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Possible conference shakeup?

Capitol Conference in 2023-2024
Arlington
Ashland-Greenwood
Conestoga
Douglas County West
Fort Calhoun
Logan View/Scribner-Snyder
Louisville
Raymond Central
Syracuse
Yutan

East Central Nebraska Conference
Auburn
Elmwood-Murdock
Falls City
Freeman
Johnson County Central
Mead
Palmyra
Weeping Water

Could Palmyra be the 10th team to join the Capitol? Seems like they want to stay at 10. That ECNC is all over the place.
 
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northeastNebraska said:
At this point the RCC should take in Omaha Concordia. Concordia played nearly all the RCC schools except Skutt this year.

Skutt
Gross
Roncalli
Concordia
Mt. Michael
Omaha Deschene
Omaha Mercy
Click to expand...

If I remember right, they did not want to join? It was for sure something talked about.
 
kaz36 said:
Not sure schools like Wahoo, Platteview and AG fit that though because I can see those schools growing.
Click to expand...
I see what you're saying about growing schools vs schools that aren't growing, but for example I think Beatrice is still a lot bigger enrollment wise than Wahoo, AG etc. Maybe double the enrollment of Wahoo?
 
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mgbreis said:
I see what you're saying about growing schools vs schools that aren't growing, but for example I think Beatrice is still a lot bigger enrollment wise than Wahoo, AG etc. Maybe double the enrollment of Wahoo?
Click to expand...
Beatrice is a tough fit They will never get to A and will be 20 years from C1 I dont see them growing
 
neksu said:
Beatrice should be in the Eastern Midlands Conference.
Click to expand...
I’m not really sure that Beatrice fits in with the EMC. They could be competitive, but pretty much every school in that conference(minus maybe Blair) is a bedroom community of either Lincoln or Omaha and are growing a lot faster than Beatrice is.
 
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The Trailblazer Conference is an interesting collection of schools. When expansion is complete (2023-2024 school year) it will have 8 schools. The original 6 schools were a collection of 2 schools from 3 different conferences.
River Cities- Beatrice and Ralston
Eastern Midlands- Nebraska City and Plattsmouth
Capitol- Platteview and Wahoo.
Ashland-Greenwood makes a 3rd Capitol Conf school. Malcolm is a member of the East Central Nebraska Conf.

The enrollment gap from top to bottom is pretty significant based on 2021-2022 numbers
Ralston- 707
Beatrice- 490
Plattsmouth- 350
Nebraska City- 314
Platteview- 300
Wahoo- 255
Ashland-Greenwood- 226
Malcom- 154

The travel isn't that bad. Guessing here, but the longest trips are probably as follows
Ralston-Malcolm, something like 55 miles
Nebraska City-Malcolm- 65ish miles
Nebraska City- Wahoo- 75ish miles
Beatrice- Wahoo- 75ish miles

Malcolm's enrollment is currently at its capacity without passing a bond. I don't know how likely it is that Malcolm passes a bond because a decent chunk of the enrollment is option students. Does the community of Malcolm want to pay for a school for students to attend that are not contributing to the bond. Thats rhetorical. Ashland-Greenwood, Wahoo, and Platteview are growing. That makes 3 of the 4 bottom enrollment numbers in the conference trending in the right direction to close the enrollment gap.
 
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The geographic footprint is small and the four smallest schools are the ones that will be growing. They looked at least one more bigger school to fit with Ralston and Beatrice but decided instead to go with small growers. It will be interesting to see how the Malcolm move works out for both parties, but Wahoo and A-G will be great fits as they grow. Platteview is interesting because I would have thought they saw themselves as Eastern Midlands material (remember they were there once) but they obviously see A-G and Wahoo more as peers than Bennington and Norris.
 
