The Hoosier North Athletic Conference is an IHSAA-sanctioned conference in northwestern Indiana, that began in 2015. The conference contains eight schools in six counties (Cass, Fulton, Marshall, Pulaski, St. Joseph, and Starke), but may expand to include more schools in the future.
History 2015: The Hoosier North Athletic Conference (HNAC) was formed by schools from the Northern State Conference (Culver, Knox, LaVille, and Triton), Midwest Conference (Caston, Pioneer, West Central, and Winamac), and then independent North Judson-San Pierre. The HNAC was formed in an effort to shorten travel distances and increase competition among member schools. The exodus of the 4 Northern State Conference teams caused that conference to fold, and forced other teams from Bremen, Jimtown, John Glenn, and New Prairie to join the Northern Indiana Conference. 2017: The West Central school board approved a measure to leave the Hoosier North Athletic Conference and re-join the Midwest conference, a move that, in accordance with HNAC bylaws, will be completed by the end of the 2018–19 school year. 2023: Knox and LaVille both announced their intentions to leave the Hoosier North Athletic Conference and join 3 teams from the Northern Indiana Conference (Bremen, Jimtown, and John Glenn) and a team from the Three Rivers Conference (Tippecanoe Valley) to form the Indiana Northern State Conference that will begin play in the 2024–2025 season. 2023: South Central (Union Mills) announced their intention to join the Hoosier North Athletic Conference as an affiliate member for football only starting in 2024 or 2025, leaving the Greater South Shore Conference and remaining in the Porter County Conference for all other sports. 2023: The Hoosier North Athletic Conference announced on May 18 that Argos and Oregon-Davis would be joining the conference. Neither of these schools has a football program and would participate in all other sports aside from football. 2023: It was announced that North Miami will join the Hoosier North Athletic Conference in 2024, bringing the conference to 8 schools for football and 9 schools for all other sports.
Members School Location Mascot Colors # / County Enrollment 24–25 IHSAA Class Basketball/Football Year joined Previous conference Argos Argos Dragons 50 Marshall 203 1A / N/A 2024 Hoosier Plains Conference Caston Fulton Comets 25 Fulton 241 1A / 1A 2015 Midwest Culver Culver Cavaliers 50 Marshall 246 1A / 1A 2015 Northern State North Judson-San Pierre North Judson Blue Jays 75Starke 308 1A / 1A 2015 Independents (NW Hoosier 1997) North Miami Denver Warriors 52 Miami 263 1A / 1A 2024 Three Rivers Oregon-Davis Hamlet Bobcats 75Starke 137 1A / N/A 2024 Independents Pioneer Royal Center Panthers 09 Cass 286 1A / 1A 2015 Midwest South Central (Union Mills)^ Union Mills Satellites 46 La Porte 318 N/A / 1A 2024 Greater South Shore Triton Bourbon Trojans 50 Marshall 274 1A / 1A 2015 Northern State Winamac Winamac Warriors 66 Pulaski 360 2A / 1A 2015 Midwest
^-Football only member
Former members School Location Mascot Colors # / County Year joined Previous conference Year left Conference joined West Central 1 Francesville Trojans 66 Pulaski 2015 Midwest 2019 MidwestKnoxKnoxRedskins 75 Starke2015Northern State2024Indiana Northern StateLaVilleLakevilleLancers 71 St. Joseph2015Northern State2024Indiana Northern State
Played concurrently in HNAC and MWC 2018–19.
Membership timeline
Conference champions Football Titles School Years 7 Pioneer 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021*, 2025 2 North Judson-San Pierre 2021*, 2024 1 LaVille 2022 1 Knox 2023 1 Winamac 2021* 0 Caston 0 Culver 0 North Miami 0 Triton 0 South Central 0 West Central 2020: No champion because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Several games were not played. Pioneer finished in the standings at first with a (5–0) record without playing LaVille or Winamac. 2021: There was no formally declared conference champion in 2021 anywhere on the official HNAC website. This was because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. AlmanacSports.com does cite that there was a three-way conference champion between Winamac, Pioneer, and North Judson-San Pierre. The top four schools in the conference standings at the end of the regular season were as follows: 1. Winamac (5–0): Did not play LaVille or North-Judson San Pierre. 2. Pioneer (6–1): Loss to Winamac. 3. North-Judson-San Pierre (5–1): Loss to Pioneer and did not play Winamac. 4. LaVille (4–2): Losses to Pioneer and North Judson-San Pierre; did not play Winamac. Interestingly, LaVille avenged a loss to conference foe Pioneer in their respective sectional. LaVille beat Pioneer 41–0 in the Class 2A Sectional 34 Championship, avenging their 12–7 loss in the regular season. Additionally, North Judson-San Pierre triumphed over Winamac 40–13 in the Class 1A Sectional 41 Semifinal. This was their only meeting in 2021 because their regular season matchup was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to John Harrell, Pioneer was given credit for the 2020 conference championship with a (5–0) record, and Winamac was given credit for the 2021 conference championship with a (5–0) record, without it being shared with Pioneer and North Judson.
Boys basketball Titles School Years 3 LaVille 2018, 2019, 2021 3 Triton 2017, 2024, 2025 2 North Judson- San Pierre 2020, 2023 1 Pioneer 2016 1 Winamac 2016 1 Caston 2022 0 Argos 0 Culver 0 Oregon-Davis 0 Knox 0 West Central
Pioneer and Winamac were co-champions in 2016.
Girls basketball Titles School Years 5 North Judson-San Pierre 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2025 2 Caston 2023, 2024 1 Knox 2020 1 Triton 2016 1 Pioneer 2022 0 Argos 0 Culver 0 LaVille 0 Oregon-Davis 0 West Central 0 Winamac
Baseball
Titles School Years 3 Laville 2017, 2018, 2019 2 Winamac 2021, 2022 1 Caston 2024 1 North Judson-San Pierre 2023 1 North Miami 2015 1 Pioneer 2016 1 Triton 2026 0 Culver 0 West Central 0 Knox
Softball
Titles School Years 4 Pioneer 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021 3 Winamac 2017, 2025, 2026 3 Caston 2022, 2023, 2024 0 Argos 0 Knox 0 LaVille 0 North Judson-San Pierre 0 Oregon-Davis 0 Triton 0 West Central
State championships Pioneer (6)
2017 Football (1A) 2018 Softball (1A) 2018 Football (1A) 2020 Volleyball (1A) 2021 Girls' Basketball (1A) 2021 Softball (2A)
North Judson (1)
2018 Volleyball (2A)
Math contest The Conference hosts a math tournament every school year at different schools within the conference.
References