Future Of O-C Sports Uncertain With Pending Decisions

Few topics have dominated local headlines as much as the fluid relationship between Clearwater and Orchard. 

For nearly a decade, the Cyclones have been a mainstay in Northeast Nebraska athletics. They have qualified for the state football playoffs eight times, including an incredible Cinderella run in 2015 that saw them finish one win away from the championship game. They have sent two boys basketball teams to the state tournament and dozens of athletes have qualified for the state track meet in various events. 

With the recent vote by the Clearwater Original Board to dissolve the reorganization agreement between the two schools, the future of Cyclone athletics is now in serious jeopardy. 

At this point, the results of the vote are still pending action at the Unified Board meeting and no decision has been made on any further cooperation between the two schools in regard to athletics, but if the course continues and the two schools do split, it is highly possible that the Cyclones will as well. In fact, Nebraska School Activities Association Executive Director Dr. Jim Tenopir said he has never seen separating schools stay together on the field or the court.

“I’ve not seen that, but stranger things have happened,” he said. “Its not beyond the realm of possibility and if in fact the unification is dissolved, they (Clearwater-Orchard) are probably going to have to look at doing something with co-op to be able to stay together.”

If the two schools do decide to follow through with discontinuing the agreement and subsequently discontinue their cooperation in the school’s various activities, most sports will actually see very little issue from the standpoint of the NSAA (should there be enough students to field teams). However, the one exception is football.

All NSAA activities, except football, work on one-year cycles. Teams register and schedule their opponents each and every year. However, football operates on a two-year cycle. That means schedules are made among the schools two years in advance. Referees and locations are lined up as soon as the schedules are completed. 

The reason that is an issue for Clearwater-Orchard is next year will be year two of the current cycle, meaning that the Cyclones are locked into next season or risk forfeiting the entire year.

“Next year is the second year of that two-year scheduling,” said Dr. Tenopir. “If the two schools would decide that they are not going to be together for football, they really don’t have an option. There is no place that they can turn to schedule independently. We have been very specific with schools that they have to sign up for the two-year period and that there is not an opportunity to dissolve that football relationship mid-cycle.”

In any other sport but football, if the numbers allow, each school would be able to field its own teams without issue, assuming they could create their schedule and provide the adequate referees and locations needed. 

However, in football, the NSAA does not allow co-op agreements to be made mid-cycle. Because the Cyclones have committed to the NSAA that they are a consolidated team for the two years of 2016-17, they either play together next season or not at all. Neither Clearwater nor Orchard students could join with schools such as Ewing, O’Neill or Verdigre, for example, if they don’t play together as the Cyclones.

If Clearwater and Orchard wanted to compete in football next year after the consolidation is dissolved, they basically have two options. One school could take on the Clearwater-Orchard Cyclone title, if the NSAA board would allow them to do so, and compete on the football field for next year while the other school does not play at all. That option would be unlikely, according to Dr. Tenopir, if either school had an objection to the other taking the team name.

The second option would be to apply to the NSAA board for a special exception. The special exception would be to enter into a co-op mid-cycle. The board would review the issue and determine whether to allow the co-op to be made at that point and, if so, for how long. 

The NSAA board could approve the co-op for a two-year cycle if the two schools requested; however, that is unlikely as it would put the schools and the NSAA in the same situation in the middle of the next cycle. The likely result, according to Dr. Tenopir, would be a one-year exception for the co-op, pending NSAA approval. At the end of the one year, the two schools could go their separate ways if they choose.

Many students, parents, teachers and citizens of the two towns await further decision on the relationship between Clearwater and Orchard. While many sports will remain unaffected, outside of the obvious, the athletes waiting for next football season must wait to learn their fate as well as the school’s.