COLUMBUS -- A change to Ohio's football alignment will make Lancaster one of the smallest Division I schools in the state and eventually could result in the Golden Gales dropping a division.

The Ohio High School Athletic Association will add a seventh tournament division in football starting in 2013, Commissioner Daniel B. Ross announced Thursday. The addition was approved by the OHSAA's Board of Directors 6-3 during its regularly scheduled meeting.

The plan will place the top 10 percent of schools based on enrollment in Division I, with the remaining 644 schools divided evenly among the other six divisions. It will leave 72 schools in Division I with the other six divisions averaging about 108 schools.

Based on current enrollment data, the lower end of Division I would increase to 600 boys. Lancaster has 651.

Lancaster has the second smallest enrollment in the Ohio Capital Conference-Ohio Division, behind only Newark's 586. Depending on the next enrollment figures to be released in 2013, the school could fall to Division II.

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