Wikipedia

Little Okaw Valley Conference

The Little Okaw Valley Conference is a high school conference in central Illinois, in the United States. The conference participates in athletics and activities in the Illinois High School Association. The conference comprises five small public high schools with enrollments between 80 and 270 students in Coles, Champaign, Douglas, Moultrie, and Piatt counties.

Little Okaw Valley Conference
ConferenceIHSA
Founded1970
No. of teams5
RegionCentral Illinois (Coles, Douglas, Moultrie, and Piatt Counties)

History

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Also known as the LOVC, the Little Okaw Valley Conference was founded in 1970 with schools from Arthur, Atwood, Bement, Cerro Gordo, Hammond, Homer, Newman, Oakland, and Villa Grove, Illinois.[1]

Seven of the eight charter members were small schools from the Okaw Valley Conference and they included: Arthur, Atwood-Hammond,[2][3] Bement, Cerro Gordo, Newman,[4] Oakland, and Villa Grove High Schools. Additionally, the league included a school from the East Central Conference, Homer High School.[5]

As the conference moved through the 1970s the number of teams remained the same, however, after the 1980 school year, Homer, Newman and Oakland would leave for the newly formed East Okaw Conference.[6] However, Arcola and Lovington would join that same year.[7]

The conference would include only six schools for the remainder of the 1980s with the next change occurring in 1994 as Atwood-Hammond and Bement would join forces as the South Piatt[8] Coop during the football season, however, they would compete as individual schools for all other sports. Additionally that same year, Tuscola would join the league from the now defunct Meridian Conference.[9] This, however, gave the league an odd number for all other sports beyond football.

Two years later, in 1996, the conference expanded with the addition of Broadlands Heritage, Hume Shiloh,[10] Illiopolis[11] Niantic-Harristown[12] and the return of Oakland High School.[13] This would put the league at 12 schools for all sports except football where there were 11 teams. The number of football teams were reduced for the 1997 season when Heritage and Shiloh began a football coop known as East Central.[14] The league would stay nearly the same as the 1990s came to a close.

As the 2000s began, the league remained stable with very few changes. Bethany[15] and Findlay High Schools[16] consolidated into Okaw Valley[17] and joined the league in 2001, the same year the Meridian Conference would cease to exist. In 2004, the high schools from Niantic-Harristown and Illiopolis consolidated, becoming Sangamon Valley High School.[18] This again reduced the number of schools competing in the conference. However, the conference was not done growing and by 2006 the list of schools included 12 teams: Arcola, Arthur, Atwood-Hammond, Bement, Cerro Gordo, Heritage, Hume Shiloh, Lovington, Okaw Valley, Sangamon Valley, Tuscola, and Villa Grove.[19] However, this would be the final year for Tuscola, they would leave for the Okaw Valley Conference at the end of the 2006–07 school year. In 2009, Martinsville,[20] joined the league, increasing the number of schools to 13.[19][21] The conference would remain status quo until 2014 where an expansion would take place as nine schools would leave the Okaw Valley Conference.[22]

Argenta-Oreana, Decatur LSA, Hutsonville/Palestine (coop), Oblong, and Toledo Cumberland would join in 2014.[23] This increase in schools created a two division football conference prior to the 2016 season. Those divisions were the Northwest and Southeast. The Northeast included: Arcola, Argenta-Oreana, Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond, Cerro Gordo-Bement, Decatur LSA, and Sangamon Valley. The Southeast included: Cumberland, Martinsville, Oblong, Palestine-Hutsonville, Tri-County, and Villa Grove.[24] In 2018, another new member would join the LOVC, Blue Ridge High School.[25]

Unfortunately, even before Blue Ridge joined the league, an uprising had begun based on the distance required to travel between schools as well as maintaining a closed football conference. Because of situation, in December 2017, 15 of the conference schools announced their intention to leave the LOVC.[26][27] These schools were moving to a new conference, the Lincoln Prairie. The only schools not moving to the new league were Martinsville, Hutsonville, Palestine and Oblong.

The most recent school to join the conference is Bridgeport Red Hill High School.[28] As of 2023, the conference maintains five high schools: Bridgeport Red Hill, Hutsonville, Oblong, Palestine, and Martinsville.[29] None of the current schools are charter members.

