If Southwestern High School plays a football schedule next season, it will be as part of a co-op. That is still up in the air. Southwestern athletic director Tom Koeller said Wednesday that the school’s only real option to play football next season would be to join with a neighboring school to field an 11-player team to compete in the Six Rivers Conference for at least the next year. Koeller said input at a community meeting earlier this month had overwhelming support of playing 11-player football. However, Koeller added that if they don’t have a co-op they will not have a season. East Dubuque is a likely co-op partner. 8-player football is out of the question, as the WIAA by-laws require any teams opting out of the current conference alignment in the middle of the two-year cycle to face a four-year postseason ban. That school would also face a two-year suspension from its athletic conferences for all sports, not just football.
