Ohio River Valley Conference

The Ohio River Valley Conference is an Indiana High School Athletic Association-sanctioned conference located in Jefferson, Ohio, Ripley, and Switzerland counties. Formed in 1952, the conference has been fairly stable throughout its history, as five of the current seven members (or their precursors) are original members.[1]

The Ohio Valley Conference in Indiana

History

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The ORVC traces its history to two conferences, the Southeastern Indiana and Laughery Valley. When the league began, two of its members came from the SEIC (Osgood, Versailles), a third (Rising Sun) had been in the SEIC before helping found the LVC, and a fourth (Milan) was a SEIC member until being removed from the conference in 1942, remaining independent since that point. The first shakeup in conference membership came in the conference's second year, as North closed, and two more LVC schools (Dillsboro, Moores Hill) joined with one SEIC school (Vevay). Hanover and Osgood consolidated with other local schools to become Southwestern and Jac-Cen-Del in 1960, with both staying in the league. Milan, a school that had dominated 1950s basketball and had football, moved to the Eastern Indiana Athletic Conference in 1962. They were replaced by two schools: Shawe Memorial in 1962, and Sunman in 1964. Versailles became South Ripley in 1966, with Vevay changing to Switzerland County in 1969.

The 1970s were a different story, as the three member schools would not survive to the end of the decade. Sunman was consolidated with North Dearborn in 1973, forming East Central. Dillsboro and Moores Hill would follow suit in 1978, combining with Aurora to form South Dearborn. Both of those schools had pre-consolidation ties to the Eastern Indiana Athletic Conference, and would retain their places in that conference. Left as a six-school conference, the ORVC welcomed founding member Milan back in 1985, as the former basketball power was struggling to keep up with larger rivals in the post-consolidation era. The conference has been stable since, a two-year hiatus by Southwestern in the mid-1990s notwithstanding. That stability looks to continue into the future. Lawrenceburg was denied entry in the 1990s, and there is only one other school in the area (Oldenburg Academy) who is of a similar size.

Membership

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School Location Mascot Colors Size IHSAA
Class
County Year joined Previous conference
Jac-Cen-Del Osgood Eagles    
 
296 A 69
Ripley
1960 none (new school)
Milan1 Milan Indians    
 
417 AA 69
Ripley
1952
1985
Independents
Eastern Indiana
Rising Sun Rising Sun Shiners    
 
312 A 58
Ohio
1952 Laughery Valley
Shawe
Memorial
Madison Hilltoppers    
 
93 A 39
Jefferson
1962 Independents
South
Ripley
Versailles Raiders     414 AA 69
Ripley
1966 none (new school)
Southwestern
(Hanover)
2
Hanover Rebels    
 
462 AA 39
Jefferson
1960 none (new school)
Switzerland
County
Vevay Pacers    
   
410 AA 78
Switzerland
1968 none (new school)
  1. Milan played in the Eastern Indiana Athletic Conference from 1962 to 1985.
  2. Southwestern played as an Independent from 1994 to 1996 after being removed from the conference for rules violations.

Former members

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School Location Mascot Colors County Year joined Previous conference Year left Conference joined
Hanover Hanover Bulldogs     39
Jefferson
1952 Jefferson County 1960 none (consolidated
into Southwestern)
North
(Madison)
Madison Tigers     39
Jefferson
1952 Jefferson County 1953 none (colsolidated into
Madison)
Osgood Osgood Cowboys     69
Ripley
1952 Southeastern Indiana 1960 none (consolidated
into Jac-Cen-Del)
Versailles Versailles Lions     69
Ripley
1952 Southeastern Indiana 1966 none (consolidated into
South Ripley)
Dillsboro Dillsboro Bulldogs       15
Dearborn
1953 Laughery Valley 1978 none (consolidated
into South Dearborn)
Moores Hill Moores Hill Bobcats[2]     15
Dearborn
1953 Laughery Valley 1978 none (consolidated
into South Dearborn)
Vevay Vevay Warriors       78
Switzerland
1953 Southeastern Indiana 1968 none (consolidated into
Switzerland County)
Sunman Sunman Tigers[2]       69
Ripley
1964 Tri-County 1973 none (consolidated
into East Central)

