Eastern Wisconsin Conference

The Eastern Wisconsin Conference is a high school athletic conference with its membership based in east central Wisconsin. It existed in two incarnations: the original conference from 1923 to 1970 and the current one since 1979. The conference and its member schools belong to the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.

History

1923-1970

30km
19miles

   

Location of Original Eastern Wisconsin Conference Members (1923)

The Eastern Wisconsin Conference, originally known as the Big Eight High School Athletic Conference, was founded in 1923 by eight small high schools in the area between Lake Michigan and Lake Winnebago in east central Wisconsin (Brillion, Chilton, Elkhart Lake, Hilbert, Kiel, New Holstein, Plymouth and Sheboygan Falls).^[1] Original member schools were located in three counties: Calumet, Manitowoc and Sheboygan. After the conference's first season of competition, three schools (Brillion, Elkhart Lake and Hilbert) were dropped from the membership roster.^[2] Elkhart Lake rejoined the conference in 1925 to bring membership back up to six schools.^[3] A seventh member school was added when Valders joined the Big Eight in 1928,^[4] and Kohler brought the ledger back to eight members when they entered the league in 1929.^[5]

After the initial membership shuffle, the Eastern Wisconsin Conference maintained a steady membership roster for over two decades. Original conference member Brillion rejoined the EWC in 1951 after moving over from the Little Nine Conference.^[6] The Eastern Wisconsin Conference increased to ten members in 1960, adding Oostburg to its membership roster. In 1965, Brillion rejoined the Little Nine Conference,^[7] with their place being taken by former Kettle Moraine Conference members Cedar Grove.^[8] Five schools left the conference in 1969; four became charter members of the Central Lakeshore Conference (Cedar Grove, Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah, Kohler and Oostburg)^[9] and Chilton competed as an independent prior to the formation of the Packerland Conference in 1970.^[10] The EWC disbanded that same year, with members dispersed to two new conferences. Four schools joined the Packerland Conference (Kiel, New Holstein, Plymouth and Sheboygan Falls)^[10] and Valders accepted membership in the Olympian Conference.^[11]

1979-present

30km
19miles

   

Location of Original Eastern Wisconsin Conference Members (1979)

The Eastern Wisconsin Conference was reformed in 1979 by six of the previous members (Chilton, Kiel, New Holstein, Plymouth, Sheboygan Falls and Valders) along with newcomers Two Rivers.^[12] The six previous members all left the conferences that were previously joined in 1970, and Two Rivers came over from the Fox Valley Association. Valders only stayed in the new EWC for one season, rejoining the Olympian Conference in 1980.^[13] Kewaskum joined the Eastern Wisconsin Conference as their replacement after being left without conference affiliation following the dissolution of the Scenic Moraine Conference.^[14][15] This alignment stayed intact for nearly two decades, until in 1999, Chilton left to become members of the Olympian Conference.^[16] Campbellsport moved over from the Flyway Conference and Roncalli joined from the Fox Valley Christian Conference as their replacements.^[17] Roncalli's entry into the league coincided with the merger between the WIAA and the Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletic Association,^[18] and they became the first private school affiliated with the EWC. Roncalli's affiliation would last until 2007, when they accepted membership in the Olympian Conference^[19] and Waupun joined from the East Central Flyway Conference to keep the roster at eight schools.^[20] The most recent change to conference membership came in 2015, when the Eastern Wisconsin Conference lost four members (Campbellsport, Kewaskum, Plymouth and Waupun) to the revival of the East Central Conference.^[21] They were replaced by four schools displaced by the ceasing of the Olympian Conference. Chilton, Roncalli and Valders made their return to the EWC, along with Brillion, who were members of the original conference from 1951 to 1965.

List of conference members (1979-present)

Current members

School	Location	Affiliation	Enrollment	Mascot	Colors	Joined
Brillion	Brillion, WI	Public	342	Lions		2015[21]
Chilton	Chilton, WI	Public	401	Tigers		1979,[12] 2015[21]
Kiel	Kiel, WI	Public	453	Raiders		1979[12]
New Holstein	New Holstein, WI	Public	319	Huskies		1979[12]
Roncalli	Manitowoc, WI	Private (Catholic)	223	Jets		1999,[17] 2015[21]
Sheboygan Falls	Sheboygan Falls, WI	Public	513	Falcons		1979[12]
Two Rivers	Two Rivers, WI	Public	480	Purple Raiders		1979[12]
Valders	Valders, WI	Public	298	Vikings		1979,[12] 2015[21]

