Schedule sees few changes so far

For the first time in its history, Jay County High School will not be a member of a conference in 2010-11. But the full impact of its independent status on team schedules will play out over the next several years.

The Olympic Athletic Conference, once as large as 12 teams, saw its roster drop to three when the Anderson School board announced in December that it would consolidate Highland and Anderson High Schools. The three remaining schools - JCHS, Connersville and Muncie Southside - are planning to stick together.

Each school, of course, had to find teams to fill the holes left by Highland in its football, boys basketball and girls basketball schedules, but in other sports - especially those with conference tournaments - the season will remain essentially unchanged.

Football is always the sport that creates the most challenges in terms of scheduling.

"Everybody wants to play their conference games week three through week nine," said outgoing JCHS athletics director Ted Habegger, who announced his retirement last month. "And therefore you can only schedule independents pretty well during those weeks."

This season Jay County will fill the week-four gap with Leo, with Connersville and Muncie Southside play Indianapolis schools Northwest and Arlington respectively. But the Patriots have yet to find someone to play in week four of the 2011 season, and that problem could be compounded.

Schools systems throughout the state are facing financial issues similar to those that forced the change in Anderson. Several plans to deal with those problems have been proposed in Muncie, including the possibility of consolidating Central and Southside.

"The question is going to be whether Muncie South is going to close or not, which we don't know," said Habegger.

The loss of Highland is less of a problem in other sports, such as basketball and soccer, where schedules are more in flux.

The Jay County boys basketball team will have three new teams -Bluffton, Alexandria and Wayne - on the schedule this season. The girls basketball team will have two new opponents - Frankton and Kokomo - and the soccer squads will each have one - Oak Hill for the boys and Richmond for the girls.

In volleyball, track, tennis, swimming, gymnastics, golf and cross country - sports that previously had a one-day OAC tournament - Jay County, Connersville and Southside will stay together for a three-team meet. But they have other long-term plans.

In the absence of being in a conference, the former OAC schools would like to create an "Olympic Invitational" for each of those sports.

"Our idea is that we develop an invitational, something that would be like a conference meet," said Habegger. "We would treat it like a conference meet and try to make it a special event ... That's our goal at this time."

The three remaining members of the OAC are also staying together in hopes of having the opportunity to add teams to the group and rebuild the conference. But their location, size and the uncertainty with Southside make such a possibility unlikely.

Finding a conference to join also seems unlikely, unless there is a major shake-up in the Fort Wayne area or a splintering off the North Central or Hoosier Heritage conferences.

"In the near future I don't see us getting into a conference," said Habegger. "But at the same time, there are going to be school closings. That may change the whole picture.

"One of our biggest issues is that we're not in the center of the tire. We're a spoke on a wheel ... just because of where we're located ...

"I think we need to look at where we're at, who we are, and be positive and try to be creative in what we're doing."[[In-content Ad]]