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TC53 said:
The geographic footprint is small and the four smallest schools are the ones that will be growing. They looked at least one more bigger school to fit with Ralston and Beatrice but decided instead to go with small growers. It will be interesting to see how the Malcolm move works out for both parties, but Wahoo and A-G will be great fits as they grow. Platteview is interesting because I would have thought they saw themselves as Eastern Midlands material (remember they were there once) but they obviously see A-G and Wahoo more as peers than Bennington and Norris.
Click to expand...
The old Eastern Midlands of Blair, Elkhorn, Gretna, Platteview, Plattsmouth, Nebraska City, Norris, and Waverly. Gretna has since gone to the Metro. Platteview to the Capitol, then the Trailblazer. Nebraska City to the Trailblazer. Plattsmouth to the Trailblazer. That leaves the EMC with Blair, Elkhorn, Waverly, and Norris plus the two additions of Elkhorn North and Bennington. What is the plan for Gretna East? Are they going to be Metro? When they open will both Gretna and Gretna East go to the EMC?
 
As far as I can tell there has been nothing said about Gretna/GEast conference intentions. Has anyone heard anything?

Don't forget Lincoln (Air Park) Northwest is in the EMC this fall and Standing Bear is already in for fall 2023.
 
hailvictors2 said:
The old Eastern Midlands of Blair, Elkhorn, Gretna, Platteview, Plattsmouth, Nebraska City, Norris, and Waverly. Gretna has since gone to the Metro. Platteview to the Capitol, then the Trailblazer. Nebraska City to the Trailblazer. Plattsmouth to the Trailblazer. That leaves the EMC with Blair, Elkhorn, Waverly, and Norris plus the two additions of Elkhorn North and Bennington. What is the plan for Gretna East? Are they going to be Metro? When they open will both Gretna and Gretna East go to the EMC?
Click to expand...
The new new Lincoln schools (Northwest and Standing Bear) are joining the Eastern Midlands
 
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Hastings will join the Eastern Midlands in fall 2023. (This took a long time and a couple of times I thought it was falling apart.)

Lincoln Northwest joins the EMC this fall (2022).

Lincoln Standing Bear will join the EMC with Hastings in 2023.

That will make the EMC a 9-school league unless Elkhorn North outgrows it before that.
 
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TC53 said:
Hastings will join the Eastern Midlands in fall 2023. (This took a long time and a couple of times I thought it was falling apart.)

Lincoln Northwest joins the EMC this fall (2022).

Lincoln Standing Bear will join the EMC with Hastings in 2023.

That will make the EMC a 9-school league unless Elkhorn North outgrows it before that.
Click to expand...
Why?? The Central Conference would make so much more sense, especially with fuel prices the way they are now
 
TC53 said:
Hastings will join the Eastern Midlands in fall 2023. (This took a long time and a couple of times I thought it was falling apart.)

Lincoln Northwest joins the EMC this fall (2022).

Lincoln Standing Bear will join the EMC with Hastings in 2023.

That will make the EMC a 9-school league unless Elkhorn North outgrows it before that.
Click to expand...
Wow. Hastings in the Eastern Midlands...did not think I'd see that happen. Was the Central ever in consideration? Or is Hastings High "too big" for that conference?

They would be a natural fit for the HAC if their enrollment was consistently Class A. That leaves the GNAC down to four schools, with McCook half in, half out with the Southwest Conference.


Greater Nebraska Athletic Conference
Gering
Hastings (2023)
McCook
North Platte
Scottsbluff

Eastern Midlands Conference
Bennington
Blair
Elkhorn
Elkhorn North
Hastings** (2023)
Lincoln Northwest* (2022)
Lincoln Standing Bear** (2023)
Norris
Waverly
 
northeastNebraska said:
Wow. Hastings in the Eastern Midlands...did not think I'd see that happen. Was the Central ever in consideration? Or is Hastings High "too big" for that conference?

They would be a natural fit for the HAC if their enrollment was consistently Class A. That leaves the GNAC down to four schools, with McCook half in, half out with the Southwest Conference.


Greater Nebraska Athletic Conference
Gering
Hastings (2023)
McCook
North Platte
Scottsbluff

Eastern Midlands Conference
Bennington
Blair
Elkhorn
Elkhorn North
Hastings** (2023)
Lincoln Northwest* (2022)
Lincoln Standing Bear** (2023)
Norris
Waverly
Click to expand...

