May 3—COLUMBUS — The Ohio High School Athletic Association announced the football divisional breakdowns and playoff regions for the 2023 season on Wednesday, with no change for Reflector area teams.

The 2023-24 school year will mark the second year of the two-year base enrollment data cycle provided by the Ohio Department of Education.

In football, competitive balance data from the previous season is used every year to create a new adjusted enrollment count.

In Division VII Region 25, Firelands Conference schools Monroeville, Plymouth, South Central and St. Paul are again in the northeast region.

Western Reserve remained in Div. VI Region 22, while both Edison and Willard from the SBC Bay Division are again in Div. V Region 18.

Also staying in the same region was Norwalk, as the SBC Lake Division member is back in Div. III Region 10.

After transitioning to eight-man football in 2021 and 2022, New London intends to play a junior varsity schedule in 2023, with hopes of returning to the regular FC schedule in 2024.

The area will feature three new head coaches this fall with Keith Mora at Norwalk, John Gillum at Plymouth and Derek Fisher at South Central.

The official start date for practice in the fall is Monday, July 31. Beginning May 15, schools are permitted to have coaching and 7-on-7 competition over 13 days in the summer.

An additional five days are permitted beginning July 17 for schools to complete the mandatory five-day acclimatization period, if they so choose.

There is no limit to physical fitness training and conditioning workouts in the summer.

2023 season schedule

May 15-July 30: Summer period

July 31: Practice begins

Aug. 14: Season begins

Aug. 18: First Friday night

Oct. 21: Regular-season ends

Oct. 22: Playoff qualifiers announced

Oct. 27: Regional playoffs first round

Nov. 3: Regional quarterfinals

Nov. 10-11: Regional semifinals

Nov. 17-18: Regional finals

Nov. 23: Thanksgiving

Nov. 24-25: State semifinals

Nov. 30-Dec. 2: State championships, Canton