By: John Fryman
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
john@thevillagereporter.com
There will be plenty of excitement on the gridiron throughout Williams County this coming fall when Edon, Hilltop, Montpelier and North Central finally make their debut as members of the newly formed Great Lakes Conference.
A New Football- Only League
All four schools will become part of an eight-team, football-only conference that includes four Michigan high schools — Erie Mason, Sand Creek, Summerfield and Whiteford — all of whom are located near the Ohio-Michigan border.
You can call it “The Border Wars” between the two states, but at the same time they will be competing for the inaugural Great Lakes Conference championship.
A year ago, seven of the eight schools — with the exception of Sand Creek — were football-only members of the Toledo Area Athletic Conference.
Following the departure of Ottawa Hills (2026-27) and Toledo Christian (2027-28) into the Sandusky Bay Conference River Division, it also meant the final snap of the TAAC in football.
Edon, Hilltop, Montpelier and North Central had already faced Whiteford, Erie Mason and Summerfield last season, combining for a 7-5 record against them.
“We’ve played the schools that were in a conference at some point, whether it’s been last year or previous when we had crossover games when we were in the TAAC with those Michigan schools,” said Montpelier athletic director Joe Brigle.
“It will be a little bit of an adjustment, but I think we’ll be in good shape.”
Travel Becomes An Advantage
One of the advantages the schools will now have involves travel. Most of the schools are within, or just a little over, one hour of each other.
“We really hadn’t shied away from not scheduling games because of travel,” said Brigle. “We always looked at how schools fit our school and that’s a good matchup for us. We want to try to play competitive teams in all sports.”
In the way the GLC was set up, Brigle said, the schools have been creative with scheduling, with Montpelier traveling to two Michigan schools every year.
“You know on a Friday night, you got two trips to Michigan, and they have two trips to Ohio, and we scheduled our backyard rivals where the Michigan and Ohio schools both play in the last three weeks of the season,” said the Montpelier athletic director.
The Locos, who host Erie Mason (Sept. 11) and Summerfield (Sept. 18) for the first two weeks of the conference season, could see a benefit at the box office.
“I see it being better,” Brigle said. “The schools in the TAAC didn’t really travel very well out to us. I felt like our schools did a much better traveling to them.
“We’re going to see probably an uptick because the schools we are playing traditionally have had good success and travel very well.”
The GLC will also have junior high and junior varsity home and away games mirror each other on Thursday and the following Monday, with Friday nights being the opposite.
“You know if you’re away on Friday night, you got a junior high and a junior varsity game to play against those local schools,” said Brigle. “You could make some revenue that way.”
Hilltop Returns To Small-School Roots
Hilltop athletic director Tony Gerig says the GLC provides a great opportunity for the Cadets football program to be part of a small-school conference.
“It takes us kind of back to where we used to be back in the early 1990s and 2000s when we were part of the Southern Central Athletic Association (SCAA),” said Gerig.
“I thought it was a good fit with the TAAC kind of falling apart the way it had done. We felt like it was the best option for our school to give us the best chance to be competitive in 11-man football.”
The TAAC slowly fell apart over the last few years, with Northwood, Ottawa Hills and Toledo Christian all leaving the conference.
“When I first started as athletic director back in 2011, the football schedule was set and it was easy and it was set three years in advance,” Gerig said.
“There has been so much turnover and moving and shaking, especially with those schools to the east. It became quite a lot to try and to maintain.”
Hilltop and Edon had been part of the TAAC since 2005, where it had seen its ups and downs in terms of conference membership.
The TAAC had lost several members over the years, including Tiffin Calvert (2016), Danbury and Gibsonburg (2018), Stryker (2019), Northwood (2025) and now Ottawa Hills and Toledo Christian.
“For us competitively in football, we used to win quite a few games, and a lot of those wins came on a consistent basis,” said the Hilltop athletic director. “A lot of those schools have transitioned to eight-man football.”
Gerig pointed out that in order to keep 11-man football going at Hilltop — its own contention — the Cadets needed to get into a conference that allowed the school to be competitive and geographically works, and it became a good setup for the program.
“We feel like most weeks we should be in a pretty competitive nature,” said Gerig.
“Whiteford is a very strong football program and that’s going to be a tough task each year. I feel the rest of the league is a really good match for us.”
Ironically, the Cadets will be hosting preseason favorite Whiteford in the GLC debut for both teams on Friday, Sept. 11.
“With this new conference, it’s going to bring some intrigue,” said Gerig. “When we went east to the TAAC schools, we didn’t take very many people, and when those schools came to us, there wasn’t a good turnout either.
“With the proximity and the newness of it all, we do feel our gates might tick up, which is a big part of this.”
North Central Finds Balance
North Central played its first and only year in the TAAC, as the Eagles went 3-7 overall and 2-5 in the TAAC a year ago, but they will also be part of the new football-only conference.
“We are all excited about it,” said North Central athletic director Kyra Gates. “It kind of balances out the conference because the schools are about the same size.
“We’re not dealing with the larger schools. I think it’s going to be pretty competitive.” Gates said one of the advantages of the new conference is travel, with several of the schools located within an hour of North Central.
“Some of the schools we’ve played last season, and they drew in pretty nice sized crowds, and I don’t think it’s going to affect it that much,” said Gates.
The North Central athletic director has also heard positive community comments about the new conference.
“Our football program is excited to compete in the new conference, and I think it was a great idea and is all coming together,” said Gates.
North Central will be hosting Sand Creek in its GLC debut on Friday, Sept. 11.
Edon Looks For Stability
Edon athletic director Matt Ripke said the new conference has been in the works for the last several years, with some of the inconsistencies in the TAAC and schools not having teams.
“Joe Brigle, Tony Gerig and I got together and we’ve worked on putting something together, and were able to get with those four schools (Sand Creek, Whiteford, Erie Mason, Summerfield) in Michigan who were very interested in putting together a league and to create some stability,” said Ripke.
From a geographic standpoint, Edon is as far west as you can get, but Ripke added that all four Michigan schools are pretty easy trips, along with the three other Williams County schools.
“We feel like it’s going to be a very competitive league,” said the Edon athletic director.
“We played Whiteford for the last several years and played Sand Creek once, along with Erie Mason and Summerfield last year.
“Size-wise the schools matchup well and it’s going to be a very competitive league.” Ripke pointed out the Michigan schools travel very well in supporting their football programs.
“We knew that Summerfield traveled very well last year and Whiteford traditionally also very well,” said Ripke.
“We’re looking forward to them (Whiteford) bringing a good gate this year. Even for junior varsity games, those Michigan schools brought a ton of people for a Monday night game, which was exciting.”
The Edon athletic director added that the community will be excited knowing there is going to be some stability year in and year out, knowing who the Bombers are going to play, as opposed to not knowing who is on the schedule.
“When Northwood left in 2025, you kind of see the writing on the wall, and Ottawa Hills was right next,” Ripke said.
“With a limited number of schools that had football in the TAAC, it was time to work on something that could create some stability for us.”
One of the things that drew the four Michigan schools into the newly formed football-only conference is playing for conference championships and earning all-conference recognition.
“Our kids to be able to know that consistent week in and week out knowing you’re going to have a good competitive game,” said Ripke.
“If you look at the traditional success of those Michigan schools, it’s certainly getting us ready for the playoffs in week eleven.”
The Bombers will be the lone Ohio school on the road to make their GLC debut when they visit Summerfield, Michigan, on Friday, Sept. 11.
