CWC 8-Player Football Conference
The CWC 8-Player Football Conference is a former high school football conference with its catchment in north central Wisconsin. Consisting of eight-player football teams from various conferences over two divisions, the conference was active from 2020 through the 2023 football season and was affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.
History
[edit | edit source]The CWC was founded in 2020 after a comprehensive realignment of Wisconsin's high school football conferences by the WIAA, in conjunction with the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association.[1] Four of its original members previously competed in the eight-player division of the Central Wisconsin Conference (Bowler/Gresham, Marion/Tigerton, Port Edwards and Tri-County), three were part of the Lakeland Conference's eight-player division (Alma Center Lincoln, Bruce and New Auburn) and two previously competed in eleven-player football as part of the Cloverwood Conference (Gilman and Greenwood). The other three schools (McDonell Central Catholic, Newman Catholic and Phillips) competed as independents in the WIAA's eight-player football division. The twelve original members were partitioned into East and West divisions:[2][3]
| CWC East | CWC West |
|---|---|
| Bowler/Gresham | Alma Center Lincoln |
| Greenwood | Bruce |
| Marion/Tigerton | Gilman |
| Newman Catholic | McDonell Central Catholic |
| Port Edwards | New Auburn |
| Tri-County | Phillips |
For the 2022-2023 competition cycle, the CWC lost half of its membership roster. Five schools (Bowler/Gresham, Marion/Tigerton, Newman Catholic, Port Edwards and Tri-County) formed a reconstituted eight-player football division in the Central Wisconsin Conference, and Phillips became members of the Lakeland Conference. The exiting schools were replaced by former members of the Lakeland Conference (Cornell, Lake Holcombe and Prairie Farm), Cloverbelt Conference (Owen-Withee and Thorp) and Marawood Conference (Athens). Alma Center Lincoln and Gilman were shifted to the CWC East to accommodate the new arrivals:[4][5][6]
| CWC East | CWC West |
|---|---|
| Alma Center Lincoln | Bruce |
| Athens | Cornell |
| Gilman | Lake Holcombe |
| Greenwood | McDonell Central Catholic |
| Owen-Withee | New Auburn |
| Thorp | Prairie Farm |
The CWC was realigned out of existence by the WIAA and WFCA for the 2024-2025 cycle. All former members were dispersed to newly-created conferences: nine schools (Alma Center Lincoln, Cornell, Gilman, Lake Holcombe, McDonell Central Catholic, New Auburn, Owen-Withee, Prairie Farm and Thorp) went to the North Central Conference and two (Athens and Bruce) joined the eight-player division of the Northwoods Football Conference.[7] The twelfth displaced member (Greenwood) entered into an eleven-player cooperative with Loyal in the Cloverbelt Conference.[8]
Conference membership history
[edit | edit source]| School | Location | Affiliation | Enrollment | Mascot | Colors | Seasons | Primary Conference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alma Center Lincoln | Alma Center, WI | Public | 164 | Hornets | 2020–2023 | Dairyland | |
| Bowler/ Gresham |
Bowler, WI | Public | 182 | Cats | 2020–2021 | Central Wisconsin | |
| Bruce | Bruce, WI | Public | 131 | Red Raiders | 2020–2023 | Lakeland | |
| Gilman | Gilman, WI | Public | 97 | Pirates | 2020–2023 | Cloverbelt | |
| Greenwood | Greenwood, WI | Public | 112 | Indians | 2020–2023 | Cloverbelt | |
| Marion/ Tigerton |
Marion, WI | Public | 209 | Thundercatz | 2020–2021 | Central Wisconsin | |
