Vermilion Valley Conference

The Vermilion Valley Conference is a high school conference in east-central Illinois, in the United States. The conference participates in athletics and activities in the Illinois High School Association. The conference comprises 13 small public high schools and one small private school, with enrollments between 100 and 400 students in Edgar, Iroquois and Vermilion counties.

Vermilion Valley Conference

Conference	IHSA
Founded	2003
No. of teams	13
Region	East-central Illinois (Edgar, Iroquois and Vermilion counties)
Official website	Vermilion Valley Conference
Locations
The Vermilion Valley Conference within Illinois

14km
8.7miles

Westville

Watseka

Milford

Hoopeston Area

Iroquois West

Georgetown-Ridge Farm

Oakwood

Schlarman

Cissna Park

Chrisman

Salt Fork

Bismarck-Henning-Rossville-Alvin

Armstrong Township

   

Locations of Vermilion Valley Schools

History

The original Vermilion Valley Conference was founded in 1933 with schools from Ford, Grundy, Iroquois, Livingston, and Kankakee counties in east-central Illinois. The five charter members included: Chatsworth, Cullom, Forrest Township, Herscher, and Saunemin.^[1][2] This version of the Vermilion Valley disbanded in 1989.

The Vermilion Valley Conference was resurrected in 2003 with a new group of high schools. The charter members of the "new" Vermilion Valley included: Armstrong, Bismarck Henning, Chrisman, Georgetown-Ridge Farm, Hoopeston Area, Oakwood, Rossville-Alvin, Salt Fork, Schlarman and Westville High Schools. In 2005, Rossville-Alvin High School closed and with the students attending Bismarck Henning, however, Milford joined the league the following year.^[3][4]

In 2020, the conference expanded its football presence by adding several schools from other conferences into a "football only", two division league. Schools from the Tri-County Conference; including Dwight and Seneca, as well as Clifton Central, Iroquois West and Watseka from the Sangamon Valley Conference united under the Vermilion Valley moniker.^[5] The two divisions included a North Division of Seneca, Momence, Dwight, Clifton Central, Watseka and Iroquois West and a South Division of Hoopeston Area, Georgetown-Ridge Farm, Westville, Bismarck-Henning-Rossville-Alvin, Salt Fork and Oakwood.^[6] This unusual mix of three conferences only lasted two years with the development of the Chicago Prairie Football League.^[7][8]

In 2021, the Sangamon Valley Conference disbanded,^[9] therefore, Cissna Park, Iroquois West, and Watseka Community High Schools joined as full members of the Vermilion Valley, taking the total number of teams up to 13.^[10]

Currently, the league consists of the following teams: Armstrong, Bismarck-Henning-Rossville-Alvin, Catlin-Salt Fork, Chrisman, Cissna Park, Danville-Schlarman, Fithian-Oakwood, Georgetown-Ridge Farm, Gilman-Iroquois West, Hoopeston Area, Milford, Watseka and Westville^[11]

Member schools

School	Location	County	Mascot	Colors	Joined	Enrollment[12]	IHSA Classes 1/2/3/4[12]	IHSA Football Class[12]	IHSA Football Type[13]	Coop/Team
Armstrong Township[14]	Armstrong, IL	Vermilion	Trojans	Purple, Gold	2003	136	A/1A/1A	3A	11-Man	Yes Hoopeston
Bismarck Henning Rossville-Alvin[15]	Bismarck, IL	Vermilion	Blue Devils	Blue, Silver, White	2003	338	A/1A/1A	2A	11-Man	None
Salt Fork[16]	Catlin, IL	Vermilion	Storm	Black, Silver, White	2003	254	A/1A/1A	1A	11-Man	None
Chrisman[17]	Chrisman, IL	Edgar	Cardinals	Red, Black	2003	100	A/1A/1A	2A	11-Man	Yes Georgetown-Ridge Farm
Cissna Park[18]	Cissna Park, IL	Iroquois	Timberwolves	Navy Blue, Silver, Columbia Blue	2021	99	A/1A/1A	1A	8-Man	Yes Milford
Schlarman[19]	Danville, IL	Vermilion	Hilltoppers	Blue, Gold	2003	145	A/1A/1A	1A	8-Man	None
Oakwood[20]	Fithian, IL	Vermilion	Comets	Purple, White	2003	305	A/1A/1A	1A/2A	11-man	None
Georgetown-Ridge Farm[21]	Georgetown, IL	Vermilion	Buffaloes	Purple, Gold, White	2003	277	A/1A/1A	2A	11-Man	Yes Chrisman
Hoopeston Area[22]	Hoopeston, IL	Vermilion	Cornjerkers	Blue, White	2003	320	A/1A/1A	3A	11-Man	Yes Armstrong
Iroquois West[23]	Gilman, IL	Iroquois	Raiders	Blue, Red, White	2021	310	A/1A/1A	1A/2A	11-man	None
Milford[24]	Milford, IL	Iroquois	Bearcats Lady Bearcats	Blue, White	2006	174	A/1A/1A	1A	8-Man	Yes Cissna Park
Watseka[25]	Watseka, IL	Iroquois	Warriors	Maroon, White	2021	300	A/1A/1A	1A/2A	11-man	None
Westville[26]	Westville, IL	Vermilion	Tigers Lady Tigers	Orange, Black	2003	370	A/1A/1A	2A	11-man	None

