West Prairie Trail History

The West Prairie Trail was formed by the merger of the football programs of the West Central, Prairieland, and Lincoln Trail Conferences. The 2006 season was the first for this new organizational framework. In 2006 thirty schools joined to make a league of high school football programs playing in four divisions. In 2007 twenty nine football programs and twenty eight in 2008 played in the four divisions of the WPT. In 2009 the three Springfield area schools have left to play football in the Sangamo, while Knoxville joins the WPT making twenty six teams.

	An Illinois High School Football Conference
The Unofficial Site for Conference News	Inaugural Season 2006

The West Prairie Trail was formed by the merger of the football programs of the West Central, Prairieland, and Lincoln Trail Conferences. The 2006 season was the first for this new organizational framework. In 2006 thirty schools joined to make a league of high school football programs playing in four divisions. In 2007 twenty nine football programs and twenty eight in 2008 played in the four divisions of the WPT. In 2009 the three Springfield area schools have left to play football in the Sangamo, while Knoxville joins the WPT making twenty six teams.		The schools in this conference range in class from 1A to 3A. Classes are established for the IHSA football playoff brackets based on size. Size is determined by a formula developed by the IHSA to establish football enrollment. (This formula was taken to the court system by some of the private schools.) 1A is the smallest of the high school programs in the state playoffs. The school districts in this conference are in the region of Illinois called West Central Illinois.West Central Illinois runs from the Illinois River on the east to the Mississippi River on the west, the bulge part of Illinois' map. Come out to one of these football fields for a Friday night game and you will often find a corn field just on the other side of those bright lights. The game of football is for the players and we adults are priviledged to enjoy the excitement, so try to remember they are all still kids under those helmets.
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The small towns that make up these districts have close ties and long memories. West Prairie Trail football programs are often old rivals that have joined to cheer in unison. In Western Illinois the school age populations have not grown, usually declined. This means too few students to justify a school in every town. If you remember those days this is a web site you will enjoy. www.illinoishsglorydays.com		If a team gets hot everyone in town will know. If the play off game is four hours away nearly everyone in town will be cheering the team on the sidelines. In 2006 Aledo played in the state final 1A game coming up with a little less than Tuscola. West Hancock (3A) made it to the quarterfinals. Fifteen WPT teams entered the IHSA football play offs in 2006. The 2007 season saw sixteen WPT teams enter the playoffs with North Fulton staying in to the 1A semi-final game. Fifteen teams entered the 2008 playoffs with 1A Stark County and 3A Illini West going to state. Illini West became the first WPT school to win a state championship. Another interesting web site Illinois High School Helmet Site


NorthWest Division	SouthEast Division	NorthEast Division	SouthWest Divison

WPT	Division Record	Final Record	Playoff Record
North 2006	South 2006	West 2006	East 2006
Northwest 2007	Southwest 2007	Northeast 2007	Southeast 2007