The Metro Catholic Conference (MCC) 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....

 athletic conference in St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

. It includes the Vianney

St. John Vianney High School (Kirkwood, Missouri)

St. John Vianney High School is a private, all male, Catholic college preparatory high school located in Kirkwood, Missouri. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Louis. The school was founded by the Society of Mary , a religious order of priests and brothers who continue to...

 Golden Griffins, the DeSmet

De Smet Jesuit High School

De Smet Jesuit High School is a Jesuit Catholic, college preparatory high school Creve Coeur, Missouri in western St. Louis County. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Louis.The school began classes in the fall of 1967...

 Spartans, the Chaminade Red Devils, the CBC

Christian Brothers College High School

Christian Brothers College High School , is a Lasallian Catholic college preparatory school for young men in St. Louis, Missouri. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Louis and is owned and operated by the De La Salle Christian Brothers Midwest District.-Early years :The school...

 Cadets, and the SLUH

Saint Louis University High School

St. Louis University High School , a Jesuit Catholic high school for boys founded in 1818, is the oldest secondary educational institution in the U.S. west of the Mississippi River, and one of the largest private high schools in Missouri. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint...

 Junior Billikens.

History

Until the founding of the MCC in 1991, the "Big Five" all-male high schools in the St. Louis area had never been in one conference at the same time, despite all having enjoyed long athletic traditions. While the schools had competed in several previous leagues—namely the Prep League, Bi-State Athletic Conference, and Catholic Athletic Conference—those conferences had all dissolved, due to declining numbers of member schools, logistical hurdles in having conferences with both Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

 and Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

 schools, and differences of opinion between Archdiocese-run schools and those run by religious orders. Since the MCC's formation, levels of competition have increased, schools have expanded their facilities, and in general the league has positioned itself as one of the state's most competitive high school competitions.

Soccer

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 has long been the dominant sport among MCC schools; while several schools have had competitive football teams (including DeSmet's state title team in 2006, the only championship won during the MCC's lifespan), it has been "the beautiful game" where the MCC has excelled. It is not uncommon for even the league's two smallest schools, Chaminade and Vianney, to field four teams, such is the popularity of soccer among their students. In fact, there has been only one season—2000—where the Missouri "Show-Me Cup" final did not feature at least one MCC team. In addition, 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...

 has become another popular sport among the schools, spearheaded by CBC's record winning streak from 2002 to 2006, where they won more than 130 consecutive games.

Sports offered by all MCC schools include: (fall) football, soccer, cross-country; (winter) hockey, basketball, wrestling, racquetball, swimming; (spring) golf, tennis, track and field, lacrosse, rugby union, and baseball.

Rivalries

Traditionally, the "marquee" rivalry in the MCC was between SLUH and CBC, which until CBC's move in 2003 saw the schools located three and a half miles apart from each other (SLUH on Oakland Avenue in the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood of St. Louis City, CBC on Clayton Road in the neighboring suburb of University City). Until the stadium's remodeling into a baseball-only park, the schools would play their annual football contest at Busch Memorial Stadium

Busch Memorial Stadium

Busch Memorial Stadium, also known as Busch Stadium, was a multi-purpose sports facility in St. Louis, Missouri that operated from 1966 to 2005....

, joined in latter years by another rivalry: Chaminade-Vianney, the two Marianist schools in the league.

Similar to the CCP-Vianney rivalry, SLUH maintained a grudge with its fellow Jesuit institution, DeSmet. Contests between these schools featured large amounts of "sledging" between the two supporters: DeSmet fans mocking SLUH's sense of arrogance, while Bills fans responded by calling the Spartans "SLUH West". Both schools also are not on good terms with CCP, stemming mainly from the perception of Red Devils students as upper-class.

Alumni

Among the many players who began their competitive careers in the MCC include: football players Trent Green

Trent Green

Trent Jason Green is a retired professional American football quarterback. He was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the eighth round of the 1993 NFL Draft. He played college football at Indiana University....

