Chicago Prairie Football League Explained

Chicago Prairie Football League
Founded:	2023
Conference:	IHSA
Teams:	8
Region:	Northern Illinois (Cook, DuPage, LaSalle, Livingston, and Will counties)

The Chicago Prairie Football League is a high school football only conference in northern Illinois. The conference participates in the Illinois High School Association. The conference includes five small public and three small private high schools, with enrollments between 150 and 950 students in Cook, DuPage, LaSalle, Livingston, and Will counties.

Origins

The Chicago Prairie Football League has roots in the new Vermilion Valley Conference within the state of Illinois.

For football, the Vermilion Valley was divided into two divisions with six teams each, North and South. The north included Iroquois West and Watseka from the Vermilion Valley, Seneca and Dwight (coop) from the Tri-County Conference and Clifton Central and Momence High Schools from the River Valley Conference. Whereas the south included Bismarck-Henning-Rossville-Alvin, Salt Fork, Oakwood, Westville, Hoopeston Area (coop), and Georgetown-Ridge Farm (coop), all from the Vermilion Valley.

Due to travel time and distance between schools, the Chicago Prairie Football League formed with Dwight, St. Bede, Ottawa Marquette and Seneca coming from the Tri-County as well as Elmwood Park, Ridgewood and Westmont from the Metro Suburban and Walther Christian from the Northeastern Athletic to make up the newly formed 8-team conference tentatively named the Chicago Prairie Football League (CPFL).^{[1] [2]}

All-time membership

School	Location	County	Mascot	Colors	Other Sports Conference	Enrollment^[3]	IHSA Classes 1/2/3/4	IHSA Football Class	IHSA Football Coop^[4]
Dwight High School^[5]	Dwight, IL	Livingston	Trojans	Green, White	Tri-County	264.44	A/1A/1A	2A/3A	Yes
Marquette Academy^[6]	Ottawa, IL	LaSalle	Crusaders	Navy, Vegas Gold	Tri-County	154	A/1A/1A	1A	No
Seneca High School^[7]	Seneca, IL	LaSalle	Fighting Irish Lady Irish	Green, White	Tri-County	428.5	1A/2A	2A/3A	No
St. Bede Academy^[8]	Peru, IL	LaSalle	Bruins	Green, White	Tri-County	282	A/1A/1A	1A	No
Elmwood Park High School^[9]	River Grove, IL	Cook	Tigers	Black, Gold	Metro Suburban	957	A/2A/3A	5A	No
Ridgewood High School^[10]	Norridge, IL	Cook	Rebels	Kelly Green, White	Metro Suburban	794	A/2A/3A	5A	No
Westmont High School^[11]	Westmont, IL	DuPage	Sentinels	Burgandy, Gold	Metro Suburban	375	A/1A/2A	2A	No
Walther Christian Academy^[12]	Melrose Park, IL	Cook	Broncos	Green, White	Northeastern Athletic	205	A/1A/1A	1A	No

Sources:IHSA Conferences,^[13] and IHSA Member Schools Directory^[14]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Dwight football joins new Chicago Prairie Football League. March 13, 2023. Nov 2, 2022. Smith, Cody. Daily-Journal.
2. Web site: Seneca, Dwight among 8 teams forming Chicago Prairie Football League. March 13, 2023. Nov 2, 2022. Pedelty, J.T.. Soucie, Steve. Ellerbrock, Charlie . Shaw Local News Network.
3. Web site: Numeric Enrollments Enrollments & Classifications Schools IHSA .
4. Web site: Football Conference Schedules, Standings & Results.
5. Web site: Dwight Public Schools Home. dwight.k12.il.us. March 13, 2023.
6. Web site: Marquette Academy - Ottawa, IL. marquetteacademy.net. March 13, 2023.
7. Web site: Seneca High School. senecahs.org. March 13, 2023.
8. Web site: Saint Bede Academy. st-bede.com. March 13, 2023.
9. Web site: Elmwood Park High School EPCUSD 401 Elmwood Park High School. epcusd401.org. March 13, 2023.
10. Web site: Home of the Rebels Ridgewood High School. d234.org. March 13, 2023.
11. Web site: Westmont High School. cusd201.org. March 13, 2023.
12. Web site: Walther Christian Academy - Walther Christian Academy. walther.com. March 13, 2023.
13. Web site: IHSA.org Conferences. www.ihsa.org.
14. Web site: Schools - IHSA. www.ihsa.org.