The Colonial League is an athletic conference consisting of 14

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

s mostly from the

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley (), known colloquially as The Valley, is a geographic region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County and Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bound to the n ...

portion of eastern

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

. It is part of District XI of the

Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, Inc., also known by its acronymn PIAA, is one of the governing bodies of high school and middle school athletics for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the United States. The PIAA's main ...

. The Colonial League is designed for mid and small-size schools in the Lehigh Valley. The largest 18 schools in the

and Pocono region compete in the

Eastern Pennsylvania Conference The Eastern Pennsylvania Conference (known informally as EPC, EPC18 and East Penn Conference) is an athletic conference consisting of 18 large high schools from Lehigh, Monroe, Northampton, and Pike counties in the Lehigh Valley and Pocono M ...

, one of the premiere athletic divisions in the nation.

History

In 1975, nine schools from the

region of eastern

merged to form the Colonial League. Since then, a total of five teams have joined the league, with one team leaving.

Charter members

The Colonial League was founded in 1975, with the following teams as charter members: *

Bangor Area High School Bangor Area High School is a four-year public high school located in Bangor, Pennsylvania in Northampton County, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. It is the only high school in the Bangor Area School District. As ...

Catasauqua High School Catasauqua High School is a public high school serving grades 9 through 12 in Northampton, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. As of 2021-22, the school had 498 students, according to National Center for Education St ...

Nazareth Area High School Nazareth High School is a public high school located in Nazareth, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. It is the only high school in the Nazareth Area School District and serves grades 9 through 12. Its mascot is the B ...

* Palisades High School * Pen Argyl Area High School * Salisbury High School * Saucon Valley High School *

Southern Lehigh High School Southern Lehigh High School is a four-year public high school located in Center Valley, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. It is the only high school in the Southern Lehigh School District. As of the 2020-21 school y ...

* Wilson Area High School Prior to joining the Colonial League, these schools were part of the

Lehigh Valley Conference The Lehigh Valley Interscholastic Athletic Conference, known informally as the Lehigh Valley Conference or LVC, was an athletic conference consisting of 12 of the largest high schools from Lehigh and Northampton counties in the Lehigh Valley region ...

or the Lehigh-Northampton League for interscholastic activities. As years went on, the member schools of these leagues began to vary greatly in school sizes and athletic competition levels.. The smaller schools of each league broke away and formed the Colonial League while others became members of the Centennial League. Some joined the

, which includes the Lehigh Valley's largest high schools and a very high level of athletic competition.

1994 additions and departure

In 1994,

Northern Lehigh High School Northern Lehigh High School is a public high school located in Slatington, Pennsylvania. It is the only high school in the Northern Lehigh School District. Students in grades 9 through 12 from Slatington, Walnutport, and Washington Township in ...

, Northwestern Lehigh High School, Notre Dame High School, and Palmerton High School all joined the Colonial League.

in Nazareth, meanwhile, departed the Colonial League in 1994 to begin competing with larger

high schools in the

, which later became the

2014 addition and departure

In 2014,

Moravian Academy Moravian Academy is a preschool through 12th-grade co-educational college preparatory school that predominantly serves students from the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. Moravian Academy descended from the first school for girls in ...

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital ...

joined the Colonial League and Notre Dame High School in

East Stroudsburg East Stroudsburg is a borough in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the Poconos region of the state. Originally known as "Dansbury", East Stroudsburg was renamed for geographic reasons when the Delaware, Lackawanna, and ...

departed it.

References

External links