Allen County Athletic Conference

The Allen County Athletic Conference (ACAC) is a seven-member Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) conference. While all of its charter schools are and were located in Allen County, it also has member schools from Adams, Jay, and Wells counties. The ACAC, along with the Porter County Conference, are the only two county conferences left in existence.

Allen County Athletic Conference
ACAC
Established1956
RegionIndiana
Locations

History

The Allen County Athletic Conference began with nine schools in Allen County in 1956.[1] The schools were smaller, rural schools, with the exception of Elmhurst, the sole Fort Wayne school that wasn't included in the Fort Wayne City Series. The conference was hit hard by consolidation, and the nine original schools were down to four by the 1968 season (and two of those were new consolidations). The conference responded by going outside county borders by admitting Norwell (itself a newly consolidated school) in 1967, followed by Adams Central, Churubusco, and Eastside in 1968. The rebooted conference now expanded well outside of the Allen County footprint, including schools from Adams, DeKalb, Wells, and Whitley counties. All of the schools now sponsored football, and competition in that sport began in 1969.

The conference went to a two division format in 1971 with the addition of new school Homestead and Southern Wells. That format ended in 1975, as Homestead left for the Northeastern Indiana Athletic Conference, followed by Eastside leaving for the Northeast Corner Conference in 1980. The breakup of the NEIAC in 1989 led to a wide-scale realignment of conferences in Northeast Indiana, as schools looked to realign themselves with rivals of similar enrolments. The ACAC became the home for mid-sized schools, while the Northeast Corner housed small schools, and the newly formed Northeast Hoosier Conference became the stable for the largest non-Fort Wayne schools. Carroll and Norwell left that year for the NEHC, while Churubusco left for the NECC. They were replaced by NEIAC schools Bluffton and South Adams. Garrett, becoming too large for the Northeast Corner, moved to the Allen County league in 2005.

Jay County joined the conference beginning with the 2014-15 school year.[2] However, the conference shrank down to seven schools in 2015, as Garrett moved to the Northeast Corner Conference in 2014, and Leo joined six of the eight Northeast Hoosier Conference high schools in a new conference (Northeast 8) in 2015.[3][4]

Membership

Current members
School Location Mascot Colors Enrollment
20-21		 IHSAA Class/
Football Class		 County Year Joined Previous Conference
Adams
Central1		 Monroe Flying Jets           371 2A/1A 01
Adams		 1965 Eastern Wabash Valley
Bluffton Bluffton Tigers           478 2A/2A 90
Wells		 1989 Northeastern Indiana
Heritage Monroeville Patriots                593 3A/3A 02
Allen		 1968 none (new school)
Jay County Portland Patriots                987 4A/4A 38
Jay		 2014 Independents (Olympic 2010)
South
Adams		 Berne Starfires                352 2A/1A 01
Adams		 1989 Northeastern Indiana
Southern
Wells		 Poneto Raiders                256 1A/1A 90
Wells		 1971 Independents
Woodlan2 Woodburn Warriors           525 3A/2A 02
Allen		 1956 independents
  1. Adams Central played in the ACAC and the EWVC concurrently for 1965-66, the final year for the EWVC.
  2. Woodlan was known as Woodburn before 1959.

Former members
School Location Mascot Colors County Year Joined Previous Conference Year Left Conference Joined
Arcola Arcola Aces           02
Allen		 1956 1968 none (consolidated into Carroll (FW))
Elmhurst Fort Wayne Trojans           02
Allen		 1956 1960 Northeastern Indiana
Harlan Harlan Hawks           02
Allen		 1956 1965 none (consolidated into Woodlan)
Hoagland Hoagland Wildcats           02
Allen		 1956 1968 none (consolidated into Heritage)
Huntertown Huntertown Wildcats           02
Allen		 1956 1968 none (consolidated into Carroll (FW))
Lafayette Central1 Nine Mile Pirates           02
Allen		 1956 1963 none (consolidated into Roanoke)
Leo Leo Lions           02Allen 1956 2015 Northeast Eight
Monroeville Monroeville Cubs           02
Allen		 1956 1968 none (consolidated into Heritage)
Ossian Ossian Bears                90
Wells		 1966 Eastern Wabash Valley 1967 none (consolidated
into Norwell)
Norwell Ossian Knights                90
Wells		 1967 none (new school) 1989 Northeast Hoosier
Carroll
(Fort Wayne)		 Fort Wayne Chargers           02
Allen		 1968 none (new school) 1989 Northeast Hoosier
Churubusco Churubusco Eagles                92
Whitley		 1968 Independents
(WCC 1958)		 1989 Northeast Corner
Eastside Butler Blazers           17
DeKalb		 1968 Independents
(SCC 1967)		 1980 Northeast Corner
Homestead Fort Wayne Spartans                02
Allen		 1971 none (new school) 1975 Northeastern Indiana
Garrett Garrett Railroaders                17
DeKalb		 2005 Northeast Corner 2014 Northeast Corner
  1. Lafayette Central became part of Roanoke High School in 1963. Roanoke itself consolidated into Huntington North in 1966, taking Lafayette Township with it. The township then split off from HNHS to become part of Southwest Allen County Schools in 1971.

