It’s kind of like the old French Creek Valley conference, but not quite. It’s kind of like a Crawford County league, but not entirely. What is it? It is the new version of the Region 3 golf league, which will be battling it out for at least the next two seasons.

The new league pits old FCVC foes Cambridge Springs, Linesville, Maplewood, Saegertown and Union City — the lone Erie County team. And added in that lineup is Meadville, the largest school in the group.

“It’s OK,” said Cambridge Springs head coach Larry Shrefler. “It’s like going back to French Creek Valley.”

Cambridge Springs comes into the new league after winning Region 4 last season.

“Every two years we do something new,” Shrefler said. “It’s going to be kind of hard to run a string of region championships together when they keep changing the regions on us.

“But that’s all right. New competition, new places to play.”

“I think it’s more competitive for our kids,” said Linesville coach Bob Slevin. “Most of these kids have played against one another in other sports, like baseball, basketball. They know one another, which is kind of nice. Also, most kids have played on the courses in the area.”

According to Maplewood coach Jack Blatnick, “I just know that we’re going to playing some teams that are a little more our size. The previous year we were playing some schools that were a lot bigger than us ... I’m looking forward to competing with schools more in line with the size of Maplewood.”

Meadville is the lone exception in the size category. Still, Bulldogs coach Fred Garvey is glad his team won’t be traveling to places like Slippery Rock or Oil City for region matches anymore.

“We’re real close this year,” he said. “It’s a half-hour everywhere.”

Region 3 kicks off the season today in the first of six region mega-matches. The six teams will tee off at 11 a.m. at Riverside Golf Course, the home course for Cambridge Springs.

Here’s a quick look at the teams that will be competing for this year’s Region 3 title:

Cambridge Springs