With a unanimous school board vote, Centerville-Abington Community Schools has committed to joining a new athletics/academic conference.
After hearing Athletic Director Clay Bolser’s updates and his reasons to join the Eastern Crossroads Conference at their Wednesday, Oct. 22, meeting, board members voted 5-0 to begin the transition in 2026-27.
The Bulldogs are the second Wayne County school to leave the Tri-Eastern Conference. The Northeastern Knights announced their plans at their Oct. 15 board meeting.
“We had a great relationship and worked really hard to remain a part of (TEC), but unfortunately that was not the case,” Superintendent Mike McCoy told WWN after the meeting. “We had to look at what was best for students and the corporation.”
Delta, in rural Muncie, has also been invited to join the ECC, but hasn’t announced its decision. In addition to Northeastern, confirmed new ECC members are New Castle, Eastern Hancock, Shenandoah and Lapel.
Although the decision might seem quick, Bolser and Todd Duke, school board president, said athletic directors, coaches and school leaders have been discussing potential changes within the TEC and the ECC’s potential formation for more than a year.
Some aspects of those discussions became public in September after TEC members voted down two options for internal changes with a 5-4 vote. Centerville and Northeastern favored the changes.
Bolser said Centerville attempted to do everything possible to proactively look into solutions, but when that broke down, they looked at other conference options.
While remembering Centerville’s emotional and historical ties to TEC, Bolser said all pros and cons needed consideration in light of the district’s current and future health.
Those concerns include enrollment changes and financial challenges that many schools are facing. Indiana High School Athletic Association might classify Centerville as a Class 3A school based on its student count in the future, but the TEC could be left with mostly 1A schools.
Although Centerville wasn’t required to decide Oct. 22 whether to stay or leave, at least two reasons helped prompt the vote. ECC will start creating bylaws in November, and Bolser wants to be part of shaping those discussions. CACS’ next regular board meeting is Nov. 12. Also, Centerville could face financial penalties if it stayed in the TEC and later decided to depart. Bolser said the TEC is currently open to making a smooth transition for all schools involved.
If the TEC fills Centerville’s and Northeastern’s spots with other schools, they might release them from current contracted games without penalties, Bolser said.
Penalties for canceling varsity basketball and football games would be $1,000 each, while most other contests are $50.
Bolser said most athletic contracts are set for four years. Centerville renewed some contracts last year, not anticipating this situation, but some contracts now are at the end of their four years.
Bolser said his decision considered what was best for all sports, not just football.
However, some recent TEC football scores (92-6, 89-0, 64-0) have shown disparities within the conference. Some schools barely have enough athletes to field a team.
By joining ECC, all Centerville teams will be able to benefit by having a conference affiliation, added junior varsity competitions and potential revenue increases if more fans attend from ECC’s larger schools, Bolser said.
For instance, Centerville’s junior varsity girls basketball team should have played 20 games last year, but because some TEC schools don’t have JV teams, the Bulldogs’ JV played 10 games. Bolser said programs are developed in JV competition.
Another example is swimming. Centerville had formed its own swim conference because several TEC schools don’t offer swimming. As of now, ECC members Northeastern and Shenandoah don’t have a swim team.
“That’s a huge positive for us,” Bolser said.
CACS board member Andy Wandersee said he believes facing tough conference opponents will help teams go further in the postseason.
“If we can have a little stronger competition, we may lose in the beginning, but at the end, I think it will help us,” Wandersee said.
Bolser agreed, noting his background in education. He said curriculum isn’t changed to make grades go up, but it’s what’s in kids’ best academic interests.
“I specifically want to challenge our kids to be the best versions of themselves,” Bolser said. “I want our coaches to be able to put the best versions of our teams out.”
Bolser said no current or former TEC members want relationships between the schools to sour because of the upcoming changes.
“They were very open and respectful for us making whatever decision we thought was in the best interest of our school corporation,” Bolser said.
Remaining TEC members will still play Centerville in many sports in regular-season games and county tournaments. Baseball has 28 regular-season games, so scheduling nearby opponents is important, Bolser said.
A version of this article appeared in the October 29 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.