From Mirror reports

The Inter-County Conference recently confirmed its new high school sports divisions that will begin with the 2023-2024 school year after Bellwood-Antis leaves the conference and several Somerset County schools join it.

In high school football, the ICC will be made up of a North Division including Claysburg-Kimmel, Glendale, Juniata Valley, Moshannon Valley, Mount Union, Southern Huntingdon, West Branch and District 9’s Curwensville.

The South Division includes all of the Somerset County schools that left the dissolved WestPAC football conference. Northern Bedford will continue to play traditional rivals Tussey Mountain and Everett but be joined in the South by Berlin Brothersvalley, Meyersdale, North Star and Windber.

“It’s definitely going to be different,” Northern Bedford football coach Garry Black said. “A lot of them, we at least have a little bit of history with, because they are all District 5 teams, and at one point or another, they have all been Class 1A, and we have played each of them in the playoffs at some point. The schools have that connection. It’s almost like we have a District 5 division and and District 6 division in a lot of ways.”

Some of the District 5 regular season matchups could lead to rematches in the postseason.

“The disadvantage comes if you play a team, and you know they are that much more physically superior to you or you to them,” Black said. “When you see them again, that could alter your mindset going into the game. If you beat a team 42-7 the first time, it could help you, but it could also hurt you when you think you can just show up and win when you play again. If it’s a close game, 21-17 or something, and you play again, it might be an advantage, because you have seen them and you know what to expect if it’s another slugfest. A disadvantage could be if you get beat or beat someone really bad, because that might put something in your brain.”

Because there is one less team in the ICC South Division in football, each team will have the choice to schedule an out-of-conference game or take a bye week during the season.

Wrestling and track and field will also be just two divisions.

Glendale, Juniata Valley, Moshannon Valley, Mount Union, West Branch and Curwensville will be in the ICC North in wrestling. Northern Bedford, Tussey Mountain, Everett, Berlin Brothersvalley, Meyersdale, North Star and Southern Huntingdon will be in the South.

In track, the divisions will be called East and West with the East being made up of Fannett-Metal, Juniata Valley, McConnellsburg, Mount Union, Southern Fulton, Southern Huntingdon, West Branch and Williamsburg. The West will include Berlin, Everett, Meyersdale, Northern Bedford, Rockwood, Tussey Mountain and Windber.

In soccer, there will be different divisions between boys and girls. In boys soccer, the East is made up of Fannett-Metal, Forbes Road, McConnellsburg, Mount Union and Southern Fulton, and the West will be Berlin, Everett, North Star, Northern Bedford, Rockwood and Windber. In girls soccer, the divisions will be North (Curwensville, Everett, Moshannon Valley, Northern Bedford, Tussey Mountain, West Branch) and South (Berlin, Fannett-Metal, McConnellsburg, North Star, Rockwood, Southern Fulton, Windber).

Basketball, baseball, softball and volleyball will be split into four divisions, the East, West, North and South.

For all of these sports except volleyball the following is how the divisions will be split up.

The East will include Claysburg-Kimmel, Mount Union, Northern Bedford, Tussey Mountain and Southern Huntingdon.

The West is made up of Berlin, Meyersdale, North Star, Rockwood and Windber.

The North has Curwensville, Glendale, Juniata Valley, Moshannon Valley, West Branch and Williamsburg.

The South features Everett, Fannett-Metal, Forbes Road, McConnellsburg and Southern Fulton.

In volleyball, Northern Bedford replaces Forbes Road in the South, and Williamsburg replaces Northern Bedford in the East.