(10-4-25) Four Indiana schools announced this week that they are forming a new athletic conference, the Eastern Crossroads Conference (ECC).

The four charter members include Eastern Hancock, Lapel, New Castle and Shenandoah…while Centerville, Delta and Northeastern all have been invited to join the conference.

Eastern Hancock Athletic Director Aaron Spaulding told the Greenfield Daily Reporter –

“We started meeting, and there were things in our current conference that we were trying to figure out, and that didn’t seem like a good fit. We got together with a number of schools and started having a discussion. It all came about pretty quick. We realized that people were ready to go or at least consider it.”

A look at the charter membership…

  • Eastern Hancock and Shenandoah are Class 2A schools in every sport and are both presently in the Mid-Eastern Conference
  • Lapel is 2A in all but girls soccer (1A) and is an independent
  • New Castle is 3A in everything but soccer (2A) and football (4A) is in the in the Hoosier Heritage Conference

Schools formally invited to join…

  • Centerville, is 1A in soccer and 2A in everything else and is in the Tri-Eastern Conference
  • Delta is a 3A school in all but soccer (2A) is in the in the Hoosier Heritage Conference
  • Northeastern is a 2A school and is in the Tri-Eastern Conference

The conference will decide if competition will begin in the next school year in some form or if the start will be pushed back to a 2027 start.

The formal by-law writing process will begin in November. The current ECC schools would like to have at least a total of eight members.

Courtesy Commercial Review – view online at – Report of Jay leaving ACAC was false