SALEM — Salem athletic director Matt Freeman said the school district was caught off guard when it found out that Carrollton, Minerva and Marlington were leaving the Eastern Buckeye Conference for a new league.

Like West Branch, Salem heard rumors of the league’s probable demise a week before the official announcement came on Friday.

“It seems like it’s no longer about geography or size of the school,” Freeman said.

Salem’s athletic department and administration had a meeting with its coaches on Sunday and the path forward will be applying to the Northeast 8. Freeman said the application is filled out and will be sent to Northeast 8 today. West Branch had applied to the league last week.

The Northeast 8 currently has seven schools including Struthers, Niles, Lakeview, Poland, South Range, Girard and Hubbard.

“If you look at Salem’s history, they’ve been in Youngstown area leagues for many years,” Freeman said. “We’ve been in leagues with many of the Northeast 8 schools in the past and we currently play many of them in out of conference games.”

The Quakers were most notably in the very competitive Youngstown-based Mahoning Valley Conference/Metro Athletic Conference from 1978-2008. Salem’s last time in a Mahoning Valley centered league was the All-American Conference from 2008-12. In 2012 Salem left to join the Northeastern Buckeye Conference which eventually morphed into the Eastern Buckeye Conference by 2018.

Freeman said the Northeast 8 commissioner is out of town for the month of February, so Salem and West Branch will have to wait to see if the league will be receptive to adding teams. He said he did talk to Northeast 8 athletic directors about the opening but does not know if the league will welcome both Salem and West Branch together. He also said he does not know what Alliance’s plans are.

The new league which includes Minerva, Carrollton, Marlington Claymont, Fairless, Sandy Valley, Tuscarawas Valley and Tuslaw is slated to begin play in the 2028-2029 school year.