The Allen County Athletic Conference (ACAC) is a seven-member Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) conference. While all of its charter schools are and were located in Allen County, it also has member schools from Adams, Jay, and Wells counties. The ACAC, along with the Porter County Conference, are the only two county conferences left in existence.
History The Allen County Athletic Conference began with nine schools in Allen County in 1956. The schools were smaller, rural schools, with the exception of Elmhurst, the sole Fort Wayne school that wasn't included in the Fort Wayne City Series. The conference was hit hard by consolidation, and the nine original schools were down to four by the 1968 season (and two of those were new consolidations). The conference responded by going outside county borders by admitting Norwell (itself a newly consolidated school) in 1967, followed by Adams Central, Churubusco, and Eastside in 1968. The rebooted conference now expanded well outside of the Allen County footprint, including schools from Adams, DeKalb, Wells, and Whitley counties. All of the schools now sponsored football, and competition in that sport began in 1969.
The conference went to a two division format in 1971 with the addition of new school Homestead and Southern Wells. That format ended in 1975, as Homestead left for the Northeastern Indiana Athletic Conference, followed by Eastside leaving for the Northeast Corner Conference in 1980. The breakup of the NEIAC in 1989 led to a wide-scale realignment of conferences in Northeast Indiana, as schools looked to realign themselves with rivals of similar enrolments. The ACAC became the home for mid-sized schools, while the Northeast Corner housed small schools, and the newly formed Northeast Hoosier Conference became the stable for the largest non-Fort Wayne schools. Carroll and Norwell left that year for the NEHC, while Churubusco left for the NECC. They were replaced by NEIAC schools Bluffton and South Adams. Garrett, becoming too large for the Northeast Corner, moved to the Allen County league in 2005.
Jay County joined the conference beginning with the 2014–15 school year. However, the conference shrank down to seven schools in 2015, as Garrett moved to the Northeast Corner Conference in 2014, and Leo joined six of the eight Northeast Hoosier Conference high schools in a new conference (Northeast 8) in 2015.
Membership
Current members School Location Mascot Colors Enrollment 26–27 IHSAA Class/ Football Class County Year joined Previous conference Adams Central1 Monroe Flying Jets 414 2A/3A2 01 Adams 1965 Eastern Wabash Valley Bluffton Bluffton Tigers 548 3A/3A 90 Wells 1989 Northeastern Indiana Heritage Monroeville Patriots 565 3A/3A 02 Allen 1968 none (new school) Jay County Portland Patriots 839 3A/4A 38Jay 2014 Independents (Olympic 2010) South Adams Berne Starfires 326 2A/1A 01 Adams 1989 Northeastern Indiana Southern Wells Poneto Raiders 250 1A/1A 90 Wells 1971 Independents Woodlan3 Woodburn Warriors 538 3A/3A 02 Allen 1956 Independents Concordia4 Fort Wayne Cadets 735 3A/3A 02 Allen 2027 Summit
Adams Central played in the ACAC and the EWVC concurrently for 1965–66, the final year for the EWVC. Adams Central is playing in 3A for football due to IHSAA Rule 2-5. Woodlan was known as Woodburn before 1959. Concordia Lutheran announced their decision to join the ACAC on June 8, 2026, because the conference "provides a stable environment that supports the continued growth of our athletic programs".
Former members School Location Mascot Colors County Year joined Previous conference Year left Conference joined Arcola Arcola Aces 02 Allen 1956 1968 none (consolidated into Carroll (FW)) Elmhurst Fort Wayne Trojans 02 Allen 1956 1960 Northeastern Indiana Harlan Harlan Hawks 02 Allen 1956 1965 none (consolidated into Woodlan) Hoagland Hoagland Wildcats 02 Allen 1956 1968 none (consolidated into Heritage) Huntertown Huntertown Wildcats 02 Allen 1956 1968 none (consolidated into Carroll (FW)) Lafayette Central1 Nine Mile Pirates 02 Allen 1956 1963 none (consolidated into Roanoke)LeoLeoLions 02Allen19562015Northeast Eight Monroeville Monroeville Cubs 02 Allen 1956 1968 none (consolidated into Heritage) Ossian Ossian Bears 90 Wells 1966 Eastern Wabash Valley 1967 none (consolidatedinto Norwell) Norwell Ossian Knights 90 Wells 1967 none (new school) 1989 Northeast Hoosier Carroll (Fort Wayne) Fort Wayne Chargers 02 Allen 1968 none (new school) 1989 Northeast Hoosier Churubusco Churubusco Eagles 92 Whitley 1968 Independents(WCC 1958) 1989 Northeast Corner Eastside Butler Blazers 17 DeKalb 1968 Independents(SCC 1967) 1980 Northeast Corner Homestead Fort Wayne Spartans 02 Allen 1971 none (new school) 1975 Northeastern Indiana Garrett Garrett Railroaders 17 DeKalb 2005 Northeast Corner 2014 Northeast Corner
Lafayette Central became part of Roanoke High School in 1963. Roanoke itself consolidated into Huntington North in 1966, taking Lafayette Township with it. The township then split off from HNHS to become part of Southwest Allen County Schools in 1971.
