Mark Ross wiped the tears from his eyes, momentarily allowing the moonlight over Charger Field in Horton, Kan., to flow into his vision.

That October night, the now-departed Horton senior quarterback left his home field for the final time after a 28-22 loss to Rock Creek in the Class 3A playoffs. A downtrodden team for most of the past two decades ended a magical season without achieving all of its goals.

“We’ve been fighting for respect for these last three years,” he said that night, “and we still haven’t been receiving it.”

The Chargers lost in their first playoff appearance since 1987 with only a district championship to call their own. No bi-district win and no Delaware Valley League championship — at least not an outright one of their own.

The DVL’s fickle schedule didn’t allow any of its teams to play a full nine-game slate. Horton finished 6-1, tied with Pleasant Ridge and technically a half game behind 7-1 Wathena.

A tri-championship with no clear cut winner. But the solution to this problem seems to be presenting itself with the recent conference shuffling in Northeast Kansas.

The DVL expanded once in the past two months, absorbing two members of the Big 7 League. An already-bloated DVL would be smart to not stop at ACCHS and Maur Hill-Mount Academy.

The recent decisions of Royal Valley, Holton and Jefferson County West to also leave the Big 7 provides an opportunity for the DVL, which will be at 13 members as it stands now starting in 2010. Big 7 castoffs Nemaha Valley, Sabetha and Hiawatha — three schools located along the U.S. Highway 36 corridor — need a home.

And the DVL could provide shelter for these wayward loners and provide the solution to keep both the DVL and Big 7 alive.

Here’s how you do it.

When ACCHS and Maur Hill-Mount Academy decided to leave the Big 7, the DVL moved to 13 members — 12 for football — and promised to separate into two divisions. But for most sports, the league would face a tough battle, namely a prime number, in all sports except football.

The addition of Sabetha, Hiawatha and Nemaha Valley moves the membership to 16 and provides a neat eight-eight split for the two divisions. The small eight could retain the DVL moniker, while the top eight — or seven — during football could adopt the Big 7 name.

With this setup, the DVL could avoid its recent plague of disputed conference champions in football. DVL teams are unable to play a full nine-game football schedule under the current alignment due to the wide array of classifications among members.

The split should fix that problem, dropping it to a six- and seven-game slate to work within Kansas’ nine-game regular season and the three-week district finale.

The divisions (shown in the accompanying graphic) also avoid most major travel concerns. Obviously, the biggest issue would be the trip from Seneca (Nemaha Valley) to Prairie Village (Kansas City Christian), but that one is negated for football due to KCC’s

non-participation.

Aside from that concern, the geography works and actually would include at least one new rivalry, the adjoining districts of Hiawatha and Horton. At the same time, it moves the DVL’s smallest schools (Troy and Wathena) away from some of the larger schools (Pleasant Ridge and Horton).

Nemaha Valley — the clear-cut smallest member of the current Big 7 — also would conceivably move to the smaller division and into the DVL. The adjustment should create a more even playing field in most sports and possibly make the Raiders a DVL powerhouse rather than Big 7 also-ran.

There are some sticking points.

The leagues might have to remain fluid with the ebbs and flows of enrollment for the glut of schools with comparable enrollments around the middle. KCC will obviously be a special consideration unless the private school adds football.

Both of those concerns go along with no clear division of big and small.

Jefferson County North, Oskaloosa, MH-MA, McLouth, Nemaha Valley and Doniphan West are all comparable but would inevitably split. But among those schools only Doniphan West played outside of 3A in football this year.

Maybe this scenario isn’t even a possibility, but it does show an alternative for Sabetha, Hiawatha and Nemaha Valley if the other three remaining members of the Big 7 walk. And maybe Holton, Royal Valley and Jefferson County West can move on to their new league with Santa Fe Trail and Perry-Lecompton, send an invitation Atchison’s way and thrive in that setup, as well.

It’s a dramatic and complicated shift to be sure, but it seems to answer all the questions for the involved schools.

This proposed move would come three years too late for Ross and Horton to find the respect they coveted. But future generations would benefit from this potential merger if someone in the mentioned schools recognizes the potential.

ONE BIG LEAGUE

Here’s a look at a potential division split if the Delaware Valley League merged with Sabetha, Nemaha Valley and Hiawatha starting in 2010. This is a hypothetical scenario with the DVL set to add ACCHS and Maur Hill-Mount Academy that same year and the Big 7 apparently splintered beyond repair.

Hypothetical “BIG 7”

School Enrollment #

Hiawatha 217 (4A)

Pleasant Ridge 199 (3A)

ACCHS 184 (3A)

Sabetha 165 (3A)

Horton 154 (3A)

Jeff County North 138 (3A)

Oskaloosa 138 (3A)

Hypothetical DVL

School Enrollment #

MH-MA 135 (3A)

McLouth 130 (3A)

Nemaha Valley 129 (3A)

Doniphan West 125 (1A-2A)

Valley Falls 105 (1A-2A)

Jackson Heights 100 (1A-2A)

Wathena 99 (1A-2A)

Troy 73 (1A-2A)

Kansas City Christian N/A*

# - enrollments are ninth, tenth and eleventh grades reported in September 2007 for classification.

Paranthetical numbers are classification for current two-year football cycle.

* - Does not participate in football but has a reported enrollment of 178