The Grand River Conference, is a high school athletic conference comprising small-size high schools located in northwest and north central Missouri. The conference members are located in Andrew, Buchanan, Caldwell, Daviess, DeKalb, Gentry, Grundy, Harrison, Linn, Mercer, Putnam, Sullivan, and Worth counties.
History Founded in December 1929, the conference was formed with six schools: King City, Stanberry, Maysville, Bethany, Albany and Grant City as the Grand River Six. By 1936, the conference had grown to eight teams. Various schools joined and dropped over the years, with several schools switching to 8-player football a contributing factor. By 2011, the conference had ten members, and by 2016, the conference was at 16 teams. On March 3, 2023, the superintendents of the conference voted to split into 2 separate conferences, Grand River Conference (GRC) and Grand River Conference West (GRC West), based on the previous divisional lines with Princeton joining the GRC West and giving the GRC the Brookfield Bulldogs (formerly of the Clarence Cannon Conference) and the Marceline Tigers (formerly of the Lewis & Clark Conference), who began GRC play in the 2024-2025 school year. On September 19, 2025, the GRC voted 8-1 to remove Polo from the conference at the end of the 2025-26 school year. Polo will become the third school in conference history to be dropped from the conference by the membership.
Member schools As of 2024, the Grand River Conference consists of eighteen high schools split into two separate conferences.
Grand River Conference School Nickname Colors City County Type Brookfield Bulldogs Brookfield Linn Public Gallatin Bulldogs Gallatin Daviess Public Marceline Tigers Marceline Linn Public Maysville Wolverines Maysville DeKalb Public Milan Wildcats Milan Sullivan Public Polo* Panthers Polo Caldwell Public Putnam County Midgets Unionville Putnam Public South Harrison Bulldogs Bethany Harrison Public Trenton Bulldogs Trenton Grundy Public *Leaving the GRC after the 2025-2026 school year ends
Grand River Conference West School Nickname Colors City County Type Albany Warriors Albany Gentry Public King City Wildkats King City Gentry Public North Andrew Cardinals Rosendale Andrew Public North Harrison Shamrocks Eagleville Harrison Public Pattonsburg Panthers Pattonsburg Daviess Public Princeton Tigers Princeton Mercer Public St. Joseph Christian Lions St. Joseph Buchanan Private Stanberry Bulldogs Stanberry Gentry Public Worth County Tigers Grant City Worth Public
Affiliate Members of The Grand River Conference West (Wrestling) School Nickname Colors City County TypeRock PortBlue Jays RockportAtchisonPublicEast AtchisonIndians TarkioAtchisonPublic
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