Membership timeline
Division Format 1971-75 North South Churubusco Adams Central Fort Wayne Carroll Heritage Eastside Homestead Leo Norwell Woodlan Southern Wells
Sponsored Sports BoysGirlsBaseballBasketballBasketballCross CountryCross CountryGolfFootballSoccerGolfSoftballSoccerSwimmingSwimmingTennisTennisTrack & FieldTrack & FieldVolleyballWrestling
Conference championships
Football # Team Seasons 14 Adams Central 1969, 1972 (S)*, 1981, 1994, 1995, 1997*, 1999, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 14 Woodlan 1970*, 1971 (N)*, 1972 (N, C), 1973 (N), 1974 (N, C)*, 1975, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989*, 1996, 2015, 2016 11 Leo 1971 (N)*, 1974 (N)*, 1977, 1997*, 2002, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012*, 2013, 2014 10 Heritage 1970*, 1972 (S)*, 1998, 2001, 2002*, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2012* 6 South Adams 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 2019, 2020 5 Norwell 1971 (S, C), 1980, 1983, 1987, 1988 3 Carroll (FW) 1976, 1978, 1979 2 Garrett 2007, 2012* 2 Homestead 1973 (S), 1974 (S) 2 Southern Wells 2000, 2008 1 Bluffton 1989* 1 Churubusco 1971 (N)* 1 Eastside 1974 (N)* 0 Jay County
1971-74: N = North Division champions, S = South Division champions, C = title game champions (not held in 1973).
Boys basketball # Team Seasons 24 Leo 1957, 1960, 1961, 1963*, 1964, 1966*, 1971, 1972, 1979*, 1980, 1993, 1994, 1995,1998*, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005*, 2006, 2011*, 2013*, 2015 11 Norwell 1973, 1978*, 1979*, 1981*, 1982, 1983*, 1984*, 1986, 1987*, 1988 10 Bluffton 1998*, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2009*, 2010, 2011*, 2013, 2016*, 2020 9 Carroll (FW) 1969, 1974, 1977, 1978*, 1981*, 1983*, 1984*, 1985, 1987* 5 Jay County 2016*, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023* 4 Woodlan 1996, 2007, 2014, 2017* 4 Heritage 2005*, 2009*, 2017*, 2021 3 Southern Wells 1975, 1976, 1992 3 Adams Central 2012, 2023*, 2024 1 Huntertown 1966* 1 South Adams 1997 0 Arcola 0 Churubusco 0 Eastside 0 Elmhurst 0 Garrett 0 Harlan 0 Hoagland 0 Homestead 0 Lafayette Central 0 Monroeville 0 Ossian 0 Woodburn
Champions from 1958–59 to 1990-91 not listed are unverified.
Girls basketball # Team Seasons 8 Leo 1978, 2001, 2002, 2004*, 2008*, 2010, 2012, 2013* 8 Jay County 2015, 2016, 2017*, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 5 Garrett 2006*, 2007, 2008*, 2011, 2014 5 Southern Wells 2004*, 2005*, 2006*, 2009, 2013 2 Woodlan 2005*, 2020 2 Heritage 2003, 2006* 1 Norwell 1976 1 South Adams 2017* 0 Adams Central 0 Bluffton 0 Carroll (FW) 0 Churubusco 0 Eastside 0 Homestead Champions from beginning of competition (ca. 1974–75) until 2000 not listed are unverified.
Wrestling # Team Seasons 27 Adams Central 1975, 1978*, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987*, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019 5 Carroll (FW) 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978*, 1987* 3 Leo 2003, 2007, 2014 3 Woodlan 1972, 1973, 2001 2 Bluffton 1999, 2002 2 Garrett 2009, 2010 2 South Adams 2008, 2011 0 Churubusco 0 Eastside 0 Heritage 0 Homestead 1 Jay County 2023 0 Norwell 0 Southern Wells
Only tournament champions listed.
State titles
Adams Central Flying Jets (2) 2000 Football (A) 2024 Football (2A)
Bluffton Tigers (5) D'Wayne Eskridge - 200 M Dash (2015, 2016), 100 M Dash (2016) Randy Pursley - 130 lbs Wrestling (1999) Ben Sprunger - 130 lbs Wrestling (2000)
Garrett Railroaders (1) 1974 Football (A)
Heritage Patriots (1) 1982 girls basketball
Leo Lions (1) 2014 Girls Softball (3A) 2008 Justin Woods, Leo 33-0 215lb State Wrestling Champion
South Adams Starfires (1) • Davona Runkel - Girls shot put (1986)
Southern Wells Raiders (1) 2001 Football (A)
Woodlan Warriors (0)
External links IHSAA Conferences IHSAA Directory IHSAA Classification IHSAA Football Classification
References