Minnesota River Conference


The Minnesota River Conference is a Minnesota high school sports conference that serves mainly the Southwestern Suburbs of the Twin Cities. Norwood Young America Central is furthest north while Tri-City United is furthest south.

Member schools

The conference was formed in the late 1950s. In the 1960s and for most of the 70s, teams in the conference were Arlington-Green Isle, Belle Plaine, Jordan, Le Center, Le Sueur, Montgomery, New Prague and Norwood-Young America. New Prague left the conference beginning with the 1979-80 school year as it had grown much quicker than the other schools. Mankato Loyola replaced New Prague. For the years 1986 through 1989 Henderson High School was paired with Arlington-Green Isle, forming the Sibley East Bengals. In 1990, Henderson paired with Le Sueur, forming what was to become officially in 1992 as the Le Sueur-Henderson School District. Later, Arlington-Green Isle merged with Gaylord and became Sibley East in 1995. As the other schools got larger, Mankato Loyola and Le Center had stagnate enrollment. In 2002, Mankato Loyola left and was replaced by Mayer Lutheran. The following year saw Le Center leave and was replaced by Holy Family Catholic. In 2011, Holy Family Catholic left and was replaced with Watertown-Mayer. Beginning with the 2012-2013 school year, Montgomery-Lonsdale consolidated with former conference member Le Center and became Tri-City United. In 2015, Watertown_Mayer left and returned to the Wright County Conference. In the 2018–19 school year, the Minnesota River Conference gained Southwest Christian High School, who previously competed in the Minnesota Christian Athletic Association. Finally at the conclusion of the 2019-2020 school year, Jordan will leave the conference.

Membership timeline


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Period = from:1959 till:2025
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width:20 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:m
bar:1 color:powderblue from:1959 till:end text:Arlington-Green Isle / Sibley East
bar:2 color:powderblue from:1959 till:end text:Belle Plaine
bar:3 color:powderblue from:1959 till:2020 text:Jordan
bar:4 color:powderblue from:1959 till:2003 text:Le Center
bar:5 color:powderblue from:1959 till:end text:Le Sueur / Le Sueur-Henderson
bar:6 color:powderblue from:1959 till:end text:Montgomery-Lonsdale / Tri-City United
bar:7 color:powderblue from:1959 till:1979 text:New Prague
bar:8 color:powderblue from:1960 till:end text:Norwood Young America
bar:9 color:powderblue from:1979 till:2002 text:Mankato Loyola Catholic School
bar:10 color:powderblue from:2002 till:end text:Mayer Lutheran
bar:11 color:powderblue from:2003 till:2011 text:Holy Family Catholic
bar:12 color:powderblue from:2011 till:2015 text:Watertown-Mayer
bar:13 color:powderblue from:2018 till:end text:Southwest Christian School
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text:"Minnesota River Conference Membership History"

State Champions

The Minnesota River Conference has had success on the big stage when competing in State Tournaments. Member Schools have won 24 State Championships throughout the years. The following is a list of Schools along with their respected State Championships:
State Championships won by member schools when they were not a part of the Minnesota River Conference are excluded from the above list.

All-time school records by Minnesota River Conference football wins

This list goes from 1959 through the 2014 season and includes former members, previous cooperatives and present members and lists all-time conference records, overall conference winning percentages, total football conference championships and either if they were solo or co championships and state championships. In 2015, the Minnesota State High School League created football districts instead of conferences.
#Minnesota River ConferenceRecordsPct.MRC ChampionshipsSoloCo-ChampionsState Champions
1Tri-City United Titans 16-5-0.7621010
2Watertown-Mayer Royals 21-7-0.7502110
3Le Sueur Giants 152-58-6.71810550
4Holy Family Catholic School Fire 40-16-0.7141100
5Le Sueur-Henderson Giants 116-59-0.6638620
6Le Center Wildcats 201-102-4.6619631
7New Prague Trojans 88-45-6.6556422
8Mankato Loyola Catholic School Crusaders 89-72-0.5535320
9Belle Plaine Tigers 195-193-3.49910640
10Sibley East Wolverines 87-88-0.4973120
11Mayer Lutheran Crusaders 44-47-0.4841010
12Sibley East Bengals 13-15-0.4640000
13Jordan Hubmen 158-230-2.4055231
14Montgomery-Lonsdale Redbirds 142-226-1.3866420
15Arlington-Green Isle 61-122-4.3371100
16Norwood Young America Central Raiders 118-265-8.3023300

The following table lists the years when the different school members won the conference in terms of football.
SchoolYears
Belle Plaine1970, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1998, 2009, 2013
Le Sueur1960, 1961, 1962, 1967, 1968, 1972, 1977, 1978, 1985, 1987
Le Center1963, 1964, 1968, 1969, 1982, 1986, 1994, 1999, 2000
Le Sueur-Henderson1992, 1995, 1996, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008
Montgomery-Lonsdale1965, 1966, 1972, 1976, 1981, 1983
New Prague1959, 1960, 1961, 1973, 1974, 1975
Jordan1980, 1983, 1984, 1991, 2006
Mankato Loyola Catholic School1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 2000
Norwood Young America Central2001, 2003, 2011
Sibley East1991, 1997, 2012
Watertown-Mayer2013, 2014
Arlington-Green Isle1971
Holy Family Catholic2010
Mayer Lutheran2012
Tri-City United2013

Former Members