By SETH STASKEY

Times Leader Sports Editor

The Mid-Ohio Valley League, which is set to embark on its third school year, is expanding.

At a recent meeting, the league formally approved Barnesville, Beallsville, Paden City and Shenandoah for membership and also announced it will be splitting into two divisions.

The ‘Scarlet Division’ will consist of Barnesville, Monroe Central, River, Shadyside and Shenandoah, while the Gray Division will include Beallsville, Bridgeport, Frontier and Paden City.

“These four (new) schools bring a lot of tradition with them,” MOVL President Mark Romick, who is the Director of Athletics at River, said. “The expansion made a lot of sense for all schools as everyone competes against each other regularly.”

The league currently stands at nine members because Magnolia withdrew in May, citing scheduling difficulties as the chief reason.

With the split into divisions, the league will crown its champions in baseball, basketball, softball and volleyball through a ‘Day of Champions’ style event. It’s similar to what the Buckeye 8 utilizes.

The champion of the Scarlet and Gray divisions will play each other to determine the league champion. The second place teams will meet and same for the third and fourth. The fifth-place team in the Scarlet will be left without a game due to the odd number of schools.

Because volleyball and winter sports schedules are already completed for the 2021-22 school year, the league will begin this format in the spring of 2022 with baseball and softball events. The Gray division schools will host.

The remaining sports will begin a championship event in the 2022-23 school year.

The charter membership will still determine league champions via head-to-head matchups in football, volleyball and basketball as it did this past school year.

Barnesville is venturing into a league within the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference for the first time in its illustrious athletic history.

“Barnesville is honored to be joining the MOVL,” Shamrocks’ A.D. Brad Hannahs said. “With a lot of schools around the area being in (leagues), we felt it was time for us to join the club. It will help out tremendously with scheduling and give our student-athletes even more recognition by being part of the OVAC and MOVL.”

Beallsville was once a member of the Pioneer Valley Conference and was also part of the now defunct River Valley Conference prior to being strictly OVAC members the last several years. Similar to Paden City, the Blue Devils had already played the schools in its half of the league.

“Two things about the MOVL really stick out,” Beallsville A.D. Delmas Moore said. “One is there is a championship in each sport and in many of the sports you’ll get the chance to play up (in division) at least once and I also think this league will generate positive publicity for our kids.”

Paden City was attracted to the league because it already plays Bridgeport, Frontier and Beallsville in basically every sport, so it creates an additional opportunity for its student-athletes to play for championships and be recognized.

“Once we received the invitation, it seemed like an easy decision for us because we already play the schools in the Gray Division,” Paden City A.D. Robert Price said. “I am looking forward to working with the other schools in the league and building a stronger relationship with everyone.”

Shenandoah was a long-time member of the Pioneer Valley Conference, which has since disbanded in recent years.

“Shenandoah High School and Noble Local District are excited to become members of the MOVL,” Zeps A.D. Eric Sholtis said. “The schools of the MOVL are like-minded districts and we believe this will be a mutually beneficial relationship. High school athletics in the Ohio Valley have a rich history and we feel this will be a great fit for our student-athletes and our community. We’re excited for the future.”