Columbus Grove won the Northwest Conference 2014-15 “Don Bachman Award of Excellence” for the second time with a strong finish in the spring sports season. 

This award recognizes the school in the conference that exhibits the highest level of consistent excellence in conference-sponsored sports and scholastic bowl competition.

The Bulldogs compiled a total of 77 points to defeat Bluffton (73.5) in a close race with Crestview finished third at 70 points.  Points are awarded and accumulated each year based on conference standings in all sports and the NWC scholastic bowl competition.

The award was started during the 2005-06 school year to honor longtime Northwest Conference commissioner/secretary, Don Bachman, who served in that position for more than thirty years before passing away late in 2005.

This year Columbus Grove earned outright NWC titles in girls' cross country, boys' cross country, boys' track and girls' track. They were also co-champions (with Crestview) in volleyball.

In addition to the conference championships, the Bulldogs had a second place finish in boys' basketball and were co-runner-ups in football. Grove also had third place finishes in girls' basketball and softball.

Other NWC champions/co-champions were:
Allen East (Softball, Girls Soccer)
Bluffton (Golf)
Crestview (Baseball, Softball, Volleyball, Girls' Basketball, Academic Team)
Delphos Jefferson (Football, Wrestling)
Spencerville (Boys' Basketball)

The final order of finish for the 2014-15 school year is as follows:
Columbus Grove  77.0
Bluffton 73.5
Crestview 73.0
Spencerville 61.5
Allen East 58.0
Lincolnview 51.5
Delphos Jefferson 51.5
Ada 48.5
Paulding 29.5