| McDonell Central Catholic | Chippewa Falls, WI | Private (Catholic) | 206 | Macks | 2020–2023 | Cloverbelt | |
| New Auburn | New Auburn, WI | Public | 95 | Trojans | 2020–2023 | Lakeland | |
| Newman Catholic | Wausau, WI | Private (Catholic) | 128 | Cardinals | 2020–2021 | Marawood | |
| Phillips | Phillips, WI | Public | 217 | Loggers | 2020–2021 | Marawood | |
| Port Edwards | Port Edwards, WI | Public | 133 | Blackhawks | 2020–2021 | Central Wisconsin | |
| Tri-County | Plainfield, WI | Public | 176 | Penguins | 2020–2021 | Central Wisconsin | |
| Athens | Athens, WI | Public | 127 | Bluejays | 2022–2023 | Marawood | |
| Cornell | Cornell, WI | Public | 111 | Chiefs | 2022–2023 | Lakeland | |
| Lake Holcombe | Lake Holcombe, WI | Public | 90 | Chieftains | 2022–2023 | Lakeland | |
| Owen-Withee | Owen, WI | Public | 126 | Blackhawks | 2022–2023 | Cloverbelt | |
| Prairie Farm | Prairie Farm, WI | Public | 129 | Panthers | 2022–2023 | Lakeland | |
| Thorp | Thorp, WI | Public | 170 | Cardinals | 2022–2023 | Cloverbelt |
Membership timeline
[edit | edit source]<timeline> DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:2020 till:2024 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5
Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7)
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:m
bar:1 color:lavender from:2020 till:2022 text:Alma Center Lincoln (2020-2023) bar:1 color:lightpurple from:2022 till:2024 text: bar:2 color:lightpurple from:2020 till:2022 text:Bowler/Gresham (2020-2021) bar:3 color:lavender from:2020 till:2024 text:Bruce (2020-2023) bar:4 color:lavender from:2020 till:2022 text:Gilman (2020-2023) bar:4 color:lightpurple from:2022 till:2024 text: bar:5 color:lightpurple from:2020 till:2024 text:Greenwood (2020-2023) bar:6 color:lightpurple from:2020 till:2024 text:Marion/Tigerton (2020-2021) bar:7 color:lavender from:2020 till:2024 text:McDonell Central Catholic (2020-2023) bar:8 color:lavender from:2020 till:2024 text:New Auburn (2020-2023) bar:9 color:lightpurple from:2020 till:2022 text:Newman Catholic (2020-2021) bar:10 color:lavender from:2020 till:2022 text:Phillips (2020-2021) bar:11 color:lightpurple from:2020 till:2022 text:Port Edwards (2020-2021) bar:12 color:lightpurple from:2020 till:2022 text:Tri-County (2020-2021) bar:13 color:lightpurple from:2022 till:2024 text:Athens (2022-2023) bar:14 color:lavender from:2022 till:2024 text:Cornell (2022-2023) bar:15 color:lavender from:2022 till:2024 text:Lake Holcombe (2022-2023) bar:16 color:lightpurple from:2022 till:2024 text:Owen-Withee (2022-2023) bar:17 color:lavender from:2022 till:2024 text:Prairie Farm (2022-2023) bar:18 color:lightpurple from:2022 till:2024 text:Thorp (2022-2023)
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:2020
</timeline> CWC East CWC West
List of state champions
[edit | edit source]| School | Year |
|---|---|
| Newman Catholic | 2021 |
| Owen-Withee | 2024 |
List of conference champions
[edit | edit source]| School | Quantity | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Gilman | 3 | 2020, 2021, 2023 |
| McDonell Central Catholic | 2 | 2022, 2023 |
| Newman Catholic | 2 | 2020, 2021 |
| Owen-Withee | 1 | 2022 |
| Alma Center Lincoln | 0 | |
| Athens | 0 | |
| Bowler/ Gresham |
0 | |
| Bruce | 0 | |
| Cornell | 0 | |
| Greenwood | 0 | |
| Lake Holcombe | 0 | |
| Marion/ Tigerton |
0 | |
| New Auburn | 0 | |
| Phillips | 0 | |
| Port Edwards | 0 | |
| Prairie Farm | 0 | |
| Thorp | 0 | |
| Tri-County | 0 |
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).