By DOUG DONNELLY
Sand Creek will leave the Tri-County Conference to join the Big 8 Conference for football in 2024 but school officials say they intend to remain in the TCC for all other sports.
“We are 100 percent committed to being in the TCC for every other sport,” Walters said. “This is for football only.”
The move, if approved by the Sand Creek board of education Wednesday, will bring some stability to the football schedule, Walters said.
“For (TCC) schools playing 11-man football, it is pretty much impossible,” Walters said. “Since I’ve been here, every year scheduling has been a band-aid to fill games. It’s just about filling all the games, not having a consistent football schedule. Football scheduling is a completely different animal than anything else.”
The Big 8 Conference is spread across four counties in southern Michigan – Branch, Eaton, Hillsdale, and Jackson counties. The Big 8 was formed in 1973 – the same year as the TCC.
The Big 8’s current members playing 11-player football are Bronson, Quincy, Reading, Springport, and Union City. Next year, Vermontville Maple Valley will become a Big 8 member and play 11-man football and Stockbridge will play a full schedule although they are not officially a league member at this time. Concord is a member of the Big 8 but plays 8-player football.
On Thursday, Reading Athletic Director Mitch Hubbard said the league has wanted to get back to eight 11-man football teams for scheduling purposes.
The schools range from 219 for Reading to 384 for Quincy. Sand Creek’s enrollment was 327 in 2008 but has remained between 250-285 for the last decade.
“We thought it would be a good fit,” Walters said. “The distance is a bit farther, but football is only one game a week. We can schedule that. We couldn’t be in the Big 8 for every other sport. That doesn’t make sense for us.”
Sand Creek had little options, Walters said, as not only is the Lenawee County Athletic Association larger it currently doesn’t appear to have any interest in expanding.
“For us it’s about stability. This is the only opportunity we have for stability. I don’t think there are any other leagues in this area that are our size.
“The size of the LCAA is just too big,” he continued. “Year in and year out, we wouldn’t be able to compete, Half of the schools are double our size.”
The TCC celebrated its 50th anniversary season in 2022-23 but has been in flux for the last several years. Clinton joined the TCC in 2007, then left after 2019. Whitmore Lake left the league in 2018. Erie Mason joined in 2020 and Pittsford came on board for football only in 2020 and 2021. Madison left the TCC after last season.
Meanwhile, Britton Deerfield and Morenci both moved to 8-player football. Lenawee Christian joined the TCC this school year, but not for football as they play 8-player football as well.
The changes have resulted in three remaining 11-player football teams in the TCC – Erie Mason, Summerfield and Whiteford.
“This happened because our playoff system is not right,” Summerfield Athletic Director Kelly Kalb said. “That’s the biggest issue. The point system is destroying Division 8 football and its destroying leagues.
“The Tri-County Conference is not the first league this has happened to and it’s probably not the last.”
Kalb said the remaining three schools met after Sand Creek’s announcement and agreed to work together and schedule each other for 2024.
“We decided collectively that football scheduling basically comes down to each individual school, but we are going to maintain that relationship with each other and play each other next season,” she said. “The weeks or dates is still to be determined. We are all working on our schedules right now.”
Besides informing the rest of the TCC of the impending move, Sand Creek also informed Blissfield school officials of the move because the Aggies had planned to play the Royals in Week 2 of next season. The Big 8, however, has league games from week two through nine.
“We did have a long-term contract, but one of the stipulations in the contract was if even school moved conferences, it was agreed that we would revisit that,” Walters said.
Walters didn’t rule out the possibility of playing a TCC team in a non-league game, possibly week nine, next year and beyond.
“The hope is we play one of the three TCC teams in Week 9,” Walters said. “I think that will end up happening. We’ll see how it works out.”
Whiteford and Summerfield have both been on Sand Creek’s football schedule every season since 1975.
TRI-COUNTY CONFERENCE 