Two local athletic programs have received invitations for membership in the Colonial League.

Jim Thorpe and Lehighton are currently on fact finding missions to determine if changing from the Schuylkill League to the Colonial League will provide additional benefits for their student athletes.

Athletic Directors Dustin McAndrew from Jim Thorpe and Kyle Spotts from Lehighton have not yet gathered enough information to make recommendations to their respective boards of education.

“One consideration will be the cost to the school district,” McAndrew said. “If you compare the travel to the schools that are furthest away, it’s pretty similar. But cost factor is really dependent upon who ends up on our schedules when divisions are set up.”

McAndrew mentioned Pine Grove as a school that’s nearly 50 miles from Jim Thorpe. A move to the Colonial League might require some teams to travel to Palisades or Southern Lehigh which are also about 50 miles away from the high school.

Spotts agreed. “If you just look at the schools in each league, the travel distances are similar, but that depends on who we play and how often we play them.”

On the Road

If the two schools base their decisions solely on travel costs, division setups will play a significant role.

Currently, both schools are part of Division 1 in the Schuylkill League. In most sports that means they compete against Panther Valley, Tamaqua, Blue Mountain, North Schuylkill, Pine Grove and Pottsville. While Panther Valley and Tamaqua are short trips for the Olympians and Indians, the other four schools are significantly longer. According to Google maps, trips to the other four division opponents range from 39 minutes (Blue Mountain) to 64 minutes (Pine Grove) for Lehighton, and range from 47 minutes (North Schuylkill) to 64 minutes (Pine Grove) for Jim Thorpe.

Meanwhile, if Jim Thorpe and Lehighton joined the Colonial League it would give that league 15 teams. It would be logical to assume that the league would probably opt for a three-division setup that could put Lehighton, Jim Thorpe, Palmerton, Northern Lehigh and Northwestern in the same division.

While the number of divisions and the breakdown of the divisions is purely speculative at this stage, it does make sense. If that happens, the furthest drive for both Jim Thorpe and Lehighton in their division would be to Northwestern at just 38 minutes and 30 minutes respectively.

Size Matters

In addition to travel consideration, the size of the schools the Olympians and Indians compete against - or would be competing against - is another important factor.

Classifications are based upon male and female school populations and are set by the PIAA every two years.

Both Jim Thorpe and Lehighton have sports programs that are in a variety of different classes. For example, JT soccer is 2A, football is 3A and baseball is 4A. Meanwhile, Lehighton’s field hockey program is 1A, its football program is 3A, and its basketball programs are 4A.

Both athletic directors said that it would be difficult to determine which league offers schools that are similar in competitive levels because schedules often have crossover events that match teams with uneven classifications.

“Until a divisional alignment is determined, trying to see which league is competitively equal to us is probably something that can’t be figured out,” said McAndrew.

“There’s a cyclical nature to competition levels,” said Spotts, “One year a team can be very strong, but not the next.” Graduation can take a toll on any sport and a powerhouse program can change in the next year to a very young team that might struggle because of its lack of varsity experience.”

A Better Fit?

Both Thorpe and Lehighton asked to be accepted into the Colonial League in 1997, but both bids were rejected because the league believed the competition would be too difficult due to both schools being smaller in population at the time and they would be competing against much larger schools. That issue is no longer a topic for discussion as some schools in the league have gained students while others have dropped in overall population.

In fact, both the Olympians and Indians are now playing non-league games against Colonial League members: Palmerton, Northern Lehigh, Northwestern and Bangor - and in football the Colonial League and Schuylkill League have combined to form divisions among teams with similar enrollments.

“Something for us to consider is that the Colonial League has schools that play tennis and field hockey,” said Spotts. “Those sports for us are independent teams because the Schuylkill League doesn’t have enough schools with these sports.”

Thorpe also has this issue to consider because of their independent tennis program.

The Invitation

Northern Lehigh athletic director Bryan Geist is also the President of the Colonial League and was asked why the invitation to both schools was offered.

“We feel like both Lehighton and Jim Thorpe fit our league because of their size (school enrollment); their geography (being close to Palmerton, Northern Lehigh, and Northwestern Lehigh); and their facilities - which match facilities found in the Colonial League,” explained Geist.

Geist also talked about the league’s familiarity with both schools.

“Many of our schools already schedule contests with Lehighton and Jim Thorpe, and most of our schools already have good relationships with their administration and coaches,” Geist said. “We also feel that adding them would improve our league scheduling.”

Time Frame

Both McAndrew at Jim Thorpe and Spotts at Lehighton said the hope is to complete their fact finding in January.

Both school boards would then have until late February to decide if they are going to accept the invitation.

If Jim Thorpe and/or Lehighton accept membership, they will become full members of the league starting in the fall of 2024.