How to make the Southwest Valley Conference even better long term

[niualum2002]

Next year the Southwest Valley will split into 2 divisions down from the current 3 this year. Those divisions will finally allow for some of the ridiculous Blue versus Red crossover games that we have seen in the previous years to disappear and should result in more competitive balance.

The SWVC Blue will be Lincoln-Way East, Sandburg, H-F, Lockport, Naperville Central, Naperville North, Neuqua Valley, and Metea Valley.

The SWVC Red will be Lincoln-Way West, Lincoln-Way Central, Bradley, Andrew, DeKalb, Waubonsie Valley, and Stagg. The 7 team Red Division will need to find Weeks 3-9 non-conference games the next two years.

But what if we could improve the Southwest Valley Conference even more? Already this year the combining of the old DVC and SWSC for football has led to some more competitive matchups and reduced the need for those old Blue versus Red crossovers in the SWSC that resulted in a 95% win percentage for the Blue. Arguably the Southwest Valley is already the top public school conference in the state in my opinion, though several other conferences can make a solid argument. So why not improve it?

So here is an idea free of charge for the 22 ADs and multiple adminstrators of these south suburban schools to take a look at when scheduling your football teams out in the future. It guarantees competitive matchups for years and saves you the work of needing to fill a random Week 7 game for example if you're in the current Southland Conference or Southwest Valley Red.

Take a lesson from the CCL/ESCC that has managed to create perhaps the most exciting competitive atmosphere in high school football in Illinois by virtually ensuring that 80-90% of their teams will have 4 wins heading into Week 9 of the season because of how masterfully they have balanced the divisions in their conferences. Don't want to lose kids to private schools? Let them be on a team that is in the playoff hunt all year instead of getting drilled by a team they shouldn't be playing in a non-competitive crossover because the AD and school/district adminstrators were too lazy to competively balance the football team's schedule like the CCL/ESCC schools do a masterful job at.

In this scenario, I'm combining the Southland Conference into the SWVC, but doing it in a way that will allow a bit more competition for Kankakee and Crete-Monee, but still allowing for any of those schools from the Southland Conference to get a clear path to 5 victories for the playoffs and reduce their need for finding a random Weeks 3-9 game. Here is my plan to improve the south suburban high school football landscape and also kind of recreate the old SICA which was the best setup ever.

Let me know what you think.


I present to you the Southwestland Valley Football Conference...


SOUTHWESTLAND VALLEY FOOTBALL CONFERENCE

CONFERENCES DETERMINED BY SCHOOL ENROLLMENT AND PREVIOUS FOOTBALL SUCCESS
(MODEL USED NOW BY THE SOUTHWEST VALLEY)

BLUE: Lincoln-Way East/Neuqua Valley/Lockport/Naperville Central/Naperville North/Sandburg
RED: Homewood-Flossmoor/Waubonsie Valley/Rich Township/Bloom Township/Metea Valley/Stagg
GREEN: Lincoln-Way West/Lincoln-Way Central/Bradley-Bourbonnais/Andrew/DeKalb
GRAY: Kankakee/Crete-Monee/Thornwood/Thornton/Thornridge

WEEK 3: RANDOM CROSSOVERS (HAND-PICKED FOR COMPETITIVE BALANCE FOR THIS EXERCISE):
Lincoln-Way East-Lincoln-Way Central
Naperville Central-Kankakee
Naperville North-Bradley-Bourbonnais
Lockport-Andrew
Neuqua Valley-Crete-Monee
Sandburg-H-F
Lincoln-Way West-Waubonsie Valley
Metea Valley-DeKalb
Stagg-Thornwood
Rich Township-Thornridge
Bloom Township-Thornton

WEEK 4: BLUE/RED AND GREEN/GRAY HYPOTHETICAL CROSSOVERS::
Lincoln-Way East-H-F
Neuqua Valley-Waubonsie Valley
Lockport-Rich Township
Naperville Central-Bloom Township
Naperville North-Metea Valley
Sandburg-Stagg
Lincoln-Way West-Crete-Monee
Lincoln-Way Central-Kankakee
Bradley-Bourbonnais-Thornton
Andrew-Thornridge
DeKalb-Thornton

WEEKS 5-9: BLUE AND RED CONFERENCE GAMES
GREEN AND GRAY CONFERENCE GAMES WITH 1 GREEN VS. GRAY WEEK 5-9 CROSSOVER GAME BASED ON PREVIOUS YEARS STANDINGS

 

[bccanwin]

Metea getting f#@ked

 

[niualum2002]

Metea getting f#@ked

You should see their schedule next year. Downers South Week 1 and LWE, NN, NC, Lockport, Sandburg, Neuqua, and H-F in conference. This schedule would be a gift compared to what they have next year

 

[bccanwin]

You should see their schedule next year. Downers South Week 1 and LWE, NN, NC, Lockport, Sandburg, Neuqua, and H-F in conference. This schedule would be a gift compared to what they have next year

It's a joke to be honest. They should be in the upstate 8. No one cares about their kids or the morale of the school. I hate to see any program put in this position.

