'A home-grown project': John Glenn High leads effort to form new Mid-Ohio Lacrosse League
NEW CONCORD — John Glenn High was on the ground floor of introducing lacrosse to the local high school sports scene.
The Muskies first offered the sport as a varsity option to student athletes during the 2020 season. But that year eventually was wiped out due to the COVID pandemic.
In their first year of on field competition, in 2021, John Glenn struggled to a 3-16 record. But the last two seasons, the Muskies rebounded with solid back-to-back 13-6 marks for a three year total of 29-28
With no other neighboring schools playing lacrosse, John Glenn was forced to turn to the Columbus area to find opponents, which created some logistical and scheduling issues for Muskies. However, that will change in the near future.
John Glenn athletics has been a long standing member of the Muskingum Valley League in all other sports, but was not a viable option without enough MVL schools playing lacrosse.
Head coach Bob Williams, who led the effort to make lacrosse a varsity sport in the East Muskingum School District, now turned his attention to getting his Muskie lacrosse student athletes a league to play in.
"This was really a home grown project started by us at John Glenn, with us reaching out to other schools about their interest in starting a league," Williams stated. "A lot of the schools we have been playing also don't have a league to play in like us.
"So we reached out to most of the Division II schools in Central Ohio to gauge interest," Williams said. "Our initial feedback was very positive, that most were interested in possibly joining a league. We got the athletic directors involved, who set up the structure and parameters of the league. Our AD, (Michael) Dunlap, was a great help with this, he really jumped in and got the ball rolling."
Williams said having a league would give lacrosse players the opportunity to play for league championships, along with being able to earn All-League recognition which helps players' resumes to earn collegiate interest for scholarships.
Four schools have committed to make the leap. Granville, Jonathon Alder, Johnstown and Licking Valley will join John Glenn to form the Mid-Ohio Lacrosse League that will begin play in the 2024 season.
"This league will also provide stability in scheduling games for future years. We are also working with another league about the possibility of adding their teams to increase the number of schools within this league in the future," Dunlap said.
Expansion is very much the goal of the new Mid-Ohio Lacrosse League, with Williams stating other schools have already expressed interest in coming on board for the 2025 season.
"There are also already teams in the pipeline who have other commitments which prevented them from joining this first season," Williams explained. "Who have expressed a desire to join us for the 2025 season. So we are very excited about this new league. I feel will be a great opportunity for our players and our program, and we are looking forward to it."
KSutton1@gannett.com; Twitter: @KevinDJsports; Instagram: kevinsutton_dailyjeffsports
This article originally appeared on The Daily Jeffersonian: John Glenn High leads effort to form new Mid-Ohio Lacrosse League
