A LOOK INSIDE THE GROUPING
By Dom DiPasqua/Staff Writer
Thursday night, July 16, 2015
BRECKSVILLE – Unlike whomever determined the squiggly border that serves as the boundary between Brecksville and Broadview Heights the person that drew the line that splits the Mother County in half used a razor sharp straight-edge.
Brecksville-Broadview Heights remains in the Ohio High School Athletic Associations’ Region 3. It is a Division II school with 520 boys enrolled in grades 9-11 this past school year. That tabulation is per the states department of education on June 1st.
Schools with male enrollments between 423 and 626 comprise the 107 total teams that will play Division II football this fall. The state splits those schools as equally as possible into four regions.
Region 3 is the northeast region. Along with the southeastern half of Cuyahoga County, schools in Lake, Ashtabula, Geauga, Summit, Portage, Trumbull and Mahoning counties make up the 27 teams in Region 3.
The straight-edge line of demarcation was drawn from the northeast tip of Cuyahoga County to its far southwestern corner. The Bees, who made the D-2, R-3 playoffs the past two seasons, head east once again.
Madison, the team that knocked Brecksville out of the playoffs the last two years, is not in this group. The Blue Streaks lost enrollment and are in Division III this year. With 520 boys Brecksville falls smack dab in the middle of Division II. Translation: The Bees aren’t going anywhere soon.
And that may be a good thing. Too much change all at once can be unsettling. After all Brecksville has joined the Suburban League after ten years as members of the Southwestern Conference, and that will be enough of a change of environment.
The top eight teams in each region after the computer churns out its final rankings on Sunday, November 1st, earn the right to play in week 11. The 32-team Division II tournament begins the first Friday in November, the 6th. First-round games will be played at the home stadium of the team with the higher seed. The top seed hosts #8. The second seed entertains #7, etc.
Each region has 27 teams except for the northwest region which has 26. In all, beginning on opening night, August 28th, 107 squads will try to amass enough computer points to dance into the postseason with the ultimate goal of hoisting the hardware in Ohio Stadium. You have two win five games in as many weeks after November 1st, against the best competition you will face all season, to become the Buckeye State’s best. That is an enormous undertaking.
Geographically speaking the northeast region (R-3) is the smallest when you look at the state map. The seven and a half counties that make up this cluster is a demographers dream if he were targeting Northeast Ohio audiences.
Division II schools located to the north and west of this diagonal line across Cuyahoga County are in Region 4, which makes up a portion of the states eventual 8-team northwest bracket.
Brecksville plays four regular season games against Division II, Region 3 opponents including Garfield Heights in week two. So a game with post-season ramifications is on the docket prior to Labor Day. There is nothing like a meaningful football game in early September.
The Bees will face Suburban League foes Twinsburg, Nordonia and Hudson, who are also part of this Division II, Region 3 mix. The intoxicating prospect of facing those teams as the slate unfolds is that these games are basically ‘two-fers’. In other words, not only are league standings at stake, but so are valuable computer playoff points.
Here are the 27 schools that are in Division II, Region 3:
BBHHS, John F. Kennedy, John Adams, Glenville, East Tech, John Hay, Painesville Riverside, Eastlake North, Willoughby South, Garfield Heights, Maple Heights, Bedford, Mayfield, Brush, Nordonia, Twinsburg, Hudson, Copley, Walsh Jesuit, Kent Roosevelt, Green, Barberton, Firestone, Akron North, Ellet, Akron Garfield and Boardman.
November 6th, when the post-season begins, is a long way off. But opening night is closer than you think. It is only six weeks from tomorrow.
See You At The Bee Hive!
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