 

[homer2424]

If moving to 2 divisions why wouldn’t they have 7 in Blue, 8 in Red and move Metea down to red? Beyond absurd how they’re screwing Metea with this setup.

 

[Cross Bones]

They're like "Hey that thing we did that chased the Joliet schools out, let's do that to Matea"

I personally extend an offer to Matea, Stagg, and Morris to come to the SWP. We'll move Plainfield S and Plainfield E to the West and add Morris. The East gets Matea, Stagg, Brook.

Now the SouthWest Valley has 12 teams for 2 conferences and 4 nonconference games to make their schedules as easy or hard as they want and still get the automatic bid.

Adding the Southland wouldn't work as you remember half the Southland was already in the SWSC.

 

[niualum2002]

You would need an even amount in the Southwest Prairie so no Morris or you need to find one more if you added Metea and Stagg and not sure if they’d leave their district counterparts.

But an East Division of Bolingbrook, Romeoville, Joliet West, Joliet Central, Stagg, Metea and Plainfield Central would be kind of fun. Some echoes of the old SICA Gray there. You could always push Plainfield Central out West if you wanted to go to 16 if adding either Andrew and Sandburg from 230, or Neuqua and Waubonsie from 204 was on the table. Still would be a shorter drive than games in Bradley or DeKalb for those schools.

I genuinely have no idea how Metea wasn’t bumped to the Southwest Valley Red and swapped out with a Lincoln-Way West or Central who could compete in the Southwest Valley Blue.

Southland teams wouldn’t be likely to come into the Southwest Valley I agree unless they are tired of needing to fill that random Week 3-9 game and if Crete-Monee and Kankakee want more competition prior to playoff time.

 

[Panthers1211]

You would need an even amount in the Southwest Prairie so no Morris or you need to find one more if you added Metea and Stagg and not sure if they’d leave their district counterparts.

But an East Division of Bolingbrook, Romeoville, Joliet West, Joliet Central, Stagg, Metea and Plainfield Central would be kind of fun. Some echoes of the old SICA Gray there. You could always push Plainfield Central out West if you wanted to go to 16 if adding either Andrew and Sandburg from 230, or Neuqua and Waubonsie from 204 was on the table. Still would be a shorter drive than games in Bradley or DeKalb for those schools.

I genuinely have no idea how Metea wasn’t bumped to the Southwest Valley Red and swapped out with a Lincoln-Way West or Central who could compete in the Southwest Valley Blue.

Southland teams wouldn’t be likely to come into the Southwest Valley I agree unless they are tired of needing to fill that random Week 3-9 game and if Crete-Monee and Kankakee want more competition prior to playoff time.

They based everything off of enrollment. Metea Valley playing in the upper division next year is a joke!!!

 

[NNFAN]

Word is that DeKalb is leaving. That could push Metea to Red. I hate the new conference. Some deserving teams will not make the playoffs.

 

[niualum2002]

Interesting. Any idea where DeKalb lands?

 

[Cross Bones]

You would need an even amount in the Southwest Prairie so no Morris or you need to find one more if you added Metea and Stagg and not sure if they’d leave their district counterparts.

But an East Division of Bolingbrook, Romeoville, Joliet West, Joliet Central, Stagg, Metea and Plainfield Central would be kind of fun. Some echoes of the old SICA Gray there. You could always push Plainfield Central out West if you wanted to go to 16 if adding either Andrew and Sandburg from 230, or Neuqua and Waubonsie from 204 was on the table. Still would be a shorter drive than games in Bradley or DeKalb for those schools.

I genuinely have no idea how Metea wasn’t bumped to the Southwest Valley Red and swapped out with a Lincoln-Way West or Central who could compete in the Southwest Valley Blue.

Southland teams wouldn’t be likely to come into the Southwest Valley I agree unless they are tired of needing to fill that random Week 3-9 game and if Crete-Monee and Kankakee want more competition prior to playoff time.

Add Morris and Sandwich.
Not quite the SICA Gray, no Andrew and no need for one either 😏

 

[Panthers1211]

Word is that DeKalb is leaving. That could push Metea to Red. I hate the new conference. Some deserving teams will not make the

Funny how none of the Lincoln Way’s play each other this year!!

 

[johnndoe]

Funny how none of the Lincoln Way’s play each other this year!!

West and Central avoiding East in cross-overs has been going on for the last 4 seasons including this one. Yet East managed to get Andrew all 4 and Stagg 3 of those.

 

[IHSAfan207]

It's a joke to be honest. They should be in the upstate 8. No one cares about their kids or the morale of the school. I hate to see any program put in this position.

