The Six Rivers Conference is a high school athletic conference in Wisconsin, formed in 1997 and consisting of small schools in the southwestern part of the state. All member schools belong to the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.
History The Six Rivers Conference was formed in 1997 through the merger of two smaller conferences in southwestern Wisconsin: the Black Hawk League and the State Line League. It was named after the six rivers located in the conference's catchment area (Mississippi, Grant, Sugar, Platte, Fever and Pecatonica). The conference was originally conceived as an umbrella organization, and its original divisional alignment reflects this: Black Hawk DivisionState Line DivisionBelmontAlbanyBentonArgyleCassvilleBarneveldHighlandBellevillePotosiBlack HawkRiver RidgeJudaShullsburgMonticelloNew GlarusPecatonica After the first two seasons, the league realigned itself into two eight-member divisions. Pecatonica joined with the other Black Hawk Division schools in the Western Division while the remainder of the State Line Division schools comprised the new Eastern Division: Eastern DivisionWestern DivisionAlbanyBelmontArgyleBentonBarneveldCassvilleBellevilleHighlandBlack HawkPecatonicaJudaPotosiMonticelloRiver RidgeNew GlarusShullsburg This alignment remained in place until 2006, when the two largest schools in the conference (Belleville and New Glarus) left the Six Rivers to join more similarly-sized schools the Capitol Conference. Pecatonica rejoined their State Line League brethren in the conference's Eastern Division to create two seven-member divisions in an alignment that continues to this day: Eastern DivisionWestern DivisionAlbanyBelmontArgyleBentonBarneveldCassvilleBlack HawkHighlandJudaPotosiMonticelloRiver RidgePecatonicaShullsburg
Football Because of the size of the Six River Conference's member schools, there are a large number of cooperative programs in certain sports, especially football. The Six Rivers has sponsored football since its inception in 1997, and all of the original members belonged to the Black Hawk League for football in the previous season. Most of the members of the State Line League that sponsored football had cooperative agreements with schools in larger conferences (i.e. Brodhead-Juda, Mount Horeb-Barneveld, New Glarus-Monticello) and did not participate with the exception of Black Hawk and Pecatonica/Argyle. For the 2000 season, Belleville/Albany and New Glarus/Monticello moved over from the Capitol Conference, where three of the schools (Belleville, Monticello and New Glarus) had previously played as the Sugar River Raiders football cooperative. This arrangement only lasted one season, as both programs moved to the new Trailways Conference for the 2001 football season. By the end of the 2010s, several programs had entered into cooperative agreements (Potosi and Cassville in 2017, Benton/Scales Mound and Shullsburg in 2019) which coupled with Belmont's transition to eight-player football and Highland's move to the Ridge & Valley Conference dwindled conference membership to five schools. Boscobel and Southwestern entered as football-only members from the Southwest Wisconsin Activities League to replace the lost members for the 2019 football season.
In February 2019, in conjunction with the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association, the WIAA released a sweeping football-only realignment for Wisconsin to commence with the 2020 football season and run on a two-year cycle. Boscobel left to join the Ridge & Valley Conference with Iowa-Grant shifting from the SWAL to take their place. The Six Rivers and SWAL also entered into a scheduling partnership since both conferences only had seven members. For the 2022-2023 competition cycle, Iowa-Grant moved to the Ridge & Valley Conference, and both the Six Rivers Conference and SWAL competed with six members each. Southwestern High School in Hazel Green also entered into a cooperative agreement with East Dubuque High School in Illinois to run a joint football program. In 2024, Riverdale and Seneca/Wauzeka-Steuben joined from the Ridge & Valley Conference, replacing outgoing members Benton/Scales Mound/Shullsburg and Southwestern/East Dubuque, both of which went to the SWAL for football. The return of Boscobel and Iowa-Grant to the conference brought football membership up to eight schools. This alignment is set to remain through at least the 2026-2027 realignment cycle.
