By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

The Mogadore Wildcats find themselves in a state of uncertainty.

They need a home.

After 20 years, the Portage Trail Conference, which began play in the fall of 2005 with 16 member schools, will fold with only five member schools and only two founding members.

One of those schools is Mogadore, with the other being Rootstown.

The other three schools currently members of the PTC are John F. Kennedy, Lake Center Christian and St. Thomas Aquinas.

The Rovers have already accepted a one-year contract to join the Chagrin Valley Conference’s Valley Division for the 2025-26 athletic season. They will join former PTC and Portage County League members Crestwood in the CVC.

For Mogadore, however, the search continues despite multiple attempts to join a new league.

While they search, the district has decided to enter the 2025-26 season as an independent.

The Ohio High School Athletic Association has 820 member schools and 26 of them compete as an independent, with the majority of them being private schools.

Mogadore will be the 27th.

And it won’t be by choice for the Wildcats, who have had discussions — of various depth — with five different leagues: Metro Athletic Conference, Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference, Chagrin Valley Conference, Northeastern Athletic Conference and the Principals Athletic Conference.

For various reasons, none of those five leagues found Mogadore to be a fit to join as a member school. At least, not right now.

The potential for a future partnership could still materialize, according to Mogadore school officials.

“Let’s face it, I think our success over the decades, as well as being a small school, both, obviously, has come back to hurt us,” Mogadore principal and boys basketball head coach Russ Swartz said. “When I talk about success, a lot of that has to do with football, but I am also talking about boys and girls across all sports.

“Being small in size, where we get hurt is that we don’t offer all of the same sports that other schools can, like soccer, tennis or bowling,” Swartz added.

“From the feedback we have received from other leagues that we have applied to, those are the two most common things that have come up.

“It’s frustrating, though, to be honest, because when we ride the bus to games, we drive through numerous school districts that we should be league members with. Schools right next to us,” Swartz said. “The ironic thing is that if you look at all of the youth sports, they are all playing inside the county with each other. If it is good enough for the youth teams, why is it not good enough for the junior high and high school teams. That is the question I would ask.

“Financially, it doesn’t make sense to me, considering the current state of bus transportation and lack of funds, which are things that every district faces at some point or in some capacity.”

The primary hardship when competing as an independent within the OHSAA is scheduling.

League affiliation naturally connects schools as opponents, forming more than half of the schedule across all sports. In football, league opponents typically make up 70 percent of the schedule, with only the first three weeks including competition against non-league opponents. Since the majority of schools jump into league play by Week 4, it leaves very few teams still seeking open dates with an independent school.

Another byproduct to scheduling, for some sports like boys and girls basketball, will be the inability to play on traditional nights — again because of the way league schedules are built out on the calendar.

“We will have to get creative,” Swartz said about scheduling.

Another downside to playing as an independent is the inability to play for a league championship or the opportunity to earn all-league honors at the end of each season.

“When kids don’t get a chance to play for league titles, I don’t think they get the full athletic experience and it is not fair to the kids,” said Swartz, who said the district will remain open to discussions and possibilities to join a league for the 2026-27 school year.

INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS IN OHIO

(In alphabetical order)

Archbishop Hoban, Benedictine, Brush, Canton Central Catholic, Cleveland Central Catholic, Gahanna Christian Academy, Gilmour Academy, Heritage Christian, Jefferson Township, Lima Central Catholic, Logan, Louisville, Lutheran East, Magnificat, School for Creative Performing Arts, St. Edward, St. Ignatius, St. Joseph Academy, St. Martin DePorres, St. Vincent-St. Mary, Trotwood-Madison, University School, Villa Angela-St. Joseph, Washington, Worthington Christian, Youngstown Christian.

• Photo courtesy of Cliff Franks and www.buckeyedrone.com