The Big Rivers Conference is one of more than a dozen high school leagues in Wisconsin that will undergo realignment, which is slated to be implemented in the fall of 2024, according to recent WIAA reports.

The River Falls Wildcats will remain in the Big Rivers Conference, while Eau Claire Memorial and Eau Claire North will both be moved to the Wisconsin Valley Conference. Rice Lake will leave the Middle Border Conference after just one year and will rejoin the Big Rivers.

River Falls head coach Ryan Scherz spoke about how the Big Rivers Conference realignment will alter the landscape for teams throughout the league.

“It doesn’t really affect us a ton, but I kind of feel bad for the Eau Claire schools,” Scherz said. “I hope that they can keep some of their long-standing rivalry games with Chippewa Falls and Menomonie. It’s changing, but it will still feel like the Big Rivers for us.”

The new-look Big Rivers Conference will include River Falls, Menomonie, Chippewa Falls, Hudson, New Richmond, Superior and Rice Lake. The Wisconsin Valley Conference will include Eau Claire North, Eau Claire Memorial, D.C. Everest, Marshfield, Stevens Point, Wausau West and Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln.

Given the realignment adjustments, the Big Rivers and Wisconsin Valley Conferences will have an odd number of teams (seven). That means the two leagues will have to play one crossover game per season to avoid scheduling issues.

Because Eau Claire North and Memorial are Division 1 programs and River Falls is a Division 2 school, those crossover games will be the only time these teams will play again. With only one crossover game per year, the former Big Rivers foes will meet just once a decade.

Coach Scherz spoke about how the conference realignment will impact the positive working relationships he built with the coaches at Eau Claire North and Memorial since he became the headman at River Falls two years ago.

“With the way the crossovers work, we’ll play them twice every 14 years,” Scherz said. “We’re definitely not going to have the same relationship. I’ve gotten to know both coaches and they’re really good guys. It was always a challenge to play their teams, so it’s going to be different.”

With Eau Claire Memorial and Eau Claire North out and Rice Lake in, the competitive balance isn’t altered significantly, at least in Scherz’s eyes. River Falls may be losing the opportunity to play two larger Division 1 schools annually, but it’s regaining the chance to compete against the Rice Lake Warriors.

Rice Lake has been one of the best Division 3 programs in the western half of the state in the last two years. Since the fall of 2021, the Warriors have compiled a 20-6 record and have played in three sectional games and one state championship at Camp Randall in Madison.

“There weren’t really any weak teams before and (the changes) don’t make it any easier,” Scherz said of the realignment. “Top to bottom competitively it’s still really good. That’s the way it was before. Rice Lake is a little bit smaller than North and Memorial, but that’s the only change.”

Conference realignment is more important to football than any other sport because of the requirements for the WIAA playoffs. Whereas basketball, baseball and softball teams all automatically make the postseason each year, football teams earn their way into the dance.

To be eligible for the playoffs, a team must finish the year above .500 in their respective conference with a minimum of seven games against league opponents. That means conference realignment directly impacts football more than any other sport in the state.

That’s almost certainly why the WIAA Board of Control designated the Conference Realignment Task Force to rebalance leagues throughout the state to ensure a level playing field for as many teams as possible.

Because of ever-changing population demographics and enrollment figures, conference realignment will likely become commonplace for high school football in Wisconsin. Scherz spoke about the potential of nearly constant change.

“With the ground rules they’ve established for playoff qualification, it’s going to keep happening,” Scherz said. “I can say I think we’re probably settled for a little bit, but you never know.”

Although Scherz has accepted that realignment will become a regularity moving forward, he’s concerned that too much change will water down conference history and league titles will lose the luster that they’ve had for nearly seven decades.

“I think conferences mean something – regardless of the Division,” Scherz said. “Hudson is a Division 1 school and I’m glad we’re in the same conference. Rice Lake is D3, and they want to be in the Big Rivers because it means something. I’m just afraid conferences will mean less, and to me, Big Rivers Conference championships are important. Only seven teams win the state championship, so being able to claim (a conference title) is important.”

During a realignment three years ago, River Falls was moved from the Big Rivers Conference to the Mississippi Valley. After two years there – one of which was essentially canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic – the Wildcats returned to the Big Rivers.

In River Falls’ past three full seasons in the Big Rivers, the Wildcats have three conference championships. That doesn’t include the league title River Falls won during the 2021 season in the Mississippi Valley, it's only full season in that conference.

Regardless of the teams in the Big Rivers, River Falls will be striving for another league championship when football season begins in August.