ASHLAND — Veteran Ashland boys soccer coach Dustin Hosler could hardly contain his enthusiasm.

For the first time in a long time, the Arrows are playing on an even pitch.

The landscape of high school soccer will look markedly different this fall after the Ohio High School Athletic Association expanded the sport from three divisions to five.

Ashland, which was among the smallest Division I schools in the three-division set-up, will compete in Division III this fall along with fellow Division I refugee Madison.

“I’m not going to miss the two-hour bus rides to play teams with three times our enrollment,” Hosler said. “We went to Perrysburg last year and they had 75 or 80 kids in their program. They cut the amount of kids that we carry in our program.

“It is hard when you have 340-boy enrollment compared to a school with 1,100-boy enrollment. I think the OHSAA got it right with expansion.”

Hosler was a midfielder on Ashland’s 1998 Final Four team. Ashland returned to the Sweet 16 in 2005, but hasn’t won a district title since.

“This new format is a lot more fair for all teams, not just us,” Hosler said. “When you look at Madison, they’ve got a very strong team this year, one of the strongest they’ve had in a while. It’s going to put them right in the mix.”

Like Ashland, Madison was one of the smallest Division I program’s in the three-division era.

The Rams have been eliminated in the opening round of the Division I tournament each of the past four years and in each instance, Madison played a school with a male enrollment considerably larger than its own. 

Findlay, which eliminated Madison in the opening round in 2022, had a male enrollment of 642 in the last two-year enrollment cycle. Madison’s male enrollment during the same cycle was 344.

“Ever since the division change, we’ve had higher expectations,” junior forward Joey Walker said after scoring two goals in Madison’s 3-1 season-opening win at Clear Fork. “It feels good that we’ll get to play the competition around here (in the postseason). We don’t have to drive two hours up to Toledo to play some huge Division I team.

“It feels great that we’ll get to stay local and play teams that are our size.”

The last time Madison won a postseason game was in 2019, when the Rams were in Division II in the three-division format. Madison reached the district final that year.

“Usually we would see Perrysburg or Anthony Wayne or Northview (in the sectional) and now we’ll see Lexington and Ashland, people similar to our size,” longtime Madison coach Tim Lord said.

“There’s a belief that we have a better chance to compete at that level.”

Madison and Ashland aren’t the only area schools that will benefit from the expansion. The Clear Fork boys and girls programs will compete in the Division IV postseason this fall after playing in Division II.

“I’m ready to play schools my size, other programs that are similar to where we are,” Clear Fork boys coach Nate Gailey said. “We picked up a couple teams that are in our (new district), but I’m going to keep loading my schedule.

“We’ll load it with the good teams — those traditional powerhouses — school like that are only going to make us better.”

The OHSAA added a third division in girls soccer in 2011. The Clear Fork girls qualified for the Division II district tournament in 12 of the 13 seasons during the three-division era, winning district titles in 2011, 2012 and 2014.

Richland County schools dominated the Division II girls district during that 13-year stretch. Madison won six district titles while Clear Fork and Ontario each won three and Lexington won one.

Madison, Lexington and Ontario will all compete in Division III in the five-division alignment. Clear Fork will compete in a Division IV district tournament that includes Galion, Edison, Liberty-Benton, Port Clinton, Vermilion and Upper Sandusky.

While Clear Fork girls coach Brittany Bechtel will miss the built-in rivalries, playing like-sized competition in the postseason has its appeal.

“We know that we’re not going to get a shot at all these area teams again,” Bechtel said after the Colts fell to Madison in the opener. “We get this one shot and I reminded them of that coming in. We only get one shot at a lot of these area teams because we’re smaller and we’re going to go into a different division.

“We know that it’s going to take growing (against) these teams to get to where we want to get to in our division. We know we’ve got our work cut out for us even where we’re headed.”