New metro-east football conference takes the hassle out of being an independent
Mark Briggs, athletic director at Roxana High School, had a problem with regard to his football team: It was homeless.
Kicked out of the Cahokia Conference in May of 2024 because Briggs wanted to declare independence for the football team, and for refusing to play in the conference’s Mississippi division against much larger schools, the Class 3A Shells had to play as a nonconference team last season.
While it was a tremendous year for the Shells on the field, it was an expensive, time-consuming hassle.
While most schools only have to find four nonconference opponents to fill out a nine-game regular season schedule, Briggs had to find nine of them. In several cases, that meant long, three-hour bus rides and the added expenses that come with that, along with those for parents and team enthusiasts.
Briggs’ solution: the newly formed Metro Valley Football Conference.
Starting in 2026, the Metro Valley will comprise of Roxana and four other high schools: Alton Marquette Catholic, Althoff Catholic, Madison, and Mater Dei. A sixth school, Briggs said, should be added soon.
Instead of nine nonconference opponents, Griggs will only need to find four. Most conference teams will be just a half-hour drive from each other. The MVC will operate within Illinois High School Association bylaws, with a recognized conference champion each season.
Conference realignments are happening elsewhere in the state, Griggs said, because of one reason.
“It’s all related to football, all football-driven,” Griggs said. “We got removed from the Cahokia conference because of football. They kept adding larger schools. Our enrollment is 475-495 usually, depending on the day of the school year. And that squeezed us out. We wanted to play football in the Illinois Division in the Cahokia conference and they rejected us. They said that we were a powerhouse and not a good fit for them, because we would run through the conference most years and win it.”
Griggs, along with a school such as Class 1A state champion Althoff, had trouble finding opponents last season because other schools thought they were too good. Being independent for another season means the same logistical hassles will be there, but Griggs and other officials in the newly formed conference think easier days are ahead.
“This partnership allows us to build strong relationships while competing at the highest level in the state,” Althoff coach Austin Frazier said.
Mater Dei, a football program with 29 state playoff appearances and 10 trips to the Elite Eight, is thrilled to have a home after almost 20 years as an independent.
“Joining this conference finally brings us the stability we’ve been missing. Instead of scrambling to find games each year, we now have a consistent schedule and the opportunity to build lasting relationships with other schools,” Mater Dei athletic director Cory Arentsen said.
Said Madison athletic director Phillip Gilbert, “Joining this conference makes scheduling easier and gives our athletes more exposure. It gives them a platform to be seen and recognized, which is a big step for our program.”
It takes a minimum of five wins for any Illinois high school football team to advance to the postseason, and Griggs acknowledged the “drive for five” often plays a factor in teams changing conferences.
“When you’re in a tough conference, you want to find some games where you can get some wins, because you can’t qualify for the playoffs without five. Everyone tries to position themselves with nonconference weeks,” Griggs said. “When we went independent, a lot of teams didn’t want to play us and we had to jump all over the place. So, formed this concept of ‘how can we bring together independent schools that are currently experiencing the same issues we are.”
Griggs said he’s “trying to find a good fit” for Roxana’s other sports, but that football is an entity unto itself that needed a unique solution.
“We’re like most small schools – we have our good and bad years. But with our recent run (playoffs four of the last five years) and with some really strong athletes recently rolling through, people look at us and the talent we’ve had come through and they don’t want to play us,” Griggs said. “Right now, I feel really good about our decision, about the relationships we’ll be forming. You hope that maybe we’ll be able to latch on to just one more school, but maybe two or three others. It was time to be out of the box and start thinking a little bit. We’ll still have our challenges.”
But, Griggs added, “Not for nine weeks.”
