EHS fall sports sent Boys Soccer, Football, Girls Cross Country and Softball teams deep into state last year.

This year, however, the landscape upon which the Wildcats compete is changing with different opponents.

“The over-arching purpose is to try and provide better for all schools in the Suburban Conferences.” Dr. Jason Green, athletic director, said.

Football

The Football Team’s schedule has been altered because the Suburban West Conference (SWC) has expanded and split.

Last season the SWC consisted of EHS, Fox, Lafayette, Lindbergh, Marquette, Mehlville, Parkway South and Oakville.

“There are no cupcake games on our schedule this year,” Brett Geisz, varsity quarterback, said. “Every team is good.”

Now the SWC has been split into two divisions of five teams.

The American Division will have EHS, Lafayette, Lindbergh, Marquette, and Parkway South.

The new alignment will put stresses on the football program that did not exist prior to the new conference.

“I don’t like the new conference; I don’t know what was wrong with the old conferences,” Mr. Farrell Shelton, head coach, said. “In my time here we’ve taken our JV and Freshmen teams out of class early one time but this year since one conference wanted to redraw, our kids are going to get taken out of the classroom a lot this year.”

The National Division will consist of Fox, Mehlville, Northwest, Oakville and Seckman.

There will be a separate champion for each division.

“It’s good,” Zach Seiler, linebacker, said. “But I wish we had an overall conference champion.”

Boy soccer, girls volleyball and softball

These teams are in the highest classes of competition and will mix it up with a new conference set up.

These teams will play the entire SWC, both the National and American divisions.

“I don’t know all about it,” Mr. Gary Schneider, head soccer coach, said. “We’re going to play whoever shows up.”

The teams will have an overall conference champion based on the best conference record.

“The competition is going to be good this year,” Katelyn Massa, varsity catcher, said. “We have to keep working hard.”

Boys and girls cross country, boys swimming, girls golf and tennis

These sports differ from the others because they will compete in meets with multiple schools, not necessarily in the conference.

The new SWC setup is pretty much irrelevant to these sports because their big meets are for districts and state.

“I don’t think it will change very much,” Justin King, swimmer, said. “We will still go out and compete the same as before.”

Field Hockey is not grouped with anything else because the Missouri High School Athletic Association recognizes the sport but there are not enough schools that play field hockey to create districts.

The new conference and district setup will provide new competition for fall sports.

“There’s a lot of pride in being an athlete at Eureka,” Justin Armfield, varsity soccer forward, said. “We’re not Lancers or anything else. We’re Wildcats and that’s pretty cool.”