Withdrawal gains: Four AAC schools opt to stay after all

By Joe Scalzo

The All-American Conference is staying together after all.

Weeks after submitting a letter announcing their intentions to leave the league, superintendents from Hubbard, Liberty, Niles and Lakeview on Tuesday withdrew the letter and said they plan to stay.

“I’m very excited for the conference and all the students-athletes who are members of the conference,” said AAC commissioner Clem Zumpella. “Hopefully our league can be as competitive in the future as it has been this past year.”

The three-tiered league began play last fall as a merger between teams from the Metro Athletic Conference and the Trumbull Athletic Conference.

The AAC is arranged by enrollment, with Hubbard, Liberty and Lakeview in the White (middle) tier, and Niles in the Red (top) tier.

Hubbard, Liberty, Lakeview and Niles had planned to form a new league, possibly with Jefferson and Ashtabula Edgewood.

There was no discussion about the decision at Tuesday’s superintendent’s meeting, Zumpella said. Originally, the superintendents agreed to a five-year commitment, although that is not binding.

AAC schools compete in a total of 17 sports for boys and girls. All 16 compete in football, boys golf, boys and girls basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, track and field and cross country.

The other sports offered include boys and girls soccer, girls golf, boys and girls tennis, wrestling, swimming and bowling.

In addition to those 16 schools, the middle school division includes Boardman Center and Boardman Glenwood as well as Austintown Middle School and Austintown Frank Ohl Middle School.

Boardman and Fitch compete in the Stark County-based Federal League.

Tuesday’s AAC decision follows last week’s news that the Federal League would remain at eight schools, rejecting overtures from Warren Harding and Massillon.

Harding will leave the Steel Valley Conference and become independent at the end of this school year. East and Chaney will also leave the SVC at the end of the school year, leaving those three schools, along with Ursuline and Mooney, as independents.

Harding previously applied for membership in the AAC’s Red Tier, but was rejected.

scalzo@vindy.com