The Chicago Prairie Football League is a high school football only conference in northern Illinois. The conference participates in the Illinois High School Association. The conference includes five small public and three small private high schools, with enrollments between 150 and 950 students in Cook, DuPage, LaSalle, Livingston, and Will counties.
Origins The Chicago Prairie Football League has roots in the new Vermilion Valley Conference within the state of Illinois.
For football, the Vermilion Valley was divided into two divisions with six teams each, North and South. The north included Iroquois West and Watseka from the Vermilion Valley, Seneca and Dwight (coop) from the Tri-County Conference and Clifton Central and Momence High Schools from the River Valley Conference. Whereas the south included Bismarck-Henning-Rossville-Alvin, Salt Fork, Oakwood, Westville, Hoopeston Area (coop), and Georgetown-Ridge Farm (coop), all from the Vermilion Valley.
Due to travel time and distance between schools, the Chicago Prairie Football League formed with Dwight, St. Bede, Ottawa Marquette and Seneca coming from the Tri-County as well as Elmwood Park, Ridgewood and Westmont from the Metro Suburban and Walther Christian from the Northeastern Athletic to make up the newly formed 8-team conference tentatively named the Chicago Prairie Football League (CPFL).
In 2024–25, Elmwood Park and Ridgewood would leave the conference for the Upstate Eight Conference. Westmont would leave the conference becoming independent.
All-time membership School Location County Mascot Colors Other SportsConference Enrollment IHSA Classes 1/2/3/4 IHSA Football Class IHSA FootballCoop Dwight High School Dwight, IL Livingston Trojans Green, White Tri-County 264.44 A/1A/1A 2A/3A Yes Marquette Academy Ottawa, IL LaSalle Crusaders Navy, Vegas Gold Tri-County 154 A/1A/1A 1A No Seneca High School Seneca, IL LaSalle Fighting IrishLady Irish Green, White Tri-County 428.5 1A/2A 2A/3A No St. Bede Academy Peru, IL LaSalle Bruins Green, White Tri-County 282 A/1A/1A 1A No Walther Christian Academy Melrose Park, IL Cook Broncos Green, White Northeastern Athletic 205 A/1A/1A 1A No Sources:IHSA Conferences, and IHSA Member Schools Directory
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