Perkins boys, girls soccer moving down to Division IV

Perkins' boys and girls soccer teams will drop from Division III to Division IV this fall, the OHSAA announced Thursday. Most area soccer and volleyball programs will remain in their current divisions after the Ohio High School Athletic Association released new two-year base enrollments and competitive balance data for soccer, volleyball, golf and girls tennis. Port Clinton girls soccer will drop from Division IV to Division V. Huron girls soccer is the only area program moving up, going from Division V to Division IV. The Tigers will be one of the smallest schools in Div. IV this fall. Perkins' boys and girls soccer programs — which have been among the best in the area in recent years — will have the fourth-largest soccer enrollments in Division IV. That's even with some of the highest competitive balance numbers among any area program (24 for boys, 21 for girls). Perkins' boys finished 16-1-3 last year, but graduated a talented senior class of 12. The Pirates' girls team finished 16-3-1 and had only one senior. "Division III was no joke," Perkins boys coach Paul Lea said. "Hopefully (moving to Div. IV) helps us, but it's all about the players, no matter what division you're in. "We're going to be young, but we still have a lot of talent. If the kids can deal with the physical and mental part of the game, we'll be fine." Perkins has joined most area high schools with modest enrollment declines since 2024, when the OHSAA last adjusted divisions. The Perkins boys soccer team went from an enrollment of 233 to 216 in two years while the girls soccer team went from 218 to 201. Those are state fall enrollment figures for grades 9, 10 and 11 from 2023-24 and 2025-26. The 2026-27 school year will be the first of a new two-year enrollment cycle using data provided by the Ohio Department of Education. Soccer and volleyball also go through the OHSAA competitive balance process. The OHSAA takes the state EMIS enrollment figures and adds a competitive balance number (generally determined by students living outside of respective districts) to determine a school's enrollment figure for each sport. The competitive balance formula debuted nine years ago. Most area schools have seen significant drops in enrollment since that formula was introduced for the 2017-18 school year. Eleven out of 14 area volleyball programs have seen drops in their adjusted enrollments since the introduction of competitive balance numbers. Huron's girls volleyball program stayed exactly the same with a girls enrollment of 157 plus a competitive balance number of seven for a volleyball enrollment of 164 in 2017 and 2026. Sandusky's volleyball enrollment number increased from 315 to 344 since 2017 and St. Mary Central Catholic's number rose from 74 to 79 due to a competitive balance number this year of 21. The largest drops in volleyball enrollment since 2017 are at Port Clinton (227 to 148), Norwalk (328 to 279) and Vermilion (253 to 195). Monroeville, a state power in Division VII, saw its volleyball enrollment number drop from 102 to 60 since 2017. In volleyball, Sandusky and Norwalk will play in Division III. Bellevue, Clyde, Perkins and Vermilion are in Division IV. Edison, Huron and Port Clinton will play in Division V. Margaretta is the area's only Division VI volleyball program while Danbury, Monroeville, St. Mary CC and St. Paul are in Division VII. There are fewer soccer schools in the area. Six area schools don't field boys soccer teams while five have no girls soccer. Norwalk and Sandusky are in Division III in boys and girls soccer. Clyde, Edison, Perkins, Port Clinton and Vermilion are in Division IV for boys soccer while Huron is in Division V. Clyde is in Division III in girls soccer. The Bellevue, Huron, Perkins and Vermilion girls are in Div. IV.