The Merrimack Valley

Merrimack Valley

The Merrimack Valley is a bi-state region along the Merrimack River in the states of New Hampshire and Massachusetts, United States. The Merrimack is one of the larger waterways in the New England region and has helped define the livelihood and culture of those living along it since native...

 Conference (or MVC) is a high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 sports league located in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

 and is named after the Merrimack River

Merrimack River

The Merrimack River is a river in the northeastern United States. It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, flows southward into Massachusetts, and then flows northeast until it empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Newburyport...

 Valley where all of the primary league schools are located. The league members are also members of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association

Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association

The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association , comprising 365 high schools in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, is an organization that sponsors activities in more than thirty sports. The MIAA is a member of the National Federation of State High School Associations , which writes the rules...

 (aka: The MIAA). The MVC evolved out of the old Lowell Suburban League, which sponsored football, boys basketball and girls basketball, and the Merrimack Valley Suburban League which was a baseball only league. The Suburban Leagues were formed in the 1930s and different school participated in different sports. In 1955, the Suburban Leagues reformed in to the more organized Lowell Suburban Conference which became the MVC by the mid 1960s.

Organization

The league sponsors several different sports for both boys and girls, which include, but is not limited to, football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 (boys only); soccer; field hockey

Field hockey

Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...

 (girls only); volleyball

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.The complete rules are extensive...

; ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

, basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, wrestling

Wrestling

Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...

, ice hockey, golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

, baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

, softball

Softball

Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...

, lacrosse

Lacrosse

Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...

, cross country

Cross country running

Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

 and track & field.

The league is made up of 10 primary schools from towns in both Middlesex

Middlesex County, Massachusetts

-National protected areas:* Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge* Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge* Longfellow National Historic Site* Lowell National Historical Park* Minute Man National Historical Park* Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge...

 and Essex County

Essex County, Massachusetts

-National protected areas:* Parker River National Wildlife Refuge* Salem Maritime National Historic Site* Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site* Thacher Island National Wildlife Refuge-Demographics:...

 that are located along or near the Merrimack River. They compete in all sponsored sports plus there are a few associate members whose primary league does not sponsor a sport that the MVC does. This page will focus on the primary league schools, which are: Andover, Billerica

Billerica Memorial High School

Billerica Memorial High School is located at 35 River Street in Billerica, Massachusetts. It is one of two public high schools in the town. Kevin Soraghan is the principal of Billerica High. The school serves about 1,630 students in grades 9 through 12. An assistant principal oversees students in...

, Central Catholic

Central Catholic High School (Lawrence, Massachusetts)

Central Catholic High School is a college preparatory school with an academic campus in Lawrence, Massachusetts and an athletic campus in Methuen, Massachusetts associated with the Marist Brothers of the Schools and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and founded in 1935 by Brother Florentius...

 (Lawrence), Chelmsford

Chelmsford High School

Chelmsford High School a public high school located in North Chelmsford, Massachusetts built in 1974. Before 1974 the high school was located in the current McCarthy Middle School building. It serves as the public high school for students in grades 9 through 12. It is part of a central campus that...

, Dracut

Dracut High School

Dracut Senior High School is the public senior high school in the Merrimack Valley town of Dracut, Massachusetts.The high school's colors are Columbia blue, navy blue, silver and white. The team name is the Middies and the symbol is an anchor, except for in Football where the logo is a "Lightning...

, Haverhill

Haverhill High School

Haverhill High School is the high school of Haverhill, Massachusetts. It enrolls around 2,200 students in grades 9 through 12 from many diverse backgrounds. The school offers a variety of Advanced Placement classes, a wide range of clubs, a number of varsity and junior varsity sports, as well as a...

, Lawrence, Lowell

Lowell High School (Lowell, Massachusetts)

Lowell High School is a single-campus public high school located in downtown Lowell, Massachusetts. The school is a part of Lowell Public Schools...

, Methuen

Methuen High School

Methuen High School Supervising PrincipalJames GiucaVice PrincipalJane ObshatkinAssistant PrincipalDonald GibsonAssistant PrincipalKaren HallbauerDean of StudentsMichael DownsSchool typePublicReligious affiliationNone...

 and Tewksbury

Tewksbury Memorial High School

Tewksbury Memorial High School is a suburban public high school located at 320 Pleasant Street in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, USA. Serving grades 9-12, it is the only public high school in the town. Its total enrollment for the 2005-2006 school year was 1,206....

. The Notre Dame Academy

Academy of Notre Dame (Tyngsboro, Massachusetts)

The Academy of Notre Dame is a private, Roman Catholic high school in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.-Student life:...

 (Tyngsboro) is a primary member of the league in girls sports only.

In most sponsored sports, the MVC is split into two divisions. The divisions are named differently by sport with some referenced as Division One and Division Two while others are referenced as Large School and Small School. In boys ice hockey, the MVC is merged with the Dual County League to form one large super league split into three divisions. The line up of the divisions differ from sport to sport. The strength of a school's program determines which division their teams compete.

Football was one sport where the MVC did not split into two divisions, but starting with the 2009 season, the football league will split into large and small divisions.

Starting in the fall of 2012, North Andover

North Andover High School

North Andover High School is a public secondary school located in the town of North Andover, Massachusetts, United States. The school is a part of the . The school is relatively new , and serves grades 9-12. As of the school year 2005-2006, North Andover High enrolls 1,366 students...

will rejoin the league in all sports. They originally left the league after the 1970-71 school year.