New Conference, New Championships?

Stoughton High School Athletics is undergoing a significant change in its competition and competitors. The athletics program is switching conferences from Badger Large to Badger Small this year for every sport, excluding football. The declining enrollment directly connects to the conference realignment.
“It depends on the enrollment […]. That number gets reported to the WIAA, and that WIAA enrollment is what will align us in our conference,” said Andie Alexander, Stoughton High School’s Athletics and Activities Director. The realignment was proposed last year during the fall-winter and wasn’t an easy change.
“It’s hard to get all 16 or 17 schools on the same page. […] Everyone has an opinion on what works best for their school,” said Alexander. What sparked Stoughton’s interest in the realignment was the departure of Monroe from the Badger Large Conference.
“I hope we’re more competitive with some of the similar enrollments. We won’t have to face the schools that almost have double our enrollment, which is key, but also, we are facing more comparable facilities levels, so we should be more competitive,” said Alexander.
Stoughton Athletics will now face new opponents Reedsburg, McFarland, Baraboo, Edgewood, Lakeside Lutheran, Kewaskum, and Kettle Moraine Lutheran. In addition, Stoughton will still be facing Sauk Prairie, Portage, and Mount Horeb but, unfortunately, losing some of their everlasting rivals, such as Oregon, Monona Grove, and DeForest.
However, this realignment affects football differently; for starters, McFarland will not be an added competitor in their conference. Football gets decided by the WIAA separately, and their conference change will not be in effect until next fall season. Jason Becker, Stoughton’s head football, boys track coach, as well as a learning strategist, had some insight on the change.
“It’s kind of disappointing to lose some of those rivalries that we’ve developed over the years with teams […], but change is inevitable, so, we’re going to play whoever they put in front of us,” said Becker, who also showed concern over how the realignment will affect Stoughton’s football program.
“You might be taking away opportunities from schools like ours that have good participation numbers in our sports and tend to have lower level teams that not all the schools our size or a little bit smaller than us have. It might be more challenging to find events,” said Becker. Not only is he concerned about giving all athletes a chance to play with Stoughton Football’s three-team program but also the additional travel time brought with it.
“I like to limit the amount of time we spend out of a classroom because, at the end of the day, all of our athletes are student-athletes first, and they need to take care of their work in the classroom before they take care of it on the field, the court, the track, or wherever that may be,” said Becker. However, Becker did voice some positives for all programs regarding the realignment.
“It’s about competitive equity and trying to make it so that there’s better or equal competition across the board […] It might lead to some more success initially in terms of wins and losses. It’s not always easy to compete against teams that are, in some cases, twice our size enrollment,” said Becker.
Both Becker and Alexander agree that this will not be Stoughton’s last conference realignment in the near future. Additionally, varsity football offensive line and track & field shot putter Griffin Rousseau has a positive outlook on the change.
“I think it will affect us in a good way; we’ll be able to play some new faces and some old faces, and the competition is going to be great […] I’m excited to go to new places and play new teams we haven’t played, I think it will be great for all athletics,” said Rousseau via email.
Regardless of what the conference realignment brings for Stoughton Athletics, Becker had one closing statement for all athletes.
“I just want to encourage all of our teams that regardless of who we’re playing, where we’re playing, or what we’re playing, let’s continue to strive for a high level of success in all of our sports and continue to do things, the Stoughton way.”