Hoosier Hills Conference

[ptr]

49 minutes ago, TheMadness1 said:

Yes the source is very reliable if you are thinking it’s just rumors still. 

I fully expect them (South) to be added and will be surprised if they don't. I posted sometime back that I didn't know if they just needed just a simple majority of the vote or what to be added. South's AD J.R. Holmes indicated earlier that MOST of the HHC schools seemed to be positive about South joining the conference, so there may be one or two that are not supportive about it. Who knows? -- I don't.

Per TheMadness1 post as far as sports beyond just football and basketball, the Panthers usually have strong track and field and cross-country teams, as well as swimming/tennis teams among the boys' sports, and in baseball this current season they are ranked No. 10 in 4A with Floyd Central being No. 5. They usually have really good soccer teams which is just not my bag. So yes, they could give FC a run for their money in overall sports success. 

[Fkfootball]

13 hours ago, ptr said:

I fully expect them (South) to be added and will be surprised if they don't. I posted sometime back that I didn't know if they just needed just a simple majority of the vote or what to be added. South's AD J.R. Holmes indicated earlier that MOST of the HHC schools seemed to be positive about South joining the conference, so there may be one or two that are not supportive about it. Who knows? -- I don't.

Per TheMadness1 post as far as sports beyond just football and basketball, the Panthers usually have strong track and field and cross-country teams, as well as swimming/tennis teams among the boys' sports, and in baseball this current season they are ranked No. 10 in 4A with Floyd Central being No. 5. They usually have really good soccer teams which is just not my bag. So yes, they could give FC a run for their money in overall sports success. 

I have genuinely always viewed South as a school with very good athletics. As a supporter of Floyd Central football, I welcome them because we haven’t been able to compete with them in football and playing them every season might help us level up and hopefully be able to be competitive with them someday.

[Frozen Tundra]

https://www.wbiw.com/2026/04/22/bloomington-south-to-join-hoosier-hills-conference/?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwRVtoFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeNVlzvTPuljrzVsUX7MMnkiSANM5qG6x-hCqRM4mOpDxew2vpcdvKuXSYnKY_aem_6c9hTE_3LClqzBGOjy15wA
 

There it is. Justin Sokeland is the first to break the official news that Bloomington South will join the HHC.

Edited April 22 by Frozen Tundra

[Fkfootball]

Sweet! I like it!

[Pantherfootball1957]

10 minutes ago, Fkfootball said:

Sweet! I like it!

With South coming over to the HHC all we would have to do now is move Corydon over from the Mid-Southern and we might have some actual talent in the conference 

[TheMadness1]

2 hours ago, Frozen Tundra said:

https://www.wbiw.com/2026/04/22/bloomington-south-to-join-hoosier-hills-conference/?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwRVtoFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeNVlzvTPuljrzVsUX7MMnkiSANM5qG6x-hCqRM4mOpDxew2vpcdvKuXSYnKY_aem_6c9hTE_3LClqzBGOjy15wA
 

There it is. Justin Sokeland is the first to break the official news that Bloomington South will join the HHC.

I’m going to take credit for breaking the official news, but solid info  in Justin’s article.  

[Pantherfootball1957]

19 minutes ago, Fkfootball said:

Sweet! I like it!

I really hope the Highlanders could keep up it would make things interesting. But they just took a big loss to them last year and now they’re losing that Baird kid, it might be a couple years before they catch up to them.

[Frozen Tundra]

10 minutes ago, Pantherfootball1957 said:

With South coming over to the HHC all we would have to do now is move Corydon over from the Mid-Southern and we might have some actual talent in the conference 

Wait. What? Corydon Central?

[ptr]

3 hours ago, Frozen Tundra said:

https://www.wbiw.com/2026/04/22/bloomington-south-to-join-hoosier-hills-conference/?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwRVtoFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeNVlzvTPuljrzVsUX7MMnkiSANM5qG6x-hCqRM4mOpDxew2vpcdvKuXSYnKY_aem_6c9hTE_3LClqzBGOjy15wA
 

There it is. Justin Sokeland is the first to break the official news that Bloomington South will join the HHC.

That leaves Col. North and Southport as the only CI schools right now looking for a conference. Here is the brief announcement from the Bloom. Herald-Times:

Bloomington South has officially been accepted as a member of the Hoosier Hills Conference starting in the 2027-28 school year. The Panthers join BNL, Columbus East, Floyd Central, Jeffersonville, Jennings County (all sports but football), New Albany and Seymour.

