What conference was your/is your high school in?
- Thread starter northeastNebraska
- Start date
When I was in school we made the transition from the Central 10 to the Lou Platte.
Central 10 right before we left - Ord, Aurora, Columbus Lakeview, Schuyler, Crete, GINW, York, Fairbury, Central City, Seward.
Lou Platte when we joined - Ord, St Paul, Loup City, Gibbon, Wood River, Burwell, Kearney Catholic, Adams Central, Doniphan, Centura
I remember the feeling we all had when we left. We were pretty bummed because we felt that the Central 10 was a prestigious conference, and the Lou Platte was beneath us. I mean, competing with the likes of Loup City and Burwell for conference championships was laughable to us. Then we found out just how good Kearney Catholic and Adams Central were.
I never thought about it when we were in High School but in my opinion. Ord is a much better fit with the Southwest Conference than the Lou Platte. Considering our rival school Broken Bow is a member there. Would have only been a natural fit.
Central 10 right before we left - Ord, Aurora, Columbus Lakeview, Schuyler, Crete, GINW, York, Fairbury, Central City, Seward.
Lou Platte when we joined - Ord, St Paul, Loup City, Gibbon, Wood River, Burwell, Kearney Catholic, Adams Central, Doniphan, Centura
I remember the feeling we all had when we left. We were pretty bummed because we felt that the Central 10 was a prestigious conference, and the Lou Platte was beneath us. I mean, competing with the likes of Loup City and Burwell for conference championships was laughable to us. Then we found out just how good Kearney Catholic and Adams Central were.
I never thought about it when we were in High School but in my opinion. Ord is a much better fit with the Southwest Conference than the Lou Platte. Considering our rival school Broken Bow is a member there. Would have only been a natural fit.
Yes Lawrence dominated that year. I believe the won State in FB and BB, Should have won state Track too, but had a kid get hurt between Districts and State.
Also-- If I remember correctly, they had 7 or 8 kids on the D1 All State 1st teams (Offense and Defense).
Played in the Good Old Loup Valley Conference
Anselmo-Merna
Ansley
Callaway
Sargent
Sandhills
Litchfield
Thedford
Mullen
I believe Arnold, Arcadia and Taylor were once members too
Mid to Late 80's were very good football years.
87- Ansley was state champ and A-M, Sargent , Mullen were definitely in the top 6 teams in the state.
LVC Basketball tournament was always a very competitive tournament and would pack the Broken Bow gym.
Anselmo-Merna
Ansley
Callaway
Sargent
Sandhills
Litchfield
Thedford
Mullen
I believe Arnold, Arcadia and Taylor were once members too
Mid to Late 80's were very good football years.
87- Ansley was state champ and A-M, Sargent , Mullen were definitely in the top 6 teams in the state.
LVC Basketball tournament was always a very competitive tournament and would pack the Broken Bow gym.
I think you're thinking of '86. Ansley lost in the state championship to Mead in '87.
I played in the Cornhusker conference.... 94-99. We usually had 6 or 7 of the 8 teams in the playoffs with one or two state champions or runners up (D-1 and D-2). Basketball was the same way, maybe not quite like football but still good teams.
The Central Platte was able to survive until about 2008. It had dwindled to six teams (Paxton, Maxwell, Brady, Stapleton, Arnold., and Eustis-Farnam) and when Maxwell joined the SPVA, it disbanded. E-F went to Fort Kearney, Brady and Stapleton joined the Sandhills Conference, Paxton joined the newly formed RPAC, and Arnold joined with Callaway to form South Loup.
The SPVA era ended up being a cautionary tale for Maxwell. They were a large class D school with growing enrollment in a class D league on the verge of collapse, so when the class C SPVA invited them, they joined. However, their enrollment declined, the SPVA expanded, and it became difficult for them to compete. A decision that seemed to make sense in 2007, didn't in 2015, and they moved to the RPAC.
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I played in the old Central 8:
Stromsburg
Waco Lutheran
Osceola
David City Public
East Butler
Fullerton
Genoa
Shelby
Stromsburg
Waco Lutheran
Osceola
David City Public
East Butler
Fullerton
Genoa
Shelby
The CPC actually survived untill about 2008. My kids started attending school in Paxton in the mid 2000's so my recollection of it is only in it's last few years. They were down to six members (Arnold, Stapleton, Maxwell, Brady, Paxton, and Eustis-Farnam) and when Maxwell accepted an invitation to the SPVA, the conference disbanded. Today, Maxwell, Paxton, and Maywood (co-op with Hayes Center) are in the RPAC, Stapleton, Brady, and Arnold (co-op with Callaway) are in the MNAC, and Elwood and E-F are in the FKC.
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One of the best conferences ever for about a twenty year run. Howells, Dodge, HSF and LHF were the standard but man Clarkson had some good football teams in the mid 2000's and Leigh the same in basketball.
Lexington has kicked the tires and looked at getting back in but their overall size scares Minden and Broken Bow among others. Gothenburg would like to have them back in, big wigs in Cozad aren't in favor of Lexington rejoining either. SWC last spring decided to let McCook join. Kearney Catholic also tried to join but were shot down. If GNAC ever goes out of business I could see Lexington trying to get back in. SHOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN KICKED OUT in mid 90's in the first place. It was a short sighted decision made by other schools just jealous of their success at the time.
I'd like to see high schools do an inventory of their trophy cases. Would be a great way to gather a lot of data about conferences.
Agree. It’s hard to know old scores/Conference history prior to the mid 90’s unless you have yearbooks from each respective school.
