Mascoutah athletics leaving MVC to join Southwestern Conference in 2026. Here’s why
Mascoutah High School, a charter member of the Mississippi Valley Conference, announced it will leave the MVC and join the Southwestern Conference for the 2026-27 school year.
The Mascoutah School Board officially approved the move on Tuesday at the District 19 School Board meeting.
“I think our community is excited and I think some people are nervous, certainly, but our coaches have been great in the discussions and they want to be challenged, too,” said Mascoutah Athletic Director Scott Battas. “They want to line up against the best and have to prepare every week for great challenges.”
The school had also considered returning to the MVC or joining the South Seven Conference before momentum for the Southwestern Conference began building in the fall, said Battas.
In January, he said he and other officials at the high school made the decision to approach the school board about changing conferences.
Geography and competitive balance were the driving factors factors, in addition to District 19’s steadily growing enrollment.
“Travel was definitely at the top of the list and with the Southwest Conference if you put a on the map in the middle of the Southwestern Conference and you’ve got a 25-30 minute drive all the way around and I think that’s very attractive to us to compete locally,” Battas said.
The Southwestern Conference has been the traditional home of southern Illinois’ biggest athletic programs, including Belleville East, Edwardsville and O’Fallon, which compete in the top classes in all sports. Other members include Alton, Collinsville, Belleville West, and East St. Louis, which last fall completed a perfect conference football season before sweeping to a state football championship in class 6A.
Battas acknowledged that being competitive in the Southwestern Conference could initially be a challenge for the football Indians, who most recently qualified for the IHSA playoffs in 2022 in class 5A.
“We’ve been competing against the Southwestern Conference schools in every sport as a kind of a measuring stick. When you take football out of the equation and look at some of the other sports that have had a lot of success …” Battas said.
He said Mascoutah teams have been especially competitive against Southwestern Conference teams in track and field, baseball, bowling and soccer.
“And we feel like in volleyball we’ve competed at the top and we feel like the bulk of our sports really fit well competitively in that league,” he said.
Collinsville remains a member of the Southwestern Conference, but competes as an Independent in football. Battas didn’t say if that was a consideration for Mascoutah.
Other Southwestern Conference schools called Mascoutah’s addition a “win-win.”
“Mascoutah’s really going to start to grow over the next few years and they’re definitely looking for some of that bigger competition and it’s great,” Edwardsville AD Amy Boscolo said. “It’s a good move for the Southwestern Conference and Mascoutah’s numbers are going to start to go up.
“It allows for a little more stability in the Southwestern Conference as well because we only have like six teams in football and seven teams overall. … They’ll make us better.”
Belleville West Athletic Director Joe Muniz echoed Boscolo in his reaction to the addition.
“We’re super excited to bring a quality school and athletic program like Mascoutah into the Southwestern Conference,” Muniz said. “I think they just make our conference – which is already one of the best in the state – that much better.”