The Berrien-Cass-St. Joseph (BCS) League is an athletic conference for high schools in southwest Michigan. Founded in 2014 with the inaugural season of play in 2014-15, the conference aspired to grow into a Southwest Michigan "super conference" with membership extending across all MHSAA classes and organized into divisions of schools with similar enrollments. Periodic realignment of divisions allowed members to remain in competition with like-sized schools within the conference thereby avoiding the disruptive effects of conference switching due to changing enrollment. The conference had a unique scheduling philosophy that did not force members to play against conference opponents in different divisions and respected the freedom of members to schedule rivals and other willing conference opponents regardless of size or division.
Between 2017 and 2021, the BCS experienced frequent membership changes with eight schools departing & five schools joining. A final attempt to realize its "super-conference" aspiration was attempted in 2019, when membership invitations were extended to ten schools of diverse enrollments. Niles and South Haven were the only two that accepted. However, Niles departed after only a single season and South Haven exited after two seasons. When expansion proved unsuccessful, the remaining larger schools decided to leave for other conferences. Beginning with the 2022-2023 season, the BCS transitioned into being a league catering to small public and private schools in southwest Michigan.
Sponsored Sports
Boys
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
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Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
,
Cross Country,
Golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
,
Soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
,
Tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
,
Track and Field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...
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Wrestling
Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...
Girls
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
,
Cross Country,
Soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
,
Softball
Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...
,
Tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
,
Track & Field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...
,
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
Member schools
There are currently 9 member schools. The geographic footprint of the league includes Berrien, Cass, Kalamazoo, St. Joseph and Van Buren counties in Michigan.
Current members
School data in the table below is current for the 2023-24 season according to the MHSAA website.
† 8-man football team that is a member of the Southwest Michigan 8-man Football League
Former members
Membership Timeline
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bar:1 color:red from:2014 till:2022 text:Bridgman (2014-2022)
bar:2 color:red from:2014 till:2017 text:Bronson (2014-2017)
bar:3 color:red from:2014 till:2022 text:Buchanan (2014-2022)
bar:4 color:red from:2014 till:2017 text:Cassopolis (2014-2017)
bar:5 color:red from:2014 till:2017 text:Centreville (2014-2017)
bar:6 color:red from:2014 till:2017 text:Mendon (2014-2017)
bar:7 color:red from:2014 till:end text:New Buffalo (2014-present)
bar:8 color:red from:2014 till:2022 text:Niles Brandywine (2014-2022)
bar:9 color:red from:2014 till:end text:Our Lady of the Lake Catholic (2014-present)
bar:10 color:red from:2014 till:2017 text:White Pigeon (2014-2017)
bar:11 color:red from:2015 till:end text:Three Oaks River Valley (2015-present)
bar:12 color:red from:2015 till:2022 text:Berrien Springs (2015-2022)
bar:13 color:red from:2015 till:2021 text:Comstock (2015-2021)
bar:14 color:red from:2015 till:2020 text:Parchment (2015-2020)
bar:15 color:red from:2015 till:end text:St. Joseph Michigan Lutheran (2015-present)
bar:16 color:red from:2016 till:end text:Benton Harbor Countryside Academy (2016-present)
bar:17 color:red from:2016 till:end text:Marcellus Howardsville Christian (2016-present)
bar:18 color:red from:2016 till:end text:Watervliet Grace Christian (2016-present)
bar:19 color:red from:2017 till:end text:Covert (2017-present)
bar:20 color:red from:2018 till:2022 text:Lawrence (2018-2022)
bar:21 color:red from:2020 till:end text:Eau Claire (2020-present)
bar:22 color:red from:2020 till:2021 text:Niles (2020-2021)
bar:23 color:red from:2020 till:2022 text:South Haven (2020-2022)
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text:"BCS League Membership History"
League championships
Baseball
Boys Basketball
Girls Basketball
Football
Softball
Volleyball
State championships
Schools that have participated in MHSAA state championship finals while being members of the BCS League.
References
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Michigan high school sports conferences
High school sports conferences and leagues in the United States