By the Numbers: The Move From the SWC to the NVL

The Oxford Board of Education voted unanimously last week to seek acceptance for its athletic teams into the Naugatuck Valley League. Currently, Oxford plays in the South-West Conference.

The board said the move is being sought for several reasons. Some of them include that Oxford - one of the smallest teams in the SWC with 566 students - could play against more similar-sized schools in the NVL. Also, board members said the NVL schools are closer from Oxford than those in the SWC. 

While the board cited some intangibles that could not be quantified, such as that Oxford folks would take more pride in playing local schools like Seymour and Derby, we decided to take a closer look at a couple that can be measured. We looked at school populations of all schools in both leagues; those stats come from the most recent available from the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference website. And we calculated the shortest distances from Oxford High School to all schools in both leagues; that information came from Mapquest. 

See the full committee report that the board used to make its decision attached as PDFs at the right. Click on them to make them larger.

Naugatuck Valley League

Naugatuck – 1,440

Kennedy – 1,373

Crosby - 1,328

Wilby – 1,220

Torrington – 1,185

Watertown – 1,008

Wolcott - 842

Woodland – 795

Ansonia – 777

Holy Cross - 725

Seymour – 707

Derby – 398

Sacred Heart - 381

St. Paul – 318

Average School Size in the NVL: 893 students

South-West Conference

Newtown – 1,761

New Milford – 1,567

Pomperaug – 1,421

Masuk – 1,307

Bunnel – 1,225

New Fairfield – 1,023

Brookfield –1,016

Bethel – 988

Joel Barlow - 959

Stratford - 967

Weston - 824

Oxford - 566

Notre Dame – Fairfield - 485

Lauralton Hall (all girls) – 431

Immaculate – 341

Kolbe Cathedral - 300

Average School Size of SWC: 949 students

 - Shortest Driving Distance From OHS per Mapquest

NVL

Naugatuck HS – 10.99 miles

Kennedy HS – 15.64 miles

Crosby HS – 20.39 miles

Wilby HS - 20.39 miles

Torrington HS – 36.17 miles

Watertown HS – 18.9 miles

Wolcott HS – 23.11 miles

Woodland HS – 5.58 miles

Ansonia High School – 7.12 miles

Holy Cross – 15.57 miles

Seymour – 2.95 miles

Derby – 4.91 miles

Sacred Heart – 16.68 miles

St. Paul – 39.14 miles

Average Distance From OHS: 16.9 miles

SWC

Newtown – 12.88 miles

New Milford – 26.71 miles

Pomperaug – 9.19 miles

Masuk – 8.41 miles

Bunnel – 13.72 miles

New Fairfield – 27.17 miles

Brookfield –20.73 miles

Bethel – 21.54 miles

Joel Barlow – 20.12 miles

Stratford – 16.32 miles

Weston – 29.74 miles

Notre Dame – 18.05 miles

Lauralton Hall (all girls) – 17.15 miles

Immaculate – 22.86 miles

Kolbe Cathedral – 18.72 miles

Average Distance From OHS: 18.8 miles