East Central Ohio League (ECOL) was an athletic conference of high schools in Ohio sponsored by OHSAA that existed from 1987-2022. Its final member schools were located in Tuscarawas and Washington Counties. Former members were located in

Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...

, Coshocton, Muskingum, and

Belmont Belmont may refer to: People * Belmont (surname) Places * Belmont Abbey (disambiguation) * Belmont Historic District (disambiguation) * Belmont Hotel (disambiguation) * Belmont Park (disambiguation) * Belmont Plantation (disambiguation) * Belmon ...

Counties.

History

The ECOL was formed in 1987 with the original members being Cambridge, Coshocton, Meadowbrook, and St. Clairsville.

Claymont Claymont is a census-designated place (CDP) in New Castle County, Delaware. The estimated 2017 population of the 19703 ZIP code, which Claymont encompasses, was 15,292. History The community now known as Claymont started on the banks of Naamans C ...

joined the league in 1989, followed by

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

in 1993, who left the Northeastern Buckeye Conference. After the 1996 season, St. Clairsville dropped out. Indian Valley High School left the PAC-7 to replace St. Clairsville for the 1996-97 school year. A year later New Philadelphia left the Federal League and joined. The next addition was River View, which fully completed a transition to the East Central Ohio League from the Muskingum Valley League in 2005. Indian Valley departed the ECOL following the 2006-07 school year, joining the PAC-7, which it had been a member of prior to joining the ECOL. Following the departure of the Braves, the conference negotiated a partnership with the Muskingum Valley League to provide a full, even schedule for conference members. This would allow for even numbers of home and away games for member schools. On October 20, 2009, it was announced that Zanesville would be joining the ECOL. On December 1, 2009, Marietta and Rosecrans were accepted as the 9th and 10th members. All 3 schools gradually joined the league with their sports, starting with track, wrestling, swimming, golf, soccer and tennis in 2010-11; basketball, baseball, softball and volleyball in 2011-12, and football in 2012. After being extended an invitation as well,

Steubenville High School Steubenville High School is a public high school in Steubenville, Ohio, United States. It is the only secondary school in the Steubenville City School District. Athletics The school offers baseball, basketball, football, golf, soccer, softball, ...

ultimately declined to join the ECOL as its 11th member on May 18, 2010. Following the expansion to ten, the conference would be split into two divisions: Scarlet and Gray. The Scarlet Division (big schools) would consist of Cambridge, Dover, Marietta, New Philadelphia and Zanesville. The Gray Division (small schools) would consist of Claymont, Coshocton, Meadowbrook, River View, and Rosecrans. In February 2015, Claymont announced that they would join the Inter-Valley Conference beginning with the 2016-17 school year. Later, Bishop Rosecrans announced that it would leave the league as well and join the Mid-State League for the 2017-18 season, leaving the ECOL with 8 members. Realignment then shifted Cambridge to the Gray Division for the 2017-18 school year. In 2018, it was officially announced that Coshocton, Meadowbrook, and River View would leave the ECOL to join the Muskingum Valley League (MVL) beginning with the 2020 season. Zanesville also announced that they were leaving after the 2020 season to join the Licking County League. In 2020-2021, the Warriors of Warren Local joined the ECOL after being independent since exiting the SEOAL. Cambridge left in 2021 for the Buckeye 8, and New Philadelphia announced they would be leaving to join the Ohio Cardinal Conference starting in 2022. With potentially only three teams remaining (Dover, Marietta, and Warren) for the 2022 school year, the league disbanded after the 2021-22 school year. Dover would become an independent, while Marietta and Warren would join the newly formed Twin State League.

Members

The following are final members of the conference: *Dover Tornadoes (1993-2022) *New Philadelphia Quakers (1997-2022) *Marietta Tigers (2011-2022) *Warren Warriors (2020-2022) The following are former members of the conference: *St. Clairsville Red Devils (1987-1996) *Indian Valley Braves (1996-2007) *Claymont Mustangs (1989-2016) *Bishop Rosecrans Bishops (2011-2017) *Zanesville Blue Devils (2011-2020) *Coshocton Redskins (1987-2020) *Meadowbrook Colts (1987-2020) *River View Black Bears (2005-2020) *Cambridge Bobcats (1987-2021) Membership Timeline:

Conference rivalries

*Dover vs New Philadelphia *Claymont vs Indian Valley *Coshocton vs River ViewBarstow, Jim. "River View girls shut down rival CHS 39-29." ''Coshocton Tribune'', December 9, 2007. *Cambridge vs Meadowbrook *Zanesville vs Cambridge *Marietta vs Warren

State championships

This table only includes state championships won by schools while a member of the East Central Ohio League:

External links

Cambridge district homeClaymont district homeCoshocton district homeDover district homeNew Philadelphia district homeRiver View district homeBishop Rosecrans homeZanesville district homeIndian Valley district homeSt. Clairsville district home

References