I am still shocked Hastings voted to play Class B football and be playoff ineligible for the next two years. Just seems like a tough sell to kids to say "we don't think we are good enough so we are going to play down and not have a chance to play for anything the next two years" in terms of the playoffs. I don't know enough about their talent and numbers though, so I'm sure they had good reasons.
 
Sean Callahan said:
I am still shocked Hastings voted to play Class B football and be playoff ineligible for the next two years. Just seems like a tough sell to kids to say "we don't think we are good enough so we are going to play down and not have a chance to play for anything the next two years" in terms of the playoffs. I don't know enough about their talent and numbers though, so I'm sure they had good reasons.
Click to expand...
Not surprised by the move, they have been in Class B since 1994. I don't think they wanted to go up for two years then come right back down again. South Sioux has done the same thing. I do feel bad for the kids though, they don't have a lot to play for when they know they have a for sure end date on their season.
 
TC53 said:
Hastings will join the Eastern Midlands in fall 2023. (This took a long time and a couple of times I thought it was falling apart.)

Lincoln Northwest joins the EMC this fall (2022).

Lincoln Standing Bear will join the EMC with Hastings in 2023.

That will make the EMC a 9-school league unless Elkhorn North outgrows it before that.
Click to expand...
Will there be a release from HPS soon?
 
Will the Trailblazer stay at 8? Seems like a good grouping, not sure who else they would add.

Wahoo
Plattview
Plattsmouth
Ashland-Greenwood
Malcolm
Beatrice
Neb City
Ralston
 
I would assume this will hit the press late in the week.

The Central never showed any interest in Hastings (when the previous AD made overtures), and, other than that AD, there was never much Hastings interest in the Central. Geographic fit but not much else. I think both sides feel that way.

Eastern Midlands made an invite to Hastings during the initial Trailblazer start-up (which started this thread). EMC was pretty proactive, realizing that demographic forces were going to make the historically stable conference shrink quickly. Hastings pursued an invitation to Trailblazer instead, same travel issues but better demographic fit keyed that decision. The Trailblazer looked like a great fit and I think Beatrice and Ralston were all for it. Other schools, I believe particularly Nebraska City and Plattsmouth balked because of travel and size issues. When that application was rejected, Hastings turned back to the EMC.

It first looked like this would happen a year ago and the Tigers would join when Lincoln Northwest did. Then things cooled. I thought it might be done. But, the wheels kept moving slowly. As I understand it, it was finalized yesterday.

The Class B football decision was made very quickly with the coach and AD being in lockstep. I never heard much wide discussion of any other option. There has not been much second-guessing locally, but that might change in the fall. They actually think they have a nice group for the next two years. But, I have not seen any evidence that playing in Class A was seriously considered. Until the very last, they thought that a thorough book-keeping of attendance numbers would get them under the Class A number. It fell short.

I've also seen no local media questioning of the football decision.
 
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Sean Callahan said:
I am still shocked Hastings voted to play Class B football and be playoff ineligible for the next two years. Just seems like a tough sell to kids to say "we don't think we are good enough so we are going to play down and not have a chance to play for anything the next two years" in terms of the playoffs. I don't know enough about their talent and numbers though, so I'm sure they had good reasons.
Click to expand...
Seems a more likely way of gutting a program than to take your lumps in your assigned class. Basically makes your sport be on the level of a club, or intramural. But, I don't think it should even be allowed, so what do I know?
 
I just saw Malcolm is going to be playing C2 football. Quite interesting to be playing some of the biggest C1 and small B schools when you have 1/2 or less of the enrollment.
 
Giltner is leaving the CRC to join the Twin Valley Conference.

