The Northwest Football League is a former high school football conference with its membership base in northwestern Wisconsin. It was only in existence for the 1994 and 1995 seasons, and its members were affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.
History The Northwest Football League was founded in 1994 when two high school athletic conferences in northwestern Wisconsin (the Heart O'North and Middle Border) merged for football into an eighteen-member, three-division superconference. They were joined by two members of the Dunn-St. Croix Conference that were previously affiliated with the MBC (Mondovi and Prescott). This was the WIAA's first attempt to create a football-only conference; they had existed in the past but were created before the WIAA's organizational structure brought conference realignment under its scope: Red ConferenceWhite ConferenceBlue ConferenceAmeryBarronBaldwin-WoodvilleDurand-ArkansawBloomerChetekEllsworthLadysmithCumberlandHaywardNorthwesternMondoviNew RichmondOsceolaPrescottSpoonerUnitySt. Croix Falls This arrangement lasted for two seasons until the Northwest Football League was dissolved after the 1995 season. The main factor leading to the conference's ending was that members were grouped together primarily by enrollment with little regard to proximity to each other, which created long travel distances and interrupted long-standing rivalries. The Heart O'North Conference and Middle Border Conference resumed sponsoring their own football conferences for the 1996 season.
Conference membership history SchoolLocationAffiliationMascotColorsConferencePrimary ConferenceAmeryAmery, WIPublicWarriors RedMiddle BorderBaldwin-WoodvilleBaldwin, WIPublicBlackhawks BlueMiddle BorderBarronBarron, WIPublicGolden Bears WhiteHeart O'NorthBloomerBloomer, WIPublicBlackhawks WhiteHeart O'NorthChetekChetek, WIPublicBulldogs BlueHeart O'NorthCumberlandCumberland, WIPublicBeavers BlueHeart O'NorthDurand-ArkansawDurand, WIPublicPanthers RedMiddle BorderEllsworthEllsworth, WIPublicPanthers RedMiddle BorderHaywardHayward, WIPublicHurricanes RedHeart O'NorthLadysmithLadysmith, WIPublicLumberjacks WhiteHeart O'NorthMondoviMondovi, WIPublicBuffaloes BlueDunn-St. CroixNew RichmondNew Richmond, WIPublicTigers RedMiddle BorderNorthwesternMaple, WIPublicTigers WhiteHeart O'NorthOsceolaOsceola, WIPublicChieftains WhiteMiddle BorderPrescottPrescott, WIPublicCardinals BlueDunn-St. CroixSpoonerSpooner, WIPublicRails RedHeart O'NorthSt. Croix FallsSt. Croix Falls, WIPublicSaints BlueMiddle BorderUnityBalsam Lake, WIPublicEagles WhiteMiddle Border
Membership timeline
List of conference champions SchoolQuantityYearsBaldwin-Woodville21994, 1995New Richmond21994, 1995Northwestern21994, 1995Amery0Barron0Bloomer0Chetek0Cumberland0Durand-Arkansaw0Ellsworth0Hayward0Ladysmith0Mondovi0Osceola0Prescott0Spooner0St. Croix Falls0Unity0 References