(This story has been updated with news that Summerfield is joining Whiteford and Erie Mason in the new league)
Whiteford, Summerfield and Erie Mason have found a new home for football.
All three schools accepted an invitation this week from the Toledo Area Athletic Conference to become football-only members of the league beginning next season.
“The opportunity to be part of a league is what is best for our students moving forward,” said Whiteford athletic director Marcus Luzier.
"This unique opportunity will allow for our football program to continue to play 11-man football against teams of similar size," Summerfield athletic director Kelly Kalb said. "This will give our middle school, JV and varsity teams schedules, while keeping the distance to travel within reason."
Erie Mason officials agreed.
“This opportunity represents a meaningful step forward for our athletic programs, and we are excited to become part of a conference with such a longstanding tradition of excellence,” Erie Mason Supt. Kelli Tuller wrote in a letter to the TAAC.
Mason football coach Steven Bowers likes the move.
“When talking with our administration, I had expressed my belief that joining the TAAC and being part of a league is what is best for us and the football program,” he said.
The move comes just days after the final Tri-County Conference varsity football game was played, bringing to a halt 11-player football in the 52-year-old conference.
TAAC officials reached out to Whiteford, Erie Mason and Summerfield recently to renew discussions that began a couple of years ago but fell off the table.
The TAAC has just four schools playing 11-man football this year – Edon, Ottawa Hills, Hilltop and Montpelier. Pioneer North Central already has agreed to be part of the conference for football in 2025.
“It will only strengthen our sport of football,” TAAC Commissioner Rick Kaifas said.
Erie Mason, Summerfield and Whiteford get the league to eight schools. Kaifas said the league has been in discussions with other schools as well.
“We have some feelers out there,” he said. “As of right now, if we can get all three of the Michigan schools (Whiteford, Erie Mason and Summerfield), that puts us at eight – our five and those three make eight. If someone else wants to come in, hopefully we can get a ninth and tenth.”
Kaifas said the TAAC is open to having the three Michigan schools become full time members of the conference for all sports down the road.
“As the commissioner of the TAAC, I sure am hoping so,” he said. “We’re trying to expand our horizons a little bit and hoping that maybe, because of the situation of all three schools, this could be a fit. The nice thing about the three schools we are looking at in Michigan is they are in close proximity to us.”
Whiteford and Erie Mason had worked out a partnership with the Lenawee County Athletic Association for both schools to play a non-league schedule against all or most of the schools from that league in 2025 and possibly 2026. That plan will be abandoned.
“The opportunity to be part of a league is what is best for our students moving forward,” said Luzier. “I appreciate the LCAA adding us as a non-league partner, but, unfortunately, that wasn’t a long-term solution.”
Luzier said he hopes to continue the longstanding relationship Whiteford has with LCAA schools in scheduling non-league games in football and across all other sports. Whiteford and Blissfield have a contract to play each other in the first football game of the season through 2028.
“The relationship has been strong, and I expect that to continue,” he said.
The Tri-County Conference was formed in 1973 with five members from Washtenaw, Monroe and Lenawee Counties. Whiteford joined two seasons later, in 1975, and has been a member of the southeast Michigan league since. Erie Mason’s first year in the TCC was 2020.
The TAAC was formed in 1988 and has gone through several membership changes.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Whiteford, Summerfield, Mason to join Ohio league for football only
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