(Link to article with GPS concerns in CRC)


Crossroads Conference (12)
Bruning-Davenport/Shickley
Cross County
Dorchester
East Butler
Exeter-Milligan (Friend?)
Giltner
Hampton
High Plains
McCool Junction
Meridian
Nebraska Lutheran
Osceola
Shelby/Rising City


Twin Valley Conference (10)
Blue Hill
Deshler
Giltner
Franklin
Harvard
Kenesaw
Lawrence-Nelson
Red Cloud
Shelton
Silver Lake
 
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northeastNebraska said:
Giltner is leaving the CRC to join the Twin Valley Conference.

(Link to article with GPS concerns in CRC)


Crossroads Conference (12)
Bruning-Davenport/Shickley
Cross County
Dorchester
East Butler
Exeter-Milligan (Friend?)
Giltner
Hampton
High Plains
McCool Junction
Meridian
Nebraska Lutheran
Osceola
Shelby/Rising City


Twin Valley Conference (10)
Blue Hill
Deshler
Giltner
Franklin
Harvard
Kenesaw
Lawrence-Nelson
Red Cloud
Shelton
Silver Lake
Click to expand...
Sounds like a little bit of drama in this move.
 
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So..............July 1 has come and went, and with that conference changes for the 2022-23 school year have now taken place.

To the best of my knowledge, the moves that took place are:

- Holdrege has left the Central Conference for the Southwest Conference

- Malcolm has left the East Central Nebraska Conference for the Trailblazer Conference

- Lincoln Northwest has joined the Eastern Midlands Conference

- Omaha Buena Vista and Omaha Westview have joined the Metro Conference

===================================

Effective July 1, 2023 to take effect beginning with the 2023-24 school year:

- Lincoln Standing Bear will join the Eastern Midlands Conference

- Giltner will leave the Crossroads Conference for the Twin Valley Conference

- Hastings appears to be leaving Greater Nebraska Athletic Conference for the Eastern Midlands Conference (I don't believe this has been formally approved yet)

- Gretna East will open, and I assume will be joining the Metro Conference

- Ashland-Greenwood will leave the Capitol Conference for the Trailblazer Conference
 
So................current conference make going into the 2022-23 school year:

CAPITOL CONFERENCE (10)
Arlington
Ashland-Greenwood
Conestoga
Douglas County West
Fort Calhoun
Logan View
Louisville
Raymond Central
Syracuse
Yutan

CENTENNIAL CONFERENCE (11)
Boys Town (boys only)
Columbus Scotus
David City Aquinas
Fremont Bergan
Grand Island Central Catholic
Hastings St. Cecilia
Kearney Catholic
Lincoln Christian
Lincoln Lutheran
Omaha Concordia
Wahoo Neumann

CENTRAL CONFERENCE (9)
Adams Central
Aurora
Columbus Lakeview
Crete
Grand Island Northwest
Lexington
Schuyler
Seward
York

CROSSROADS CONFERENCE (13)
Bruning-Davenport/Shickley
Cross County
Dorchester
East Butler
Exeter-Milligan
Giltner
Hampton
High Plains
McCool Junction
Meridian
Nebraska Lutheran
Osceola
Shelby/Rising City

EAST CENTRAL NEBRASKA CONFERENCE (8)
Auburn
Elmwood-Murdock
Falls City
Freeman
Johnson County Central
Mead
Palmyra
Weeping Water

EAST HUSKER CONFERENCE (15)
Bancroft-Rosalie
Clarkson/Leigh
Howells-Dodge
Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family
Lyons-Decatur Northeast
Madison
North Bend
Oakland-Craig
Pender
Scribner-Snyder
Stanton
Tekamah-Herman
Twin River
West Point-Beemer
Wisner-Pilger

EASTERN MIDLANDS CONFERENCE (7)
Bennington
Blair
Elkhorn
Elkhorn North
Lincoln Northwest
Norris
Waverly

FORT KEARNY CONFERENCE (10)
Amherst
Ansley/Litchfield
Axtell
Elm Creek
Hi-Line
Loomis
Overton
Pleasanton
Sumner-Eddyville-Miller
Wilcox-Hildreth

