Second school votes to leave Mid-Penn Conference for York-Adams league
Big Spring's school board voted unanimously on May 5 to leave the Mid-Penn Conference to play in the YAIAA. Now it's up to the league's athletic directors and principals to determine if the league will grow to 25.
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League president Brian Ellis, principal at York Suburban High School, said in an email that there is a four-step process to joining the league. Because Big Spring put the presentation and vote on their school board agenda, the executive committee was able to proactively approve the request to apply and notify member schools of the vote.
The remaining two steps, discussion and vote, will take place in the coming days in virtual meetings.
'We do not have any scheduled league meetings until the middle of June,' Ellis said, 'and it is in both Big Spring's interest and our league interest to make a determination well before that so that everyone can engage in planning for the next scheduling cycle.'
The plan is to have the discussion meeting on May 8 and take the vote on May 12.
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If Big Spring's request goes through, the Bulldogs will join James Buchanan and Shalom Christian as new league members in the 2026-27 school year.
YAIAA high school spring scoreboard: Scores, schedules for May 5-10
Eastern York defeated Big Spring in 2024 to win their first District 3 boys basketball title.
Who are the Big Spring Bulldogs?
Nestled in rural Cumberland County midway between Carlisle and Shippensburg, Big Spring High School sits just outside the town of Newville.
The Bulldogs have 19 high school teams, including unified bocce. With a total enrollment of 551 (256 female and 295 male) in the 2024-25 classification season, they participate in Class 4A in sports divided into six classes and 2A or 3A in the rest, except for field hockey, which is Class A.
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Their enrollment would put the Bulldogs in the middle third of the league.
The Bulldogs should be familiar to boys basketball fans, especially followers of Eastern York. The Golden Knights defeated Big Spring in the 2024 District 3 final and again in the 2025 semifinals.
Big Spring teams have made district tournament appearances in eight sports, not including sports that offer individual competition.
Cross country runners and swimmers and divers should be well acquainted with the Bulldogs. The district cross country meet is held at the school, and district diving has been held at their natatorium.
Big Spring offers one of the most challenging high school cross country courses in central Pa.
Mid-Penn Conference to YAIAA: Why make the move?
In a presentation to the school board, Big Spring athletic director Scott Penner said the idea of changing leagues did not come lightly. It was brought up in 2016 when the Bulldogs contemplated joining the Tri-Valley League.
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That idea fell through because of increased travel time, lack of support for sports not supported by that league and a more difficult route to District 3 tournaments because of playing much smaller schools.
Travel time was also factored in with this move. Penner provided a detailed spreadsheet that broke down this year's travel times with times to potential YAIAA opponents, and in many instances, the new times were shorter.
Trips to Susquehannock and Kennard-Dale would be the longest at around 80 minutes. Games at many Adams County locations would average about an hour roundtrip.
But the decision really came down to alignment.
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Active participants in the decision-making process, from student-athletes to parents to administrators and coaches, feel Big Spring is better aligned with the YAIAA than the Mid-Penn.
They like the league's emphasis on academics, character and sportsmanship.
'We already play many YAIAA schools in our nonconference games and generally speaking, those contests have demonstrated YAIAA and Big Spring's philosophies,' the presentation said.
They specifically pointed out the league championships held in every sport except football, recognition of academic all-stars and a newly approved realignment process that will take into consideration geography, competitiveness of programs and enrollment size.
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'This would allow struggling programs to rebuild, and those highly competitive programs the ability to compete at higher levels,' the presentation said.
Shelly Stallsmith covers York-Adams high school sports for GameTimePA and the USAToday Network. Connect with her by email mstallsmith@ydr.com or on X, formerly Twitter, @ShelStallsmith.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: YAIAA: Cumberland County school Big Spring votes to join league
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