Ohio Cardinal Conference


The Ohio Cardinal Conference, which began play in 2003, is an OHSAA athletic league whose members are from Ashland, Holmes, Richland, and Wayne counties in Ohio. The conference name stems from the local legacy of the Cardinal Conference.
The previous Cardinal Conference included: New Philadelphia, Dover, Coshocton, Ashland, Mansfield Malabar & Mansfield Madison.

History

In 2001, local athletic directors met in Mansfield, Ohio to discuss the formation of a new athletic conference; seven schools agreed to form the Ohio Cardinal Conference. Five of the initial member schools came from the disbanding Ohio Heartland Conference: Ashland, Lexington, Mansfield Madison, Mansfield Senior, and Orrville. West Holmes joined from the Mohican-Area Conference, and Wooster from the Federal League. Clear Fork, the only non-original member of the conference, joined for the 2004-05 season.
Bureaucratically, the conference had some early struggles. The first conference commissioner, Jim Glauer, resigned in 2002 before the league even began play. He was replaced by Ron Dessecker from Orrville, who remains the current commissioner.
Lexington High School has dominated the OCC athletically since the conference's inception. It has won nine consecutive all-sports trophies, the award given to the school with the greatest success in all conference athletic competitions. It also has won the girls' tennis conference title every year in the conference's history and has won three state titles in that sport. The Lexington boys' tennis team won all but one conference title and two state titles in the same sport. Other schools have dominated specific sports in the same way: Madison has dominated the league in girls’ volleyball and baseball. Mansfield Senior has been the champion or co-champion in boys' basketball in 9 of 11 league seasons, Wooster has won all eleven boys' swimming and nine girls' swimming titles, Ashland had four running girls' soccer championships, and Mount Vernon has won every conference softball title since joining in 2016.
West Holmes High School revived discussions that had begun in 2007 with the East Central Ohio League to leave the Ohio Cardinal Conference effective the 2009-10 school year, which would have left the conference with an odd number of teams. West Holmes has since decided, at least for the time being, to remain in the Ohio Cardinal Conference.
An invitation for membership was extended to Triway High School in 2009, but Triway's administration voted to remain in the PAC-8.
In March 2015, Orrville was invited to join the PAC-8 in 2016 as a replacement for schools that are leaving that league. As a result of the Red Riders' imminent departure, Mount Vernon was invited to replace them in 2016.
In March 2016, the OCC voted to kick out Clear Fork following the 2017-18 school year. The Colts will subsequently join the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference in 2017-18 instead.
In April 2020, the OCC announced that New Philadelphia would join as their eighth member beginning in the 2022-23 school year. The OCC agreed to let New Philadelphia continue to play their Week 10 football rivalry with Dover, which is currently the third-oldest in Ohio.

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bar:1 color:orange from:2003 till:2030 textcolor:black text:Ashland
bar:2 color:green from:2004 till:2017 textcolor:black text:Clear Fork
bar:3 color:purple from:2003 till:2030 textcolor:yellow text:Lexington
bar:4 color:green from:2003 till:2030 textcolor:white text:Madison
bar:5 color:orange from:2003 till:2030 textcolor:black text:Mansfield
bar:6 color:red from:2003 till:2016 textcolor:black text:Orrville
bar:7 color:blue from:2003 till:2030 textcolor:white text: West Holmes
bar:8 color:yellow from:2003 till:2030 textcolor:blue text:Wooster
bar:9 color:orange from:2016 till:2030 textcolor:black text: Mt Vernon
bar:10 color:red from:2022 till:2030 textcolor:black text: New Philadelphia
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text:"OCC Membership History"

Members

Future member

Former members

Conference rivalries

This table only includes state championships won by schools while a member of the Ohio Cardinal Conference:
SchoolSportYear
Ashlandnone
Clear ForkBoys' Baseball2010
LexingtonGirls' Tennis
Boys' Tennis
Girls' Cross Country
Boys' Cross Country		2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012
2004, 2013
2015, 2017, 2018, 2019
2015, 2017
Madisonnone
Mansfieldnone
Mount Vernonnone
OrrvilleVolleyball2003
West HolmesGirls' Basketball2014
Woosternone

Boys' league championships

Girls' league championships

All Sports Championships