This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.Find sources: "Cahokia Conference" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Cahokia Conference
ConferenceIHSA
Founded1928
No. of teams12
RegionSouthwestern Illinois (near St. Louis)

The Cahokia Conference is a high school athletic and competitive activity organization which currently consists of 18 schools in southwestern Illinois. All of the schools are located in Clinton, Madison, Marion, Monroe, Randolph, St. Clair, and Washington counties. The conference began in 1928.[1]

List of member schools

Dupo is a member of the Cahokia Conference in all sports except football, where it competes in the Prairie State Conference starting with the 2017 season.[2] Carlyle will also not be a member for football starting in 2020 due to moving from 11-man football to 8-man football.[3]

Two schools, Valmeyer and Steeleville, were added for the 2006–07 season. The addition split the conference into two divisions, the Mississippi and the Kaskaskia. Salem was admitted to the conference in 2017, joining the Mississippi Division.

Expansion and realignment occurred starting with the 2022-23 school year. Chester, Okawville, Roxana, Sparta and East Alton-Wood River all joined the Cahokia.[4] After all schools join, The conference would then realign into three divisions:

Mississippi Division

School Location Team Name Colors County School Enrollment (2023–24) Year Joined Previous Conference
Breese Central Breese Cougars     Clinton 620 1983 Quad County
Columbia Columbia Eagles     Monroe 618 1960 Kaskaskia
East Alton-Wood River Wood River Oilers     Madison 565 2021 Prairie State
Freeburg Freeburg Midgets     St. Clair 663 1928
Roxana Roxana Shells       Madison 520 2022 South Central
Salem Salem Wildcats       Marion 678 2017 Apollo

Kaskaskia Division

School Location Team Name Colors County School Enrollment (2023–24) Year Joined Previous Conference
Dupo1 Dupo Tigers     St. Clair 258 1928
1971 		Quad county

Midwestern

Lebanon Lebanon Greyhounds     St. Clair 138 1929
Marissa2 Marissa Meteors     St. Clair 159 1928
1983
New Athens New Athens Yellow Jackets     St. Clair 139 1928
Steeleville Steeleville Warriors     Randolph 139 2006
Valmeyer Valmeyer Pirates     Monroe 126 2006

Illinois Division

School Location Team Name Colors County School Enrollment (2023–24) Year Joined Previous Conference
Carlyle Carlyle Indians     Clinton 300 1988 Southwest Egyptian
Chester Chester Yellow Jackets     Randolph 330 2022 Black Diamond-West
Okawville Okawville Rockets
Lady Rockets 		    Washington 192 2022 Independent
Red Bud Red Bud Musketeers     Randolph 371 1972 Chartres
Sparta Sparta Bulldogs     Randolph 316 2022 Southern Illinois River-to-River
Wesclin Trenton Warriors     Clinton 385 1983
  1. Dupo played in Midwestern Conference 1956-71.
  2. Marissa left in 1933, and rejoined in 1983.

Former Schools

Partial list, more schools to be added.

School Location Team Name Colors County Year Joined Previous Conference Year Left Conference Joined
O'Fallon O'Fallon Panthers     St. Clair 1928 Independents
(SWC 1926) 		1971 Mississippi Valley
Waterloo Waterloo Bulldogs     Monroe Unknown Unknown 1997 Mississippi Valley


Sports

Each year a conference champion is determined in each division for volleyball, boys and girls basketball, baseball, and softball by each division member playing round-robin home and away. The team with the best win–loss record is the champion.

For boys and girls golf and boys soccer one champion is determined by round–robin play, with each school in the conference playing each other once. The team with the best win–loss record is the champion.

Cross country and track & field for boys and girls each have one champion determined by the winner of each sport's conference meet. The scholastic bowl champion is the winner of the conference tournament.

Like golf and soccer, the conference football championship is determined based on round–robin play. However, only seven teams (the Mississippi division and Dupo) field football teams. As noted above, Carlyle will begin 8-man play in 2020 moving the conference to 6 schools for the short-term.

There is no cross-over for conference play due to the size discrepancy between schools in the Mississippi Division and schools in the Kaskaskia Division.

State trophies

Breese (Central)

Carlyle

Columbia

Dupo

Freeburg

Lebanon

Marissa

New Athens

Red Bud

Steeleville

Trenton (Wesclin)

Valmeyer

Miscellaneous Facts

Baseball Achievements

No other small school athletic conference in the state of Illinois has claimed as many state baseball championships as the Cahokia Conference. The list of championships by current member teams includes 7 years (1979, 1981, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1996, and 2007), as well as 9 runner-up performances (1948, 1956, 1978, 1990, 1993, 2002, 2006, 2008, and 2009), and two third-place finishes (2010 & 2014).

2005 Volleyball Championship

In the 2005 state volleyball tournament Breese Central defeated Columbia in the championship match. This was the first time in IHSA Volleyball history that two teams from the same conference met in the title match. Ironically, the conference champion of 2005 was Freeburg, which had moved to class AA and won the first ever AA regional for a school from this conference.

References

  1. ^ "Correspondence". Edwardsville (IL) Intelligencer. 1929-02-27. Retrieved 2017-06-17.
  2. ^ "Dupo football leaving Cahokia Conference after 2016; will join Prairie State Conference". Belleville News Democrat. 13 January 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
  3. ^ "8-man football ranks continue growth | Friday Night Drive". www.fridaynightdrive.com. Archived from the original on 2020-02-29.
  4. ^ "East Alton Wood River Agrees To Join Cahokia Super Conference | WJBD-FM". www.southernillinoisnow.com. Archived from the original on 2020-06-06.
Categories