Member schools

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School Location Mascot Colors Enrollment[30] IHSA Classes 1/2/3/4[30] IHSA Football Class[30] IHSA Football
Type[31] 		Coop/Team Affiliated
Conference
Red Hill[32] Bridgeport, IL Salukis     
Red, White, Blue 		264 A/1A/1A 1A 11-Man No Midland Trail
Hutsonville[33] Hutsonville, IL Tigers
Lady Tigers 		   
Orange, Black 		105 A/1A/1A 2A 11-man Oblong (Host)
Palestine 		None
Oblong[34] Oblong, IL Panthers
Lady Panthers 		   
Royal Blue, Gold 		180 A/1A/1A 2A 11-Man Hutsonville
Palestine 		None
Palestine[35] Palestine, IL Pioneers    
Royal Blue, White 		79 A/1A/1A 2A 11-Man Oblong (Host)
Hutsonville 		None
Martinsville[36] Martinsville, IL Blue Streaks    
Blue, White 		100 A/1A/1A NA 8-Man No None

Previous Members

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School Location Mascot Colors Year
Joined 		Year
Departed 		Conference
Joined 		Current
Conference 		Consolidated
Schools 		Current High School
Arthur Arthur, IL Knights    
Red, White 		1970 2012 NA Lincoln Prairie Lovington
(2012) 		ALAH
Atwood-Hammond[37] Atwood, IL Rajahs
Rajenes 		   
Black, Gold 		1970 2014 NA Lincoln Prairie Arthur-Lovington
(2014) 		ALAH
Bement[38] Bement, IL Bulldogs
Lady Bulldogs 		   
Purple, White 		1970 2019 Lincoln Prairie Lincoln Prairie No NA
Cerro Gordo[39] Cerro Gordo, IL Broncos    
Blue, Orange 		1970 2019 Lincoln Prairie Lincoln Prairie No NA
Homer[5] Homer, IL Panthers    
Maroon, Gold 		1970 1980 East Okaw School Closed (1988) Broadlands ABL[40]
(1989) 		Heritage
Newman[4] Newman, IL Redskins    
Red, White 		1970 1980 East Okaw School Closed (1994) Hume Shiloh
(1994) 		Shiloh
Oakland[41] Oakland, IL Titans
Lady Titans 		   
Purple, Orange 		1970
1996 		1980
2019 		East Okaw Lincoln Prairie No NA
Villa Grove[42] Villa Grove, IL Blue Devils    
Blue, Gold 		1970 2019 Lincoln Prairie Lincoln Prairie No NA
Arcola[43] Arcola, IL Purple Riders
Lady Riders 		   
Purple, White 		1980 2019 Lincoln Prairie Lincoln Prairie No NA
Lovington[44] Lovington, IL Panthers    
Purple, Gold 		1980 2012 NA Lincoln Prairie Arthur
(2012) 		ALAH
Tuscola[45] Tuscola, IL Warriors
Lady Warriors 		   
Black, Gold 		1994 2007 Okaw Valley Central Illinois No NA
Heritage[46] Broadlands, IL Hawks    
Navy Blue, Silver 		1996 2019 Lincoln Prairie Lincoln Prairie No NA
Shiloh[47] Hume, IL Titans
Lady Titans 		    
Blue, Orange, Purple 		1996 2019 Lincoln Prairie Lincoln Prairie No NA
Illiopolis[11] Illiopolis, IL Pirates   
Red, Black 		1996 2004 NA Lincoln Prairie Niantic-Harristown
(2004) 		Sangamon Valley
Niantic-Harristown[48] Harristown, IL Indians   
Purple, Yellow 		1996 2004 NA Lincoln Prairie Illiopolis
(2004) 		Sangamon Valley
Okaw Valley[49] Bethany, IL Timberwolves     
Blue, Silver, Black 		2001 2019 Lincoln Prairie Lincoln Prairie No NA
Sangamon Valley[50] Niantic, IL Storm     
Navy Blue, Silver, Columbia Blue 		2004 2019 Lincoln Prairie Lincoln Prairie No NA
Arthur-Lovington Arthur, IL Knights    
Red, White 		2012 2014 NA Lincoln Prairie Atwood-Hammond
(2014) 		ALAH
Argenta-Oreana[51] Argenta, IL Bombers   
Orange, Royal Blue 		2014 2019 Lincoln Prairie Lincoln Prairie No NA
Unity Christian[52] Decatur, IL Lions
Lady Lions 		   
Red, White, Black 		2014 2019 Lincoln Prairie Lincoln Prairie No NA
Cumberland[53] Toledo, IL Pirates
Lady Pirates 		   
Columbia Blue, Gold, White 		2014 2019 Lincoln Prairie Lincoln Prairie No NA
ALAH[54] Arthur, IL Knights     
Red, Black, Vegas Gold 		2014 2019 Lincoln Prairie Lincoln Prairie No NA
Blue Ridge[55] Farmer City, IL Knights
Lady Knights 		  
Royal Blue, Silver 		2018 2019 Lincoln Prairie Lincoln Prairie No NA

