LISBON — The Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference is considering joining the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference as a whole.

EOAC school representatives met with OVAC officials including executive director Dirk DeCoy on Friday in Lisbon to map out the road ahead for a possible link-up between the two organizations.

EOAC commissioner Howard Friend said the move is being considered partly out of necessity and partly to increase opportunity for EOAC member schools to play in tournaments that the EOAC does not offer.

EOAC official assignor John Mang, who works with many leagues around the Mahoning Valley, informed the league in April that he would be lightening his work load and would not act as the assignor in the fall for the EOAC.

That presented the EOAC with a problem heading into the new school year. The EOAC explored options in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties to add a new assignor, but Friend said that he knew the OVAC offered those services and he presented the EOAC superintendents with the option of reaching out to the OVAC to see if that organization would be interested in acting as the EOAC’s assignor.

Friend said that the situation was not at an emergency stage for the EOAC because the league has already assigned officials for its football games in the fall.

“We do need officials assigned for things like volleyball though,” Friend said.

Friend said that many of the area’s officials already work with the OVAC, so it would not be that much of leap to transition them over to a new assignor.

The OVAC meets in August to consider new membership and all current EOAC schools would have to fill out applications individually to be considered. Friend said each school will have to meet with its boards and leadership to determine whether it will go forward with the application process.

Currently EOAC members Wellsville and Southern are members of the OVAC. The addition of Valley Christian, Columbiana, Leetonia, East Palestine, Lisbon and United would increase the OVAC’s membership to 58 schools — barring any schools leaving the organization in August.

Valley Christian in Youngstown would be the OVAC’s northern most school in a conference that stretches into places like Morgantown and Parkersburg, West Virginia as well as Marietta along the Ohio River.

Friend said the OVAC would not alter any championships the EOAC currently offers.

“This would offer our athletes a chance to compete in things like the golf, wrestling and cross country tournaments,” Friend said. “It’s all for giving the kids more opportunities.”

As for the team sports outside of football, Friend said it would be a two-game commitment at the end of the season for either tournament or consolation contests. He acknowledged there might be some extended travel for those contests, but he also said that schools do not have to participate in all OVAC sports.

“You could say you don’t want to participate in anything,” Friend said. “It’s all up to what you want to do.”

OVAC’s football championship is determined by a points system and is not decided on the field.

The added benefit of having all EOAC teams in the OVAC would mean that the league would automatically hit the required number of contests to compete in any OVAC tournament.

If the EOAC joins the OVAC as a whole, it would mean Crestview and Salem would be the only Columbiana County schools not in the OVAC. Heartland Christian was recently approved as a new OVAC member.

Crestview was an OVAC member from 2016 to 2020 as a stop-gap measure between leaving the Inter-Tri County League and joining the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference. Crestview did not continue the partnership due to scheduling conflicts brought about by being in two leagues.

If applications are approved by the OVAC, EOAC teams would be members at the start of the new school year. Participation in tournaments and other championships would be up to each school.

“Some of them have two-year contracts to fulfill,” Howard said. “It probably would be a few years until some of them could compete in the OVAC team tournaments.”

In 2023, the OVAC had revenue of $524,000 and expenses of $492,000. It is the largest conference of its kind in the United States.