Conference History
The Henlopen Conference as it is today was created in the mid-1960s. Of the schools now comprising the Henlopen Conference, most were original members of the Diamond State Conference, which then consisted of Middletown, Smyrna, Dover, Caesar Rodney, Milford, Seaford, Lewes, and Georgetown. Lewes and Georgetown defected first, with every team but Middletown eventually ending up in the Henlopen Conference. Middletown, the only New Castle County school, moved to a conference composed entirely of New Castle County schools with the school district mergers of 1969-70 when it became a part of the Appoquinimink School District.
The original teams of the Henlopen Conference were the Rehoboth Beach Seahawks, Milton Warriors, Lewes Pirates (from Diamond State), Greenwood Foresters, Dover Air Force Base Falcons, Harrington Lions, Felton Green Devils, Delmar Wildcats, Millsboro Blue Devils, John M. Clayton Bears, Laurel Bulldogs, Lord Baltimore Lords, Selbyville Rebels, and Georgetown Golden Knights (from Diamond State).
With the school district mergers of 1969-70, several teams changed. Lewes, Milton, and Rehoboth Beach merged to form the Cape Henlopen Vikings. Georgetown, John M. Clayton, and a large part of the Millsboro School District merged to become the Sussex Central Golden Knights (the other portion of Millsboro was absorbed into Cape Henlopen). Greenwood and Bridgeville merged to become the Woodbridge Blue Raiders. Harrington and Felton merged with Frederica to become the Lake Forest Spartans. Lord Baltimore and Selbyville were merged with Frankford and Dagsboro to become the Indian River Indians. The Milford School District also joined the conference after merging with the Ellendale and Houston school districts, keeping the Milford Buccaneers name. Magnolia and Oak Point merged with Caesar Rodney in 1969 and Dover Air Force Base high school students were absorbed into the Caesar Rodney High School after the United States government closed down the base's school in the 1980s, although the school had always been run by the Caesar Rodney School District through contract. The Sussex Tech Ravens (early 1990s) and Polytech Panthers (2007) joined the conference with the addition of their sports teams when the schools made the transition from vocational trade schools to technical and academic schools.
Of note is that not all teams joined the conference immediately at its inception, affecting the number of conference championships the teams could have won.
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