Northeast Eight Conference

An eight-member IHSAA-Sanctioned Athletic Conference within the Northeastern Indiana counties of Adams, Allen, DeKalb, Huntington, Noble, Wells, and Whitley. The conference was started in 1989 as the Northeast Hoosier Conference when six schools from the Northeastern Indiana Athletic Conference (Bellmont, Columbia City, DeKalb, East Noble, Homestead, and New Haven) joined with two schools from the Allen County Athletic Conference (Fort Wayne Carroll and Norwell). When the smaller six schools decided to pull out of the conference in 2015, the conference essentially ceased to exist, forcing the much larger Carroll and Homestead into joining the Summit Athletic Conference. The remaining schools, while settling on the current league name, added Huntington North of the North Central Conference and Leo of the Allen County Athletic Conference, who are more similar in size to the rest of the schools. While the six NEHC schools technically dropped out, they never actually left the league, having succeeded in forcing out the two large Fort Wayne schools, ended up staying in the league. This is not an unheard of tactic, as most notably Ohio's Chagrin Valley Conference pulled virtually the same move around the same time.

Northeast Eight Conference
Founded1989
As Northeast Hoosier Conference
2014
As Northeast Eight Conference
Ceased2013
(Northeast Hoosier Conference)
No. of teams8; 6 Class 4A, 2 Class 3A
Region7 Counties: Adams, Allen, DeKalb, Huntington, Noble, Wells, and Whitley, Indiana
Locations
Location of teams in Northeast Eight Conference

Membership

edit
SchoolLocationMascotColorsEnrollmentIHSAA Class/Football Class# / CountyYear joinedPrevious conference
BellmontDecaturBraves     641AAA/AAA01
Adams
1989Northeastern Indiana
Columbia
City
Columbia CityEagles     1,127AAAA/AAAA92
Whitley
1989Northeastern Indiana
DeKalbWaterlooBarons     1,083AAAA/AAAA17
DeKalb
1989Northeastern Indiana
East
Noble
KendallvilleKnights     1,045AAAA/AAAA57
Noble
1989Northeastern Indiana
Huntington
North
HuntingtonVikings   1,442AAAA/AAAA35
Huntington
2015North Central
LeoLeoLions   968AAA/AAAA02
Allen
2015Allen County
New HavenNew HavenBulldogs     1,064AAAA/AAAA02
Allen
1989Northeastern Indiana
NorwellOssianKnights     790AAA/AAA90
Wells
1989Allen County

Former members (As Northeast Hoosier Conference)

edit
SchoolLocationMascotColorsEnrollmentIHSAA Class# / CountyYear joinedPrevious conferenceYear leftConference joined
Fort Wayne
Carroll
Fort WayneChargers   2,472AAAA02
Allen
1989Allen County2015Summit
Fort Wayne
Homestead
Fort WayneSpartans     2,502AAAA02
Allen
1989Northeastern Indiana2015Summit

State championships

edit

Bellmont (8)

edit
  • 1987 Wrestling
  • 1988 Wrestling
  • 1994 Wrestling
  • 2007 Volleyball (3A)
  • 2008 Football (3A)
  • 2010 Volleyball (3A)
  • 2016 Wrestling
  • 2020 Wrestling

Columbia City (0)

edit

DeKalb (3)

edit
  • 1980 Baseball
  • 1986 Football (4A)
  • 2021 Unified Flag Football

East Noble (1)

edit
  • 2000 Football (4A)

Leo (6)

edit
  • 2014 Softball (3A)
  • 2012 Hockey (3A)
  • 2014 Hockey (4A)
  • 2016 Hockey (3A)
  • 2018 Rugby (D-1)
  • 2019 Rugby (D-1)

Carroll (2)

edit
  • 2010 Baseball (4A)
  • 2011 Baseball (4A)

Homestead (10)

edit
  • 1983 Gymnastics
  • 1984 Gymnastics
  • 1985 Gymnastics
  • 1990 Hockey (2A)
  • 1991 Hockey (A)
  • 1995 Hockey (2A)
  • 1996 Gymnastics
  • 1999 Gymnastics
  • 2001 Gymnastics
  • 2015 Boys Basketball (4A)

Huntington North (2)

edit
  • 1990 Girls Basketball
  • 1995 Girls Basketball

New Haven (0)

edit

Norwell (3)

edit
  • 2003 Baseball (3A)
  • 2007 Baseball (3A)
  • 2013 Baseball (3A)

Notable athletes

edit

Resources

edit