Membership timeline

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Switzerland County Senior High SchoolSouth Ripley High SchoolEast Central High School (Indiana)Shawe Memorial High SchoolSouthwestern High School (Hanover, Indiana)Jac-Cen-Del Junior-Senior High SchoolSwitzerland County Senior High SchoolSouth Dearborn High SchoolSouth Dearborn High SchoolSouth Ripley Junior/Senior High SchoolRising Sun High School (Indiana)Jac-Cen-Del Junior-Senior High SchoolMadison Consolidated High SchoolMilan High School (Indiana)Southwestern High School (Hanover, Indiana)

Conference championships

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Boys basketball

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# Team Seasons
20 South Ripley 1970, 1977, 1978*, 1981, 1982*, 1984*, 1986, 1987*, 1995*, 1996, 2002, 2004*, 2005, 2010, 2012*,
2013, 2015, 2016, 2017*,2021
15 Jac-Cen-Del 1971, 1984*, 1985, 1992, 1993, 1994*, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2007, 2008*, 2009, 2011*,2022,2023
13 Southwestern 1968, 1969, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1979, 1987*, 1994*, 2000*, 2018, 2019,2020
8 Milan 1954, 1955, 1956, 2000*, 2001, 2003, 2004*, 2012*
5 Switzerland County 1982*, 1995*, 2008*, 2014, 2017*
4 Rising Sun 1957, 1988, 1989, 1991
4 Shawe Memorial 1962*, 1987*, 2006, 2011*
3 Sunman 1965, 1966*, 1967
3 Versailles 1959, 1960, 1963
1 Vevay 1966*
0 Dillsboro
0 Hanover
0 Madison North
0 Moores Hill
0 Osgood
  • Champions for 1952–53, 1957–58, 1960–61, 1963–64, 1974–75, 1979–80, 1982–83, and 1989–90 are unverified.

Girls basketball

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# Team Seasons
11 South Ripley 1981, 1985, 1991, 1993, 2000, 2004, 2005*, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2017
8 Jac-Cen-Del 1976, 2006*, 2007, 2010, 2014*, 2015, 2016, 2018
7 Southwestern 1984, 2001, 2002, 2005*, 2006*, 2008, 2009
6 Switzerland County 1983, 1988, 1997, 2003, 2006*, 2014*
0 Dillsboro
0 Milan
0 Moores Hill
0 Rising Sun
0 Shawe Memorial 1994
  • Girls champions from 1976-77 until 1998-99 are unverified (except for 1983–84, South Ripley, and Switzerland County titles).

Boys Soccer

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# Team Seasons
5 Jac-Cen-Del 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020
5 Rising Sun 2004, 2014, 2016, 2018,
2 South Ripley 2009, 2010
1 Southwestern 2011
1 Switzerland County 2022

Girls Soccer

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# Team Seasons
4 Switzerland County 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022
3 Milan 2017*, 2018, 2020*
2 Rising Sun 2016, 2017*
1 South Ripley 2015
1 Southwestern 2017*
  • Girls conference champions not officially recognized until 2015

State championships

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Jac-Cen-Del (2)

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  • 2009 Boys Basketball (A)
  • 2016 Girls Basketball (A)

Milan (1)

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Southwestern (Hanover) (1)

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  • 2002 Girls Basketball (2A)

Rising Sun (0)

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  • 2000 Girls Basketball (2A) Runner-Up

Shawe Memorial (0)

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South Ripley (0)

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Switzerland County (0)

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References

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  1. ^ "New Ohio River Loop Ready to Roll". Anderson Daily Bulletin. 1952-05-09. Retrieved 2012-02-22.
  2. ^ a b "IHSAA participants: Dearborn County". Archived from the original on February 19, 2014. Retrieved February 2, 2014.

Resources

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