Colonial League

{{About|the Pennsylvania high school conference|the baseball league|Colonial League (baseball)|the NCAA conference originally known as the Colonial League|Patriot League}}

{{Infobox organization

| name = Colonial League

| image = Colonial League logo.png

| image_border =

| size =

| caption =

| map =

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| formation = 1975

| status = Association

| purpose = Athletic/Educational

| region_served = Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania
Delaware Valley, Pennsylvania
Northeastern Pennsylvania

| membership = 14 schools

| language = English

| leader_title = President

| leader_name = Bryan Geist

| main_organ =

| parent_organization = PIAA

| affiliations = PIAA District XI

| website = [http://www.colonialleague.org/ colonialleague.org]

}}

The Colonial League is an athletic conference consisting of 14 high schools mostly from the Lehigh Valley portion of eastern Pennsylvania. It is part of District XI of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association. The Colonial League is designed for mid and small-size schools in the Lehigh Valley. The largest 18 schools in the Lehigh Valley and Pocono region compete in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, one of the premiere athletic divisions in the nation.

History

In 1975, ten schools from the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania merged to form the Colonial League. Since then, a total of seven teams have joined the league, with two teams leaving.

=Charter members=

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

Prior to the 1975-76 school year, most of these schools were part of the Lehigh-Northampton League (L-N) for interscholastic activities. (Catasauqua was in the Lehigh Valley League aka the LVL, and Palisades had competed as an independent.) As years went on, the member schools of the LVL and L-N began to vary greatly in school sizes and athletic competition levels.. Some smaller schools of each league broke away and formed the Colonial League while others became members of the Centennial League. Some joined the East Penn Conference (an ancestor of the modern Eastern Pennsylvania Conference), which includes the Lehigh Valley's largest high schools and a very high level of athletic competition.{{cite news|last=Smith|first=John W.|title=Changes Not Really Changes|url=http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19750119&id=sg5XAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MkMNAAAAIBAJ&pg=5397,1647092|accessdate=2012-11-08|newspaper=Reading Eagle|date=1975-01-19}}

=1994 membership additions and departure=

In 1994, four high school athletic programs, Northern Lehigh High School, Northwestern Lehigh High School, Notre Dame (Green Pond) High School, and Notre Dame High School in East Stroudsburg, joined the Colonial League, and one school, Nazareth Area High School in Nazareth, departed the league to begin competing with larger high schools in the Mountain Valley Conference, and subsequently joined the Lehigh Valley Conference and Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.

=2014 addition and departure =

In 2014, Moravian Academy in Bethlehem joined the Colonial League and Notre Dame High School in East Stroudsburg, departed it.

=2024 additions=

In early 2023, Lehighton Area High School was approved for membership, and Jim Thorpe Area High School soon followed. They began competition in the 2024-25 school year.{{cite news |last1=Strack |first1=Rich |title=Jim Thorpe and Lehighton to consider invites to Colonial League |url=https://www.lvpnews.com/20221222/jim-thorpe-and-lehighton-to-consider-invites-to-colonial-league/ |access-date=13 February 2025 |work=Lehigh valley Press Online |publisher=Lehigh Valley Press |date=22 December 2022}}{{cite web |title=Lehighton to join the Colonial League as a full member in 2024 |url=https://www.wfmz.com/sports/lehighton-to-join-the-colonial-league-as-a-full-member-in-2024/article_872c00ca-9b97-11ed-b012-735a83a7ff1d.html |website=WFMZ-TV 69 News |publisher=Maranatha Broadcasting Company, Inc. |access-date=13 February 2025 |date=23 January 2023}}{{cite news |last1=Strack |first1=Rich |title=Jim Thorpe latest to join Colonial League |url=https://www.tnonline.com/20230217/jim-thorpe-latest-to-join-colonial-league/ |access-date=13 February 2025 |work=Times News Online |publisher=The Times News (Lehighton, PA) |date=17 February 2023}}