Previous Members

School	Location	Mascot	Colors	Year Joined	Year Exited	School In Use	Consolidated Closed	Current District/Conference
Chatsworth[27]	Chatsworth, IL	Bluebirds	Blue, Orange	1933[1]	1985	No	Consolidated	Prairie Central
Cullom Community[28]	Cullom, IL	Ramblers	Blue, White	1933[1]	1968	Yes	Consolidated	Tri-Point
Forrest Township[29]	Forrest, IL	Eskimos	Red, Black, White	1933[1]	1949	No	Consolidated Forrest-Strawn-Wing	Prairie Central
Herscher	Herscher, IL	Tigers	Gold, Black	1933[1]	1956	Yes	Left the Conference	Illinois Central Eight Conference
Saunemin[30]	Saunemin, IL	Eagles	Purple, White	1933[1]	1987	No	Closed	Pontiac Township
Kempton[31]	Kempton, IL	Red Devils	Red, White	1939[32]	1946	No	Consolidated Kempton-Cabery	Tri-Point
Piper City[33]	Piper City, IL	Blue Streaks	Blue, White	1939[32]	1974	Yes	Consolidated Ford Central	Tri-Point
Ford Central[34]	Piper City, IL	Cougars	Columbia Blue, Gold	1939[32]	1983	Yes	Consolidated	Tri-Point
Reddick[35]	Piper City, IL	Bulldogs	Orange, Black, White	1939[32]	1944	No	Left the Conference	Herscher
Onarga[36]	Onarga, IL	Indians	Maroon, White	1941[37]	1983	Yes	Consolidated	Iroquois West
Kempton-Cabery[38]	Kempton, IL	Komanches	Red, Black, White	1946[39]	1968	Yes	Consolidated	Tri-Point
Forrest-Strawn-Wing[40]	Forrest, IL	Eskimos	Red, Black, White	1949[41]	1985	No	Consolidated	Prairie Central
Roberts-Thawville[42]	Roberts, IL	Leprechauns	Green, White	1953[43]	1974	No	Consolidated Ford Central	Tri-Point
Melvin-Sibley[44][45]	Melvin, IL	Rams	Orange, Black	1956[46]	1988	No	Consolidated	Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley
Onarga Military[47]	Onarga, IL	YellowJackets Spartans	Purple, Gold	1956[46]	1970	No	Closed	Iroquois West
Reddick R.U.C.E.[35]	Piper City, IL	Bulldogs	Orange, Black, White	1962[48][49]	1988	No	Consolidated	Herscher
Gilman[50]	Gilman, IL	Owls	Red, Blue	1962[49]	1983	Yes	Consolidated	Iroquois West
Tri-Point	Cullom, IL	Chargers	Scarlet, White, Royal	1968[51]	1988	Yes	Conference Disbanded	River Valley Conference
Cornell[52]	Cornell, IL	Cardinals	Maroon, White	1972[53][54][55]	1987	No	Consolidated	Flanagan-Cornell
Milford	Milford, IL	Bearcats Lady Bearcats	Blue, White	1972[55]	1982	Yes	Left the Conference	Vermilion Valley Conference
Gardner-South Wilmington	Gardner, IL	Panthers Lady Panthers	Orange, Black	1986	1988	Yes	Conference Disbanded	River Valley Conference
Mazon-Verona-Kinsman[56]	Mazon, IL	Red Devils	Red, White	1986	1988	Yes	Consolidated	Seneca

Sources:IHSA Conferences,^[57] and IHSA Member Schools Directory^[58]

Membership timeline

Vermilion Valley (Original) Vermilion Valley (Current)