Many associate the ever-evolving world of conference realignment as strictly a collegiate talking point, mainly propelled by the main financier of athletics – football.
But change is present at the high school level as well in Indiana. The new Eastern Crossroads Conference begins play this fall in the central part of the state. Three years after ditching the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference and going independent, Carmel and Center Grove are returning to the MIC this year.
Locally, it has been over a decade since Carroll and Homestead were effectively kicked out of the old Northeast Hoosier Conference and joined the Summit Athletic, while the remaining NHC squads started its own conference, the Northeast 8, and added Leo and Huntington North.
Things have remained status quo in the area since, but if rumors and whispers are true, we could soon see a seismic shift in northeast Indiana.
Through multiple sources, Blitz has learned that there is ongoing discussion regarding the future of the SAC, at least for football. Many paths and scenarios are said to be on the table, but the break-up ofr the 10-team league is definitely a possibility.
Why?
Two factors.
For one, the gap between the top programs in the league and the bottom continues to grow. Carroll has eyes on consistently competing for Class 6A state titles, while Homestead is efforting to join them. Snider, despite last year’s setback, is a perennial contender, while Bishop Dwenger is back amongst the state’s elite, evidenced by a state championship in 2025.
Meanwhile, Concordia is 1-22 in its last 23 league games. South Side has not beaten Homestead or Carroll since the duo joined the league. Wayne is a combined 1-20 against the Spartans and Chargers over that same time period.
The split into two five-team divisions in 2022 allowed for teams to schedule competitive games out of conference in Weeks 1 and 2. It also alleviated having to play each “big” school each season for the “small division”, with the schedule being adjusted to have just three instead of all five of the “bigs” (Bishop Dwenger, Snider, Carroll, Homestead, Northrop) on the slate.
This has worked, to a point. But as the gap has grown between the top and bottom of the SAC, so have the frustrations, going both ways.
The underperforming programs need wins. Without victories, athlete interest wanes. Without numbers, the chances of wins decreases, leading to less fans on Friday nights, meaning lower revenue. Less fans equals less interest. It’s a vicious cycle.
Meanwhile, the top programs want to play teams that better prepare them for the playoffs, which leads us to the second factor.
The importance of the playoffs.
The SAC Victory Bell is a great traveling trophy. Everyone wants to win “the Bell.” But you know what programs want more? Post-season hardware.
Winning the SAC isn’t as important as people like to think. For newbies like Carroll and Homestead, there is no history there. Bishop Luers is content on occasionally winning a Bell, but piling up playoff trophies is everlasting and of vastly bigger importance. Not to mention the fact that having the Bell comes the season AFTER winning the league was achieved.
Sectional, regional and semistate trophies adorn school lobbies forever. State championship hardware is a centerpiece of any school’s trophy case.
The SAC Victory Bell? It’s there for a year, then gone.
To put it simply, every program wants to win in October and November. Whatever a team can do to maximize those chances in the playoffs is a direction they want to go in.
Upper-echelon squads in the SAC are not helped by playing the Waynes, South Sides and Concordias of the world. Or vice versa. Taking on the behemoths and getting a win is a huge plus, but it rarely happens. Even North Side, which takes pride in challenging the top squads in the league, are a combined 2-17 against Carroll and Homestead since 2015.
Every coach loves to say he wants his team playing the best entering Week 10 and beyond. How a program achieves that is going through the battles of the first nine weeks. But if those nine weeks include a considerable amount of blowouts, either in wins or losses, refining your game to be the best when it matters is tough.
So what could happen?
As mentioned before, a lot of discussion is currently happening, but a potential end result is that the current two divisions become two completely different conferences. That would allow the “big” schools to load up on more challenging opponents, while allowing the smaller schools more latitude in “finding” wins.
A breakup would be brutal to accept for traditionalists who have followed the SAC from its conception in the mid-1970s. But times change. Schools change. Priorities change.
None of this has been finalized. Questions abound. When would this happen? What would it mean for the other sports? Would either new five-team conference attempt to expand with other local schools?
Everything is on the table. And uncertainty reigns.
But one thing is for sure, change is coming.
These opinions represent those of Blitz and Outside the Huddle. No opinions expressed on Outside the Huddle represent those of any of our advertisers. Follow Blitz on Twitter at Blitz_OTH
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