{{Multiple issues, {{primary sources, date=December 2016{{one source, date=December 2016 The Central Athletic League, known colloquially as the Central League, is a

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

sports league located in the suburbs of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. Currently, the league consists of twelve high schools primarily from Delaware County with additional constituency from

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

and Montgomery counties.

Schools

Conestoga High School Conestoga High School, located in Tredyffrin Township, Pennsylvania, is the only upper secondary school in the Tredyffrin/Easttown School District. It has a Berwyn post office address, though it is not in the Berwyn census-designated place. ...

( Tredyffrin/Easttown School District) * Garnet Valley High School ( Garnet Valley School District) *

Harriton High School Harriton Senior High School , also known simply as Harriton High School, is a Public school (government funded), public secondary school in Rosemont, Pennsylvania, serving portions of Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania. The school is located on ...

(

Lower Merion School District Lower Merion School District, or LMSD, is a public school district located in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The school district includes residents of both Lower Merion Township and the Borough of Narberth. Established in 1836, LMSD is o ...

) *

Haverford High School Haverford Senior High School is the public high school of Haverford Township, Pennsylvania, Haverford Township, Pennsylvania, United States, operated by the School District of Haverford Township. It is at 200 Mill Road in Havertown, Pennsylvania ...

( School District of Haverford Township) *

Lower Merion High School Lower Merion High School is a public high school in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, in the Main Line suburbs of Philadelphia. It is one of two high schools in the Lower Merion School District; the other one is Harriton High School. Lower Merion serves ...

(

) *

Marple Newtown High School Marple Newtown School District (MNSD) is a public school district which serves Newtown Township and Marple Township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Marple Newtown School District encompasses approximately . According to 2000 federal census ...

( Marple Newtown School District) * Penncrest High School (

Rose Tree Media School District Rose Tree Media School District is a school district in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, headquartered in the Borough of Media Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or ...

) * Radnor High School ( Radnor Township School District) * Ridley High School (

Ridley School District Ridley School District is a large, suburban public school district in southeastern Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It serves the residents of Ridley Township, and the boroughs of Ridley Park and Eddystone. The township includes the census-desi ...

) * Springfield High School ( Springfield School District) *

Strath Haven High School Strath Haven High School (also abbreviated as SHHS) is a four-year public high school in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, Wallingford, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, enrolling about 1,200 students. SHHS is the only high s ...

(

Wallingford-Swarthmore School District Wallingford-Swarthmore School District is a midsized, suburban public school district in south-eastern Delaware County, Pennsylvania in the United States. It serves the boroughs of Swarthmore, Rose Valley and Rutledge, and the township of ...

) *

Upper Darby High School Upper Darby High School (UDHS) is a four-year public high school located in Upper Darby Township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Upper Darby School District. Established in 1895, it is the oldest high school in Delaware Count ...

(

Upper Darby School District Upper Darby School District (UDSD) is a large public school district of approximately 12,000 students in Upper Darby Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It consists of an area including Upper Darby Township, Clifton Heights borough, ...

)

Sports

The schools all compete in varsity high school sports in the

Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, Inc. (PIAA) is one of the governing bodies of Secondary school, high school and middle school athletics for Pennsylvania. PIAA's main office is located in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Harri ...

, or the PIAA. Central League teams compete in District 1.

Fall

* Boys Cross Country * Girls Cross Country *

Field Hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

* Boys

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

* Girls

Tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

* Girls

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

Winter

* Boys

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

* Girls

Cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense Physical exercise, physical activity. It can be performed to motivate s ...

* Boys

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

and

Diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), ...

* Girls

and

* Boys

Indoor Track Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

* Girls

Wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

Spring

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

* Boys

Lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

* Girls

Softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

* Boys

Track & Field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and ...

* Girls

History

The Central League started on May 28, 1966 as a spin-off from the Suburban League when nine schools, most of them along the Main Line, announced they were leaving the Suburban League to start the Central League, to begin play in the 1967 academic year. The schools that founded the league were Conestoga, Harriton, Haverford, Lower Merion, Marple, Penncrest, Radnor, Springfield and Upper Darby. Ridley joined in 1969 when Harriton joined the Suburban 3 League. Harriton rejoined the league in 2008. Strath Haven joined in 1983. Garnet Valley joined in 2008. At the end of the 1988 scholastic year, the Ches-Mont League was down to only four schools - Coatesville, Downingtown, West Chester East, and West Chester Henderson. Fearing that it could not operate as a four-team league, the remaining Ches-Mont schools applied for membership in the Central League, but they were rebuffed. The PIAA tried to force the Central League to add the teams, but the Central League sued and won. Thanks to the ruling in this suit, the PIAA has no power to re-align sports leagues. Only the leagues themselves can do so. (High school federations in many other states can re-shape sports leagues at will.)

References

External links

Central League online
High school sports conferences and leagues in the United States High school sports in Pennsylvania Pennsylvania high school sports conferences Chester County, Pennsylvania Sports leagues established in 1967 1967 establishments in Pennsylvania