History of the Firelands Conference
The Firelands Conference started 5/13/60 with a track meet. Participating schools were Berlin Heights, Greenwich, Milan, Monroeville, North Fairfield, Sandusky Perkins, and Western Reserve.
Prior to the 1960-61 school year, Greenwich and North Fairfield consolidated to form South Central. The participating schools then were Berlin Heights, Milan, Monroeville, Sandusky Perkins, South Central, and Western Reserve.
The conference remained unchanged until the spring of 1963 when Hayesville, Jeromesville, and Mapleton were added for baseball and track.
Prior to the 1963-64 school year, Hayesville and Jeromesville consolidated to form Hillsdale. Sandusky Perkins was unceremoniously booted from the conferenece because some teams didn't want to play them anymore. The participating schools then were Berlin Heights, Hillsdale, Mapleton, Milan, Monroeville, South Central, and Western Reserve. In the spring of 1964, Black River participated in baseball and track.
The 1964-65 school year, the following were members of the conference: Berlin Heights, Black River, Hillsdale, Mapleton, Milan, Monroeville, South Central, and Western Reserve.
The 1968-69 school year saw Berlin Heights and Milan consolidate into Edison. Norwalk St. Paul was added to the conference to keep the total schools at eight. The schools were Black River, Edison, Hillsdale, Mapleton, Monroeville, South Central, St. Paul, and Western Reserve.
The 1970-71 school year saw Hillsdale exit the conference to join the Wayne County Athletic League and was replaced by New London. The conference schools were now Black River, Edison, Mapleton, Monroeville, New London, South Central, St. Paul, and Western Reserve.
The alignment remained the same for 12 years until Crestview and Plymouth left the defunct Black Fork Valley Conference to join the Firelands Conference. There were also rumblings about Edison becoming too big for the conference since its enrollment was twice that of four conference schools. Ten teams now comprised the conference and 2 divisions were established, essentially a North (Edison, Monroeville, New London, St. Paul, and Western Reserve) and South (Black River, Crestview, Mapleton, Plymouth, and South Central) division. This alignment became effective for the 1982-83 school year.
Edison left the conference following the 1985-86 season to join the Sandusky Bay Conference. This left an odd number of teams which caused a scheduling nightmare.
Black River leaves the Firelands to join the Mohican Area Conference following the 1993 season. This brought the conference to its current configuration.
Of the current 8 teams, Monroeville, South Central, and Western Reserve are the charter members that remain in the conference. The following is a summary of conference teams and years they have been members.
Berlin Heights 1960-1968
Black River 1964-1993
Crestview 1982-Current
Edison 1968-1986
Hillsdale 1963-1970
Mapleton 1963-Current
Milan 1960-1968
Monroeville 1960-Current
New London 1970-Current
Perkins 1960-1963
Plymouth 1982-Current
St. Paul 1968-Current
South Central 1960-Current
Western Reserve 1960-Current