Membership timeline
Garrett High SchoolEastside Junior-Senior High SchoolCarroll High School (Fort Wayne, Indiana)Norwell High School (Indiana)Norwell High School (Indiana)Adams Central High SchoolWoodlan Junior/Senior High SchoolLeo Junior/Senior High SchoolCarroll High School (Fort Wayne, Indiana)Woodlan Junior/Senior High SchoolElmhurst High SchoolCarroll High School (Fort Wayne, Indiana)

Division Format 1971-75
NorthSouth
ChurubuscoAdams Central
Fort Wayne CarrollHeritage
EastsideHomestead
LeoNorwell
WoodlanSouthern Wells
Boys Girls
Baseball Basketball
Basketball Cross Country
Cross Country Golf
Football Soccer
Golf Softball
Soccer Swimming
Swimming Tennis
Tennis Track & Field
Track & Field Volleyball
Wrestling

Conference Championships

Football
#TeamSeasons
14Woodlan1970*, 1971 (N)*, 1972 (N, C), 1973 (N), 1974 (N, C)*, 1975, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989*, 1996, 2015, 2016
10Leo1971 (N)*, 1974 (N)*, 1977, 1997*, 2002, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012*, 2013, 2014
10Heritage1970*, 1972 (S)*, 1998, 2001, 2002*, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2012*
8Adams Central1969, 1972 (S)*, 1981, 1994, 1995, 1997*, 1999, 2017, 2018
5Norwell1971 (S, C), 1980, 1983, 1987, 1988
5South Adams1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 2019
3Carroll (FW)1976, 1978, 1979
2Garrett2007, 2012*
2Homestead1973 (S), 1974 (S)
2Southern Wells2000, 2008
1Bluffton1989*
1Churubusco1971 (N)*
1Eastside1974 (N)*
0Jay County
  • 1971-74: N = North Division champions, S = South Division champions, C = title game champions (not held in 1973).

Boys Basketball
#TeamSeasons
24Leo1957, 1960, 1961, 1963*, 1964, 1966*, 1971, 1972, 1979*, 1980, 1993, 1994, 1995,
1998*, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005*, 2006, 2011*, 2013*, 2015
11Norwell1973, 1978*, 1979*, 1981*, 1982, 1983*, 1984*, 1986, 1987*, 1988
9Carroll (FW)1969, 1974, 1977, 1978*, 1981*, 1983*, 1984*, 1985, 1987*
9Bluffton1998*, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2009*, 2010, 2011*, 2013, 2016*
4Woodlan1996, 2007, 2014, 2017*
3Heritage2005*, 2009*, 2017*
3Jay County2016*, 2018, 2019
3Southern Wells1975, 1976, 1992
1Adams Central2012
1Huntertown1966*
1South Adams1997
0Arcola
0Churubusco
0Eastside
0Elmhurst
0Garrett
0Harlan
0Hoagland
0Homestead
0Lafayette Central
0Monroeville
0Ossian
0Woodburn
  • Champions from 1958-59 to 1990-91 not listed are unverified.

Girls Basketball
#TeamSeasons
8Leo1978, 2001, 2002, 2004*, 2008*, 2010, 2012, 2013*
6Garrett2006*, 2007, 2008*, 2011, 2013*, 2014
5Jay County2015, 2016, 2017*, 2018, 2019
2Woodlan2005*, 2020
2Heritage2003, 2006*
1Southern Wells2009
1Norwell1976
1South Adams2017*
0Adams Central
0Bluffton
0Carroll (FW)
0Churubusco
0Eastside
0Homestead
  • Champions from beginning of competition (ca. 1974-75) until 2000 not listed are unverified.

Wrestling[5]
#TeamSeasons
27Adams Central1975, 1978*, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987*, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019
5Carroll (FW)1974, 1976, 1977, 1978*, 1987*
3Leo2003, 2007, 2014
3Woodlan1972, 1973, 2001
2Bluffton1999, 2002
2Garrett2009, 2010
2South Adams2008, 2011
0Churubusco
0Eastside
0Heritage
0Homestead
0Jay County
0Norwell
0Southern Wells

Only tournament champions listed.

State titles

Adams Central Flying Jets (1)
  • 2000 Football (A)

Bluffton Tigers (0)

Garrett Railroaders (1)
  • 1974 Football (A)

Heritage Patriots (1)
  • 1982 girls basketball

Leo Lions (1)
  • 2014 Girls Softball (3A)
  • 2008 Justin Woods, Leo 33-0 215lb State Wrestling Champion

South Adams Starfires (1)

• Davona Runkel - Girls shot put (1986)

Southern Wells Raiders (1)
  • 2001 Football (A)

Woodlan Warriors (0)

References
  1. Elmhurst High School (1957). "Varsity Season". Anlibrun Yearbook. Fort Wayne, IN: 63. Retrieved 2014-01-19.
  2. "Jay County Planning to Join ACAC in 2014". The Star Press. 2013-04-23. Archived from the original on 2013-06-30. Retrieved 2013-06-30.
  3. "Leo, Huntington North Join NHC Schools for New Conference". FortWayne.com. 2013-06-06. Archived from the original on 2014-02-01. Retrieved 2013-06-30.
  4. "Garrett Move to NECC Approved by School Board". Indiana News Center. 2013-05-21. Archived from the original on 2014-02-03. Retrieved 2013-06-30.
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-04-25. Retrieved 2016-04-10.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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