Ridge & Valley Conference


The Ridge & Valley Conference is a high school athletic conference in Wisconsin. Founded in 1979, its members are small schools concentrated in the southern part of the state's Driftless Area. All conference members belong to the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.

History

The Ridge & Valley Conference was formed in 1979 when the larger Scenic Central Conference split into two smaller conferences from its existing Northern and Southern divisions. All seven schools in the Southern Division plus Weston from the Northern Division formed the Ridge & Valley Conference's membership roster. Membership has not experienced any changes over the history of the conference among full members.

Football

1979-2020

The Ridge & Valley Conference began football sponsorship along with all other sports after its split from the Scenic Central Conference in 1979, with all members participating. After winning the first three R&V football titles, De Soto was moved to the Scenic Bluffs Conference in 1982, swapping affiliations with the newly reinstated football program at Brookwood. This arrangement was reversed for the 2001 season, with De Soto returning to the conference and Brookwood moving back to the Scenic Bluffs. By this time, some of the conference members started to consolidate their programs due to lack of available players. The first two schools to do so were Kickapoo and La Farge, who combined their programs beginning with the 2004 season. In 2016, Seneca and Wauzeka-Steuben merged their football teams, along with Weston and Scenic Bluffs members Wonewoc-Center. Riverdale's entry into the Ridge & Valley from the Southwest Wisconsin Activities League kept its football roster at seven schools. The 2019 season saw an eighth school, Highland of the Six Rivers Conference, join as associate members in football.

2020-present

In February 2019, the WIAA and the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association released a comprehensive realignment for Wisconsin's high school football conferences, set to begin with the 2020 football season and run on a two-year cycle. Three programs made the switch to eight-player football for the 2020 season, and were replaced by Boscobel of the SWAL and Hillsboro of the Scenic Bluffs. For the 2022-2023 competition cycle, De Soto made the switch to eight-player football with Iowa-Grant moving over from the SWAL as their replacement. in 2024, the Ridge & Valley Conference made the decision to move to eight-player football, welcoming four former members back into the conference along with newcomers Belmont, Monticello and Wisconsin Heights joining Highland to form its initial roster. In 2026, Wonewoc-Center and Weston are planning to dissolve their cooperative agreement for football, and Weston will partner with Ithaca's eleven-player program. Wonewoc-Center is currently slated to continue as an eight-player program exclusive to that school.

Membership timeline

Full members


DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1979 till:2030
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5
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id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
PlotData=
width:14 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:m
bar:1 color:tan1 from:1979 till:2030 text:De Soto
bar:2 color:tan1 from:1979 till:2030 text:Ithaca
bar:3 color:tan1 from:1979 till:2030 text:Kickapoo
bar:4 color:tan1 from:1979 till:2030 text:La Farge
bar:5 color:tan1 from:1979 till:2030 text:North Crawford
bar:6 color:tan1 from:1979 till:2030 text:Seneca
bar:7 color:tan1 from:1979 till:2030 text:Wauzeka-Steuben
bar:8 color:tan1 from:1979 till:2030 text:Weston
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1979

Football members


DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1979 till:2030
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:150 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:1979 till:1982 text:De Soto
bar:1 color:lavender from:2001 till:2022 text:
bar:1 color:lavender from:2024 till:2030 text:
bar:2 color:lavender from:1979 till:2024 text:Ithaca
bar:3 color:lavender from:1979 till:2004 text:Kickapoo
bar:4 color:lavender from:1979 till:2004 text:La Farge
bar:5 color:lavender from:1979 till:2020 text:North Crawford
bar:5 color:lavender from:2024 till:2030 text:
bar:6 color:lavender from:1979 till:2016 text:Seneca
bar:7 color:lavender from:1979 till:2016 text:Wauzeka-Steuben
bar:8 color:lavender from:1979 till:2016 text:Weston
bar:9 color:lavender from:1982 till:2001 text:Brookwood
bar:10 color:lavender from:2004 till:2020 text:Kickapoo/La Farge
bar:10 color:lavender from:2024 till:2030 text:
bar:11 color:lavender from:2016 till:2024 text:Riverdale
bar:12 color:lavender from:2016 till:2024 text:Seneca/Wauzeka-Steuben
bar:13 color:lavender from:2016 till:2020 text:Wonewoc-Center/Weston
bar:13 color:lavender from:2024 till:2026 text:
bar:14 color:lavender from:2019 till:2030 text:Highland
bar:15 color:lavender from:2020 till:2024 text:Boscobel
bar:16 color:lavender from:2020 till:2024 text:Hillsboro
bar:17 color:lavender from:2022 till:2024 text:Iowa-Grant
bar:18 color:lavender from:2024 till:2030 text:Belmont
bar:19 color:lavender from:2024 till:2030 text:Monticello
bar:20 color:lavender from:2024 till:2030 text:Wisconsin Heights
bar:21 color:lavender from:2026 till:2030 text:Wonewoc-Center
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1979

List of state champions

Fall sports

None

Winter sports

None

Spring sports

SchoolYearDivision
Seneca1983Class C
Seneca2000Division 3