Marawood Conference


The Marawood Conference is a high school athletic conference with its membership concentrated in north central Wisconsin. It was founded in 1949 and all member schools are affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.

History

1949-1972

The Marawood Conference was founded in 1949 by seven small high schools in north central Wisconsin: Athens, Auburndale, Edgar, Marathon, Pittsville, Rudolph, and Stratford. These schools were all former members of the Marathon County League and Wood County League, and the name of the conference reflects the location of its original member schools. Membership remained consistent through the first thirteen years of the conference's history, with the first changes coming in 1962. Rudolph High School closed and was consolidated into Wisconsin Rapids, and two schools joined after the dissolution of the 3-C Conference. The conference sponsored their first football league for the 1964 season, and five schools were part of the inaugural roster. Abbotsford moved over from the Cloverbelt Conference in 1966, increasing the roster to nine schools. That number jumped to eleven in 1970 when two schools who were displaced by their conferences disbanding entered: Nekoosa from the Vacationland Conference and Rib Lake from the Flambeau League.

1972-2008

Granton left to join the Central State Conference in 1972, bringing membership back down to ten schools. They would rejoin in 1976, replacing the departing Auburndale and Nekoosa, who both moved on to the Lumberjack Conference. Two years later, Prentice would join from the Lakeland Conference, and the conference's stable would stay intact for just over two decades until three new schools were added in 2000: Assumption in Wisconsin Rapids, Columbus Catholic in Marshfield, and Newman Catholic in Wausau. These schools were recent additions to the WIAA after the merger with WISAA, and all were previously members of the Central Wisconsin Catholic Conference. Auburndale would also reenter the Marawood Conference that year, and a fifteenth member school would join in 2005. The Marawood Conference would split into North and South Divisions to accommodate the recent expansion:
North DivisionSouth Division
AbbotsfordAssumption
AthensAuburndale
EdgarColumbus Catholic
MarathonGranton
Newman CatholicNorthland Lutheran
PrenticePittsville
Rib LakeSpencer
Stratford

2008-present

In 2008, Park Falls and Phillips joined the Marawood Conference after the Lumberjack Conference ceased operations. They joined the North Division, with Edgar, Marathon and Newman Catholic moving to the South Division. These three schools replaced Columbus Catholic, Granton and Spencer, all of whom joined the Cloverbelt Conference. In 2009, Park Falls was merged with Glidden of the Indianhead Conference to form Chequamegon, who inherited Park Falls' Marawood Conference membership. Divisional alignment remained intact for the next five years before Edgar was moved back to the North Division. This lasted for three years before moving back to the South Division to replace two schools that left to join the Central Wisconsin Conference: Northland Lutheran and Pittsville. Currently, the Marawood Conference has twelve members in the following alignment:
North DivisionSouth Division
AbbotsfordAssumption
AthensAuburndale
ChequamegonEdgar
PhillipsMarathon
PrenticeNewman Catholic
Rib LakeStratford

Football (2008-present)

In 2008, the Marawood Conference lost five football-playing members: Spencer/Columbus to the Cloverbelt Conference and four schools to the new Cloverwood Conference, a partnership between the four Marawood and six schools affiliated with the Cloverbelt. This arrangement lasted through the 2019 season, around the same time a comprehensive realignment plan was released by the WIAA and Wisconsin Football Coaches Association to begin with the 2020 season and run on a two-year realignment cycle. Five full Marawood members were joined by three Cloverbelt schools to form the 2020-2021 roster. Before the 2021 season could begin, three schools decided to transition to eight-player football and left the conference, with their games counting as losses by forfeit in the standings. For the 2022-2023 competition cycle, Pittsville joined the remaining five schools from the 2021 season and the Marawood formed a scheduling alliance with the Central Wisconsin Conference's small-school division. In 2024, the Marawood Conference lost two members to the Central Wisconsin Conference's large-school division, replacing them with three schools from the CWC's small-school division and full members Assumption. This alignment is set to remain in place until the 2026-2027 realignment cycle, when Assumption and Rosholt switch to eight-player football, and the Loyal/Greenwood football cooperative set to join as their replacements.

