Northwoods Football Conference
The Northwoods Football Conference is a high school football conference located in northeastern Wisconsin. Consisting of eleven-player and eight-player divisions, the conference was formed in 2020 and is affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.
History
The Northwoods Football Conference was formed as an eleven-player football conference for the 2020 season after a sweeping realignment for Wisconsin high school football was unveiled by the WIAA and the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association. Four schools were former members of the MONLPC's small schools division, and one each came from the Central Wisconsin, Marawood and North Eastern Conferences. The eighth original member, Northland Pines, competed as an independent prior to the creation of the NFC. Under the WIAA/WFCA plan, football conferences in both eleven-player and eight-player divisions went through realignment every two years. For the 2022-2023 realignment cycle, the Northwoods Football Conference lost the Northern Elite football cooperative after the three participating schools dissolved their partnership and switched to eight-player football. They were replaced by Clintonville, formerly a member of the MONLPC East division. In 2024, Manawa and Shiocton of the Central Wisconsin Conference joined the Northwoods Football League, replacing outgoing members Tomahawk and Menominee Indian. Tomahawk joined their primary home for competition in the Great Northern Conference, and Menominee Indian joined the Central Wisconsin Conference's eight-player football division after transitioning away from eleven-player football. Oconto Falls will be leaving the NFC for the 2026-2027 competition cycle to join the Packerland Conference for football, and the conference will be entering into a scheduling crossover partnership with the Central Wisconsin Conference's large school division.8-player football
In 2024, the Northwoods Football Conference began sponsorship of eight-player football with fourteen schools spread out over two divisions. Nine members were displaced from conferences that had ended football sponsorship: seven from the Lakeland Conference and two from the CWC. The other five schools were all new to eight-player football after having played eleven-player football either as cooperative or stand-alone programs. Members were subdivided into two divisions with one mandatory crossover conference game for each member:| Northwoods East | Northwoods West |
| Athens | Bruce |
| Chequamegon/Butternut/Mercer | Mellen |
| Flambeau | Northwood/Solon Springs |
| Hurley | Shell Lake |
| Phillips | South Shore |
| Prentice | Washburn |
| Rib Lake | Winter/Birchwood |
For the 2026-2027 realignment cycle, Chequamegon will be playing as a stand-alone program, with their two former cooperative partners joining Mellen in a new cooperative. Athens is also leaving to join the North Central Conference as a football member. The conference will also be adding three cooperative programs from the Northeast Football Conference.
List of conference members
11-player football
Current members
Former members
8-player football
Current members
Future members
Membership timeline
11-player
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:2020 till:2030
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5
Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:m
bar:1 color:lavender from:2020 till:2030 text:Coleman
bar:2 color:lavender from:2020 till:2030 text:Crandon
bar:3 color:lavender from:2020 till:2030 text:Crivitz
bar:4 color:lavender from:2020 till:2024 text:Menominee Indian
bar:5 color:lavender from:2020 till:2022 text:Northern Elite
bar:6 color:lavender from:2020 till:2030 text:Northland Pines
bar:7 color:lavender from:2020 till:2026 text:Oconto Falls
bar:8 color:lavender from:2020 till:2024 text:Tomahawk
bar:9 color:lavender from:2022 till:2030 text:Clintonville
bar:10 color:lavender from:2024 till:2030 text:Manawa
bar:11 color:lavender from:2024 till:2030 text:Shiocton
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:2020
8-player
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:2024 till:2030
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5
Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:m
bar:1 color:green from:2024 till:2026 text:Athens
bar:2 color:yellowgreen from:2024 till:2030 text:Bruce
bar:3 color:green from:2024 till:2026 text:Chequamegon/Butternut/Mercer
bar:4 color:green from:2024 till:2026 text:Flambeau
bar:4 color:yellowgreen from:2026 till:2030 text:
bar:5 color:green from:2024 till:2030 text:Hurley
bar:6 color:yellowgreen from:2024 till:2026 text:Mellen
bar:7 color:yellowgreen from:2024 till:2030 text:Northwood/Solon Springs
bar:8 color:green from:2024 till:2030 text:Phillips
bar:9 color:green from:2024 till:2030 text:Prentice
bar:10 color:green from:2024 till:2030 text:Rib Lake
bar:11 color:yellowgreen from:2024 till:2030 text:Shell Lake
bar:12 color:yellowgreen from:2024 till:2030 text:South Shore
bar:13 color:yellowgreen from:2024 till:2030 text:Washburn
bar:14 color:yellowgreen from:2024 till:2030 text:Winter/Birchwood
bar:15 color:green from:2026 till:2030 text:Chequamegon
bar:16 color:green from:2026 till:2030 text:Elcho/White Lake
bar:17 color:yellowgreen from:2026 till:2030 text:Mellen/Butternut/Mercer
bar:18 color:green from:2026 till:2030 text:Three Lakes/Phelps
bar:19 color:green from:2026 till:2030 text:Wabeno/Laona
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:2024