New sports league nears for area teams

The athletic conference face of this area is set to change for next season. No longer will the Ypsilanti Phoenix have to travel to Highland Park or Inkster.
Instead they will face rivals from Chelsea, Ann Arbor Huron and Pioneer as well as Ypsilanti Lincoln. It will be interesting to see how YHS stacks up with the Southeast Conference (SEC) teams in sports like tennis, golf and even cross country.
The way the Michigan Mega Conference worked teams were put into different levels depending on how well they performed. For example the boys’ basketball team was in the Mega Red (highest level) and the football team was in the Mega Blue (third level).
This allowed for similar competition among similar teams. It didn’t depend on school size and adjustments could be made every year or so as needed. The Mega was good for having teams who were not normally rivals be rivals with one another. Some of these examples include Carlson and Highland Park football, Melvindale and Highland Park wrestling and Ypsilanti and Inkster in football.
Now the locals will stay in Washtenaw County for rivalries, which should boost attendance, and it should renew some good rivalries from when Ypsi was in the SEC awhile back.
YHS and Ypsilanti Lincoln should now face each other in just about every sport. That will make for good action for both teams. I am getting kind of excited about this new group of teams they will play.
Don’t get me wrong I love a good Highland Park vs. Ypsi football game as much as the next guy but it will be nice to see them play Chelsea, Lincoln, Bedford and some of the other SEC teams in games that matter for the conference.
It is still unknown where Willow Run is going to end up. They may go independent for a few years and be like Notre Dame is in college or they may join an old league that would have Inkster, River Rouge, Ecorse and few of those teams on their schedule.
However you want to say it, once the spring sports are complete the Mega will be gone. The conference that was started to make things more competitive and was then kept together by a lawsuit has outlived itself and now will be spread into several different league. There will be one league in Dearborn, one Downriver and then one or more which will hold the rest of the pieces together.
Monroe High also will be in the SEC next season, which will bring a school with over 2,000 students to the league. The Trojans are tough and competitive in just about every sport that they play. I am sure it will not take them long to get back at the top in whatever sport they compete in.
It will be interesting to see what sports the Phoenix are good at next season. Rest assured I think that they made th4e right choice in joining a league. Let’s see if I still agree with that next year when the games are over.
It is still unknown where Belleville will be next season. But I think wherever they end up will be good for them. They need to start winning and racking up some .500 or better season in at least their football team.
Contact Staff Writer Dave Merchant at 697-8255 or dmerchant@heritage.com