I was in the area of the old CPC and it was actually other schools that dissolved the CPC. Maxwell was one who wanted to try and keep that conference alive. Depends on what "difficult" competition you are talking about when they joined the SPVA. They did very well in some activities. The reason they left was when a couple far West teams joined the SPVA.
Sandhills Gateway
Petersburg
Elgin Public
Lindsay Holy Family
Humphrey Public
Clearwater
Wheeler Central
Chambers
Spalding Public
Loup County
Petersburg
Elgin Public
Lindsay Holy Family
Humphrey Public
Clearwater
Wheeler Central
Chambers
Spalding Public
Loup County
A little bit of a hijack here, but anyone here of what will happen with the GNAC after this year?
In 2018-19 Norfolk and Kearney leave for the Heartland Athletic Conference and Lexington is leaving for the Central Conference. McCook is joining the Southwest Conference, but will keep a dual membership in the GNAC.
It leaves the GNAC with five members: Columbus, Hastings, McCook, Scottsbluff and North Platte. I've heard the GNAC has reached out to schools such as Gering, Alliance, York, Aurora, Beatrice, Blair, Grand Island Northwest and Holdrege about joining. They've also reached out to the possibility of some Colorado or Wyoming schools to join.
I would think most eastern schools would be a bit hesitant to join the league because of the travel.
In 2018-19 Norfolk and Kearney leave for the Heartland Athletic Conference and Lexington is leaving for the Central Conference. McCook is joining the Southwest Conference, but will keep a dual membership in the GNAC.
It leaves the GNAC with five members: Columbus, Hastings, McCook, Scottsbluff and North Platte. I've heard the GNAC has reached out to schools such as Gering, Alliance, York, Aurora, Beatrice, Blair, Grand Island Northwest and Holdrege about joining. They've also reached out to the possibility of some Colorado or Wyoming schools to join.
I would think most eastern schools would be a bit hesitant to join the league because of the travel.
I was toId by a reliabIe source at the time that MaxweII joining the SPVA was the straw that broke cameI's back of the CPC. My quote "they found it difficuIt to compete" was a response to Northeast's Nebraska's comment that he was an assistant boys basketball coach there and that he "feIt bad for MaxweII being in the SPVA. They just didn't have the horses, they fit better in the RPAC with more schooIs their size." WhiIe I understand that they've had success in footbaII and wresting over the last few years, basketbaII, particuIarIy boys, has been a struggIe. "They found it difficuIt to compete in some sports" wouId have been a more accurate quote on my part.
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Lex is going to the Central Conference? That’s surprisingly a good fit.
Columbus belongs in the Heartland Athletic Conference with Fremont and Norfolk. I feel bad for Columbus, they keep bouncing from A to B.
Glad this got bumped. Didn't realize I had someone quote one of my replies. Even though I got to experience beatings in football and basketball from Lawrence I became friends with most if not all of them. These are the all-staters I remember, Ed Karmazin-qb, Russ Faimon-rb, Ed Menke end or lb, Paul Kucera-ng(played at Kearney St.), Lee Herz-center, Jerry Hoelting-end(also played at Kearney St.). Also another Kucera and Svoboda that were good. And not sure who I may have missed. They ran an unbalanced formation on offense and when they ran a sweep it seemed like there were 15 guys on offense. And after doing that a few times they'd bust a dive up the middle.
And believe it was Mike Reiman who may have the kid who got hurt before state track.
FKC- at the time the teams were Amherst, Axtell, Elm Creek, Elwood, Kenesaw, Loomis, Overton, Pleasanton, SEM, Wilcox-Hildreth.
From the mid 90s to late 2000s hell of a conference
From the mid 90s to late 2000s hell of a conference
Mid-States. The GOAT. Albion, Catholic, Pierce, Cedar Catholic, Central Catholic, Battle Creek, Madison & Stanton. Mid to late 90’s into the mid 2000’s there wasn’t a better conference.
Were Pierce and Stanton ever in the league at the same time?
Edit: I'm mistaking Stanton for Elkhorn Valley. Pierce and Elkhorn Valley traded places from NENAC to Mid-State in the mid 90s
Pretty sure they were in the Central Plains with Stapleton and Arnold before it dissolved
Prior to the MNAC becoming the MNAC, they were in the Sandhills Conference that became the MNAC
The Central Platte dissolved about 10 years ago. Was a large conference in it's heyday but was down to only Brady, Maxwell, Stapleton, Arnold, Paxton, and Eustis-Farnam at the end
Fort Kearny Conference
Amherst
Axtell
Elm Creek
Elwood
Eustis-Farnam
Loomis
Overton
Pleasanton
Sumner-Eddyville-Miller
Wilcox-Hildreth
RPAC
Alma
Arapahoe
Bertrand
Cambridge
Dundy County-Stratton
Hayes Center
Hitchcock County
Maxwell
Maywood
Medicine Valley
Paxton
Southern Valley
Southwest
Wallace
Wauneta-Palisade
I believe it was the 95-96 school year when Pierce left the NENAC for the Mid-State. If I remember correctly, they switched places with Elkhorn Valley, with the Bluejays joining the Mid-State and the Falcons joining NENAC. Stanton joined up with the East Husker a few years later.
When I was in high school in the early 80’s, most of the Class D schools in the Ogallala area were in the Oregon Trails Conference. I believe the teams were Brule, Big Springs, Lewellen, Arthur County, McPherson County, Paxton, Wallace, Wheatland, and Venango. Please feel free to correct me if I missed anyone.
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