By Ken Lipshez
MaxPreps.com
NEWINGTON, Conn. – The six Northwest Conference schools that applied for membership to the Central Connecticut Conference were accepted officially on Thursday by the league’s policy board.
Berlin, Plainville, Middletown, RHAM-Hebron, East Catholic-Manchester and Northwest Catholic-West Hartford were recommended for admission by the CCC’s athletic directors earlier this month. They will begin competition next season in what is presently a 30-team conference.
The policy board is made up of the league’s principals.
“Our expansion committee took a critical look at these schools and determined that they would be great partners with the other CCC member schools,” said Neil Sullivan, CCC president and principal at Simsbury High School.
“We’re so pleased that the Policy Board has made the addition of these six schools official. There can be no doubt now that the CCC is one of the preeminent athletic conferences in the state.”
Applications for admission from Rocky Hill and Tolland remain pending.
“That’s being discussed by the expansion committee,” CCC commissioner John Tarnuzzer said. “We’re just starting that process.”
Rocky Hill currently competes in the NWC and Nutmeg League. The Nutmeg League is an expanded version of the NWC for football and swimming. Tolland competes in the North Central Connecticut Conference in most sports but plays football in the 18-school Pequot League.
The CCC was the largest conference in the state before the addition of the six. The Southern Connecticut Conference is next with 23. The Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference and the Eastern Connecticut Conference each have 19 members.
Ken Lipshez of the New Britain Herald covers central Connecticut for MaxPreps. He may be reached at kenlip@aol.com
