According to republictigersports.com, current Ozark Conference members Kickapoo High School and Glendale High School have been extended invitations to join the Central Ozark Conference.
The departure of Carl Junction and Branson to the Ozark Mountain Conference left an opening in the COC—Joplin, Carthage, Webb City, Neosho, Nixa, Ozark, Republic and Willard—and if the Chiefs and Falcons accept membership, it will round out the conference with 10 teams once again.
“The remaining COC superintendents decided we have a really nice conference, and we want to keep it together. We’d like to replace the schools that left with two schools who are more similar to us than different, and they’re in our own backyard,” Republic superintendent Matt Pearce said to republictigersports.com. “Instead of waiting for people to leave, we wanted to change the narrative and see who wanted to join.”
According to the report, there is no timetable for a decision by Kickapoo and Glendale.
