When Hoosier Conference games and meets get rolling this month, schools and fans will get a look at two new intriguing changes.
First, Northwestern left to join the neighboring Three Rivers Conference, and in short order, Logansport left its long-time home in the North Central Conference to join the HC and take Northwestern’s place.
Second, for football only, the conference is ditching East and West divisions for a new format. Logansport joins Western, West Lafayette, Twin Lakes and Hamilton Heights in a big school division, while Benton Central, Lafayette Central Catholic, Rensselaer and Tipton play in a small school division.
Western principal Steve Edwards has a key perspective on both in his role as Hoosier Conference president.
“Super excited to see [Logansport],” he said. “They’re going to be great for our conference and super excited to see how the small school/big school plays out.
“I think that Northwestern had great facilities,” he continued. In swapping Logan for Northwestern he expects the HC’s athletes to get the similar opportunities when visiting the new HC rival. “Logansport is a tradition-rich school in athletics and has great facilities. I think that’s going to fit in well. Geography-wise, you look at where Logansport is located, it’s right there in the middle of our schools.”
Logansport will be the biggest HC school with 1,226 students by the IHSAA’s most recent enrollment figures. The Berries will play in Class 4A in football. Western (791 students), West Lafayette (750), Hamilton Heights (687) and Twin Lakes (663) all play in Class 3A in football. But all five of those schools will be in Class 3A in boys and girls basketball.
“I think with the realignment that the IHSAA does frequently, you want to look at some of the teams you’re playing in your tournament and try to get those schools on your schedule,” Edwards said. “Logansport sees a lot of the schools in our conference in tournament play. It’s smart. I’m glad they were interested in leaving the NCC and joining our conference.”
With football divisions based on size, Edwards hopes the league sees more competitive games. Last fall, HC East Division and overall champ Hamilton Heights beat three league rivals by 35 or more points, and West Division champ West Lafayette beat two HC teams by that margin.
There is no championship matchup this season in the new division format.
“We wanted to take care of some of the smaller schools in our conference,” Edwards said. “Football is kind of dictating decisions made by a lot of conferences around the state. The fact that football is kind of driving some of these decisions is understandable, but also kind of disappointing because there are [other] sports that are very, very important.
“We went small school/big school to try and make it more competitive for certain schools. The mercy rule, some of these teams are seeing that happen too often. If you’re a school that’s on the winning side, it’s not getting your team ready for the tournament necessarily. And if you’re on the other side of getting beat on a regular basis, you’re trying to do the best for your school. You want to give your fans and loyal faithful the opportunity to do what’s best for your team.”
Two seasons ago, Cass made a decision that what was best for the Kings was to leave the HC and join the TRC. Northwestern followed a season later. The Tigers played in the HC last school year and begin play in the TRC this fall. That takes two important rivals away from the HC and is a cultural blow to Western in particular. The Panthers and Tigers are primary rivals in a number of sports.
Edwards said losing Northwestern is difficult “but we understand why they made that decision for their school.
“We will still play Northwestern in as many things as we possibly can, but I know it’s going to be tough. I think there’s going to be a couple sports we’re not going to be able to compete in.”
The Howard County rivals will not meet in football this season. Western won the last seven games between the two, with five of those games decided by 35 or more points.
Logansport joining the HC filled one gap, but the league has operated with nine teams since Cass left.
With a lot of movement among conferences throughout the state, the HC could find a 10th team sooner or later, without a specific timetable.
“I think that we’re interested in that 10th team, and to answer that question, I don’t know what’s going to happen in other conferences,” Edwards said.
He emphasized wanting to get every school’s AD and principal involved in the decision. Edwards feels the HC is an attractive landing spot for school looking for a new league.
“The Hoosier Conference is a super, super strong conference as you can see from tournament play,” Edwards said. The Panthers won the Class 3A state softball championship in spring. He pointed out that HC schools compete in IHSAA competition “at a very high level. We feel like we’re one of the conferences that prepares teams for the tournament, and I think you can see that in various sports no matter which sport you’re talking about. That’s something we take pride in.
“When the girls softball team won the state title, there were calls [from other HC schools]. We root for each other. That’s kind of a feather in the cap for the conference. No matter all the changes, the HC is still one of the best conferences in the state of Indiana.”
