The Oakland Activities Association is one step closer to expanding yet again.
This time, it’s to the north.
Less than a week after the OAA voted to add Novi and Northville, the league’s athletic directors voted unanimously on Wednesday to add Grand Blanc and Davison, as well, according to a source close to the deliberations.
That vote becomes a recommendation to the league’s principals, who — after site visits — will take a vote of their own in the next few days to approve or deny admission to the league for the two heavyweights from the Saginaw Valley League South.
Those additions, pushing the league to 27 teams, will undoubtedly sit well with the northernmost current members of the league — Clarkston, Lake Orion, Oxford and others — who have been mulling over a closer association with the two Genesee County school districts.
Rochester Adams defeated Grand Blanc 40-20 in the MHSAA D1 semi-final game played on Saturday November 20, 2021 at Howell High School. The Highlanders will play Belleville in next Saturday’s state final. (KEN SWART — For MediaNews Group, file)
If they are accepted, Grand Blanc becomes the second-largest school in the conference (2,429), based in this year’s enrollment, while Davison (1,694) is the 11th-largest. Northville is the largest (2,434), while Novi is fourth (2,148), just behind Troy (2,285).
As with Northville and Novi, the travel will be an issue for the schools on the furthest perimeters, something likely remedied by more geographic alignments, rather than purely relying on competitive balance.
From Grand Blanc to Clarkston, Oxford and Lake Orion is an average of 26 miles and 34 minutes (in optimal conditions), but it’s 53 miles and 66 minutes from Grand Blanc to Northville.
From Davison to the northern trio of OAA schools, it’s an average of 26 miles and 39 minutes, but one hour, 15 minutes (66 miles) to Northville.
The OAA has been in flux over the last few years, with the two Waterford schools — Mott and Kettering — returning to the fold after leaving in 2008 to join the Kensington Lakes Activities Association, then moving on to the Lakes Valley Conference in 2018. Farmington and North Farmington are both exiting the OAA to join the LVC, along with the three Livonia schools (Franklin, Churchill and Stevenson) from the KLAA.
Novi, Northville headed to OAA after impending dissolution of the KLAA
Waterford schools apply to leave LVC for Oakland Activities Association
Lakes Valley Conference expands to 12, adding Livonia and Farmington schools