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(1-9-18) High school football scheduling is a key concern for athletic director’s around the US. Most changes in athletic conference’s usually focus around football, to ease the scheduling issue.

A new ‘mega’ conference is being considered for schools in Missouri and Illinois. Crossing the state line for schools is a new trend that has solved scheduling problems for schools cut-off by state borders.

One school in southeastern Illinois, Mt. Carmel, presently is the only member of an all Illinois conference and has made it work over the years.

Related:

Representatives from the Archdiocesan Athletic Association and the Metro League in the St. Louis area have reached out to six private schools in Illinois and five private schools in Missouri about being part of a 20- or 24-school conference of private schools that would be for football purposes with plans to start with the 2020-2021 school year

 Illinois Schools:

  • Metro-East Lutheran in Edwardsville, an independent school
  • Althoff in Belleville, a member of the South Seven Conference
  • Marquette in Alton, a member of the Prairie State Conference
  • Mater Dei in Breese, an independent school
  • Sacred Heart-Griffin in Springfield, a member of the Central State Eight
  • Quincy Notre Dame is a member of the West Central Conference

Missouri Schools:

  • St. Pius X in Festus, a member of the Jefferson County Conference;
  • Valle in Ste. Genevieve, a member of the Mineral Area Activities Association;
  • St. Vincent in Perryville, a member of the Jefferson County Conference;
  • Missouri Military Academy in Mexico, an independent school;
  • Central Home School in Arnold, an independent school

The game plan:

The Archdiocesan Athletic Association has 13 schools (two girls-only schools). The Metro League has eight schools (one girls-only school).

The proposal calls for the 11 AAA teams and the seven Metro teams to merge and add either two or six additional members. The schools would be placed in four divisions, based upon the size of the school and past football success.

The proposal calls for four to five division games to be played (depending on the size of the divisions), with two “cross-over” games to be played against teams in other divisions inside the conference. Teams would have to fill open slots in their schedule for the first, second and ninth weeks.

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