In the 2015-16 school year, fans will see some unfamiliar teams take the field against the Bison.

Why? Since the last season ended, both Aurora High School and Kenston High School have left the Chagrin Valley Conference, while Geneva High School has joined it.

“The other schools wanted us to move up and play the huge schools,” Athletic Director Ryan Peters said, “…And because I’m always trying to put our teams in the best situation, this wouldn’t have been good.”

Although only one school has joined, the divisions have been realigned, so now Beachwood will frequently play teams they didn’t face as often in the past.

According to Peters, Aurora and Kenston were no longer good fits in the conference because of their size and both schools’ positions as athletic powerhouses.

“We were considered ‘big schools’ in the small school division,” he continued. Wickliffe is a bit bigger than us, and they are in the big school division, so it’s not exactly fair for them to play a huge school like Aurora.”

Since Aurora and Kenston are Divisions one and two, they weren’t asked to be a part of the realigned conference.

So, for now, the Metro Division of the CVC includes Beachwood, Wickliffe, West Geauga, Perry, Orange, Painesville Harvey, Geneva and Chagrin Falls. This is one of two divisions in the CVC, each with eight teams.

“I think Geneva is a good addition,” Peters said. “When you are figuring out how to assemble a league, the things you take into account include location, competitiveness and size of the school.”

“Geneva is not a powerhouse, but they are decent. They are around the same size and competitiveness as the other schools in the conference, and they are close to other schools like Harvey and Perry,” Peters explained.

Peters feels the realignment would bring positive results for Beachwood teams.

“There are good things and bad things. We will always have to play teams we might not want to, or that are bigger,” he said.

The conference was realigned based on the most recent OHSAA enrollment figures from 2013.

“We are in a good location geographically, in the middle of the conference basically. I like playing Orange twice, Chagrin, Wickliffe, and others,” Peters said. “It won’t have a huge impact on the teams’ schedules, but there will be some change.”

We focused on how the realignment would affect the football team’s schedule, which in turn had an impact on their outlook for this season.

Bison football players feel that the new schedule will be tougher.

“Now we are considered a ‘large school’ in the CVC, and we play against schools in higher divisions,” junior Josh Bialosky said.

“Chippewa [not in the CVC] is very tough, along with some of the other teams, including Perry, which has a kid going to Ohio State for football,” he continued.

Fellow junior Alex Orloff agrees that the new schedule will be tougher, and that Chippewa and Perry were among the toughest opponents.

“I’m looking forward to the Orange game the most. I was also looking forward to the Gilmour game a lot,” he said. [Beachwood won 44-36, against Gilmour.]

“The Geneva game will be fun, especially because it’s our homecoming game,” Bialosky added.

Speaking of the Orange game, there is another tweak in this year’s schedule compared to the past. The team will now play Orange for their last game in week ten, instead of week two as in the past.

“I actually like playing them last. It lets you build up for the game and makes it more exciting,” Bialosky said. Orloff shared a similar perspective.

Aside from the new schedule, the team is focusing on identifying strengths and weaknesses and making improvements.

“One thing that might hurt us is the fact that we have a lot of first year starters,” Orloff explained.

“We have a lot of guys playing both ways [offense and defense], so other teams with more players will get more rest during the game then us, that is our main weakness,” Bialosky said. “But our strengths include an amazing offensive playbook, and every guy can step up and fulfill the duties we need them to do.”
The team has a 1-1 record after a win against Gilmour in week one and a loss to Chippewa, 63-7, in week two. The Bison play at Warrensville Heights tonight at 7:00.