Starting in the fall of 2024, with the addition of Appleton West and Oshkosh North, The Fox River Classic Conference (FRCC) will consist of 16 teams in two divisions for football – North and South. North Division: Ashwaubenon, Appleton West, Bay Port, De Pere, Green Bay Preble, Green Bay Southwest, Pulaski, and West De Pere. South Division: Green Bay East, Green Bay West, Manitowoc, Menasha, Notre Dame, Oshkosh North, Sheboygan North and Sheboygan South. Teams will play non-conference the first two weekends of the season before they settle into seven weeks of conference play. Each Division crowns its own champion and each division qualifies its own teams for WIAA play-off consideration.
The FRCC split into North and South Divisions in 2021. Seven teams made up each division from 2021-2023. 2024 will mark the start of two 8-team conferences for the FRCC as mentioned above. From 2015 to 2020 the FRCC included just the ten schools that made up the FRCC. In 2021 Green Bay East, Green Bay West, Menasha, and West De Pere were added to the conference for football only as the state of Wisconsin moved to football only conferences. Green Bay East and Green Bay West were charter members of the FRCC when it formed in 2007, but they left to join the Bay Conference in 2015.
The Fox River Classic Conference was formed in 2007 and brought together teams for the Fox River Valley Conference (Green Bay East, Green Bay Preble, Green Bay Southwest, Green Bay West, Manitowoc Lincoln, Notre Dame Academy, Sheboygan North, and Sheboygan South) and the Bay Conference (Ashwaubenon, Bay Port, De Pere, and Pulaski) to form the 12 team FRCC. The conference remained twelve teams through the 2014-15 school year. In 2015 Green Bay East and Green Bay West left the FRCC and joined the Bay Conference. What that meant for football from 2007 to 2014 is that teams did not play everyone in conference play as a season consists of only nine games. In fact, the FRCC only scheduled eight conference games for these years allowing schools to play one non-conference game to start the season. With the FRCC moving to a 10 team conference in 2015 the conference transitioned to a nine game conference schedule and it remained that way until the 2021 season.
Bay Port holds the most conference titles since the FRCC was formed with nine titles, including a stretch of four in a row from 2016 – 2019, going undefeated in each of those seasons. There was no recognition of a conference champion in 2020 because of the Covid pandemic and Bay Port’s streak of four consecutive titles was ended by De Pere in 2021. De Pere and Ashwaubenon have the second most titles with 3 apiece. Notre Dame Academy and Menasha can lay claim to two titles, while Green Bay Southwest and Manitowoc each possess one title.
In WIAA State Tournament competition Notre Dame Academy is the only FRCC team to bring home a championship, having won the Division 3 title in 2015 by defeating Catholic Memorial 19-17. The Tritons returned to the Division 3 title game in 2016, but this time was defeated by Catholic Memorial in a rematch 14-24. Bay Port has a runner-up finish in Division 1 losing to Muskego 10-21 in 2019. West De Pere also has a runner-up finish, losing in the Division 2 state title game to Kettle Morraine in 2022, 10-27. Prior to the formation of the FRCC Ashwaubenon (4), Manitowoc Lincoln (3), Notre Dame Academy (1), West De Pere (2), De Pere (1) and Menasha (1) have all won titles in football.
State Champions and Runners-up
West De Pere Phantoms
Division 2 Runner-up 2022
Bay Port Pirates
Division 1 Runner-up 2019
Notre Dame Academy Tritons
Division 3 State Champion 2015
Division 3 Runner-up 2016