FRONTIER CONFERENCE (9)
Boys Town (girls only)
Cedar Bluffs
College View Academy
Cornerstone Christian
Heartland Christian (Iowa)
Omaha Brownell-Talbot
Omaha Christian
Parkview Christian
Whiting (Iowa)

GOLDENROD CONFERENCE (11)
Burwell
Central Valley
Elba
Fullerton
Heartland Lutheran
Humphrey St. Francis
Nebraska Christian
Palmer
Riverside
Spalding Academy
St. Edward

GREATER NEBRASKA ATHLETIC CONFERENCE (5)
Gering
Hastings
McCook
North Platte
Scottsbluff

HEARTLAND ATHLETIC CONFERENCE (12)
Columbus
Fremont
Grand Island
Kearney
Lincoln East
Lincoln High
Lincoln North Star
Lincoln Northeast
Lincoln Pius X
Lincoln Southeast
Lincoln Southwest
Norfolk

INDEPENDENTS (3)
Lutheran High Northeast
Omaha Nation
Omaha Street School

LEWIS & CLARK CONFERENCE (16)
Bloomfield
Creighton
Hartington-Newcastle
Homer
Laurel-Concord-Coleridge
Osmond
Plainview
Ponca
Randolph
Tri County Northeast
Wakefield
Walthill
Wausa
Winnebago
Winside
Wynot

LOUPLATTE CONFERENCE (9)
Arcadia/Loup City
Central City
Centura
Doniphan-Trumbull
Gibbon
Ord
Ravenna
St. Paul
Wood River

METRO CONFERENCE (21)
Bellevue East
Bellevue West
Elkhorn South
Gretna
Millard North
Millard South
Millard West
Omaha Benson
Omaha Bryan
Omaha Buena Vista
Omaha Burke
Omaha Central
Omaha Creighton Prep
Omaha Marian
Omaha North
Omaha Northwest
Omaha South
Omaha Westside
Omaha Westview
Papillion-LaVista
Papillion-LaVista South

MID-NEBRASKA ACTIVITIES CONFERENCE (10)
Anselmo-Merna
Arthur County
Brady
Cody-Kilgore
Hyannis
Mullen
Sandhills Valley
Sandhills/Thedford
South Loup
Twin Loup

MID-STATE CONFERENCE (9)
Battle Creek
Boone Central
Crofton
Guardian Angels Central Catholic
Hartington Cedar Catholic
Norfolk Catholic
O'Neill
Pierce
Wayne

MINUTEMAN ACTIVITIES CONFERENCE (8)
Bayard
Banner County
Creek Valley
Garden County
Leyton
Minatare
Potter-Dix
South Platte

MUDECAS (16)
Bruning-Davenport/Shickley
Diller-Odell
Exeter-Milligan
Falls City Sacred Heart
Freeman
Humboldt-Table Rock-Steinauer
Johnson-Brock
Johnson County Central
Lewiston
Meridian
Palmyra
Parkview Christian
Pawnee City
Southern
Sterling
Tri County

NIOBRARA VALLEY CONFERENCE (12)
Atkinson West Holt
Boyd County
Chambers/Wheeler Central
Elgin/Elgin Pope John
Elkhorn Valley
Neligh-Oakdale
Niobrara/Verdigre
North Central
O'Neill St. Mary's
Santee
Stuart
Summerland

PANHANDLE CONFERENCE (6)
Crawford
Edgemont (South Dakota)
Hay Springs
Hemingford
Morrill
Sioux County

PIONEER CONFERENCE (11)
Diller-Odell
Falls City Sacred Heart
Friend
Humboldt-Table Rock-Steinauer
Johnson-Brock
Lewiston
Nebraska City Lourdes
Pawnee City
Southern
Sterling
Tri County

REPUBLICAN PLAINS ACTIVITIES CONFERENCE (14)
Alma
Arapahoe
Bertrand
Cambridge
Dundy County-Stratton
Hitchcock County
Maxwell
Maywood/Hayes Center
Medicine Valley
Paxton
Southern Valley
Southwest
Wallace
Wauneta-Palisade