List of member schools
Current full members SchoolLocationAffiliationEnrollmentMascotColorsJoinedDivisionAlbanyAlbany, WIPublic70Comets 1997EasternArgyleArgyle, WIPublic88Orioles 1997EasternBarneveldBarneveld, WIPublic127Golden Eagles 1997EasternBelmontBelmont, WIPublic98Braves 1997WesternBentonBenton, WIPublic62Zephyrs 1997WesternBlack HawkSouth Wayne, WIPublic98Warriors 1997EasternCassvilleCassville, WIPublic58Comets 1997WesternHighlandHighland, WIPublic73Cardinals 1997WesternJudaJuda, WIPublic77Panthers 1997EasternMonticelloMonticello, WIPublic93Ponies 1997EasternPecatonicaBlanchardville, WIPublic119Vikings 1997EasternPotosiPotosi, WIPublic91Chieftains 1997WesternRiver RidgePatch Grove, WIPublic148Timberwolves 1997WesternShullsburgShullsburg, WIPublic118Miners 1997Western
Current associate members SchoolLocationAffiliationMascotColorsPrimary ConferenceSport(s)BoscobelBoscobel, WIPublicBulldogs SWALFootballIowa-GrantLivingston, WIPublicPanthers SWALFootballRiverdaleMuscoda, WIPublicChieftains SWALFootball
Current co-operative members TeamColorsHost SchoolCo-operative MembersSport(s)BSMS Knights BentonScales Mound (IL), ShullsburgBoys Track & Field, Girls Track & FieldSWS Blue-Golds Wauzeka-SteubenSenecaFootball
Former full members SchoolLocationAffiliationMascotColorsJoinedLeftConference JoinedCurrent ConferenceBellevilleBelleville, WIPublicWildcats 19972006CapitolNew GlarusNew Glarus, WIPublicGlarner Knights 19972006Capitol
Former football-only members SchoolLocationAffiliationMascotColorsSeasonsPrimary ConferenceSouthwesternHazel Green, WIPublicWildcats 2019-2021SWALSouthwestern/East DubuqueHazel Green, WI & East Dubuque, ILPublicWarCats 2022-2023SWAL, Northwest Upstate Illini (IHSA)
Membership timeline
Full members
Football members
Membership map
Sponsored sports + Albany●●●● Argyle●●●●●●● Barneveld●●●●●Belmont●●●●●●● Benton●●●●●● Black Hawk●●●●●●Cassville●●● Highland●●●● Juda●●●● Monticello●●●● Pecatonica●●●●●●●Potosi●●●●●● River Ridge●●●●●●●●●●Shullsburg●●●●
Notes
List of state champions
Fall sports +Girls Cross CountrySchoolYearDivision Albany2000Division 3 +FootballSchoolYearDivision Black Hawk2013Division 7 Black Hawk2018Division 7Black Hawk/Warren (IL)2019Division 7 +Girls VolleyballSchoolYearDivisionPotosi2002Division 4 Highland2010Division 4
Winter sports +Boys BasketballSchoolYearDivisionCassville2000Division 4 Barneveld2017Division 5 +Girls BasketballSchoolYearDivision Barneveld1998Division 4 Barneveld1999Division 4 Barneveld2005Division 4 Benton2009Division 4 Barneveld2014Division 5 Barneveld2015Division 5 Black Hawk2019Division 5Albany/Monticello2024Division 5
Spring sports +SoftballSchoolYearDivisionBelmont2002Division 4 Highland2006Division 4Juda/Albany2017Division 4Belmont2019Division 5 +Girls Track & FieldSchoolYearDivisionBenton/Scales Mound/Shullsburg2018Division 3
List of conference champions
Boys Basketball SchoolQuantityYears Barneveld182001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026 Monticello81999, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2020, 2021, 2022 River Ridge82003, 2005, 2006, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025 Benton72003, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012Potosi72001, 2002, 2018, 2019, 2023, 2024, 2025 Black Hawk61998, 2000, 2003, 2008, 2013, 2014Belmont42003, 2004, 2005, 2026Cassville41998, 1999, 2000, 2014Shullsburg41999, 2015, 2016, 2017 Pecatonica32002, 2015, 2018 Highland22002, 2025 New Glarus12005 Albany0 Argyle0 Belleville0 Juda0
Girls Basketball SchoolQuantityYears Barneveld151998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 Black Hawk112003, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022Potosi111998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2018 River Ridge92004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2019, 2020Belmont42012, 2022, 2023, 2025Shullsburg42016, 2017, 2021, 2026 Albany32002, 2022, 2023 Highland32011, 2022, 2024 Pecatonica32000, 2007, 2008Albany/Monticello22025, 2026Benton/Shullsburg22013, 2015Pecatonica/Argyle22024, 2026 Argyle0 Belleville0 Benton0Cassville0 Juda0 Monticello0 New Glarus0Potosi/Cassville0
Football SchoolQuantityYearsPecatonica/Argyle121997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2015, 2016Potosi62008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014 Black Hawk52001, 2007, 2013, 2017, 2018Potosi/Cassville52020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024Black Hawk/Warren32019, 2023, 2025 River Ridge32004, 2021, 2022 Highland22000, 2011Belmont12004Benton/Scales Mound12008Belleville/Albany0Benton/Scales Mound/Shullsburg0Boscobel0Cassville0Iowa-Grant0New Glarus/Monticello0Riverdale0Seneca/Wauzeka-Steuben0Shullsburg0Southwestern0Southwestern/East Dubuque0
References
External links Six Rivers Conference - official site