Northwest 8 Conference Explained

Northwest 8 Conference
Founded:	1977
Dissolved:	1990
Conference:	IHSA
Teams:	8
Region:	Northwest Illinois (Boone, Carroll, DeKalb, Jo Daviess, Lee, Ogle, Stephenson, and Winnebago counties)
Map:	Northwest 8 Conference.png
Map Size:	250px

The Northwest 8 Conference was a high school conference in northwest and north central Illinois. The conference participated in athletics and activities in the Illinois High School Association. The conference included small public high schools with enrollments between 75-600 students in Boone, Carroll, DeKalb, Jo Daviess, Lee, Ogle, Stephenson, and Winnebago counties.

History

This conference was composed of teams from the short-lived original Upstate Illini Conference (1974 to 1976), the first year of competition was 1977 with eight charter schools: Ashton, Durand, Franklin Center, Leaf River, Milledgeville, Mt. Carroll, Pearl City and Rockford Lutheran. The primary reason for the creation of the league was football based, all of the teams from the Upstate Illini with football, except for Orangeville High School, merged into a conference of like sized schools. Prior to the 1982 season Rockford Lutheran left the conference, moving to the Prairie Conference. In 1985, a significant change in structure occurred as Kirkland-Hiawatha left the Trailblazer Conference and joined the Northwest 8, Ashton and Franklin Center began their coop and Leaf River dropped football, leaving the league with 6 teams for football. In 1987, the conference began talks with the Upstate Illini to create a league that would be divided into divisions with equal numbers for all sports, including football. In 1988, North Boone, South Beloit, Warren and River Ridge joined the conference while Rockford Lutheran rejoined. Even though the league was re-branded in 1988, the official final year of competition was 1990 in order to realign football schedules.

Based on the fact that there were originally 8 teams, the conference maintained the name Northwest 8 even when the total number of schools dropped below or increased beyond that total. The league eventually rose to 12 teams and due to the increased number, talks for a re-branding of the Northwest 8 took place in 1987. In 1988, the idea of moving back to the Upstate Illini provided an opportunity to eliminate a conference name that included a number, and competition for all sports, with the exception of football, was established. In 1991, football schedules were set with 6 teams in the North Division: Durand, North Boone, Pearl City, Rockford (Lutheran), Elizabeth (River Ridge)-Warren (coop) and South Beloit and the South Division: Ashton-Franklin Center, Kirkland-Hiawatha, Milledgeville, Mt. Carroll, Mt. Morris and Polo.

Member schools

School	Location	Mascot	Colors	Year Joined	Year Left	IHSA Classes A/AA^[1]	IHSA Music Class^[2]	IHSA Football Class^[3]
Ashton High School	Ashton, IL	Aces	Green, Gold	1977	1985*	A	-	1A
Ashton- Franklin Center	Ashton, IL	Raiders	Black, Gold, White	1985*	1991	A	-	1A
Durand High School	Durand, IL	Bulldogs	Royal Blue, White	1977	1991	A	C	1A
Franklin Center High School	Franklin Grove, IL	Eagles	Maroon, Gold	1977	1985*	A	A	1A
Kirkland-Hiawatha High School	Kirkland, IL	Hawks	Navy Blue, Gold	1985	1990	A	D	1A
Leaf River High School	Leaf River, IL	Demons	Royal Blue, White	1977	1990	A	C	1A
Milledgeville High School	Milledgeville, IL	Missiles	Orange, Black	1977	1991	A	D	1A
Mount Carroll High School	Mount Carroll, IL	Hawks	Purple, Gold	1977	1991	A	D	1A
Mt. Morris High School	Mt. Morris, IL	Mounders	Red, Black	1990	1991	A	C	1A
North Boone High School	Poplar Grove, IL	Vikings	Green, White	1989	1991	A	C	2A
Pearl City High School	Pearl City, IL	Wolves	Red, White, Black	1977	1991	A	D	1A
Polo Community High School	Polo, IL	Marcos	Blue, Gold	1990	1991	A	C	1A
River Ridge High School	Elizabeth, IL	Wildcats	Navy Blue, Grey	1988	1991	A	D	Coop w/Warren
Rockford Lutheran High School	Rockford, IL	Crusaders	Purple, White	1977, 1986	1982, 1991	A	C	2A
South Beloit High School	South Beloit, IL	Sobos	Scarlet Red, White	1989	1991	A	C	1A
Warren High School	Warren, IL	Warriors	Orange, Black	1988	1991	A	D	1A

* Ashton and Franklin Center began a sports CoOp in 1985, creating a new mascot and school colors.
Sources:IHSA Conferences^[4] , IHSA Coop Teams,^[5] and IHSA Member Schools Directory^[6]

