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The Portage Trail Conference or PTC is an association of 15 public high schools and their associated middle/junior high schools located in the northeast region of the U.S. State of Ohio. Eight member schools are in Portage County, five are in Summit County, and one each is located in Medina and Stark counties. The conference is divided into two divisions, based on enrollment. The Metro Division contains the larger schools, who compete in Ohio's Divisions II and III for football, while the County Division contains the smaller schools, who compete in divisions III-VI. Because they are based on enrollments, a school's membership in a given division can change if enrollment numbers change. Games between teams of the same division count in conference standings, while games against schools from the other division are treated as non-conference games. The conference officially began play in August 2005.
Contents
History
The PTC was formed as an expansion and reorganization of the original Portage County League or PCL, which had existed for most of the 20th century and by 2003 included eight high schools in Portage County and two in neighboring Summit County. Beginning in 2003, school leaders in the league began to explore the possibilities of expansion and realignment to better meet the needs of all the schools involved due to the vast differences in enrollments at member schools. It was decided to expand the league and divide it into two divisions based on enrollment figures. Initially Ravenna, Norton, Springfield, East Canton, and Coventry accepted invitations to join the new league beginning in 2005. Later in the year, following news that the Western Reserve Conference (which had just lost member Ravenna) would be losing at least two additional member schools (leaving the South Division with just four teams), Kent Roosevelt left the WRC and accepted an invitation to join the new league effective in 2005 after initially choosing to remain in the WRC.
Final Portage County League members:
In January 2011, the PTC announced that due to a change in enrollment figures, Streetsboro would move to the Metro Division and Southeast would move to the County Division for the 2011-12 school year. East Canton announced in February 2011 that they would leave the PTC following the 2012–13 sports season to join the Inter-Valley Conference. In July 2011, Windham announced their own departure from the conference citing enrollment issues. They also left the PTC after the 2012–13 school year and joined the Northeastern Athletic Conference. The PTC heard presentations from four area high schools (Barberton, Northwest, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Lake Center Christian) in May 2011, prior to the announcement that Windham would also be leaving the conference in 2013. Rather than expand, however, the PTC chose to stay at 14 teams, and Streetsboro moved back to the County Division for the 2013–14 school year. In September 2013, Kent Roosevelt announced plans to leave the PTC for the Suburban League beginning in the 2016–17 school year, later changed to the 2015–16 school year.
In December 2013, Cloverleaf announced it would leave the Suburban League for the Portage Trail Conference in 2015. Lake Center Christian announced it would join at the same time. The two schools officially joined in July 2015 and began conference play in August. At the same time, the divisions were reorganized, with Streetsboro and Woodridge changing to the Metro Division with new member Cloverleaf, and Crestwood moving to the County Division along with new member Lake Center Christian.
Championships
The PTC has championships in 18 different sports, the most recent additions being the boys and girls bowling tournament in 2007 and regular-season competition in 2008. Most sports have champions for each division with the exceptions of boys tennis and girls tennis which are not divided into divisions because a limited number of schools offer the sport. In football, baseball, basketball, soccer, softball, and volleyball, the division champion is determined by the results of regular-season play. Other sports—cross country, golf, bowling, track and field, tennis, and wrestling—weigh the regular-season and season-ending conference tournaments equally as part of determining the season's overall champion.
Boys cross country
Overall conference winner based on combination of regular-season finish and tournament finish.
Girls cross country
Overall conference winner based on combination of regular-season finish and tournament finish.
Girls tennis
Overall conference winner based on combination of regular-season finish and tournament finish.
Golf
Overall division winner based on combination of regular-season finish and tournament finish.
Wrestling
Overall division winner based on combination of regular-season finish and tournament finish.
Boys bowling
Overall conference winner based on combination of regular-season finish and tournament finish. Beginning in 2010, champions were crowned in both Metro and County divisions.
Girls bowling
Overall conference winner based on combination of regular-season finish and tournament finish. Beginning in 2010, champions were crowned in both Metro and County divisions.
Boys track & field
Overall division winner based on division meet finish.
Girls track & field
Overall division winner based on combination of regular season and division meet finish.
Boys tennis
Overall conference winner based on combination of regular-season finish and tournament finish.