Starting in 2019, Saint Viator will be a part of Illinois’s first high school football super conference. This new super conference will include the 14 members of the Chicago Catholic League and the 10 members of the East Suburban Catholic Conference.

Saint Viator athletes are excited about this new opportunity and its potential to level the playing field.

“I think that this new conference will be very beneficial for us. There will be new teams and new challenges approaching us that will build our strength and integrity,” said sophomore Jack Phelan.

With all these new teams meshing into one big conference, it will open doors to new and exciting rivalries for the future.

“I’m excited to play them all. All of these new teams to compete against have rich history in Illinois,” said sophomore Ryan O’Malley.

This idea to form a new conference has been discussed for over a year among several coaches from the CCL and ESCC, including Viator’s head football coach Dave Archibald.

“When this idea began, (then Viator Athletic Director) Marty Jennings and I looked at a way of reforming the ESCC,” said Coach Dave Archibald. “As time went on, a two division system was developed, until talking with the members of the CCL who had the better idea to form this large conference.”

This new conference benefits the football program because the competition will be more evenly matched based on team size and talent.  Some of the schools in our current conference, such as Joliet Catholic and Marist, have twice the amount of students attending their schools, making the competition level tougher for the mid-sized schools like Saint Viator.

“The merger is going to provide more parity,” said Coach Archibald. “It’ll remove the number of games for mid sized schools that compete against the larger schools. The size difference helps. Even though our new conference holds over 20 teams, our schedule will still contain two non conference games, starting with a home opener against Prospect!”

Overall, this new conference is bound to bring even more hype for future Chicagoland football teams.

If all goes well, it’s possible we could see this super conference affecting the other remaining varsity sports such as basketball, baseball, soccer, lacrosse, and more.

How will this impact high school football across Chicagoland? Stay tuned for next year’s season!