Edited April 22 by ptr

[Frozen Tundra]

I want to welcome @ptr and @MuleDriver to the conference. We’re a little more lively here than what you had in your Conference Indiana threads so it should make for better company.

[Salem33]

Nothing like a 2 hour bus ride for a regular season game from Bloomington South to Jeffersonville. Are there other conferences with this large of a distance between teams? 

Edited April 22 by Salem33

[Muda69]

34 minutes ago, Salem33 said:

Nothing like a 2 hour bus ride for a regular season game from Bloomington South to Jeffersonville. Are there other conferences with this large of a distance between teams? 

The venerable North Central Conference still has good drives. Primarily with games against Richmond.  2.5 hours  between Richmond High School and Lafayette Jefferson. 

 

[Salem33]

27 minutes ago, Muda69 said:

The venerable North Central Conference still has good drives. Primarily with games against Richmond.  2.5 hours  between Richmond High School and Lafayette Jefferson. 

 

Sheesh! How do they do middle school competitions between the schools? Weekend only? 

[Frozen Tundra]

1 hour ago, Salem33 said:

Nothing like a 2 hour bus ride for a regular season game from Bloomington South to Jeffersonville. Are there other conferences with this large of a distance between teams? 

They’ll be ok. They had various Louisville metro schools on their schedule for nine different sports this school year. They play many of those schools annually in basketball, baseball, softball, and boys soccer. If it was going to be an issue then they wouldn’t have joined. In all actuality, it probably would’ve been worse for them if they had stayed independent.

 

2025-2026 Bloomington South sports schedules 

Boys Basketball: New Albany, Floyd Central, Silver Creek

Girls Basketball: New Albany

Baseball: Jeffersonville, New Albany, Floyd Central, Silver Creek

Softball: Floyd Central, Silver Creek

Boys Soccer: New Albany, Floyd Central

Boys Volleyball: New Albany

Boys Wrestling: Jeffersonville, Floyd Central

Girls Wrestling: Floyd Central

Girls Tennis: Silver Creek

[Pantherfootball1957]

4 hours ago, Frozen Tundra said:

Wait. What? Corydon Central?

This freshman class and the one below is something else, A semi-state appearance in the next couple years wouldn’t surprise me

[Pantherfootball1957]

2 hours ago, Salem33 said:

Nothing like a 2 hour bus ride for a regular season game from Bloomington South to Jeffersonville. Are there other conferences with this large of a distance between teams? 

Darn shame, only leaves a handful of games a year for locals to watch who aren’t super dedicated to following the team.

[HoopsCoach]

1 hour ago, Salem33 said:

Sheesh! How do they do middle school competitions between the schools? Weekend only? 

The NCC is only a high school conference.  The middle schools that feed into the NCC high schools tend to compete in their own conferences that include other schools in their local area, or they do not have a conference affiliation.

[southend]

15 minutes ago, Pantherfootball1957 said:

Darn shame, only leaves a handful of games a year for locals to watch who aren’t super dedicated to following the team.

Yeah, this will be a temporary fix for Bloomington. They will exit as soon as they get an opportunity to enter a central Indiana conference. But meanwhile back at the ranch. 

[ptr]

1 hour ago, southend said:

Yeah, this will be a temporary fix for Bloomington. They will exit as soon as they get an opportunity to enter a central Indiana conference. But meanwhile back at the ranch. 

I honestly have my doubts about that. As it's been pointed out, South plays HHC teams as well as other southern teams in the state like Silver Creek and Scottsburg, not to mention some of the Evansville/Castle teams, in so many sports over many, many years, and they really have played just a handful of games in football and basketball north of Martinsville/Center Grove area. Obviously, they played Southport a lot since they were part of CI. In football, I see them playing primarily Martinsville, Col. North (depending on what they do conference-wise) and Bloomington North outside of the HHC, with the rest being the conference games. They just plain have stronger ties to the HHC teams. 

Edited April 22 by ptr

[Impartial_Observer]

3 hours ago, southend said:

Yeah, this will be a temporary fix for Bloomington. They will exit as soon as they get an opportunity to enter a central Indiana conference. But meanwhile back at the ranch. 

If there was a quick fix, it would have already happened. 

