Cascade Conference (MHSAA)

The Cascade Conference is a Michigan high school athletic conference that was formed prior to the 1954 school year. The conference includes mostly Class C schools and one Class B school with the majority of its members being from Jackson County along with one member each from Calhoun, Hillsdale, Ingham, Lenawee, and Washtenaw counties.

Cascades Conference

Conference	Michigan High School Athletic Association
Founded	1954
Sports fielded	8
No. of teams	12
Region	Jackson County
Official website	Cascades Conference

History

Formation

The Cascades Conference was formed in 1954 with ten schools from the Jackson County League. The original members were: Brooklyn, Concord, East Jackson, Grass Lake, Hanover-Horton, Jackson Vandercook Lake, Michigan Center, Napoleon, Parma and Springport high schools.

Red and Blue

With the growth of suburbs, some Cascades Conference schools grew more rapidly than others. This led to the creation of the Red and Blue divisions. Between 1983 and 1996, four schools were listed as Cascades-Red Members: Jackson Lumen Christi, Jackson Northwest, Parma Jackson County Western and Brooklyn Columbia Central. In 1996, Jackson Northwest and Jackson Lumen Christi left the Cascades Red for the Capital-Circuit Conference.^[1] Brooklyn Columbia Central left the Cascades Red after 1995 and competed as an independent for two years, before joining the Lenawee County Conference at the start of the 1997 school year.^[2] Parma Jackson County Western left the Cascades Red after the 1995 school year and joined the Twin Valley Conference.^[3]

Expansion

In 2022, the Cascades Conference was looking to expand from eight to twelve schools for the 2022–23 school year. On June 13, Brooklyn Columbia Central of the Lenawee County Athletic Association accepted their invite to join the Cascades, which they were previously a member of from 1968 to 1996. A little over a week later, Leslie, a member of the Greater Lansing Athletic Conference accepted their invitation as well. Within a few weeks after Columbia Central and Leslie joined, two Big "8" members, Jonesville and Homer accepted their invitations to join the conference as well. All four schools will be joining the conference for the 2022–23 school year.^[4]

With the Cascades Conference expanding to twelve teams, the conference decided to split the league into two geographical divisions (East and West).^[5]

Cascades Conference Divisions

East	West
East Jackson	Addison
Grass Lake	Columbia Central
Leslie	Hanover-Horton
Manchester	Homer
Michigan Center	Jonesville
Napoleon	Vandercook Lake

Member schools

Current members

The following institutions are full members of the Cascade Conference for the 2022–23 school year:

School Name	Location	Nickname	Class	Enrollment	Joined	Colors	Previous Conference
Addison	Addison, Lenawee County	Panthers	C	229	1988		Lenawee County Athletic Association
Brooklyn Columbia Central[a]	Columbia Township, Jackson County	Golden Eagles	B	410	1968 2023		Lakeland "C" Conference Lenawee County Athletic Association
East Jackson	Jackson, Jackson County	Trojans	C	229	1954		Jackson County League
Grass Lake	Grass Lake, Jackson County	Warriors	C	354	1954[b] 1976		Jackson County League Southern Central Athletic Association
Hanover-Horton	Horton, Jackson County	Comets	C	297	1954[c] 1960 (football)[d] 1976		Jackson County League Independent Southern Central Athletic Association
Homer	Homer, Calhoun County	Trojans	C	277	2023		Big "8" Conference
Jonesville	Jonesville, Hillsdale County	Comets	C	342	2023		Big "8" Conference
Leslie	Leslie, Ingham County	Black Hawks	C	332	2023		Greater Lansing Athletic Conference
Manchester	Manchester, Washtenaw County	Flying Dutchmen	C	281	1983		Lenawee County Athletic Association
Michigan Center	Michigan Center, Jackson County	Cardinals	C	374	1954		Jackson County League
Napoleon	Napoleon, Jackson County	Pirates	C	358	1954		Jackson County League
Vandercook Lake[e]	Jackson, Jackson County	Jayhawks	C	194	1954		Jackson County League

Notes

1. Columbia Central left the conference to join the Lenawee County Athletic Association in 1996.
2. Grass Lake left the conference in 1964 to join the Lakeland "C" Conference.
3. Hanover-Horton left the conference in 1965 to join the Mid-Southern Conference.
4. Hanover-Horton did not start a football team until 1959.
5. Vandercook Lake moved to 8-man football in 2020 and became a member of the Tri-River 8-man Football League in 2021. However, Vandercook Lake still remains a member of the Cascades in all other sports.

Former members

School Name	Location	Nickname	Joined	Previous Conference	Left	Successive Conference	Current Conference
Brooklyn	Brooklyn, Jackson County	Golden Eagles	1954	Jackson County League	1960	Mid-Southern Conference	Closed in 1967[a]
Concord	Concord, Jackson County	Yellowjackets	1954	Jackson County League	1973	Big "8" Conference
Jackson Lumen Christi	Summit Township, Jackson County	Titans	1983 1991 (football)	Independent	1996	Capital Circuit League	Interstate 8 Conference[b]
Jackson Northwest	Blackman Charter Township, Jackson County	Mounties	1960 1983	Independent Twin Valley Athletic Association	1976 1996	Independent Capital Circuit League	Interstate 8 Conference
Parma	Parma, Jackson County	Panthers	1954	Jackson County League	1961	Closed in 1961[c]
Parma Jackson County Western[d]	Spring Arbor Township, Jackson County	Panthers	1961 1983	New school[c] Southeastern Conference	1976 1996	Independent Twin Valley Athletic Association	Interstate 8 Conference
Springport	Springport, Jackson County	Spartans	1954	Jackson County League	1963	Independent (football)[e] Cereal Center Conference	Big "8" Conference

Notes

1. Brooklyn and Cement City consolidated to form Columbia Central.
2. Lumen Christi will be leaving the Interstate 8 to join the Catholic High School League (CHSL) for the 2023-24 school year.
3. Parma and Spring Arbor consolidated to form Jackson County Western.
4. Also known as Parma Western
5. Springport joined the Cereal Center Conference for football in 1964.

Membership timeline

Full Members Full Members (Blue Division) Full Members (Red Division) Full members (non-football) Non-football members (Red Division) Other Conference

Notes