(7-25-26) Usually July is a pretty quiet month for high school sports activities in Indiana…but thanks to the Summit Athletic Conference (SAC) there is plenty issues to talk about.

It has been brewing for several years years that there are some MAJOR issues facing the SAC.

It started when the conference decided to split into divisions for football and s decided to drop two conference football games, this meant that for the first time since the SAC had 10 members, each member would only play seven conference games. The change would allow members to schedule non-conference games (week 1 and week 2) to toughen teams up for the playoffs.

Past Results

WEEK -Won – Lost
1-2023 —-2-8
2-2023 —-2-6-*
1-2024 —-4-6
2-2024 —-3-6-+

  • 1-2025—2-8
  • 2-2025–4-6

OVERALL 17-40

Note:

  • 2023 – -*Ft. Wayne Wayne 42 Ft. Wayne Northrop 7 (Non-conference game)
  • 2024 – -+Ft. Wayne Wayne led South Bend Riley at halftime 14-7, game was called due to to weather, IHSAA ruled it a no-contest.

The result has been that the SAC members lost more of those games then they won.

Concordia, one of three private SAC members, announced that they would leave the SAC for the ACAC. This came shortly after they had decided that they didn’t want to play Homestead or Carroll anymore in football. So far they will still play Homestead because neither team could find a last minute repacement opponent to fill in for each other. A mutiny by Concordia…dropping a conference game and still remaining in that conference is highly unusual. It didn’t stop at football…recently it was discovered that Homestead’s girls basketball has decided not to play four SAC members this year. Once the barn door opens, it’s hard to get the cows back in.

The SAC membership as it stands today…is three (soon to be two) private schools, five Ft. Wayne Community Schools and the two BIG part-time SAC suburban schools…Homestead and Carroll…who only compete in football and boys and girls basketball. That combination is pretty fragile in keeping the conference in tact as the days roll by.

The SAC’s split-gate rule is an unique set-up. The attendance gate collected at any conference game, no matter who the host school is…is split evenly between both schools. The rule is designed to share the income across all schools. It is no secret that the five Ft. Wayne Community Schools benefit the most from this concept when they play Homestead and Carroll, while the BIG two lose out. If Homestead and Carroll leave the SAC, what impact will that cost the FWCS members in their athletic budgets.

So what direction is the SAC leadership taking to solidify the conference. Good question!

In June, shortly after the Concordia announcement that they were leaving the SAC the following was posted on social media.

Emily Oberlin -SAC Commissioner is a FWCS administrator, her background includes teaching at North Side High School, Shawnee Middle School and South Side High School. Her administrative career includes the Assistant Principal of ninth grade at Northrop High School, the second Director of New Tech Academy at Wayne High School and now the Principal at Wayne..

One problem at this time is finding a 10th member to replace Concordia…or could it be that SAC leadership is waiting for another member school to leave and level the conference at eight members. Bishop Dwenger is on the watch list after football coach Jason Garrett in an interview with WANE TV during a high school football media day said this —

“Us going independent is a creative and thoughtful thing that we might consider. For us as a private school, as well as Concordia and Bishop Luers, there may be some unique opportunities”

Finding an acceptable new member(s) will be hard to find. Why? An agreement between all nine remaining members and the three different factions that make it up will have different views. There will be plenty of rumors until something official comes from the SAC leadership, everyone has an opinion.

Goldilocks –

Goldilocks went inside. First she tasted the porridge of the great, huge bear, and that was far too hot for her. And then she tasted the porridge of the middle bear, and that was too cold for her. And then she went to the porridge of the little, small wee bear, and tasted that. And that was neither too hot nor too cold, but just right; and she liked it so well, that she ate it all up.

What school(s) will be the ‘just right’ for the SAC.

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