SBC's large schools to form Northern Ohio Conference

The 10 schools that are breaking away from the Sandusky Bay Conference next year have settled on a new name: the Northern Ohio Conference. Representatives from those schools met Monday in Bellevue and settled on the name, moving one step closer to changing the athletic landscape of high school sports in north-central Ohio. The 10 schools announced in January that they were exploring leaving the SBC, which has conducted business in its current three-division configuration since the 2017-18 school year. "It's been tough for some of us who have been here a long time. Nobody likes to break up, but everyone in the SBC has handled it well," said Port Clinton principal Gary Steyer, who is speaking for the new league. "There are certain things we can't do with the current setup. This makes a lot of sense for the 10 of us. We feel real good with the direction we are heading." The 10 schools have signed a letter stating their intention to begin play in the NOC in 2026-27. The action is on the agenda for the SBC's executive committee meeting May 14. "The 10 of us have been talking since last summer," Steyer said. "We're excited; it's a great arrangement. Any time we meet it's a great discussion and there's a lot of respect for each other." Steyer said Northern Ohio Conference was chosen from a list of 15-20 names. "We talked about keeping SBC, but they will continue to use that name," he said in reference to the smaller schools that are remaining in the conference. The new conference will continue to use Lake and Bay as the names for its two divisions and will feature the same lineup for football. The larger Lake schools will include Clyde, Norwalk, Perkins, Tiffin Columbian and Sandusky. The Bay Division will include Bellevue, Edison, Huron, Port Clinton and Vermilion. Currently, the Lake and Bay total 10 schools for football and 12 for basketball, baseball, softball and volleyball, but Willard is leaving for the Northern 10 Conference next year and Margaretta will remain in the new, smaller SBC. Willard and Margaretta currently compete in the Bay in sports other than football. Football and basketball in the new NOC will operate with two divisions, as they do in the current SBC format, with some crossover games. "We're getting input from coaches and working through that," Steyer said. "There's a good chance you're talking about two crossover games in football and more in other sports." Some other NOC sports will have only one division. The new league will be open to expansion, just as the current SBC has explored adding schools with comparable enrollments. "That's something we would certainly entertain," Steyer said. "We're open to expanding, but if we end up with 10 schools we're very good with that." The day-to-day operations of the NOC will be handled by Rick Dominick, who will be the new league's executive secretary/treasurer. Dominick will retire as Port Clinton's athletic director in June 2026, just weeks before teams in the new league will compete in fall sports. "We started talking about the position and everyone in the room said 'I know a guy who is retiring that we'd love to have,' " Steyer said. "He's a perfect choice and we're so excited to have him." The Sandusky Bay Conference was formed in 1948 with eight schools and has gone through many changes through the years. The conference currently has 22 members spread across three divisions — the Lake, Bay and River. The SBC will include 23 schools spread over three divisions (Lake, Bay, River) for the 2025-26 school year before breaking up. The SBC will have nine schools for the 2026-27 school year: Margaretta, St. Mary Central Catholic, Danbury, Gibsonburg, Lakota, Woodmore, Fremont St. Joseph, Northwood (joining the SBC this fall) and Ottawa Hills (joining in 2026-27). "I think it'll be great from a standpoint of renewing some rivalries we've had in football and other sports," Margaretta athletic director Drew Grahl said. "Really good people to work with. It's been good to collaborate and get things going. We're further ahead with scheduling than I can ever remember." The new-look SBC will not include current members Willard, Tiffin Calvert, Old Fort, Hopewell-Loudon and New Riegel, which will be joining the Northern 10 Conference for the 2026-27 school year. Calvert, Old Fort, Hopewell-Loudon and New Riegel currently compete in the River Division. Margaretta applied to join the Northern 10 earlier this year, but was not accepted. Six schools in the new SBC play 11-man football. Danbury, SMCC and SJCC play 8-man football. "The goal will be to find more 11-man football schools to get us to that traditional eight, but in the meantime we're excited about moving forward with the SBC," Grahl said.