LEETONIA — Leetonia’s days in the Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference are numbered.

The Leetonia Board of Education on Wednesday approved the high school teams’ move to the Northeastern Athletic Conference starting in fall 2026.

Leetonia athletic directory Nick Sferra sent out a letter to Leetonia families on Wednesday stating that the Bears were developing plans to join the Northeastern Athletic Conference.

The NAC currently includes Bristol, Bloomfield, Southington, Lordstown, Ashtabula St. John, Windham, Badger, Middlefield Cardinal, Grand Valley, Fairport Harding, Maplewood, Mathews and Pymatuning Valley.

The league is currently split between two divisions. Sferra said the Bears would be in a division with teams closer to them such as Southington, Lordstown and Badger.

Leetonia began seriously exploring a move to a new conference over the past year after many of its varsity teams struggled in recent seasons to win contests and compete within the Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference.

“We’re one of the smallest Div. VII schools in the state of Ohio and we just couldn’t go up against Div. V and VI schools anymore,” Sferra said.

Drive times to away games will be increased by 10 to 15 minutes Sferra admitted but he also said many people forget that drives to United are 30 minutes and East Palestine is 25 minutes away.

“The only real close ones are Columbiana and Lisbon,” Sferra said.

Leetonia and the league are said to be pursuing a plan for boy-girl doubleheaders in basketball to “increase crowd attendance and school spirit, while reducing the amount of daily travel required for families and athletes.”

The NAC provided six league football games, so the Bears will have to fill four on their own.

Leetonia said it will work to maintain traditional local rivalries within its non-league portion of the schedules.

Leetonia junior high teams will not be a part of the league and will play independently scheduled contests against schools from Columbiana and Mahoning counties.

The EOAC will be left with seven schools including Southern, Columbiana, Lisbon, Wellsville, United, East Palestine and Valley Christian.