Correspondent file photo / David Dermer. Fitch’s Deon’Dray Richard stiff arms an Akron Buchtel defender during a game last season.

The Mahoning Valley will have a football team competing in Division I this upcoming football season.

For its 100th season on the gridiron, Austintown Fitch opted to move up from Division II to I, and the OHSAA granted permission to jump up on Monday. With the move, the Falcons will become the first Mahoning Valley team to compete in the state’s highest division since Fitch’s 2018 squad.

Every year, after the OHSAA announces the divisional breakdown for a particular sport, teams are allowed to apply to move up. Teams can only move to Division I, and it’s a right that the Fitch softball team has used in recent seasons.

“It’s our 100th season, and our division became overcrowded,” Falcons football coach TJ Parker said. “I looked at Division I, and there could be an opportunity there. So I talked to other teams, and I went back and forth with it.

“A lot of teams from our region (Region 5) lost a lot from last year’s teams. It was a gamble, honestly a coin flip, but part of it that goes into it is seeing a lot of new teams that we haven’t seen for years.”

The Falcons were one of eight teams that opted to move up to Division I this fall. The others are Cleveland Heights, Elyria, Euclid and Hudson — they will join Fitch in Region 1 — and Clayton Northmont, Dublin Scioto and Toledo St. John’s Jesuit.

Normally the top 72 largest schools in the state are placed in Division I. But with the eight opting to move up, this upcoming season will feature 80. The OHSAA does not relegate teams to Division II when a smaller program volunteers to move up.

The move required a certain balance when making the upcoming football schedule.

According to Parker, Austintown Fitch still has an opening on its schedule for Week 2, but the rest of the slate is mapped out.

They will open the season at home against Hudson, and the remaining home opponents are Maple Heights, Erie (Pa.), Massillon Perry, Boardman and Warren G. Harding. The road games are at Riverside, Butler (Pa.) and Erie McDowell (Pa.).

“Hudson’s considered Division I by OHSAA rankings, Erie’s considered Division I, Erie McDowell’s considered Division I, Butler, Pa., is considered Division I,” Parker said. “So with Hudson, both Eries and Butler, we already have four Division I teams on our schedule.”

With the milestone season on the horizon, Parker and the Falcons want to make the 100th season memorable. And they believe the move to Division I will help with that.

“Our history (in Division I), our 100th season, where I saw opportunity when I looked at everything, definitely some new faces that we haven’t played in a while but also some programs and teams we’ve been familiar with from our history. All that into the pot, and it just felt like a good year to give it a shot,” Parker said.

STILL WAITING ON ENROLLMENT

There is still one Mahoning Valley program waiting to find out its division now that Fitch is moving up.

Youngstown City School District announced a merger between Chaney and East, and the Cleveland Metropolitan School District announced plans to consolidate Glenville and Collinswood. The OHSAA is still waiting for enrollment numbers from CMSD and the newly-formed Youngstown High School.

When the final tally is completed, the state will slot the Defenders and the Cleveland school into their new divisions.