Chagrin Valley Conference

The Chagrin Valley Conference was founded in 1964 with Chagrin Falls High School, Kenston High School, Orange High School, Solon High School, Twinsburg High School, and West Geauga High School as charter members. Aurora High School and Chardon High School joined the conference in 1968, increasing membership to eight schools. The conference takes its name from the Chagrin River, which flows through the region where many of the founding schools are located.

The conference remained largely stable until 1980 when Chardon departed for the East Suburban Conference and was replaced by Wickliffe High School. When Aurora left for the Metro Athletic Conference in 1983, Chardon returned to the CVC as its replacement.

In the mid-1990s, Chagrin Falls and Wickliffe proposed creating a small-school division within the conference to improve competitive balance. Aurora was invited to rejoin, along with Hawken School and four schools from the East Suburban Conference: Berkshire High School, Cardinal High School, Kirtland High School, and Perry High School. However, the proposed two-division structure collapsed when Kenston, Orange, Solon, Twinsburg, and West Geauga left in 1996 to form the Western Reserve Conference with several members of the Metro League. Chardon later joined the Premier Athletic Conference. Following these departures, the remaining eight schools formed the core of the restructured CVC. In 1998, the conference formally adopted a two-division, 12-school format. Orange and West Geauga returned to the conference and joined Aurora, Chagrin Falls, Perry, and Wickliffe in the Chagrin Division. The Valley Division consisted of Berkshire, Cardinal, Hawken, Kirtland, and two additional schools from the East Suburban Conference: Grand Valley High School and Newbury High School.

Following the dissolution of the MAC-8 Conference in 2005, Beachwood High School joined the Valley Division, while Cuyahoga Heights High School, Independence High School, and Richmond Heights High School joined Fairport Harding High School and Hawken to form the Metro Division. Kenston also returned to the conference during this period, though it later departed again in 2015 for a revived Western Reserve Conference. Aurora also left the CVC in 2015 to join the Suburban League. Grand Valley departed the conference in 2009.

The conference continued to expand in the following years. Harvey High School joined in 2009,^[1] followed by Geneva High School in 2015.^[2] A major expansion occurred in 2019 with the addition of Brooklyn High School, Edgewood High School, Grand Valley, Lakeside High School, Lutheran West High School, and Trinity High School, increasing conference membership to 22 schools.^[3]

Newbury left the conference for the Northeastern Athletic Conference in 2014 before the Newbury Local School District was later absorbed by the West Geauga district in 2020.^[4] Discussions regarding district consolidation had previously taken place among Newbury, Cardinal, and Berkshire before Berkshire ultimately absorbed the Ledgemont Local School District in 2015.^[5]

Further changes occurred in 2020 when Crestwood High School joined the conference,^[6] while Fairport Harding departed for the Northeastern Athletic Conference. Additional expansion followed in 2023 when Conneaut High School, Fairview High School, Jefferson Area High School, and Madison High School joined the conference, prompting the creation of the Lake Division.^[7][8]

Grand Valley departed the conference for a second time in 2024 to rejoin the Northeastern Athletic Conference. Later that year, Cardinal announced it would also leave for the NAC beginning with the 2025–26 school year.^[9] As a result, in October 2024 it was announced that Rootstown High School would leave the Portage Trail Conference and join the CVC’s Valley Division beginning in 2025–26.^[10]

In February 2025, the conference announced that Chardon and Fairport Harbor would return to the league along with North High School and South High School beginning in the 2026–27 school year.^[11] This expansion will increase the conference’s membership to 29 schools.

Additional changes were announced in May 2025 when the North Coast Conference invited Lutheran West to join beginning with the 2027–28 school year.^[12] In January 2026, the boards of education for Rootstown and Crestwood voted to leave the CVC in favor of the newly formed Greater Portage Athletic Conference, which is scheduled to begin competition in the 2027–28 school year.^[13]

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