The Prairieland Conference is a high school athletic conference in western central Illinois. The conference participates in athletics and activities in the Illinois High School Association. The conference comprises small public high schools with enrollments between 50 and 400 students in portions of Fulton, Knox, Mason, McDonough, Peoria, Schuyler, and Warren counties.

History Formed in 1982, the Prairieland Conference had eight original members which included; Abingdon, Bushnell-Prairie City, Cuba, Elmwood, Farmington, Knoxville, Lewistown and London Mills (Spoon River Valley). Spoon River Valley would be the first school to leave the league, joining the Inter County Athletic Conference By 1990, Elmwood began a football coop with Brimfield but remained in the league. Meanwhile, Farmington and Knoxville would leave the conference and head to the Olympic Conference being replaced with schools from Havana and Astoria, who already had established a coop with Table Grove (VIT) for football. In 1995, Peoria Heights would join the conference. Coops would continue to form as Table Grove (VIT) and Astoria would join forces in 1997 and be known as South Fulton. Also in 1997, Spoon River Valley would return to the conference from the Bi-County Conference. Rounding out the 1990s, Petersburg (PORTA) would come into the league as well as a coop with Monmouth Yorkwood and Roseville in 1999. This would give the conference 10 teams for football.

Roseville and Monmouth Warren High Schools consolidated in 2004 to become Monmouth United. This would end the coop for Roseville with Yorkwood, however, Joy Westmer took the opportunity to join forces with Yorkwood and begin their coop that same year, pulling Yorkwood out of the conference into the Lincoln Trail. Yet another coop would form in 2006 as Cuba and Spoon River Valley would join forces and become known as North Fulton. Brimfield would fully join the league in 2008, leaving the Inter County Athletic. In 2009, Petersburg (PORTA) would leave the conference for the Sangamo Conference. Prior to the 2010 school year, Beardstown and Rushville-Industry would join the league and Farmington would make their return after being gone for 20 years. In 2013 Abingdon and Avon High Schools consolidated and Bushnell-Prairie City, West Prairie, North Fulton and Peoria Heights had opted to play 8-man football. Abingdon-Avon left the Prairieland and moved to the Lincoln Trail Conference in 2021. Sciota West Prairie moved to the Prairieland in 2014 from the Lincoln Trail Conference. Beardstown would leave the league in 2015 for the Western Illinois Valley. In 2018, Illini West would join the Prairieland, however, it would only stay for 3 years, returning to the West Central in 2021. In that same year, Macomb would leave the West Central and join the Prairieland. In 2022, the Cuba Spoon River Valley coop would join forces with Lewistown for football.

Current membership School Location Mascot Colors 2017-18 Enrollment IHSA Classes 2/3/4 IHSA Music Class IHSA Football Class AstoriaHigh School Astoria, IL Rebels Purple, Green 110 A/1A/1A(VIT Coop - A/1A/1A) D 1A(VIT Coop - 1A) BrimfieldHigh School Brimfield, IL Indians Red, White 225 A/1A/1A(Elmwood Coop- A/1A/2A) C 1A(Elmwood Coop- 2A) Bushnell-Prairie CityHigh School Bushnell, IL Spartans Red, White, Blue 226 A/1A/1A C 1A(West Prairie BWP Coop-2A) CubaHigh School Cuba, IL Wildcats Red, Black 142 A/1A/1A(SRV Coop- A/1A/1A) D 1A(SRV Coop- 1A) ElmwoodHigh School Elmwood, IL Trojans Orange, Black 213 A/1A/1A(Brimfield Coop - A/1A/2A) C 1A(Brimfield Coop - 2A) Farmington High School Farmington, IL Farmers Purple, Gold 413 B 3A HavanaHigh School Havana, IL Ducks Maroon, White 298 A/1A/1A C 2A LewistownHigh School Lewistown, IL Indians Scarlet Red, Columbia Blue 220 A/1A/1A C 1A Macomb High School Macomb, Illinois Bombers Orange and Black 581 Peoria HeightsHigh School Peoria Heights, IL Patriots Red, White, Blue 207 A/1A/1A C 1A Spoon River ValleyHigh School London Mills, IL Vikings Black, Orange 109 A/1A/1A(Cuba Coop- A/1A/1A) D 1A(Cuba Coop- 1A) VITHigh School Table Grove, IL Rebels White, Purple, Green 101 A/1A/1A(Astoria Coop- A/1A/1A) D 1A(Astoria Coop- 1A)West Prairie High SchoolSciota, ILCyclones Black, Silver162A/1A/1A (Bushnell-PC Coop 2A)(BWP Coop-2A) Sources:IHSA Conferences, IHSA Coop Teams, and IHSA Member Schools Directory

Membership timeline

Cooperative Arrangements Source: Astoria+VIT=South Fulton Cuba+Spoon River Valley=North Fulton Havana+Illini Central for boys wrestling only Brimfield and Elmwood do not coop for basketball Bushnell-PC and West Prairie coop as BWP in baseball, football, softball and track. The schools do not coop in boys basketball, girls basketball, scholastic bowl or volleyball.

Competitive Success The Prairieland Conference has won 9 state championships in IHSA sponsored athletics and activities.

State Champions

Boys Baseball Lewistown (1992-1993 A) Peoria Heights (2017 1A)

Boys Basketball Brimfield (2015 1A)

Boys Cross Country Elmwood (1977-1978 A) Elmwood (1983-1984 A) Elmwood (1984-1985 A) Elmwood (1985-1986 A) Elmwood (2006-2007 A) Elmwood (2008-2009 1A) Elmwood (2013-2014 1A) Elmwood (2016-2017 1A) Elmwood (2017-2018 1A)

Boys Golf Havana (1998-1999 A)

Girls Basketball Brimfield (2022 1A)

Girls Volleyball West Prairie (2016 1A)

References

External links Prairieland Football Conference, Black Division Prairieland Black Conference schedules and standings Prairieland Football Conference, Blue Division Prairieland Blue Conference schedules and standings Abingdon High School Astoria High School Avon High School Brimfield High School Bushnell-Prairie City High School Cuba High School Elmwood High School Havana High School Knoxville High School Knoxville High School Football Lewistown High School

Spoon River Valley High School VIT High School West Prairie High School