Big Northern Conference

Big Northern Conference
Established 1991 (football), 1995 (all sports)
Association IHSA
Divisions 1 division
Members 11
Region Northern Illinois (Boone, DeKalb, LaSalle, Lee, Ogle, Whiteside, and Winnebago counties)

The Big Northern Conference (BNC) is an organization of eleven high schools in northern Illinois. These high schools are members of the Illinois High School Association.

The high schools of the Big Northern Conference are located in the following counties: Boone, DeKalb, LaSalle, Lee, Ogle, Whiteside, and Winnebago.

History

The conference was formed in 1991 as a football-only union of the Big 8 Conference and the Mid-Northern Conference. The original 12 members consisted of six Big 8 schools (Burlington Central, Genoa-Kingston, Hampshire, Harvard, Marengo, and Richmond-Burton), five Mid-Northern schools (Byron, Forreston, Oregon, Stillman Valley, and Winnebago), and one independent school (Ottawa Marquette). In 1995, the Big 8 and Mid Northern merged for all sports, with Ottawa Marquette remaining a football-only member. At the same time, Forreston left, and Huntley, a Big 8 school that was previously independent in football, joined the BNC for all sports. Few more changes occurred over the next 15 years, with Johnsburg joining for all sports but football in 1997 and replacing Ottawa Marquette for football in 1998, Rockford Lutheran replacing Huntley in 2003, and North Boone replacing Johnsburg in 2006.

Since 2011, however, the conference has had several changes and peaked at 16 schools during the 2014–15 and 2015–16 school years. In 2011, Hampshire left for the Fox Valley Conference and was replaced by Rock Falls and Mendota (Mendota joined for all sports except for football in 2011, and then joined for football in 2012). Rockford Christian joined the conference in 2012, giving the conference an even number of 14 schools, with 7 in each division. In 2014, Johnsburg rejoined the conference and Dixon became a new member.

Following the 2015–16 school year, Burlington Central, Harvard, Johnsburg, Marengo, and Richmond-Burton left the BNC to join Woodstock and Woodstock North in creating the Kishwaukee River Conference. With 11 schools in the 2016–17 school year, the BNC will play as one division for the first time in conference history. In football, BNC schools will play against only 8 conference opponents, with the 7 largest schools also playing one game against a team in the KRC. [1]

In 2018, Rockford Christian will become independent in football while remaining in the BNC for all other sports.[2]

Membership

The conference's current members, as of 2018–19:[3]

School Town Team Name Colors Enrollment IHSA Classes 2/3/4[nb 1][nb 2]
Byron High SchoolByronTigers         470A/1A/2A
Genoa-Kingston High School Genoa Cogs           588 A/1A/3A
Dixon High SchoolDixonDukes/Duchesses         742A/2A/3A
Mendota High SchoolMendotaTrojans         555A/1A/3A
North Boone High School Poplar Grove Vikings           503 A/1A/2A
Oregon High SchoolOregonHawks         422A/1A/2A
Rock Falls High SchoolRock FallsRockets         645A/1A/3A
Rockford Christian High School Rockford Royal Lions           379/625.35[4] A/2A/3A
Rockford Lutheran High SchoolRockfordCrusaders         349/575.85[4]A/1A/3A
Stillman Valley High SchoolStillman ValleyCardinals         596A/1A/3A
Winnebago High SchoolWinnebagoIndians         454A/1A/2A

Membership timeline

From 1991 to 1995, the Mid-Northern Conference and Big 8 Conference continued to play all non-football sports in their respective pre-merger conferences, with a full merger happening at the start the 1995–96 school year. Marengo, which was part of the Northwest Suburban Conference during the 1990–91 school year before joining the BNC for football in 1991, joined the Big 8 for all other sports. Ottawa Marquette was independent in all non-football sports during its entire time associated with the BNC. Huntley did not initially join the other Big 8 schools in the BNC football merger, playing football independently for 1991 and 1992 and in the Upstate Illini Confeence for 1993 and 1994.

Big Northern Conference members BNC members (non-football) BNC Football Only Mid-Northern Conference Big 8 Conference

Notes

  1. ↑ The state series class which a school competes in not only depends on the school's student population, but on the sport or activity. Some activities divide schools into two classes, some into three, and others into four. The listing here is in the order of two class, three class, and four class. The more "A"s in a class, the larger the schools competing. For more information on this, see Illinois High School Association#State Series Format.
  2. ↑ Schools are not assigned a classification for football until they have qualified for the playoffs each year. A school's classification not only depends on their student population, but on the populations of the other schools who have qualified. Thus, some schools routinely move between classes.

References

  1. ↑ "High school sports: Kishwaukee River Conference ready to begin in fall". Northwest Herald. Retrieved 2016-08-26.
  2. ↑ Trowbridge, Matt. "Leaving rugged Big Northern could accelerate Rockford Christian's football progress". Rockford Register Star. Retrieved 2017-09-18.
  3. ↑ "Conferences and Affiliated Schools". Illinois High School Association. Retrieved June 16, 2012.
  4. 1 2 Per IHSA regulations, private schools' enrollments are multiplied by 1.65.
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