Northwest 8 Conference
The Northwest 8 Conference was a high school conference in northwest and north central Illinois. The conference participated in athletics and activities in the Illinois High School Association. The conference included small public high schools with enrollments between 75-600 students in Boone, Carroll, DeKalb, Jo Daviess, Lee, Ogle, Stephenson, and Winnebago counties.
History
The conference was composed of teams from the short-lived original Upstate Illini Conference. The first year of competition was 1977 with eight charter schools: Ashton, Durand, Franklin Center, Leaf River, Milledgeville, Mt. Carroll, Pearl City and Rockford Lutheran. The primary reason for the creation of the league was football-based. All of the teams from the Upstate Illini with football, except for Orangeville High School, merged into a conference of like sized schools. Prior to the 1982 season Rockford Lutheran left the conference, moving to the Prairie Conference. In 1985, a significant change in structure occurred as Kirkland-Hiawatha left the Trailblazer Conference and joined the Northwest 8, Ashton and Franklin Center began their coop and Leaf River dropped football, leaving the league with 6 teams for football. In 1987, the conference began talks with the Upstate Illini to create a league that would be divided into divisions with equal numbers for all sports, including football. In 1988, North Boone, South Beloit, Warren and River Ridge joined the conference while Rockford Lutheran rejoined. Even though the league was re-branded in 1988, the official final year of competition was 1990 in order to realign football schedules.Based on the fact that there were originally 8 teams, the conference maintained the name Northwest 8 even when the total number of schools dropped below or increased beyond that total. The league eventually rose to 12 teams and due to the increased number, talks for a re-branding of the Northwest 8 took place in 1987. In 1988, the idea of moving back to the Upstate Illini provided an opportunity to eliminate a conference name that included a number, and competition for all sports, with the exception of football, was established. In 1991, football schedules were set with 6 teams in the North Division: Durand, North Boone, Pearl City, Rockford, Elizabeth -Warren and South Beloit and the South Division: Ashton-Franklin Center, Kirkland-Hiawatha, Milledgeville, Mt. Carroll, Mt. Morris and Polo.
Member schools
| School | Location | Mascot | Colors | Year Joined | Year Left | IHSA Classes A/AA | IHSA Music Class | IHSA Football Class |
| Ashton High School | Ashton, IL | Aces | Green, Gold | 1977 | 1985* | A | - | 1A |
| Ashton- Franklin Center | Ashton, IL | Raiders | Black, Gold, White | 1985* | 1991 | A | - | 1A |
| Durand High School | Durand, IL | Bulldogs | Royal Blue, White | 1977 | 1991 | A | C | 1A |
| Franklin Center High School | Franklin Grove, IL | Eagles | Maroon, Gold | 1977 | 1985* | A | A | 1A |
| Kirkland-Hiawatha High School | Kirkland, IL | Hawks | Navy Blue, Gold | 1985 | 1990 | A | D | 1A |
| Leaf River High School | Leaf River, IL | Demons | Royal Blue, White | 1977 | 1990 | A | C | 1A |
| Milledgeville High School | Milledgeville, IL | Missiles | Orange, Black | 1977 | 1991 | A | D | 1A |
| Mount Carroll High School | Mount Carroll, IL | Hawks | Purple, Gold | 1977 | 1991 | A | D | 1A |
| Mt. Morris High School | Mt. Morris, IL | Mounders | Red, Black | 1990 | 1991 | A | C | 1A |
| North Boone High School | Poplar Grove, IL | Vikings | Green, White | 1989 | 1991 | A | C | 2A |
| Pearl City High School | Pearl City, IL | Wolves | Red, White, Black | 1977 | 1991 | A | D | 1A |
| Polo Community High School | Polo, IL | Marcos | Blue, Gold | 1990 | 1991 | A | C | 1A |
| River Ridge High School | Elizabeth, IL** | Wildcats | Navy Blue, Grey | 1988 | 1991 | A | D | Coop w/Warren |
| Rockford Lutheran High School | Rockford, IL | Crusaders | Purple, White | 1977, 1986 | 1982, 1991 | A | C | 2A |
| South Beloit High School | South Beloit, IL | Sobos | Scarlet Red, White | 1989 | 1991 | A | C | 1A |
| Warren High School | Warren, IL | Warriors | Orange, Black | 1988 | 1991 | A | D | 1A |
Sources:IHSA Conferences, ''IHSA Coop Teams, and IHSA Member Schools Directory''
Membership timeline
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:1100 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1974 till:1991
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<#
Colors = id:barcolor
id:line value:pink
id:bg value:white
id:Full value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports
id:FullxF value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football
id:AssocF value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that was a member of an Other Conference
id:AssocOS value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a full member in a football coop
id:OtherC1 value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that was a member of the Upstate Illini Conference
id:OtherC2 value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that was a member of the Mid Northern
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:1974 till:1977text:Ashton
bar:1 color:Full from:1977 till:1985 text:
bar:1 color:AssocOS from:1985 till:1991 text:Franklin Center
bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:1974 till:1977text:Durand
bar:2 color:Full from:1977 till:1991 text:
bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:1974 till:1977text:Franklin Center
bar:3 color:Full from:1977 till:1985 text:
bar:3 color:AssocOS from:1985 till:1991 text:Ashton
bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:1974 till:1977text:Milledgeville
bar:4 color:Full from:1977 till:1991 text:
bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:1974 till:1977text:Mt. Carroll
bar:5 color:Full from:1977 till:1991 text:
bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:1974 till:1977text:Pearl City
bar:6 color:Full from:1977 till:1991 text:
bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:1974 till:1977text:Rockford Lutheran
bar:7 color:Full from:1977 till:1981 text:
bar:7 color:AssocF from:1981 till:1985text: Trailblazer Conference
bar:7 color:Full from:1985 till:1991 text:
bar:8 color:OtherC2 from:1974 till:1977text:Leaf River
bar:8 color:Full from:1977 till:1985 text:
bar:8 color:FullxF from:1985 till:1990
bar:9 color:AssocF from:1974 till:1982text:Kirkland-Hiawatha
bar:9 color:AssocF from:1982 till:1985text: Trailblazer Conference
bar:9 color:Full from:1985 till:1991 text:
bar:10 color:FullxF from:1986 till:1989 text:River Ridge*
bar:10 color:AssocOS from:1989 till:1991 text:FB coop w/Warren
bar:11 color:AssocF from:1974 till:1985text:North Boone SHARK Conference
bar:11 color:AssocF from:1985 till:1989text: Big 8 Conference
bar:11 color:Full from:1989 till:1991 text:
bar:12 color:AssocF from:1974 till:1982text:South Beloit SHARK Conference
bar:12 color:AssocF from:1982 till:1985 text: Trailblazer Conference
bar:12 color:AssocF from:1985 till:1989 text: Independent
bar:12 color:Full from:1989 till:1991 text:
bar:13 color:AssocF from:1974 till:1989 text:Warren Northwest Illinois Conference
bar:13 color:AssocOS from:1989 till:1991 text:FB coop w/River Ridge
bar:14 color:OtherC2 from:1974 till:1990text:Mt. Morris
bar:14 color:Full from:1990 till:1991 text:
bar:15 color:OtherC2 from:1974 till:1990text:Polo
bar:15 color:Full from:1990 till:1991 text:
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:1974
TextData =
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text:^"Northwest 8 Membership History"
- > If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following six options Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space. <#
- River Ridge became a consolidated school district in 1986, combining Elizabeth High School and Hanover High School, both coming from the Upstate Illini Conference