Sources:IHSA Conferences,[56] and IHSA Member Schools Directory[57]

Membership timeline

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Full Members

References

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  1. ^ "Villa Grove joins Little Okaw Valley". Herald & Review. page 21. Jun 11, 1970.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  2. ^ Atwood High School
  3. ^ Hammond High School
  4. ^ a b Newman High School
  5. ^ a b Homer High School
  6. ^ "Economy, enrollment alter prep conferences". Herald & Review. page 21. Dec 25, 1979.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  7. ^ "Changes likely in Okaw Conference". Herald & Review. page 22. Jun 18, 1981.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  8. ^ "Longtime rivals will join forces next season in football". Herald & Review. page C4. Oct 27, 1993.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  9. ^ "Widespread Changes Formation of South Piatt team, Tuscola move aids Little Okaw". Herald & Review. page 11. Apr 13, 1993.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  10. ^ Hume Shiloh High School
  11. ^ a b Illiopolis High School
  12. ^ Niantic-Harristown
  13. ^ "Standard of excellence Tuscola picked to repeat in Little Okaw". Herald & Review. page 50. Aug 25, 1995.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  14. ^ "Little Okaw Valley All-Conference First Team". Herald & Review. page 14. Nov 22, 1997.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  15. ^ Bethany High School
  16. ^ Findlay High School
  17. ^ Okaw Valley High School
  18. ^ "Niantic-Harristown/Illiopolis school district consolidation". Herald & Review. page 2. Mar 17, 2004.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  19. ^ a b LOVC Standings (2006-2014)
  20. ^ Martinsville High School
  21. ^ "Ultra-small school Martinsville ready for LOVC". Herald & Review. page C4. Aug 26, 2009.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  22. ^ Helregel, Andrew (Sep 25, 2012). "Nine schools decide to leave Okaw Valley Conference". Piatt County Journal-Republican. Retrieved Apr 18, 2023.
  23. ^ "Argenta-Oreana Voted Out of New Central Illinois Conference; Applies to Little Okaw". DeWitt Daily News. 2014. Retrieved Apr 17, 2023.
  24. ^ Digital Scout
  25. ^ "Blue Ridge leaving HOIC, set to join LOVC". WCIA. Mar 23, 2017. Retrieved Apr 17, 2023.
  26. ^ Rainey, Zachary (Apr 2, 2019). "Cumberland, 14 others found Lincoln Prairie Conference". Effingham Daily News. Retrieved Apr 17, 2023.
  27. ^ Arenz, Jeff (Dec 2, 2017). "Cumberland among 15 schools set to leave Little Okaw Valley Conference". Effingham Daily News. Retrieved Apr 17, 2023.
  28. ^ "New Conference Affiliation for Red Hill". WAKO. Jan 17, 2020. Retrieved Apr 17, 2023.
  29. ^ IHSA.org Conference Affiliated Schools
  30. ^ a b c "Numeric Enrollments | Enrollments & Classifications | Schools | IHSA".
  31. ^ "Football Conference Schedules, Standings & Results".
  32. ^ Red Hill High School
  33. ^ Hutsonville High School
  34. ^ Oblong High School
  35. ^ Illini Palestine High School
  36. ^ Martinsville High School
  37. ^ Atwood-Hammond High School
  38. ^ Bement High School
  39. ^ Cerro Gordo High School
  40. ^ Broadlands ABL High School
  41. ^ Oakland High School
  42. ^ Villa Grove High School
  43. ^ Arcola High School
  44. ^ Lovington High School
  45. ^ Tuscola High School
  46. ^ Heritage High School
  47. ^ Shiloh High School
  48. ^ Niantic-Harristown High School
  49. ^ Okaw Valley High School
  50. ^ Sangamon Valley High School
  51. ^ Argenta-Oreana High School
  52. ^ Decatur Lutheran Association High School
  53. ^ Cumberland High School
  54. ^ Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond High School
  55. ^ Blue Ridge High School
  56. ^ "IHSA.org Conferences". www.ihsa.org.
  57. ^ "Schools - IHSA". www.ihsa.org.
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