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After a last-ditch effort to save the league, the Inter-Tri County League appears to be on its last legs.
A vote to split the league into three divisions of six schools each with mandatory crossover games failed to pass at a superintendents’ meeting on Monday.
ITCL commissioner Paul Andraso said the league will now likely disband.
“It’s really a shame because I think it was one of the best small school leagues in the state, but it looks like it will disband,” Andraso said.
League members have until May 1 to submit a letter to Sebring superintendent Toni Viscounte, the league president, requesting resignation from the league.
Andraso said the “6-6-6” proposal required 12 votes to pass and only received eight. Andraso said right after the meeting concluded he called Waterloo and Campbell to tell them that they would not be a part of the league going forward. Mathews had accepted an invitation to join, but recently dropped out when it learned that mandatory crossover games were still a part of the league’s plans.
Andraso said he expects the ITCL to break off into northern and southern leagues, but he has not been a part of that process. He said he has no knowledge of what schools are thinking about aligning together.
The ITCL will continue play next school year as planned. Andraso said no further superintendents meetings are scheduled but he does expect to meet with athletic directors and principals to deal with regular league business through the 2016-17 school year.
The ITCL includes Columbiana, Crestview, East Palestine, Jackson-Milton, Leetonia, Lisbon, Lowellville, McDonald, Mineral Ridge, Sebring, Southern Local, South Range, Springfield, United, Wellsville and Western Reserve.
The ITCL began play in 2006 and came out of the merger of the Tri-County League and Inter-County League. The league operated in a two-tier format until spring of 2015 when spring sports transitioned to a three-division format.