MACOMB TOWNSHIP ─ Macomb Lutheran North, a member of the Catholic High School League since the 2010-11 school year, has decided to leave the CHSL, accepting an invitation to join the public school-based Blue Water Area Conference.
The BWAC athletic directors, principals and superintendents voted to approve Lutheran North’s application and completed the process last week. The move will take effect at the start of the 2026-27 school year.
“I want to make it clear that Lutheran North has been very happy in the Catholic League. Had this opportunity not presented itself, they were not looking to leave,” said Catholic League Director Mike Evoy. “At the time they notified us they were exploring that option, (former league director) Vic (Michaels) and I understood there was no resentment.”
For Lutheran North – which sponsors 11 boys’ sports and 9 girls’ sports for its student body of 621 – the biggest advantages of the move include being able to compete against similarly-sized schools and shorter travel times to most away games.
The Blue Water Area Conference was formed in 2002, and its membership has never included a non-public school. Present members include Algonac (with 432 students), Almont (428), Armada (551), Croswell-Lexington (596), Imlay City (557), North Branch (682), Richmond (486) and Yale (528).
Many of the new league’s schools shouldn’t be unfamiliar to Lutheran North athletes, as the Mustangs have competed against them on a semi-regular basis. Yale, Richmond and Armada have been common football opponents, and Lutheran North is often matched up with BWAC schools in postseason play in other sports.
On Jan. 14, Algonac formalized its intentions to leave the Blue Water Area Conference and rejoin the Macomb Area Conference, where it competed prior to 2002. However, the BWAC’s process to find a replacement member school was in motion before that, and that’s when Lutheran North started weighing its options.
“In the fall, the Blue Water Area Conference sent an email blast to everybody, looking for those schools who were interested in applying,” Evoy said. “As soon as it went out, Lutheran North contacted (former Catholic League Director) Vic (Michaels) to say that they were looking into it. I’ve been in constant contact with Lutheran North ever since. The current Catholic League members have been informed of Lutheran North’s intentions.”
In recent seasons, Lutheran North had competed in the CHSL’s Intersectional-1 division in football, often making long trips to compete against smaller programs which hindered the Mustangs ability to position themselves for the playoffs. In other sports, Lutheran North was on the road to places as far away as Jackson, Ann Arbor and Riverview.
Lutheran North joined the CHSL 15 seasons ago (along with Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood) when the old Metro Conference dissolved, and those schools were among the first two league members that did not expressly identify themselves as Catholic. During the early times of Lutheran North’s Catholic League association, the school was classified as an “associate” member and did not compete in CHSL postseason tournaments.
When later eligible to compete for Catholic League championships, Lutheran North teams won 12 titles in eight sports. Those include baseball (2018), boys basketball (2016-17), football (2024), girls golf (2017), pom-pon (2017, 2018, 2019), softball (2020, 2021, 2022), boys track (2024, 2025) and volleyball (2019).
Most recently, the Mustangs played in the girls’ basketball Cardinal Division championship game on Feb. 21, only to fall to Wixom St. Catherine. Also this winter, Lutheran North’s dance and competitive cheer teams finished as CHSL finalists.
Except for cases when a high school faced closure, it has been rare to have a school depart the Catholic League. Lutheran North is the first school to leave the CHSL since Pontiac Notre Dame Prep became independent in 2015-16.
Despite Lutheran North’s eminent departure – but not because of it – the Catholic League still seeks to expand its membership. Already, Beverly Hills Detroit Country Day School’s application to join was approved by the CHSL Executive Board on Feb. 10, and it is expected Country Day will slide into the schedule spots for 2026-27 created by the absence of Lutheran North. The board will meet in the near future to establish permanent division alignments going forward.
In the meantime, Evoy said the Mustangs’ departure would be a loss for the collective CHSL membership.
“They’ve provided a good competitive level of success no matter the division they were in,” he said.
Lutheran North athletic department officials did not respond to several requests for a comment.
