South Seven Conference

South Seven Conference

Conference	IHSA
Founded	1939
No. of teams	6
Region	Southern Illinois and Metro East

The South Seven Conference is a high school athletic conference comprising five schools in the southern Illinois.

History

The South Seven was formed in 1939 when Centralia and Mt. Vernon departed the North Egyptian Conference and joined Marion, Benton, Harrisburg, Herrin and West Frankfort (hence, the name of the conference since it only had 7 members). Carbondale joined the conference in 1965, but the name of the conference was not changed. ^[1]

In 1993, the four smallest schools (Benton, Harrisburg, Herrin and West Frankfort) departed for the River-to-River Conference. Edwardsville and O'Fallon were added, with the former being a short-term replacement while a permanent member was sought. In 1995, Edwardsville left for the Southwestern Conference and was replaced by Cahokia. Over the next couple of years, O'Fallon would continue to grow to the point that it was much larger than the rest of the schools, and in 2000 the Panthers also left for the Southwestern Conference, replaced by Belleville Althoff. Throughout the changes, the "South Seven" moniker has remained even though the conference never had exactly 7 member schools in almost 50 years. That was to change for the 2018-19 season, when Granite City was due to leave the Southwestern Conference and join the South Seven, but a vote in March 2018 (a 3-3 tie) denied Granite City's entry into the conference until at least 2020. This vote was based heavily on scheduling issues and the amount of traveling for most of the teams in the conference. ^{[2] [3]}

In 2023, Althoff Catholic High School left the conference to join the Gateway Metro Conference.

Member Schools

Cahokia

Carbondale

Centralia

Marion

Mount Vernon

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South Seven Conference Members (clickable map)

School	Location (Population)	Enrollment (2017–18)	Nickname	Colors	Years Member	Previous Conference
Cahokia High School	Cahokia, Illinois (15,241)	928	Comanches	Blue   White	1995–Present	Independent
Carbondale Community High School	Carbondale, Illinois (26,241)	988	Terriers	Black   White	1965–Present	Southwest Egyptian Conference
Centralia High School	Centralia, Illinois (13,034)	911	Orphans/Orphan Annies	Red   White	1939–Present	North Egypt Conference
Marion High School	Marion, Illinois (17,193)	1,083	Wildcats	Navy   Gold	1939–Present	Greater Egyptian Conference
Mount Vernon Township High School	Mount Vernon, Illinois (15,277)	1,190	Rams/Lady Rams	Orange   Black	1939–Present	North Egypt Conference

Former members of the South Seven Conference

School	Nickname	Colors	Location	Years Member	Current Conference
Benton Consolidated High School	Rangers		Benton, IL	1939–1993	Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference
Edwardsville High School	Tigers		Edwardsville, IL	1993–1995	Southwestern Conference
Frankfort Community High School	Redbirds		West Frankfort, IL	1939–1993	Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference
Harrisburg High School	Bulldogs		Harrisburg, IL	1939–1993	Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference
Herrin High School	Tigers		Herrin, IL	1939–1993	Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference
O'Fallon High School	Panthers		O'Fallon, IL	1993–2000	Southwestern Conference
Althoff Catholic High School	Crusaders		Belleville, Illinois	2000–2023	Gateway Metro Conference

Membership timeline

Full membersSouthwestern ConferenceSouthern Illinois River-to-River Conference

See also

• List of Illinois High School Association member conferences

References

1. The Great Conferences/Illinois High School Glory Days
2. Winston, Curtis (March 27, 2018). "Granite City denied spot in South Seven Conference". The Daily Republican. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
3. Belleville News-Democrat