It’s still in its infancy, but early returns have been favorable for the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference.
The KMAC began operation last fall with Knox County members Fredericktown, Danville, East Knox and Centerburg and Morrow County affiliates Northmor, Mount Gilead, Cardington and Highland. All but Danville were former Blue Division members of the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference (Danville was in the Mid-Buckeye Conference).
“We really like the new conference,” Danville boys basketball coach Matt Moore said. “For us, it renews a lot of those older rivalries that we used to have.”
Centerburg, Fredericktown and East Knox all used to be members of the MBC along with Danville. Centerburg and Fredericktown moved to the MOAC for the 2013-14 school year, with East Knox joining the following year.
In November of 2015, the three Knox County schools along with the four Morrow County schools announced their intention to leave the MOAC and form the KMAC.
“The conference is a good fit for us,” East Knox boys basketball coach Ryan Powell said. “They are natural rivalries.”
The fall sports season was a resounding success for the KMAC. Danville, Highland and Northmor qualified for the playoffs in football. Danville reached the Division VII state semifinals. The Mount Gilead and Fredericktown boys and girls cross country teams advanced to the Division III state see (the Mount Gilead girls finished second, while the boys were sixth). East Knox’s Drew Salyers tied for 10th at the Division III state golf tournament, carding a two-day total of 155 at Ohio State’s Scarlet Course.
The winter sports season has been just as good to the KMAC. Northmor’s wrestling team will compete in the regional semifinals of the dual team tournament Wednesday, while the Northmor boys basketball and Cardington girls basketball teams were ranked in the most recent Associated Press state polls.
“We like the new conference. It’s got some nice players,” said Northmor boys basketball coach Zach Ruth, whose Golden Knights had their 23-game regular season winning streak snapped at Mansfield St. Peter’s over the weekend. “Geographically, it’s real nice. We don’t always get a lot of recognition, but we’ve been getting some love recently.”
The spring season should be every bit as exciting. In softball, Danville will return a wealth of talent from last year’s Division IV state runner-up in team. Cardington advanced to the Division III state semifinals and had just two seniors on the roster. In baseball, six of the eight KMAC schools won sectional championships and two of them, Fredericktown in Division III and Danville in Division IV, won district titles.
By all accounts the future of the KMAC looks to be bright.
“For us, it makes a lot of sense,” Danville’s Moore said. “There are short drives, scheduling is easy and the rivalries are natural. We are really happy with it.”
