Online sports forums are reporting on a vote last night at the Board of Education meeting of Shelby City Schools.
In the end, weeks of discussion and speculation resulted in a vote by five people on a single sentence resolution:
The Shelby City School District accepts an invitation and passes a resolution to join the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference (MOAC) at the earliest, reasonable date effective upon withdraw from the Sandusky Bay Conference (SBC) and with the alignment of athletic schedules within the MOAC.
And, with that vote, Shelby athletic teams leave a very short stay in the Sandusky Bay Conference and head in a different direction…literally. This year, out of town league trips include Willard, Huron, Milan Edison, and Oak Harbor. In the future, not only will Shelby be joining Marion area teams such as Marion Harding, Marion Pleasant, and River Valley in the MOAC, but also traditional, down-the-road rivals Galion and Ontario.
The Whippets replace North Union, whose Board of Education voted on July 17 to join the Central Buckeye Conference.
Online speculation on local sports forums have suggested that North Union’s move was based on the MOAC’s apparent new “northern” turn, as Clear Fork joins Ontario and Galion in the league this year. Other suggestions have Fremont Ross as a possible replacement for the Whippets in the SBC.
Details remain in terms of how soon Shelby can be integrated into MOAC scheduling.
Galion first played Shelby in 1900, and the teams have played 114 contests against each other.
