Latest WIAA football, lacrosse realignment plans would impact Milwaukee area teams

Posted by author February 10, 2025 Football

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The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association’s conference realignment task force met Thursday to review appeals and amend plans for proposed 11-player football and lacrosse conference realignments from this past January, according to a press release from the WIAA.

Based on information shared during appeals of the modified solutions, the task force amended the 11-player football and lacrosse conference realignment plans to be effective in 2026, according to the release.

The release also noted that 8-player football’s plan would not be affected by the newly-proposed realignment plans at Thursday’s meeting, which means the 8-player football plan now will advance to the Board of Control for a final vote March 11.

Schools and conferences directly impacted by the amended realignment considerations in 11-player football and boys and girls lacrosse have the opportunity to appeal the proposed changes at a meeting March 11. Those appeal requests must be submitted in writing by March 4.

Links to comprehensive 11-player football, boys lacrosse and girls lacrosse modified conference affiliation plans were included in the release. Potential changes would come into effect prior to the 2026 football season, while the lacrosse changes would take effect during the spring of the 2025-26 school year.

New proposed 11-player plan would shake up local conferences like North Shore, Parkland

The newest proposed plan would see Catholic Memorial remain in the Parkland Conference after last month’s plan featured the Crusaders joining the Greater Metro Conference among the likes of Kettle Moraine and Waukesha West, both of which would leave the Classic 8 Conference.

That conference would’ve also included Brookfield Central, Brookfield East, Germantown and Menomonee Falls in the old plan. The new plan features a Parkland Conference with CMH, New Berlin Eisenhower, New Berlin West, Pewaukee, Waukesha North, Waukesha South, Waukesha West and Wisconsin Lutheran. New Berlin West would join from the Woodland Conference instead of joining the North Shore Conference. That would bring the Parkland Conference to eight teams, which means no “crossover” games would be necessary.

In the North Shore Conference, Nicolet would depart the conference for the newly-formed Glacier Trails Conference with Grafton, Kettle Moraine Lutheran, Kewaskum, Plymouth, Port Washington, West Bend East and West Bend West. With Nicolet gone, the North Shore Conference would add Wauwatosa East and Wauwatosa East from the Parkland Conference to a group consisting of Cedarburg, Hartford, Homestead, Slinger and Whitefish Bay. The two proposed conferences would play in “crossover” games against each other since both would have seven teams.

Other potential local changes in 11-player football

The Classic 8 Conference and Greater Metro Conference would both be six-team conferences in the new realignment plan. Franklin would still depart the Southeast Conference to join the Classic 8 with Arrowhead, Kettle Moraine, Mukwonago, Muskego and Oconomowoc. The GMC would have Brookfield Central, Brookfield East, Germantown, Sussex Hamilton, Marquette and Menomonee Falls.

Both conferences would combine to play mandatory conference games to meet the conference game total requirement for postseason play. Since both would be six-team conferences, two crossover games would be necessary to meet the playoff requirement.

Elsewhere, the Milwaukee City Conference would see a shakeup with Milwaukee Reagan staying in the Richardson Conference. The previous change featured Reagan leaving the conference for the Southeast Conference, but the new plan has Milwaukee King leaving the conference. King would fill the vacancy left by Franklin in the Southeast by joining Kenosha Bradford, Kenosha Indian Trail, Kenosha Tremper, Oak Creek, Racine Case, Racine Horlick and Racine Park.

What would boys and girls lacrosse look like under proposed alignment plan?

The previous realignment plan for boys lacrosse featured a five-conference format with two independent programs in Hudson and Superior. The new plan features six conferences, four of which contain Milwaukee-area programs.

In the Classic 8 Conference, Arrowhead, Catholic Memorial, Kettle Moraine/St. John’s Northwestern, Muskego, Mukwonago co-op, Oconomowoc/Pewaukee co-op and the Waukesha West co-op would round out the league as previously presented. The same goes for the four-team North Shore Conference of Cedarburg, Homestead, West Bend West co-op and the Whitefish Bay co-op.

The Greater Metro Conference would include the Brookfield Central/East co-op, Sussex Hamilton’s co-op, Marquette and Wauwatosa East for its own four-team conference. Instead of joining the GMC, the Elkhorn co-op, University School of Milwaukee and the Westosha Central co-op would join the Midwest Classic Conference with Franklin and Oak Creek.

On the girls side, the plan looks fairly similar with six conferences statewide and four containing area programs. The Classic 8 Conference would be Arrowhead, Kettle Moraine/Badger, the Mukwonago co-op, Muskego, Oconomowoc/Pewaukee co-op and the Waukesha West co-op.

The North Shore Conference would be the same as the boys with Cedarburg, Homestead, West Bend West co-op and Whitefish Bay’s co-op, while the Greater Metro Conference would also be a four-team league with Brookfield Central/East, DSHA, Sussex Hamilton’s co-op and Wauwatosa East’s co-op.

Instead of heading to the GMC, Franklin and Oak Creek would form a four-team Midwest Classic Conference with Kenosha Indian Trail’s co-op and University School of Milwaukee.