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyyImageSize = width:1100 height:auto barincrement:20Period = from:1974 till:1991TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalPlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<#Colors = id:barcolor id:line value:pink id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that was a member of an Other Conference id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.78,0.391,0.654) # Use this color to denote a team that is a full member in a football coop id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that was a member of the Upstate Illini Conference id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that was a member of the Mid Northern PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s

bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:1974 till:1977text:Ashton bar:1 color:Full from:1977 till:1985 text:(1977–85) bar:1 color:AssocOS from:1985 till:1991 text:Franklin Center (Coop) (1985–91)

bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:1974 till:1977text:Durand bar:2 color:Full from:1977 till:1991 text:(1977–91)

bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:1974 till:1977text:Franklin Center bar:3 color:Full from:1977 till:1985 text:(1977-85) bar:3 color:AssocOS from:1985 till:1991 text:Ashton (Coop) (1985-91)

bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:1974 till:1977text:Milledgeville bar:4 color:Full from:1977 till:1991 text:(1977–91)

bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:1974 till:1977text:Mt. Carroll bar:5 color:Full from:1977 till:1991 text:(1977–91)

bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:1974 till:1977text:Pearl City bar:6 color:Full from:1977 till:1991 text:(1977–91)

bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:1974 till:1977text:Rockford Lutheran bar:7 color:Full from:1977 till:1981 text:(1977-81) bar:7 color:AssocF from:1981 till:1985text:(1981-85) Trailblazer Conference bar:7 color:Full from:1985 till:1991 text:(1985-91)

bar:8 color:OtherC2 from:1974 till:1977text:Leaf River bar:8 color:Full from:1977 till:1985 text:(1977–90) bar:8 color:FullxF from:1985 till:1990

bar:9 color:AssocF from:1974 till:1982text:Kirkland-Hiawatha (1974-82) bar:9 color:AssocF from:1982 till:1985text:(1982-85) Trailblazer Conference bar:9 color:Full from:1985 till:1991 text:(1985–91)

bar:10 color:FullxF from:1986 till:1989 text:River Ridge* (1986-89) bar:10 color:AssocOS from:1989 till:1991 text:(1989–91)FB coop w/Warren

bar:11 color:AssocF from:1974 till:1985text:North Boone (1974-85) SHARK Conference bar:11 color:AssocF from:1985 till:1989text:(1985-89) Big 8 Conference bar:11 color:Full from:1989 till:1991 text:(1989–91)

bar:12 color:AssocF from:1974 till:1982text:South Beloit (1974-85) SHARK Conference bar:12 color:AssocF from:1982 till:1985 text:(1985-89) Trailblazer Conference bar:12 color:AssocF from:1985 till:1989 text:(1985-89) Independent bar:12 color:Full from:1989 till:1991 text:(1989–91)

bar:13 color:AssocF from:1974 till:1989 text:Warren (1985-89) Northwest Illinois Conference bar:13 color:AssocOS from:1989 till:1991 text:(1989–91)FB coop w/River Ridge

bar:14 color:OtherC2 from:1974 till:1990text:Mt. Morris bar:14 color:Full from:1990 till:1991 text:(1990–91)

bar:15 color:OtherC2 from:1974 till:1990text:Polo bar:15 color:Full from:1990 till:1991 text:(1990–91)

ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:1974TextData =

fontsize:L

textcolor:black

pos:(0,30) tabs:(400-center)

text:^"Northwest 8 Membership History"

1. > If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following six options (use only the colors that are used in the graphic.) Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space. <#

• River Ridge became a consolidated school district in 1986, combining Elizabeth High School and Hanover High School, both coming from the Upstate Illini Conference

External links

• Ashton-Franklin Center High School
• Durand High School
• Kirkland-Hiawatha High School
• Milledgeville High School
• North Boone High School
• Pearl City High School
• Polo High School
• River Ridge High School
• Rockford Lutheran High School
• South Beloit High School
• Warren High School
• West Carroll High School

Notes and References

1. https://www.ihsa.org/Schools/EnrollmentsClassifications/AlphabeticalEnrollments.aspx IHSA.org Enrollments
2. https://www.ihsa.org/SportsActivities/Music/RecordsHistory.aspx?url=/data/mu/records/index.htm IHSA.org Music History
3. https://www.ihsa.org/SportsActivities/BoysFootball/RecordsHistory.aspx IHSA.org Football History
4. https://www.ihsa.org/Schools/ConferencesAffiliatedSchools.aspx IHSA.org Conferences
5. https://www.ihsa.org/Schools/SchoolDirectory/CooperativeTeams.aspx IHSA.org Cooperative Agreements
6. https://www.ihsa.org/Schools/SchoolDirectory.aspx IHSA.org Schools Directory