Suburban Conference (St. Louis)

The Suburban Conference (formally the St Louis Suburban Public High School Athletic and Activities Association) is a Missouri State High School Activities Association recognized high school extracurricular league, based near Creve Coeur, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. The conference comprises 31 member schools from St. Louis County and Jefferson County. It is the largest

Realignments

Because of the large number of teams in the conference, the conference has historically been divided geographically into sub-conferences and divisions. Prior to the 2014-15 school year, there were four conferences - Suburban East, Suburban North, Suburban South and Suburban West.[1]

In 2018, the St. Louis Suburban Public High School Athletic and Activities Association re-aligned their conferences into various pools by sport. This decision essentially made the existing sub-conferences and divisions irrelevant, as a given school competes against a different pool of schools in each sport. For purposes of athletic competition, pool assignments are based on the following factors: athletics offered, competitive balance, competitive trends, diversity, and school size. The number of pools varies from two (boys' volleyball) to five (football), depending on the sport, with most sports having three or four pools.[2] Pools may be realigned if one or more of the previously mentioned standards are not met.

List of member schools

Member schools are listed in alphabetical order.

School Team Name Colors Town County Enrollment (2016–17 and 2017–18)
Affton High School Cougars     Affton St. Louis 556
Clayton High School Greyhounds     Clayton St. Louis 870
Eureka High School Wildcats     Eureka St. Louis 1,885
Fox High School Warriors     Arnold Jefferson 1,893
Hazelwood Central High School Hawks     Florissant St. Louis 1,966
Hazelwood East High School Spartans     Spanish Lake St. Louis 1,391
Hazelwood West High School Wildcats     Hazelwood St. Louis 2,268
Jennings High School Warriors     Jennings St. Louis 579
Kirkwood High School Pioneers     Kirkwood St. Louis 1,779
Ladue Horton Watkins High School Rams     Ladue St. Louis 1,202
Lafayette High School Lancers     Wildwood St. Louis 1,874
Lindbergh High School Flyers     Sappington St. Louis 2,060
Marquette High School Mustangs     Chesterfield St. Louis 2,223
McCluer High School Comets     Florissant St. Louis 1,178
McCluer North High School Stars     Florissant St. Louis 1,790
McCluer South-Berkeley High School Bulldogs     Ferguson St. Louis 285
Mehlville High School Panthers       Mehlville St. Louis 1,794
Normandy High School Vikings     Normandy St. Louis 479
Northwest High School Lions     Cedar Hill Jefferson 1,901
Oakville High School Tigers     Oakville St. Louis 1,550
Parkway Central High School Colts       Chesterfield St. Louis 1,263
Parkway North High School Vikings     Creve Coeur St. Louis 1,236
Parkway South High School Patriots       Manchester St. Louis 1,740
Parkway West High School Longhorns     Ballwin St. Louis 1,301
Pattonville High School Pirates     Maryland Heights St. Louis 1,727
Ritenour High School Huskies     Breckenridge Hills St. Louis 1,832
Riverview Gardens High School Rams     Riverview Gardens St. Louis 1,141
Rockwood Summit High School Falcons     Fenton St. Louis 1,316
Seckman High School Jaguars     Imperial Jefferson 1,814
University City High School Lions     University City St. Louis 841
Webster Groves High School Statesmen     Webster Groves St. Louis 1,351

Rivalries

The Suburban Conference has many notable, historic rivalries between its schools that are well-known by the community, but also has many rivalries that some people may have not heard of before. (Note: most of the following information mainly applies to football. The intensity of these rivalries, and rivalries in general, can vary by sport.)

Kirkwood-Webster Groves

The most notable and historic rivalry between any Suburban Conference member school is, by far, the rivalry between the Kirkwood Pioneers and the Webster Groves Statesmen. Their "Turkey Day" football game on Thanksgiving has been a St. Louis tradition for well over a century, with the winner of the game being awarded the "Frisco Bell" trophy. It is the only remaining traditional Thanksgiving Day football game between two Missouri high schools, and is the only football game in the state to be held after the MSHSAA State Championship game. This game's traditional date also means that both Kirkwood and Webster Groves are the only schools in MSHSAA to have bye-weeks during the football season.

Eureka-Lafayette

The Eureka Wildcats and the Lafayette Lancers have a very strong rivalry as well. Not only are they both members of the Rockwood School District, but both schools are located off of the same road: Missouri Route 109, hence this rivalries nickname "The Highway 109 Rivalry." These games are usually close matchups; its not uncommon for a game to be decided by only a few points.

Mehlville-Oakville

Another notable, yet commonly unmentioned, rivalry is the battle between the Mehlville Panthers and the Oakville Tigers. There is a pretty noticeable "big brother, little brother" hatred between the two Mehlville School District high schools, since Mehlville High is the older, more established institution compared to its counterpart. Students will almost always know someone attending the other school, influenced both by the school's close proximity to one another and the district's feeder system.[3] The two high schools aren't historically successful when it comes to football, but the antics of the students alone is usually enough to drive this rivalry into the news. The tensions have died down quite a bit in recent times (mainly because the Panthers have won 6 out of the last 7 rivalry games vs the Tigers), and the rivalry has become a lot more "civilized", but not too long ago it wasn't uncommon for Oakville students to receive threats of vandalization by Mehlville students, and vice versa.

With the Tigers' surprising 7-3 overall record in 2022, including an astonishing 42-0 blowout against the rival Panthers, its safe to say that this rivalry is about to become heated once again.

Other notable rivalries

Pattonville vs. Ritenour

Affton vs. Bayless (Bayless High School is not a member of the Suburban Conference)

Fox vs. Seckman

Clayton vs. Ladue

References
  1. "Suburban Conferences realignment adds new look for 2014-15 | Latest Headlines | stltoday.com".
  2. "Pool Assignments". St. Louis Suburban Public High School Athletic and Activities Association. Retrieved 2020-10-29.
  3. "District Feeder System flow chart" (PDF). Mehlville School District. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
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