Former members

School	Location	Affiliation	Enrollment	Mascot	Colors	Joined	Left	Conference Joined	Current Conference
Plymouth	Plymouth, WI	Public	746	Panthers		1979[12]	2015[21]	East Central	Glacier Trails (2025)
Kewaskum	Kewaskum, WI	Public	572	Indians		1980[14][15]	2015[21]	East Central	Glacier Trails (2025)
Campbellsport	Campbellsport, WI	Public	470	Cougars		1999[17]	2015[21]	East Central	Wisconsin Flyway
Waupun	Waupun, WI	Public	573	Warriors		2007[20]	2015[21]	East Central	Capitol (2025)

Conference membership history (1923-1970)

School	Location	Affiliation	Enrollment	Mascot	Colors	Joined	Left	Conference Joined	Current Conference
Brillion	Brillion, WI	Public	342	Lions		1923,[1] 1951[6]	1924,[2] 1965[7]	Independent, Little Nine	Eastern Wisconsin
Chilton	Chilton, WI	Public	401	Tigers		1923[1]	1969[10]	Independent	Eastern Wisconsin
Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah	Elkhart Lake, WI	Public	148	Resorters		1923,[1] 1925[3]	1924,[2] 1969[9]	Independent, Central Lakeshore	Big East
Hilbert	Hilbert, WI	Public	141	Wolves		1923[1]	1924[2]	Independent	Big East
Kiel	Kiel, WI	Public	453	Raiders		1923[1]	1970[10]	Packerland	Eastern Wisconsin
New Holstein	New Holstein, WI	Public	319	Huskies		1923[1]	1970[10]	Packerland	Eastern Wisconsin
Plymouth	Plymouth, WI	Public	746	Panthers		1923[1]	1970[10]	Packerland	Glacier Trails (2025)
Sheboygan Falls	Sheboygan Falls, WI	Public	513	Falcons		1923[1]	1970[10]	Packerland	Eastern Wisconsin
Valders	Valders, WI	Public	298	Vikings		1928[4]	1970[11]	Olympian	Eastern Wisconsin
Kohler	Kohler, WI	Public	223	Blue Bombers		1929[5]	1969[9]	Central Lakeshore	Big East
Oostburg	Oostburg, WI	Public	331	Dutchmen		1960[22]	1969[9]	Central Lakeshore	Big East
Cedar Grove	Cedar Grove, WI	Public	291	Rockets		1965	1969[9]	Central Lakeshore	Big East

Membership timeline

1923-1970

1979-present

Membership map

Eastern Wisconsin Conference

13km
8.1miles

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

   

Location of Eastern Wisconsin Conference full members:

1

Brillion

2

Chilton

3

Kiel

4

New Holstein

5

Roncalli

6

Sheboygan Falls

7

Two Rivers

8

Valders

List of state champions

Fall sports

Boys Cross Country

School	Year	Division
Two Rivers	1999	Division 2
Valders	2017	Division 2
Valders	2018	Division 2
Valders	2019	Division 2
Valders	2021	Division 2

Girls Cross Country

School	Year	Division
Chilton	1996	Division 2

Football

School	Year	Division
Two Rivers	1980	Division 3
Two Rivers	1981	Division 3
Two Rivers	1982	Division 3
Sheboygan Falls	2000	Division 3

Boys Soccer

School	Year	Division
Plymouth	2002	Division 2
Roncalli/Two Rivers	2020	Division 2

Girls Volleyball

School	Year	Division
Sheboygan Falls	1983	Class B
Waupun	2008	Division 2

Winter sports

Boys Basketball

School	Year	Division
Chilton	1986	Class B
Roncalli	2018	Division 4
Roncalli	2022	Division 4
Brillion	2023	Division 3

Girls Basketball

School	Year	Division
Chilton	1992	Division 3

Boys Wrestling

School	Year	Division
Valders	1957	Single Division

Spring sports

Boys Golf

School	Year	Division
Roncalli	2009	Division 3

Girls Soccer

School	Year	Division
New Holstein	2010	Division 3
Kiel	2023	Division 4

Boys Tennis

School	Year	Division
Roncalli	2000[23]	WISAA

Boys Track & Field

School	Year	Division
Kohler	1946	Class C
Kohler	1947	Class C
Kohler	1948	Class C
Kohler	1950	Class C
Kohler	1951	Class C
Kohler	1953	Class C
New Holstein	1955	Class C
New Holstein	1956	Class C
Kohler	1958	Class C
Kohler	1965	Class C
Kohler	1967	Class C
Plymouth	1967	Class B
Kohler	1968	Class C

Girls Track & Field

School	Year	Division
Two Rivers	1994	Division 2
Two Rivers	2000	Division 2
Two Rivers	2003	Division 2

Summer sports

Baseball

School	Year	Division
New Holstein	1965	Single Division
Plymouth	1982	Single Division