Welcome to the first official Basketball 2025 MCAC State Tournament weekends!
We are thankful for Cambridge Christian School and Fourth Baptist School for being gracious hosts for this year’s Girls and Boys State Tournaments. Thank you to all the volunteers, coaches, players, and spectators who will help make these weekend tournaments a success for all our teams! We are thankful for all the players competing in the arena this weekend as they display their God given talents in ways that bring joy to all of us. And we are thankful for the common unity our schools share through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! May everything we say and do this weekend be honoring towards Him and to each other.
History of the League
The Minnesota Christian Athletic Conference, also known as the MCAC, was formed in the summer of 2024 when two separate Christian school athletic leagues merged together to form a new league. The Christian Athletic League (CAL) and the Minnesota Association of Christian Schools (MACS) formed a joint committee, which eventually became the new MCAC Executive Board. The MCAC board met throughout the summer and into the fall to work out many of the details of the formation of this new league. Our first fall and winter seasons have been a huge success. The MCAC board is composed of six Athletic Directors from three CAL schools and three MACS schools who have worked tirelessly to form a new league handbook which provides the basis for the league’s rules, regulations, and format for each of our seasons. The board continues to meet regularly to ensure the general oversight and smooth operation of the league.
In part, the introduction in the MCAC handbook reads:
The MCAC exists as an outflow of our member school’s strong commitment to Christian Education and our desire to consistently train our young people in all areas of life on the foundation of Biblical values and truth. The MCAC offers one avenue for our students to practically live out their Christian faith in the athletic arena as we enjoy athletic competition with other Christian schools of similar size and philosophy. The MCAC values and seeks to foster long-standing and meaningful relationships between its member schools and participants.
In this inaugural year, the MCAC had 33 varsity teams participating in the fall State Tournaments and this winter we have 28 teams participating in our Basketball State Tournaments. These varsity teams represent 18 different schools and there are 8 additional schools which are currently only able to compete at the sub-varsity level (JV) but hope to be able to compete at the varsity level in the near future. The formation of the new league provides an increase in competition across our member schools in ways that will serve our student-athletes well for many years to come. The MCAC currently sponsors 5 varsity level sports with accompanying State Tournaments: Boys Soccer, Girls Volleyball, Girls Basketball, Boys Basketball, and Girls Soccer. Additional sports are currently under review. We are excited for the possibilities that await including building new relationships among our schools and the opportunity for league expansion by involving more Christian schools and additional sports as the league becomes more established.
Basketball State Tournament Format
At the conclusion of the basketball regular season, all conference varsity teams were seeded to form the State Tournament bracket. First round playoff games were hosted by the higher seed. The top 8 winning teams coming out of the first round were placed in the Tier 1 bracket and the bottom teams were placed into the Tier 2 bracket. The Tier 2 bracket winners will be awarded 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place trophies. The Tier 1 bracket winners will be awarded Championship, 2nd, 3rd, and Consolation place trophies. A select group of players will be chosen to the First and Second All-Tournament Teams. In addition, First and Second All-Conference Teams have been selected to honor the top athletes from across the league from regular season play. These teams can be found in the tournament program and will be announced and handed their awards on Saturday at the conclusion of the tournament.
We are grateful and thankful for the many people involved in many different ways to make a league like ours and the associated State Tournament a success. We look forward with eager anticipation to what this State Tournament weekend will bring not only in success for our teams but also in building new and lasting relationships among our schools.
In Christ,
Jeff Bonkoski (MCAC Co-director)