Postseason changes coming for some Maumee fall sports teams

By JEREMY SCHNEIDER

MIRROR SPORTS

The postseason will look significantly different from years past for high school teams across Ohio, including Maumee.

The Ohio High School Athletic Association added divisions to multiple sports during the offseason. For the Panthers, the boys and girls soccer teams and volleyball team will face new opponents in the sectional and district tournaments.

The football, girls tennis and cross country teams at Maumee weren’t affected by the changes.

In girls soccer, the Panthers dropped from Division II to III. Girls soccer in Ohio now had five divisions.

Maumee wasn’t the only program to end up in Division III after playing in larger divisions previously. In fact, 43 schools that used to be Division I and 80 schools from Division II now make up the 126 schools in the new Division III.

According to Maumee girls soccer coach Jeremiah McNutt, every school the Panthers had faced in the district tournament over the last few years have dropped to Division IV.

“It changes completely for us in the postseason,” McNutt said. “The team that put it to us last year and finished second in the state last year, Rocky River went from being the biggest Division II school to being middle-of-the-pack Division III.”

The Panthers will now be in a district with Bowling Green, Bowsher, Central Catholic, Sandusky Perkins, Sandusky, Springfield and Waite.

McNutt admitted it will be harder for his team to make it three straight district championships as one of the smallest schools in the division.

However, he could find one silver lining.

“The one good thing is, I don’t have to change a lot,” McNutt said. “Everyone that we played against is gone so I can reuse things from last year because those other teams haven’t seen us.

“Once we get into the tournament, we’ll be the underdogs again and hopefully we can step it up and surprise some people.”

On the boys side, the Panthers also dropped to Division III, along with 81 other Division II teams from last year. There are more than 30 previously Division I teams among the 146 schools now making up Division III.

Maumee’s district includes Bowsher, Central Catholic, Clay, Fremont Ross, Scott, Springfield and Southview.

Other schools in Division II in the Northwest District are Bowling Green, Celina, Defiance, Lima Shawnee, St. Marys Memorial, Wapakoneta, Lexington, Ashland, Sandusky Perkins and Sandusky.

“It was almost what I considered at one point the ‘Group of Death,’ but they split it again,” Panthers boys soccer coach Chad Kain said. “If I was to pick it out, the last three teams are going to be Springfield, Southview and us.

“I’m confident in those games. We tied Springfield 2-2 last year, and should have won. … For me, winning a district this year and knocking off (Northern Lakes League) teams to do it, I just think that adds a whole other level to the district we’re going to win.”

The Maumee volleyball program also went from Division II to III, where it will be the 115th biggest school out of 131.

Three of the four district semifinalists from last year’s Division I district at Lake are now in Division III with the Panthers. Of the four Division II district semifinalists from last year at Lake, only Maumee went to Division III; the other three teams are now in Division IV.

The OHSAA Northwest District Athletic Board had not posted site assignments for the 2024 season to its website as of August 11.

Photo courtesy of Pride of the Panthers