(7-25-23) As the summer winds down there is still plenty of question marks with athletic conference membership changes in the Stateline area.

Right now school administrators at Delphos St. John’s are weighing the pros and cons of remaining in the Midwest Athletic Conference (MAC) or moving to the Northwest Conference (NWC)….they are for sure doing their due diligence.

If the Blue Jays decide to move to the NWC, the next move would be for the MAC, which could be interesting and might start more dominoes to fall. This would leave the MAC with 9 football members, including football only Anna…would the MAC ask the Rockets to please leave and that would solve the problem? Could the elephant in the room be…Ft. Loramie joins as another football only member and a for sure Friday night rival for Anna. Or would the MAC just want to add another school for full membership.

If St. John’s decides not to move, the NWC will still be short two members in the future.

Still waiting in the wings are Lima Central Catholic, Liberty-Benton and Ft. Loramie (football). All three knocked on the NWC door early for membership…with a sorry ‘No thank you’. All of the above three situations seem to look like they won’t end anytime soon.

Just across the Stateline in Indiana, Ft. Wayne Blackhawk Christian will play their first season of 11-man football and that is when ‘rumors’ started…that the Braves would like to join to the 7 school ACAC. The conference might want to consider a full membership school or a football only membership to make scheduling football easier for conference teams.

Blackhawk Christian, like LCC, is a private Christian school that has had great success in recent years in its athletic programs…not something most public schools consider as a great selling point for a future conference member.

For now Delphos St. John’s holds the future of the MAC and NWC in their hands.