[adambetz]

9 hours ago, Muda69 said:

The venerable North Central Conference still has good drives. Primarily with games against Richmond.  2.5 hours  between Richmond High School and Lafayette Jefferson. 

 

My conference road trips were Richmond, Logansport and Tech lol, luckily we had Harrison at home.

[btownqbcoach1]

19 hours ago, Pantherfootball1957 said:

With South coming over to the HHC all we would have to do now is move Corydon over from the Mid-Southern and we might have some actual talent in the conference 

One might think they'd want the school that just played in a state title 🤪

 

15 hours ago, Pantherfootball1957 said:

This freshman class and the one below is something else, A semi-state appearance in the next couple years wouldn’t surprise me

Hope so. 

Semi state in 3A south is nothing to sneeze at though... Lawrenceburg, Batesville, Heritage Hills, Memorial, Mater Dei, Gibson Southern, Southridge... that's tall cotton. 

[ptr]

Some excerpts from the HTO on South's admittance to the HHC.

South already schedules many HHC members in volleyball, basketball, tennis, baseball and softball so all parties were familiar with each other. Still, South athletic director JR Holmes put together a comprehensive presentation for their mid-April meeting and won the day.

"We told them, 'We play you all in a bunch of things already," Holmes said. "And we know the distances. Football will be the major thing as far as scheduling. The rest, we'll just be adding a few teams. (For boys basketball), We just have to add Seymour, Jennings County, and Jeff.

"Soccer, baseball, softball, won't be major blowing up of schedules."

South had a brochure put together for the presentation, breaking down the sports South offers, a list of it's IHSAA Mental Attitude winners and academic achievements, a breakdown of the athletic department staff which sports each AAD is in charge of; a breakdown of enrollment trends; the community support and long list of athletic accomplishments; a virtual tour of the facilities with the turf fields, new bleachers in the gym, re-done floor in the auxiliary gym; remade pool; then a list of the postseason events South has hosted and examples of the school's involvement in the community.

"We feel we're a lot like them," Holmes said.

And they apparently agreed.

"Bloomington South and JR Holmes have been synonymous with competitive excellence and displaying ideal core values since I was an athlete back in Bloomington during my college days," AJ Moye, Jeffersonville AD said in the HHC press release. "Add to South being known as a first class academic institution, the Panthers embody the spirit of what the HHC was founded on many years ago."

South's long-time rivalry with BNL just took another step up.

"It is exciting to add Bloomington South to the HHC," HHC commissioner and former BNL AD Jeff Callahan said in the release. "I have been involved with the HHC as an athlete, coach, athletic director, and a fan.  The HHC is a great athletic conference and it just got better."

Size-wise, South (1,784) would be the second-largest school. According to the most recent IHSAA enrollment numbers, Jeffersonville (2,147), which competes in 6A in football, is the biggest. New Albany (1,753), Floyd Central (1,752), and Seymour (1,644) compete in 5A.

In 4A are Columbus East (1,278), Bedford North Lawrence, which slipped to 1,185 — dropping the Stars to Class 3A in classed sports other than football — and Jennings County (1,159).

South still has only seven games on next year's football schedule, with Weeks 4 (Sept. 11) and 7 (Oct. 2) open. The Panthers will play Bloomington North, Martinsville, and Terre Haute North in Weeks 1-3. There's a possibility of picking up a Week 4 game, Holmes said. That will be followed by a long trip to Ironton, Ohio, in Week 5. Columbus North at home Week 6 and Brebeuf Jesuit and Center Grove in Weeks 8-9.

Membership in the HHC will alleviate all that headache moving forward. Holmes wants to keep North and Martinsville on the schedule, given the large crowds those rivalry games generate. Same with Columbus North, which has not announced any new affiliations.

Having six locked-in games is a godsend given the difficulty coach Gabe Johnson has had in filling up the schedule as an independent and a three-time defending regional champ.

South should certainly help raise the level of football competitiveness. BNL, Floyd Central, and Jeffersonville have never won a regional title; New Albany has one, and Seymour two (the last in 1999). Only Columbus East, which dominated the league in the 2010s, winning state titles in 2013 and '17, has had long-term postseason success.

The HHC is currently working on a master scheduling list for football, to balance home and away and keep special rivalry games (Seymour-Brownstown, Floyd Central-Providence) in specific spots on the docket.

