Pocket Athletic Conference

The Pocket Athletic Conference (PAC) is a high school athletic conference in Southwestern Indiana with its headquarters at Heritage Hills High School. Its members are mainly Class 2A and 3A public high schools located in Dubois, Gibson, Perry, Pike, Posey, Spencer, and Warrick counties. Only one, Tecumseh is a 1A.

History

The Pocket Athletic Conference was established in 1938 with nine founding schools: Cannelton, Chrisney, Lynnville, Mount Vernon, Owensville, Petersburg, Poseyville, Rockport, and Tell City. Seven of the nine original schools remain members in some form today. Cannelton left in 1971 and is now an independent. Mount Vernon left in 1959 to join the Southern Indiana Athletic Conference and is now a member of the Big Eight Conference.

The first current member appeared in 1958 when Poseyville consolidated with Cynthiana, Griffin, and Wadesville to form North Posey. Rockport merged with Richland in 1965 to form South Spencer. Lynnville and Elberfeld merged in 1965 to form Tecumseh High School. Also in 1965, Oakland City and Francisco, both of whom joined the PAC in 1939, joined to become Wood Memorial. Chrisney and Dale, which had joined in 1939, joined to form Heritage Hills in 1972. Huntingburg joined the PAC in 1970 from the Southern Indiana Athletic Conference and in 1972 consolidated with Holland to become Southridge. In 1974 Owensville consolidated with Fort Branch and Haubstadt into Gibson Southern. Both Fort Branch and Owensville were members of the PAC at the time. Haubstadt was also briefly a member of the PAC. That same year Petersburg joined with Winslow and Otwell to form Pike Central.

Gibson Southern left the PAC in 1979 when the Big Eight Conference was formed, only to return in 1994. In 2000, Wood Memorial left the PAC and is now a member of the Blue Chip Conference. Tell City, which had left in 1953, rejoined in 2001, also came back from the Big Eight Conference but also from the Southern Indiana Athletic Conference. In 2007 Forest Park, located in Ferdinand, officially joined the PAC from the Blue Chip Conference increasing the number of members back to the original nine.

The PAC has recently gained the reputation as a powerful football conference. Since 2000, the PAC has been represented in the state finals five times. The three schools that have represented the PAC recently are Heritage Hills (2000 3A State Champs, and 2004 3A Runner-up), Southridge (2002 and 2006 2A Runner-up) and North Posey (2005 2A Runner-up). As one of the southernmost conferences in the state, the PAC has also seen great success in baseball and softball, winning a combined seven state championships in those sports since 2001.

Another sport of recognition for the PAC is Basketball. Forest Park, Southridge and Tecumseh have 4 state titles in both boys and girls basketball. Forest Park and Gibson Southern add 3 more State Runner-Up Titles to the pool to make 7 appearances at the state finals, not counting Tecumseh's appearance in the Tournament of Champions. Forest Park, Gibson Southern, North Posey, Southridge, and Tecumseh have all been ranked within the last 8 years in either girls or boys basketball, sometimes both. In 1999, Tecumseh lost by only six points in the experimental "Tournament of Champions" to the 4A State Champion, Indianapolis North Central. Tecumseh was the 1A State Champion.

The PAC is also gaining a reputation as a powerhouse in baseball and softball. Both Gibson Southern and joining Forest Park have recently won state titles in softball. And, North Posey (05, 06) and South Spencer (07) have won the last three titles in baseball. The two schools have met for the sectional championship each of the last three years, and the winner has gone on to win the state title each year. Because of this, the two schools have developed an intense rivalry in baseball over the last few years.

In the last ten years, 26 Pocket Athletic Conference teams have represented their school and the conference in state championship games.

Member Schools

Current members (9)

¹As of the 2008-09 school year Tecumseh will play football as an independent. They will remain in the PAC for all other sports.

tate Championships

Forest Park Rangers (3)

*2001 Softball (A) ¹
*2005 Boys Basketball (2A) ¹
*2006 Boys Basketball (2A) ¹

Gibson Southern Titans (2)

*2003 Softball (2A)
*2005 Softball (3A)

Heritage Hills Patriots (1)

*2000 Football (3A)

North Posey Vikings(2)

*2005 Baseball (2A)
*2006 Baseball (2A)

Pike Central Chargers (0)

outhridge Raiders (1)

*1998 Girls Basketball (2A)

outh Spencer Rebels (1)

*2007 Boys Baseball (2A)

Tecumseh Braves (2)

*1999 Boys Basketball (A)
*2003 Baseball (A)

Tell City Marksmen (0)

¹"Won when Forest Park was a member of the Blue Chip Conference."

Former Member State Titles

Cannelton Bulldogs (0)

Mount Vernon Wildcats (0)

Wood Memorial Trojans (0)

tate Runner-Up Titles

Forest Park Rangers (2)
*2003 Boys Basketball (2A) ¹
*1999 Girls Basketball (2A) ¹

Gibson Southern Titans (2)
*2001 Girls Softball (2A)
*2002 Girls Basketball (3A)

Heritage Hills Patriots (1)
*2005 Football (3A)

North Posey Vikings (1)
*2005 Football (2A)

Pike Central Chargers (1)
*1990 Softball

Southridge Raiders (4)
*1982 Football (A)
*2002 Football (2A)
*2007 Football (2A)

South Spencer Rebels (2)
*1988 Football (2A)
*1999 Softball (2A)

Tecumseh Braves (4)
*1999 Boys Basketball Tournament of Champions
*2002 Baseball (A)
*2003 Softball (A)
*2007 Softball (A)

Tell City Marksmen (1)
*1986 Football (2A) ²

¹"Occurred when Forest Park was a member of the Blue Chip Conference."

²"Occurred when Tell City was a member of the Big Eight Conference."

PAC Titles

News and Current Standings

*Heritage Hills has not lost a PAC football game since 1998, winning 68 straight games through the 2007 season. They have also captured the last 11 PAC championships in football.
*Heritage Hills' perfect PAC record ended at the hand of North Posey with a 28-24 on 9/19/08. Jasper ended their perfect regular season streak a week earlier on 9/12/08. Heritage Hills' streak lasted 70 games. After one of their worst performances aganst the much weaker Gibson Southern, they worsened their record by being soundly defeated by Southridge 26-7 [http://www.almanacsports.com/football/schedule.php?season=2008&team=HH] . This was Southridge's first defeat of Heritage since 1998.
* 2008 will be the first season since 1996 that Heritage Hills solidly lost the PAC title. North Posey, South Spencer, and Southridge are the contenders for the title this year. [http://www.almanacsports.com/football/standings.php]
*Current Denver Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler played high school football at Heritage Hills and led them to the 3A state title in his senior season.
*Southridge's home gymnasium in Huntingburg has a capacity of 6,092 and is one of the 20 largest in Indiana.

Neighboring Conferences

*Big Eight Conference
*Southern Indiana Athletic Conference
*Blue Chip Conference
*Patoka Lake Conference

See also

* Hoosier Hysteria
* Largest high school gyms in the United States

References

* [http://www.ihsaa.org/school_rosters.htm IHSAA Conference Membership]
* [http://www.ihsaa.org/school-directory/SchoolDirectory2.pdf Current IHSAA Directory]
* [http://www.ihsaa.org/tourney_state_champs_frame.htm IHSAA State Champions]
* [http://www.almanacsports.com/basketball/boys/confchmp.php Almanac Sports.com - Conference History]

External links

* [http://www.pacsports.us/ Pocket Athletic Conference Website]