On Thursday, the Central Connecticut Conference (CCC) will vote on an application from Avon High to join the 32-team athletic conference.
The Policy Board of the CCC, which consists of athletic directors and principals of the 32 schools in the league, will vote on the proposal. The proposal calls for Avon to begin competition in the CCC in the fall of 2014.
While the Policy Board has other league business on its agenda, the application from Avon is the only one involving membership in the league, according to Barbara Startup, president of the league.
Avon is currently in the North Central Connecticut Conference (NCCC), where it has been a member since 1984. In football, the Falcons play in the Pequot Football Conference. Avon submitted an application to the CCC earlier this year.
The Falcons are the largest school in the NCCC. According to this year’s CIAC’s basketball packet, Avon had 548 boys and 583 girls in the school from grades 9-12. The next largest school in the NCCC is Suffield with 430 boys and 458 girls. Avon has 150 more boys and 184 more girls than the third largest school in the league – Ellington.
And the NCCC has some of the smaller schools in the state including East Granby (140 boys), Bolton (174 boys) and East Windsor (186 boys).
Ten years ago in 2003, Avon was the third largest boys school in the league behind Enfield and Tolland, who joined the CCC in the fall of 2009. But since 2007, the Falcons have been the largest team in the league.
For the Avon girls, they were the fourth largest school in the league as recently as 2006 behind Enfield, Tolland and Suffield. But since 2009, the Avon girls have been the largest school in the NCCC.
In the CCC, Avon would be one of the smaller schools in the league. The boys would be the 23rd largest school for boys out of 33 teams, according to figures from the 2013 CIAC’s basketball packet. The Avon girls would be the 18th largest school in the league.
However, membership in the CCC would provide the Falcons with more competition and the opportunity for additional games for their junior varsity and developmental (freshman) teams. Some of the smaller schools in the NCCC don’t even have junior varsity teams in many sports.
The CCC last expanded in 2009 when they admitted seven teams from the now-defunct Northwest Conference – Berlin, East Catholic-Manchester, Middletown, RHAM, Plainville, Northwest Catholic-West Hartford, Rocky Hill and Tolland from the North Central Connecticut Conference. Avon’s long-time rival Farmington joined the CCC in 2008.
The CCC was formed in 1984 with 24 teams.
To see the growth in the numbers of athletes at Avon, we compared the respective boys basketball and girls basketball enrollment numbers in the respective CIAC basketball packets back through 2003. Note, the CIAC counted athletes in grades 10-12 from 2003 through 2008. Beginning in 2009, they count athletes in grades 9-12 to determine the size of a school.
BOYS
Year 2013 ’12 ’11 ’10 ’09 ’08 ’07 ’06 ’05 ’04 ’03
Avon 548 548 563 543 535 382 352 313 307 268 257
GIRLS
Year 2013 ’12 ’11 ’10 ’09 ’08 ’07 ’06 ’05 ’04 ’03
Avon 583 559 533 522 515 342 332 327 337 316 302
Football
2024 CIAC football championships
UConn football
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High School
2024 CIAC fall tournament results
Ron Goralski
June 5, 2013 at 7:51 am
Hopefully this will lead to a Farmington/Avon Thanksgiving Day Football Game every year. Or at the very least renew a rivalry that will overflow with anticipation.
Tom
June 5, 2013 at 10:55 am
This would be a good “Yes” vote. Allowing Avon the chance to compete on a more level playing field with the Schools in the CCC conference. In addition as this piece mentions, it also allows Avon’s DV & JV programs to compete and grow within the conference against other Schools that have similar programs. The NCCC has been a good fit for Avon over the past years, however with Avon’s growth/size and committeemen to solid programs a move to the CCC to me, would be in everyone’s best interest.