The end of the 2025-26 high school sports season brought about the end of some long-term affiliations that will immediately impact the 2026-27 school year and beyond.
Centerville and Northeastern ended their membership in the Tri-Eastern Conference and will begin a new one with the Eastern Crossroads Conference. Centerville was a charter member of the TEC when it was organized in 1962. Northeastern joined the TEC in 1974.
Centerville and Northeastern left the TEC to become charter members of the newly formed Eastern Crossroads Conference, beginning with the 2026-27 school year. The ECC, in its initial year, will be composed of Centerville, Eastern Hancock, Lapel, Northeastern and Shenandoah. Delta will conclude its membership commitments in the Hoosier Heritage Conference during the 2026-27 school year and is committed to join the ECC beginning with the 2027-28 school year.
In its last year in the TEC, Centerville won the conference title in boys basketball, boys tennis and boys wrestling. Northeastern won the TEC title in football, girls basketball, both boys and girls track and field, and tied for the league title in baseball.
The TEC has no immediate plan to replace Centerville and Northeastern and will become a seven-team league composed of Cambridge City Lincoln, Hagerstown, Knightstown, Tri High, Union City, Union County and Winchester.
The sport most impacted will be football. Hagerstown and Winchester are the only two TEC schools still scheduled to play Centerville and Northeastern this season, and, at this point, there is no assurance that the meetings will continue long term.
The scheduling changes will give area fans an opportunity to see football teams they have not seen in past years. One of the more intriguing games on the Centerville schedule will be when it hosts 5A Greenfield-Central on Oct. 16. Even though Delta will not join the ECC until the 2027-28 school year, the Eagles are on the Northeastern schedule for this season with a trip to Fountain City scheduled for Sept. 4.
Cambridge City has games scheduled outside of the TEC with Christel House, Indianapolis Crimson Knights and Wes-Del. Knightstown will play at North Central (Farmersburg), and Tri High has added Riverton Parke to their schedule. Union City has scheduled games with Park Tudor and Indianapolis Shortridge.
Most sports will be less impacted because other sports are allowed to schedule between 14 and 28 regular-season games while football is limited to a maximum of nine regular-season games.
The Indiana High School Athletic Association will still determine sectional assignments. Conference affiliation will have no bearing.
Volleyball, for example, will still see the two former TEC member schools on most current TEC member school schedules, but Centerville and Northeastern will also see some perennial powerhouse programs in their new conference. Delta and New Castle have both won multiple state championships in previous seasons.
The Wayne County tournaments will still be played in basketball and volleyball, so teams could also meet there depending on the draw.
In some sports, next-door neighbors are no longer scheduled to play each other in regular-season games. Centerville, Hagerstown, Lincoln and Northeastern still scheduled each other this year in volleyball. Northeastern will not play Lincoln in girls basketball but will play Hagerstown. Centerville has a scrimmage with Lincoln, but not a regular-season game.
In perhaps the biggest surprise, Centerville and Hagerstown are not scheduled to play in boys basketball for the first time in many decades. The Centerville-Hagerstown rivalry predates the TEC and can be traced back over 100 years.
A version of this article appeared in the July 22 2026 print edition of the Western Wayne News.
