The Northwest 8 Conference was a

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main ...

in northwest and north central

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

. The conference participated in athletics and activities in the

Illinois High School Association The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is an association that regulates competition of interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level for the state of Illinois. It is a charter member of the National Fed ...

. The conference included small public high schools with enrollments between 75-600 students in Boone,

Carroll Carroll may refer to: People * Carroll (given name) * Carroll (surname) * O'Carroll, also known as Carroll, a Gaelic Irish clan * Mac Cearbhaill, anglicised as Carroll, a Gaelic Irish clan * Charles Carroll Webster (1824-1893), American lawyer and ...

DeKalb DeKalb or De Kalb may refer to: People * Baron Johann de Kalb (1721–1780), major general in the American Revolutionary War Places Municipalities in the United States * DeKalb, Illinois, the largest city in the United States named DeKalb **DeKal ...

, Jo Daviess,

Lee Lee may refer to: Name Given name * Lee (given name), a given name in English Surname * Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee: ** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname ** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese ...

Ogle Ogle may refer to: Places * Ogle County, Illinois, United States * Original name of Ashton, Illinois, a village * Ogle, Kentucky, United States, an unincorporated community * Ogle Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania, United States * Ogle, N ...

Stephenson Stephenson is a medieval patronymic surname meaning "son of Stephen". The earliest public record is found in the county of Huntingdonshire in 1279. There are variant spellings including Stevenson. People with the surname include: *Ashley Stephen ...

, and

Winnebago Winnebago can refer to: * The exonym of the Ho-Chunk tribe of Native North Americans with reservations in Nebraska, Iowa, and Wisconsin ** Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, a federally recognized tribe group in the state ** The Winnebago language of the ...

counties.

History

This conference was composed of teams from the short-lived ''original''

Upstate Illini Conference The Upstate Illini Conference (UIC) was a high school conference (sports), conference in northwest and north central Illinois. The conference participated in athletics and activities in the Illinois High School Association. The conference incl ...

(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 Orangeville High School , now referred to as Orangeville CUSD (Community Unit School District #203), is a public School four year high school that also hosts the Junior High and the elementary school level grades for the entire school district. T ...

, 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 A trailblazer is a person who is paving the way in their particular field for future generations. Trailblazer may refer to: Sports * Derby Trailblazers, a British semi-professional basketball team * North Carolina Trailblazers, a US women's recr ...

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

* Ashton and Franklin Center began a sports CoOp in 1985, creating a new mascot and school colors.
''Sources:IHSA Conferences'', ''IHSA Coop Teams, and IHSA Member Schools DirectoryIHSA.org Schools Directory
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Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:1100 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1974 till:1991 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = 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:1974 TextData = fontsize:L textcolor:black pos:(0,30) tabs:(400-center) text:^"Northwest 8 Membership History" #> 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

History

Member schools

Membership timeline

References

External links