Bay State Conference


The Bay State Conference is an interscholastic high school athletic league located in Norfolk County and Middlesex County of Massachusetts. The Bay State Conference is named after the nickname of Massachusetts which is the Bay State. As of 2025—2026, the Bay State Conference consists of 10 member schools. All Bay State Conference member schools are public secondary schools and also members of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association in District 7.
The Bay State Conference is known to be one of the most competitive conferences in the MIAA with some of the biggest high schools in the state of Massachusetts. In most sports members are in MIAA division 1 and/or division 2 for MIAA tournaments depending on the sport. The smallest member in the Bay State Conference is Milton [High School (Massachusetts)|Milton High School] at 1,070 students while the largest member is Framingham High School at 2,177 students.
Members in towns/cities that are located on Route 9 and/or I-90 are in the Carey division, while schools in towns/cities that are located on I-95, I-93, and/or Route 3 are in the Herget division. All members are within a 35 mile radius of each other with the furthest distance between schools being 34 miles with Framingham High School and Weymouth High School.
In 2017 Carey division member Dedham High School left the Bay State Conference and joined the Tri-Valley League as the league's 11th member. Norwood High School another Carey division member followed suit and became the Tri-Valley League's 12th member a year later in 2018. In 2019 after the departure of Dedham and Norwood, the divisions were realigned with Newton North High School moving from the Herget division to the Carey division.
The Wellesley and Needham high school football rivalry is the List of [high school football rivalries more than 100 years old|oldest public high school football rivalry] in Massachusetts and third oldest high school football rivalry in the United States. Traditionally played on Thanksgiving morning, the Wellesley High School Raiders and Needham High School Rockets have meet each other 133 times as of 2021 with the first meeting dating back to Thanksgiving morning of 1882 at Morton Field in Wellesley.

Members

The 10 members of the Bay State conference consists of Brookline, Framingham, Natick, Newton North and Wellesley in the Carey Division, along with Braintree, Milton, Needham, Walpole and Weymouth in the Herget division. Depending on the sport Carey and Herget division members will play each other once or twice a year. For example, in Baseball Carey and Herget members play each other two games a year in inter-division play will play Brookline, Framingham, Newton North, and Wellesley. Also in baseball Carey and Herget members play each-other one game a year in intra-division play will play Needham, Walpole, Braintree, Milton, and Weymouth. Finally in baseball the inter-division home and away game alternates each year so for example Natick will play at Braintree in even number years and then Natick will play Braintree at Natick in odd number years.

Schools

SchoolLocationColorsMascotYear foundedEnrollmentDivision
Braintree High SchoolBraintree, MABlue & White Wamps18581,801Herget
Brookline High SchoolBrookline, MARed & Blue Warriors18432,155Carey
Framingham High SchoolFramingham, MANavy Blue & White Flyers17922,177Carey
Milton High SchoolMilton, MARed & White Wildcats19091,070Herget
Natick High SchoolNatick, MARed, Blue, & White Redhawks19541,732Carey
Needham High SchoolNeedham, MANavy Blue & Gold Rockets18981,718Herget
Newton North High SchoolNewton, MAOrange & Black Tigers18592,089Carey
Walpole High SchoolWalpole, MABlue & Orange Timberwolves18701,172Herget
Wellesley High SchoolWellesley, MARed & Black Raiders19381,540Carey
Weymouth High SchoolWeymouth, MAMaroon & Gold Wildcats18541,900Herget