Northeast Eight Conference Explained

Northeast Eight Conference
Founded:1989
As Northeast Hoosier Conference
2014
As Northeast Eight Conference
Dissolved:2013
(Northeast Hoosier Conference)
Teams:8; 6 Class 4A, 2 Class 3A
Region:7 Counties: Adams, Allen, DeKalb, Huntington, Noble, Wells, and Whitley, Indiana
Northeast Eight Conference
Map:Image:Indiana (NE8).png
Map Size:240px

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.

Membership

SchoolLocationMascotColorsEnrollment https://www.ihsaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/Boys%20Basketball%20Classifications%20for%202024-25%20and%202025-26.pdf
24-25
IHSAA Class/Football Class
  1. / County
Year joinedPrevious conference
BellmontDecaturBraves6103A/3A01
Adams
1989Northeastern Indiana
Columbia
City
Columbia CityEagles1,1623A/4A92
Whitley
1989Northeastern Indiana
DeKalbWaterlooBarons1,0443A/4A17
DeKalb
1989Northeastern Indiana
East
Noble
KendallvilleKnights9893A/4A57
Noble
1989Northeastern Indiana
Huntington
North
HuntingtonVikings1,3824A/4A35
Huntington
2015North Central
LeoLeoLions9003A/4A02
Allen
2015Allen County
New HavenNew HavenBulldogs1,0683A/4A02
Allen
1989Northeastern Indiana
NorwellOssianKnights7453A/3A90
Wells
1989Allen County

Former members (As Northeast Hoosier Conference)

SchoolLocationMascotColorsEnrollmentIHSAA Class
  1. / County
Year joinedPrevious conferenceYear leftConference joined
Fort Wayne
Carroll
Fort WayneChargers2,472AAAA02
Allen
1989Allen County2015Summit
Fort Wayne
Homestead
Fort WayneSpartans2,502AAAA02
Allen
1989Northeastern Indiana2015Summit

State championships

Bellmont (8)

DeKalb (3)

East Noble (1)

Leo (6)

Carroll (2)

Homestead (10)

Huntington North (2)

Norwell (3)

Notable athletes

Resources