RIVER CITIES CONFERENCE (7)
Elkhorn Mt. Michael
Omaha Duchesne
Omaha Gross
Omaha Mercy
Omaha Roncalli
Omaha Skutt
South Sioux City

SOUTH PLATTE VALLEY ASSOCIATION (7)
Bridgeport
Chase County
Hershey
Kimball
North Platte St. Patrick's
Perkins County
Sutherland

SOUTHERN NEBRASKA CONFERENCE (11)
Centennial
David City
Fairbury
Fillmore Central
Heartland
Milford
Sandy Creek
Superior
Sutton
Thayer Central
Wilber-Clatonia

SOUTHWEST CONFERENCE (9)
Ainsworth
Broken Bow
Cozad
Gothenburg
Holdrege
McCook
Minden
Ogallala
Valentine

TRAILBLAZER CONFERENCE (7)
Beatrice
Malcolm
Nebraska City
Platteview
Plattsmouth
Ralston
Wahoo

TWIN VALLEY CONFERENCE (9)
Blue Hill
Deshler
Franklin
Harvard
Kenesaw
Lawrence-Nelson
Red Cloud
Shelton
Silver Lake

WESTERN CONFERENCE (6)
Alliance
Chadron
Gering
Mitchell
Scottsbluff
Sidney

WESTERN TRAILS CONFERENCE (7)
Bayard
Bridgeport
Gordon-Rushville
Hemingford
Kimball
Mitchell
Morrill
 
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omaha.com

Pospisil: Gretna East will be part of Metro Conference next season

Gretna East will belong to the Metro Conference after all when it opens next year becoming the league’s 22nd school.
omaha.com omaha.com

Gretna East will be in the Metro Conference when it opens in the fall of 2023. The school district had considered placing Gretna East in the Eastern Midlands Conference but changed course and Gretna East will join Gretna in the Metro as the league's 22nd school. Both schools are likely to be Class B next year but are in a high growth area.

The Eastern Midlands will expand, however, to nine schools. Lincoln Standing Bear will join when it opens next fall and Hastings will also join, becoming the league's westernmost member.

===============================

There are also some proposals to change the cutoffs in Classes A and B at the January legislative meetings. The proposals would raise the cutoffs from 425 boys to 500 for football and from 850 students to 1,000 students in all other activities for Class A.

Another proposal will be to expand the use of the shot clock to Class B in basketball and to raise the enrollment limit for 8-man football playoff eligibility from 47 boys to 55.
 
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northeastNebraska said:
Thanks Alum.

Has anyone heard if Exeter-Milligan and Friend will be co-oping all sports and joining Mudecas/Pioneers?
Click to expand...
Last I heard, EMF is trying to start their own conference because they were not accepted into the Crossroads Conference. If successful it would poach teams from Crossroads and Pioneers.
 
It will never happen, but West Point-Beemer and GACC need to flip conference affiliations with how the East Husker Conference is shrinking. WPB is the largest school by far. They have 20 more boys than North Bend using boys hoops classifications.

Speaking of North Bend, do they fit in the EHC anymore? They are the furthest south school and second biggest when it comes to enrollment. Would they be a better fit in the Capitol? The Capitol could use a 10th team. If Logan View fits in the Capitol, North Bend does for sure. I never thought LV would leave the East Husker, but they did.

CAPITOL CONFERENCE (9)
Arlington
Conestoga
Douglas County West
Fort Calhoun
Logan View
Louisville
Raymond Central
Syracuse
Yutan

EAST HUSKER CONFERENCE (15)
Bancroft-Rosalie
Clarkson/Leigh
Howells-Dodge
Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family
Lyons-Decatur Northeast
Madison
North Bend
Oakland-Craig
Pender
Scribner-Snyder
Stanton
Tekamah-Herman
Twin River
West Point-Beemer
Wisner-Pilger

MID-STATE CONFERENCE (9)
Battle Creek
Boone Central
Crofton
Guardian Angels Central Catholic
Hartington Cedar Catholic
Norfolk Catholic
O'Neill
Pierce
Wayne
 
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