 (Vianney), Henry Jones

Henry Jones

-Arts:* Henry Jones , poet and dramatist, born Drogheda, Louth* Henry Arthur Jones , English playwright* Henry Festing Jones , author* Henry Jones Thaddeus , Irish painter...

 (SLUH), Wes Kemp (DeSmet) and Ronnie Wingo (SLUH), basketball players Larry Hughes

Larry Hughes

Larry Darnell Hughes is an American professional basketball player who most recently played for the Charlotte Bobcats. He is a and shooting guard. Hughes attended Saint Louis University and was the eight pick in the 1998 NBA Draft, selected by the Philadelphia 76ers...

 (CBC), Brad Beal (CCP), and David Lee

David Lee (basketball)

David Lee is an American professional basketball player who is a power forward and center for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association . He played college basketball for the University of Florida and was selected by the New York Knicks in the first round of the 2005 NBA...

 (CCP), hockey players Paul Stastny

Paul Stastny

Paul Stastny is an American professional ice hockey center, an alternate captain for the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League . Of Slovak lineage, Stastny is the son of Hockey Hall of Famer Peter Stastny, who played for the Avalanche's predecessor, the Quebec Nordiques...

 (CCP), Yan Stastny

Yan Stastny

Yan Stastny is an American-Canadian born professional ice hockey centre currently playing for the Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. Yan comes from a notable hockey family, and is the son of Hockey Hall of Famer Peter Šťastný...

 (CCP), Sam Warning (CBC), Jack Berger (SLUH), Mike Parks (CBC), Joe Vitale (CBC), Philip McRae

Philip McRae

Philip McRae is an American professional ice hockey player who is currently playing for the St. Louis Blues in the National Hockey League . He was selected by the St. Louis Blues in the 2nd round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.The son of former St...

 (CBC), Charlie Effinger (SLUH), Chris Wideman (CCP), Ben Bishop

Ben Bishop

Ben Bishop is an American professional goaltender for the Peoria Rivermen of the American Hockey League . At 6' 7", Bishop is the tallest goalie to ever play in the NHL, topping Devan Dubnyk, Steve Valiquette, Anders Lindback and Mikko Koskinen, who all stand at 6' 6". Bishop played youth hockey...

 (CCP), Chris Butler

Chris Butler

Christopher John Butler, known as Chris Butler , is a former British Conservative Party politician.Butler was Member of Parliament for Warrington South from 1987 to 1992, when he lost his seat by 191 votes to Labour Party candidate Mike Hall.He is now a Partner at Butler Kelly; a cross-Party...

 (CCP) and Cal Heeter (CBC), soccer players Taylor Twellman

Taylor Twellman

Taylor Twellman is a retired American soccer player who currently works as a television analyst for the Philadelphia Union and ESPN soccer.-Youth and College:Taylor was raised in St...

 (SLUH) and Brad Davis

Brad Davis (soccer)

Brad Davis is an American footballer who currently plays for Houston Dynamo in Major League Soccer.-Youth and College:...

 (CCP), and baseball players David Schmidt (CBC), Mike Shannon

Mike Shannon

Thomas Michael Shannon is an American-born former Major League Baseball player and current radio sportscaster.Shannon is a radio broadcaster for the St. Louis Cardinals. He was raised in St. Louis, Missouri and played with the Cardinals during some of the team's most successful years...

 (CBC), Sasha Kuebel (SLUH), Bob Keppel

Bob Keppel

Robert Griffin "Bob" Keppel is a Nippon Professional Baseball pitcher for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters...

 (DeSmet) and Cliff Politte

Cliff Politte

Cliff Anthony Politte is a right-handed Major League Baseball retired relief pitcher.Selected in the 54th round of the 1995 Major League Baseball Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals, Politte came up to the parent club in . He threw the first pitch at the new Roger Dean Stadium in spring training that...

(Vianney).