Upstate8 is a joke of a conference. SE, GBE, GBS, and now WA all beat up on bad football teams only to get into the playoffs to get completely outclassed. These teams win games by half time, sit starters in 2nd half, never get challenged but maybe 1 or 2 games a season, as a result are never prepared for playoffs. These kids never get a chance to become better, always over evaluate their own talent, which falls apart as soon as they are tested. US8 had a great opportunity to put all these teams on one side when spitting the conference, to get them playing better more consistent games, but of course they took the easy way. One thing new is they now get to schedule 3 out of conference games, some took harder games while others continued the same old pattern with easy games. Time will tell.

 

[bccanwin]

Word is that DeKalb is leaving. That could push Metea to Red. I hate the new conference. Some deserving teams will not make the playoffs.

Interesting though. The DeKalb AD has more narcissistic thoughts about himself than most if not all ADs. What spot can "he" put them in that is better than where they currently are located?

 

[treyuc25]

BLUE: Lincoln-Way East/Neuqua Valley/Lockport/Naperville Central/Naperville North/Sandburg/Homewood-Flossmoor
RED: Waubonsie Valley/Lincoln-Way West/Lincoln-Way Central/ Kankakee/Bradley-Bourbonnais/Andrew/Crete-Monee
GREEN: DeKalb/ Metea Valley/Stagg/ Thornwood/Thornton/Thornridge/ Rich Township/ Bloom

The Blue would be great football
The Red would be good football
The Green would be competitive football

 

[SWsuburbs4]

If moving to 2 divisions why wouldn’t they have 7 in Blue, 8 in Red and move Metea down to red? Beyond absurd how they’re screwing Metea with this setup.

The whole motivation for the DVC to join the SWSC is because the large and good DVC schools couldn't find a random Week 3-9 out-of-conference game. This is the same reason why in the 2025 format the Blue has the complete 8 schools (only weeks 1-2 non-cons) and the Red has 7 (more likely to find a match for a random week non-con).

Metea is definitely the sacrificial lamb here, similar to how Andrew and LWW were the sacrificial lambs for this current 3 division setup.

The biggest problem with conference realignment is schools being handcuffed to their sister schools. Stagg should not be forced to be in the same conference as Andrew and Sandburg. Metea should be allowed to break away from the Valleys. From what I've heard, this will never happen. Unfortunate.

 

[MIKEFTB]

Lot of possibilities here but you have to have Metea drop down to the Red Division and Waubonsie Valley move up to the Blue

 

[Panthers1211]

The whole motivation for the DVC to join the SWSC is because the large and good DVC schools couldn't find a random Week 3-9 out-of-conference game. This is the same reason why in the 2025 format the Blue has the complete 8 schools (only weeks 1-2 non-cons) and the Red has 7 (more likely to find a match for a random week non-con).

Metea is definitely the sacrificial lamb here, similar to how Andrew and LWW were the sacrificial lambs for this current 3 division setup.

The biggest problem with conference realignment is schools being handcuffed to their sister schools. Stagg should not be forced to be in the same conference as Andrew and Sandburg. Metea should be allowed to break away from the Valleys. From what I've heard, this will never happen. Unfortunate.

Metea being handcuffed to the other two Valleys hurts. Glenbard schools are in 3 different conferences.

 

[SiuCubFan8]

I’ve heard this reason for a few different school districts. Why??? Each school is different, don’t they want them to be in the best fit athletically for each school?

 

[PowerI66]

BLUE: Lincoln-Way East/Neuqua Valley/Lockport/Naperville Central/Naperville North/Sandburg/Homewood-Flossmoor
RED: Waubonsie Valley/Lincoln-Way West/Lincoln-Way Central/ Kankakee/Bradley-Bourbonnais/Andrew/Crete-Monee
GREEN: DeKalb/ Metea Valley/Stagg/ Thornwood/Thornton/Thornridge/ Rich Township/ Bloom

The Blue would be great football
The Red would be good football
The Green would be competitive football

Have you looked at the travel times for DeKalb in this scenario?

 

[NNFAN]

I have a great idea... put Naper North, Naper Central, Neuqua, Waubonsie, Metea, undefeated West Aurora, Wheaton North, and Wheaton South in the same conference. We can call it the DuPage Valley Conference. All of the schools in the same geographical area to reduce travel times.

 

[bccanwin]

I have a great idea... put Naper North, Naper Central, Neuqua, Waubonsie, Metea, undefeated West Aurora, Wheaton North, and Wheaton South in the same conference. We can call it the DuPage Valley Conference. All of the schools in the same geographical area to reduce travel times.

Nothing better than the old school DVC.. Sad what happened to that conference 😞

 

[Panthers1211]

And there basing the new SWSC conference division for next year based on enrollment.

 

[UlbKA91]

Have you looked at the travel times for DeKalb in this scenario?

DeKalb will have similar distances but less traffic if they go FVC or Northern Big 12. They would need to bring a #12 for both ( or a #16 for U8).or do they go to the i-8?

 

[treyuc25]

Have you looked at the travel times for DeKalb in this scenario?

Since is it completely hypothetical..... No