Matt Stanley likes Tolsia High School’s re-entry into the Cardinal Conference.

Stanley, the Tolsia High School principal and the head coach of the West Virginia All-Star football team in Saturday night’s 15th-annaul Massey Energy Hatfield-McCoy Senior Bowl at Matewan, said the Rebels are a good fit in the league.

The Cardinal Conference will expand to seven members as Tolsia rejoins the Cardinal Conference this fall during the football season.

Scott High School is also coming into the league to make it an eight-team conference. Scott will have affiliate membership this fall and will join full time in the Cardinal Conference this winter during the basketball season.

Tolsia and Scott join current members Chapmanville Regional, Wayne, Herbert Hoover, Sissonville, Poca and Point Pleasant.

“We’re pretty excited about that move,” Stanley said of rejoining the league. “We’re excited about it because it helps us in our scheduling. We have driven all over the state to play people. We don’t dodge anyone at Tolsia. For football, this is especially a good deal.”

Tolsia is a former member of the Cardinal but left in the early 2000s when the school’s classification fell to Single-A. The Cardinal Conference is a Double-A exclusive league. Scott is also a former member.

“I think the Cardinal Conference is going to be a tough conference year in and year out,” said Stanley, a former Tolsia High School football coach. “The teams in the conference will represent the state well.”

Tolsia’s entry makes geographic sense.

The Rebels will be aligned in a conference with rival Wayne.

Tolsia and Wayne, both with strong tradition in football, met in the 2006 Super Six Class AA state championship game at Wheeling Island Stadium with the Pioneers coming out on top 33-6.

“We play them anyway. Those guys do a great job down there,” Stanley said of the Pioneers.

Tolsia High School, located at Glenhayes in Wayne County along the Tolsia Highway (U.S. 52), was formed in 1988 with the consolidation of the former Fort Gay and Crum high schools.

Tolsia also has a strong tradition in boys and girls basketball. The Rebels won the 1991 Class AA state championship with a 61-49 victory over Wheeling Central. Tolsia was the Class AA state runner-ups in 1995. The Tolsia girls were the 1999 Class AA state runner-ups. Fort Gay won the 1976 Class A girls’ state hoop championship.

Chapmanville has played Tolsia in a semi-annual football series. The Rebels have had the upperhand on the Tigers for the most part but Chapmanville beat Tolsia in last year’s meeting, 33-16.

Tolsia and Chapmanville also met last season in boys basketball as the Tigers won twice, 78-62 and 70-58.

The Cardinal Conference dropped to six teams in 2008 after the WVSSAC’s realignment moved former league members Logan and Winfield back up to Class AAA status.

Realignment comes up again in 2012 and three Cardinal teams — Herbert Hoover, Point Pleasant and Scott — reportedly might be moving up to Triple-A. That would leave the Cardinal with only five teams and would force the conference to take up expansion again.