The Southern Ohio Conference (S.O.C.) is an athletic conference in Ohio. The conference is also a member of the Ohio High School Athletic Association, the governing body of Ohio athletics. There are currently seventeen member schools in the conference. The S.O.C. includes teams from five different Ohio counties - Jackson County, Gallia County Lawrence County, Pike County, and Scioto County. The conference recognizes: baseball, boys' and girls' basketball, boys' and girls' cross country, football, boys' and girls' soccer, fast pitch softball, boys' and girls' swimming, boys' and girls' tennis, boys' and girls' track and field athletics, and girls' volleyball.

Scioto County is a county along the Ohio River in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Ohio. At the 2020 census, the population was 74,008. Its county seat is Portsmouth. The county was founded on March 24, 1804, from Adams County and is named for a Native American word referring to deer or deer-hunting. Scioto County comprises the Portsmouth, OH Micropolitan Statistical Area. It is at the confluence of the Scioto and Ohio rivers.