List of member schools

Current full members

Current associate members

Future football-only members

Former members

Former football-only members

Membership timeline

Full members


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bar:1 color:tan1 from:1949 till:2006 text:Athens
bar:1 color:blue from:2006 till:2030 text:
bar:2 color:tan1 from:1949 till:1976 text:Auburndale
bar:2 color:tan1 from:2000 till:2006 text:
bar:2 color:skyblue from:2006 till:2030 text:
bar:3 color:tan1 from:1949 till:2006 text:Edgar
bar:3 color:blue from:2006 till:2008 text:
bar:3 color:skyblue from:2008 till:2014 text:
bar:3 color:blue from:2014 till:2017 text:
bar:3 color:skyblue from:2017 till:2030 text:
bar:4 color:tan1 from:1949 till:2006 text:Marathon
bar:4 color:blue from:2006 till:2008 text:
bar:4 color:skyblue from:2008 till:2030 text:
bar:5 color:tan1 from:1949 till:2017 text:Pittsville
bar:5 color:skyblue from:2006 till:2017 text:
bar:6 color:tan1 from:1949 till:1962 text:Rudolph
bar:7 color:tan1 from:1949 till:2030 text:Stratford
bar:7 color:skyblue from:2006 till:2030 text:
bar:8 color:tan1 from:1962 till:1972 text:Granton
bar:8 color:tan1 from:1976 till:2008 text:
bar:8 color:skyblue from:2006 till:2008 text:
bar:9 color:tan1 from:1962 till:2008 text:Spencer
bar:9 color:skyblue from:2006 till:2008 text:
bar:10 color:tan1 from:1966 till:2006 text:Abbotsford
bar:10 color:blue from:2006 till:2030 text:
bar:11 color:tan1 from:1970 till:1976 text:Nekoosa
bar:12 color:tan1 from:1970 till:2006 text:Rib Lake
bar:12 color:blue from:2006 till:2030 text:
bar:13 color:tan1 from:1978 till:2006 text:Prentice
bar:13 color:blue from:2006 till:2030 text:
bar:14 color:tan1 from:2000 till:2006 text:Assumption
bar:14 color:skyblue from:2006 till:2030 text:
bar:15 color:tan1 from:2000 till:2006 text:Columbus Catholic
bar:15 color:skyblue from:2006 till:2008 text:
bar:16 color:tan1 from:2000 till:2006 text:Newman Catholic
bar:16 color:blue from:2006 till:2008 text:
bar:16 color:skyblue from:2008 till:2030 text:
bar:17 color:tan1 from:2005 till:2006 text:Northland Lutheran
bar:17 color:skyblue from:2006 till:2017 text:
bar:18 color:blue from:2008 till:2009 text:Park Falls
bar:19 color:blue from:2008 till:2030 text:Phillips
bar:20 color:blue from:2009 till:2030 text:Chequamegon
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Football members


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bar:3 color:lavender from:1964 till:2017 text:Pittsville
bar:3 color:lavender from:2022 till:2030 text:
bar:4 color:lavender from:1964 till:2002 text:Spencer
bar:5 color:lavender from:1964 till:2020 text:Stratford
bar:6 color:lavender from:1966 till:2008 text:Abbotsford
bar:6 color:lavender from:2020 till:2030 text:
bar:7 color:lavender from:1966 till:2008 text:Athens
bar:7 color:lavender from:2020 till:2021 text:
bar:8 color:lavender from:1966 till:2024 text:Marathon
bar:9 color:lavender from:1970 till:1976 text:Nekoosa
bar:10 color:lavender from:1970 till:1982 text:Rib Lake
bar:10 color:lavender from:1983 till:1988 text:
bar:11 color:lavender from:1978 till:1985 text:Prentice
bar:12 color:lavender from:1988 till:1989 text:Rib Lake/Prentice
bar:12 color:lavender from:1991 till:2020 text:
bar:13 color:lavender from:2000 till:2008 text:Assumption
bar:13 color:lavender from:2024 till:2026 text:
bar:14 color:lavender from:2000 till:2001 text:Columbus Catholic
bar:15 color:lavender from:2000 till:2008 text:Newman Catholic
bar:16 color:lavender from:2002 till:2008 text:Spencer/Columbus
bar:17 color:lavender from:2008 till:2009 text:Butternut
bar:18 color:lavender from:2008 till:2011 text:McDonell Central Catholic
bar:19 color:lavender from:2008 till:2014 text:Phillips
bar:19 color:lavender from:2016 till:2017 text:
bar:20 color:lavender from:2009 till:2019 text:Chequamegon
bar:21 color:lavender from:2011 till:2020 text:Tomahawk
bar:22 color:lavender from:2020 till:2024 text:Colby
bar:23 color:lavender from:2020 till:2021 text:Owen-Withee
bar:24 color:lavender from:2020 till:2021 text:Thorp
bar:25 color:lavender from:2024 till:2030 text:Iola-Scandinavia
bar:26 color:lavender from:2024 till:2030 text:Pacelli
bar:27 color:lavender from:2024 till:2026 text:Rosholt
bar:28 color:lavender from:2026 till:2030 text:Loyal/Greenwood
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