High school football guru Paul Halfacre breaks down some of the top Week 4 matchups for the St. Louis area. Enjoy.
Derek Jarman is sitting on some hot commodities.
The Civic Memorial athletics director realizes the Mississippi Valley Conference banners and signs that adorn his school’s gymnasium will be in high demand very soon.
The MVC, a long-time staple in the area, will cease to exist in June. The six-team league is set to drift into the sunset after 54 years.
“It’s sad in a way because of all the tradition, all the good games and good times that people around here will remember,” Mascoutah athletics director Scott Battas said. “Any time something like that comes to an end, there will always be sadness.”
The final season of MVC football begins with three league games tonight — Jerseyville (1-2) at Highland (2-1), Civic Memorial (1-2) at Triad (1-2) and Waterloo (2-1) at Mascoutah (1-2). The MVC schedule runs consecutively from weeks 4-8, and last year’s race was a three-way tie between Highland, Triad and Waterloo.
But anything with the letters MVC will likely be taken down as the schools head into three different conferences beginning with the 2026-2027 school year.
“I’ve already had people ask me what am I going to do with them and can they have one,” Jarman said. “There’s a great metal sign that would look really good in somebody’s garage.”
Jarman indicated he might claim that souvenir for his own.
Mascoutah and Triad are scheduled join the Southwestern Conference, which will expand into two five-team divisions.
Civic Memorial, Jerseyville and Waterloo will shift to the Cahokia Conference. Highland is heading to the South Seven Conference.
The MVC remained relatively consistent on the sports landscape ever since it was first formed in 1971. It began with Mascoutah, Highland, Triad, Jerseyville, Civic Memorial, O’Fallon, East Alton-Wood River and Roxana.
O’Fallon departed in 1993 due to increasing enrollment. Roxana and East Alton-Wood River withdrew in 1998. Waterloo joined to replace those two.
The six current schools have been part of the six-school league since 1998.
The changes were necessitated due to increasing and decreasing enrollments in some schools. Mascoutah and Triad continue to grow and the larger SWC seems to be a good fit. Civic Memorial, which has seen a drop in enrollment, needed a league with smaller schools.
Highland was the lone school that struggled to find a home before the South Seven moved into the picture.
“We were kind of left in no-man’s land,” Highland athletics director Clint Hamilton said. “With everyone going to other places, we became the odd man out.”
Now that the dust has settled, all six teams are anxious move into their new leagues with different opponents.
Yet some of the MVC schools seem anxious to continue playing one another in future non-league games in order to keep up the traditions and rivalries going.
“Fans of all the schools still want to face one another in some cases,” Jarman said.
That’s especially true in football, where contracts for home-and-home series against former MVC opponents are being drawn up by some schools.
Fans, coaches and players alike will miss the tradition and history that goes with the MVC. The league featured numerous community rivalries.
The MVC has had plenty of success across the board. The Mascoutah football team claimed one of the first big championships when it won the Class 3A state title in 1979. Highland has grabbed a pair of baseball championships (2008, 2015) and a softball crown (2021). The Triad girls soccer program won titles in 2011, 2017, 2021 and 2022.
There have been numerous standout athletes from all schools in the 45-year history of the loop including former Highland running back Billy Greenwald, whose 45 touchdowns in 1989 still ranks sixth in the Illinois high school record book.
Battas and Triad athletics director Kenny Deatherage have the most seniority at the position. Battas is a 1997 Mascoutah graduate and coached football at the school from 2009-2015. Both have won national awards for their work.
“Sure, it’s sad in a way,” Battas said. “But I think in most cases it’s time to move on and these changes will help our schools grow and become more competitive athletically.”
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Steve Overbey | Post-Dispatch
High school sports reporter
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