ASHLAND — The Arrows and Redbirds are on the move.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association unveiled divisional breakdowns and regional alignments for the 2024 football season Thursday afternoon and a pair of area schools will have new divisional homes in the fall.
Ashland will move up to Division II and will be slotted in Region 7. Loudonville will drop to Division VII and take up residence in Region 27.
Using enrollment data provided by the Ohio Department of Education, the OHSAA determines how many schools will be in each of the seven enrollment divisions for football. From there, schools are placed in one of 28 geographical regions (four per enrollment division).
The biggest 70 schools are placed in Division I. The remaining schools are split up evenly and placed in the other six divisions.
Ashland was a member of Division III, Region 10 last fall, but moved up because of an increase in enrollment. The Arrows will be in Region 7, which includes defending Division II state champ Massillon Washington along with Ohio Cardinal Conference rivals Wooster and Mount Vernon.
The Arrows (5-6)qualified for the Region 10 playoff last year, falling to Tiffin Columbian 49-21 in the opening round. The top 16 teams in each regional advance to the postseason.
Loudonville dropped to the smallest enrollment division and will compete in Region 27. The region encompasses southeastern Ohio.
The Redbirds were in Division VI, Region 23 last year. Loudonville was 3-7 in the regular season and missed the playoffs.
The area’s other schools will remain in the same divisions and regions they were in last year. Crestview and Mapleton will again be in Division VI, Region 22. Hillsdale remains in Division VII, Region 25. All three teams reached the playoffs last year before falling in the opening round.