Edited April 23 by ptr

[Frozen Tundra]

1 hour ago, ptr said:

Some excerpts from the HTO on South's admittance to the HHC.

South already schedules many HHC members in volleyball, basketball, tennis, baseball and softball so all parties were familiar with each other. Still, South athletic director JR Holmes put together a comprehensive presentation for their mid-April meeting and won the day.

"We told them, 'We play you all in a bunch of things already," Holmes said. "And we know the distances. Football will be the major thing as far as scheduling. The rest, we'll just be adding a few teams. (For boys basketball), We just have to add Seymour, Jennings County, and Jeff.

"Soccer, baseball, softball, won't be major blowing up of schedules."

South had a brochure put together for the presentation, breaking down the sports South offers, a list of it's IHSAA Mental Attitude winners and academic achievements, a breakdown of the athletic department staff which sports each AAD is in charge of; a breakdown of enrollment trends; the community support and long list of athletic accomplishments; a virtual tour of the facilities with the turf fields, new bleachers in the gym, re-done floor in the auxiliary gym; remade pool; then a list of the postseason events South has hosted and examples of the school's involvement in the community.

"We feel we're a lot like them," Holmes said.

And they apparently agreed.

"Bloomington South and JR Holmes have been synonymous with competitive excellence and displaying ideal core values since I was an athlete back in Bloomington during my college days," AJ Moye, Jeffersonville AD said in the HHC press release. "Add to South being known as a first class academic institution, the Panthers embody the spirit of what the HHC was founded on many years ago."

South's long-time rivalry with BNL just took another step up.

"It is exciting to add Bloomington South to the HHC," HHC commissioner and former BNL AD Jeff Callahan said in the release. "I have been involved with the HHC as an athlete, coach, athletic director, and a fan.  The HHC is a great athletic conference and it just got better."

Size-wise, South (1,784) would be the second-largest school. According to the most recent IHSAA enrollment numbers, Jeffersonville (2,147), which competes in 6A in football, is the biggest. New Albany (1,753), Floyd Central (1,752), and Seymour (1,644) compete in 5A.

In 4A are Columbus East (1,278), Bedford North Lawrence, which slipped to 1,185 — dropping the Stars to Class 3A in classed sports other than football — and Jennings County (1,159).

South still has only seven games on next year's football schedule, with Weeks 4 (Sept. 11) and 7 (Oct. 2) open. The Panthers will play Bloomington North, Martinsville, and Terre Haute North in Weeks 1-3. There's a possibility of picking up a Week 4 game, Holmes said. That will be followed by a long trip to Ironton, Ohio, in Week 5. Columbus North at home Week 6 and Brebeuf Jesuit and Center Grove in Weeks 8-9.

Membership in the HHC will alleviate all that headache moving forward. Holmes wants to keep North and Martinsville on the schedule, given the large crowds those rivalry games generate. Same with Columbus North, which has not announced any new affiliations.

Having six locked-in games is a godsend given the difficulty coach Gabe Johnson has had in filling up the schedule as an independent and a three-time defending regional champ.

South should certainly help raise the level of football competitiveness. BNL, Floyd Central, and Jeffersonville have never won a regional title; New Albany has one, and Seymour two (the last in 1999). Only Columbus East, which dominated the league in the 2010s, winning state titles in 2013 and '17, has had long-term postseason success.

The HHC is currently working on a master scheduling list for football, to balance home and away and keep special rivalry games (Seymour-Brownstown, Floyd Central-Providence) in specific spots on the docket.

Good to see they want to keep Columbus North on the football schedule. Those schools had a nice rivalry in all sports back in the days when they were Bloomington High School and Columbus High School. I would hate to see their long history on the gridiron end or be put on hold.

[Fkfootball]

On 4/22/2026 at 3:08 PM, Salem33 said:

Nothing like a 2 hour bus ride for a regular season game from Bloomington South to Jeffersonville. Are there other conferences with this large of a distance between teams? 

Columbus East has done this for years!

On 4/22/2026 at 12:38 PM, Pantherfootball1957 said:

I really hope the Highlanders could keep up it would make things interesting. But they just took a big loss to them last year and now they’re losing that Baird kid, it might be a couple years before they catch up to them.

Losing who? Also, FC was pretty Junior laden last season.

Edited April 27 by Fkfootball