Northeastern Athletic Conference

The Northeastern Athletic Conference is an Ohio High School Athletic Association athletic conference made up of member schools from Trumbull, Portage, Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake Counties in Ohio. The NAC began conference play in 2002 and was formed by members of the East Suburban Conference. NAC members played football concurrently with the ESC until the 2008 football season.

Members

Future members

Former members

ESC all-time members

Membership timeline

History

Prior to the NACs beginning in 2002, there was the East Suburban Conference, which was formed in 1968 as a regional athletic league for small to mid-sized high schools in northeastern Ohio, particularly in Geauga County and surrounding areas. Founding members included schools such as Beachwood, Berkshire, Cardinal, Kirtland, Newbury, and Richmond Heights.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the ESC experienced periodic expansion and contraction as schools adjusted conference affiliations based on enrollment and competitive balance. Additions such as Fairport Harding, Chardon, Aurora, and Perry reflected the league’s growth, while departures to conferences like the Chagrin Valley Conference and the Metro Athletic Conference highlighted shifting alignments. Fairport left the conference in 1976 to join the Grand River Conference

A significant shift occurred in 1989, when several schools departed and others joined, reshaping the conference’s footprint. New members such as Ledgemont, Grand Valley, and Pymatuning Valley shifted the ESC toward a more rural, multi-county alignment extending into Ashtabula County. Fairport rejoined the ESC the same year.

The 1990s brought another wave of expansion, particularly in Trumbull County, with the additions of Bristol, Bloomfield, Chalker, Lordstown, and Maplewood between 1992 and 1996. Several of these schools did not field football programs.

Additional members joined in the late 1990s and 2000s, including St. John & Paul, Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy, Lutheran East, Cleveland Central Catholic (for football only), and Youngstown Christian (now known as Valley Christian).

By the early 2000s, majority of the ESC, transitioned out of the conference, in favor of joining the newly formed Northeastern Athletic Conference in 2002, with founding members Bristol, Bloomfield, Chalker, Lordstown, Maplewood and Pymatuning Valley, with member schools who offered football played concurrent with the ESC. Two additional nearby schools, Badger and Mathews, joined the NAC in the 2003–04 school year, while Mathews joined the ESC for football only.

Fairport, left for the ESC for the CVC in 2005 along with Cleveland Central Catholic in 2006. The East Suburban Conference folded in 2008, and fully transitioned into the NAC, with Ledgemont, Chalker, Pymatuning Valley, Mathews and Lutheran East all became full-time members, Grand Valley joined the NAC from the CVC the same year, while Valley Christian and St. John & Paul opted to become independent. Just a few years later in 2012, Lutheran East left the conference to become independent.

Windham was accepted into the NAC in 2013, leaving the Portage Trail Conference. Ledgemont closed after the 2013–2014 school year after a territory transfer with Berkshire High School. Newbury, who was an original ESC member, replaced their spot NAC in 2014 after leaving the Chagrin Valley Conference.

After 10 years of being in the conference, Grand Valley left the NAC in 2019, in favor of joining the Chagrin Valley Conference. Fairport Harding High School, joined the league after their 15-year long tenure in the Chagrin Valley Conference in 2020. Newbury closed following the 2019–20 school year, merging with West Geauga High School.

Chalker left the NAC for football, after the 2021 season, cancelling their season due to lack of players. Chalker became a member of the Northern 8 Football Conference. (8-man football conference) in 2024.

Despite playing a conference schedule in all sports with the league for years, Ashtabula St. John High School officially joined the NAC in 2022.

Grand Valley re-joined the NAC after a 5-year tenure with the Chagrin Valley Conference in 2024,their former CVC peer, Middlefield Cardinal joined the following year.

Fairport Harding announced their intention to re-join their former Chagrin Valley Conference starting the 2026–27 school year, ending their tenure with the NAC after 6 years. On September 24th, 2025, Leetonia High School announced that they have accepted their invitation to join the NAC, leaving the Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference, and will begin conference play in the 2026–27 school year.

On November 26th, 2025, Windham announced they were accepted into the Northern 8 Football Conference beginning the 2026–27 school year, with roster numbers decreasing in recent years. Brookfield, Champion, LaBrae and Liberty announced on March 17, 2026, that they intend to leave the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference to join the Northeastern Athletic Conference beginning the 2027–28 school year.

NAC conference championships

List of NAC conference championships since 2002

Number of NAC conference championships per team

State championships won by each school

*Denotes championship won when members were not a part of NAC