Big Northern Conference

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.

Not to be confused with Big North Conference, Conference North, or Great Northern Conference.
Big Northern Conference
Established1991 (football), 1995 (all sports)
AssociationIHSA
Divisions1 division
Members11
RegionNorthern Illinois (Boone, DeKalb, LaSalle, Lee, Ogle, Whiteside, and Winnebago counties)

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]

From 1991–92 to 2005–06, the conference's two divisions for football were determined by school size, with the 6 larger schools in the BNC Red Division and the 6 smaller schools in the BNC White Division (with the exception of Ottawa Marquette, which was in the Red Division from 1991–92 to 1997–98 despite having the smallest enrollment in the BNC). Non-football sports also used the Red and White divisions from 1995–96 to 2000–01, but switched to East and West divisions in 2001–02 (football used East and West divisions in 2002–03 before switching back to Red and White divisions the next year). In 2006–07, the BNC permanently switched to East and West divisions for all sports until the dissolution of divisions in 2016–17.

In 2018, Rockford Christian moved to the Northeastern Athletic Conference in football while remaining in the BNC for all other sports. Having 10 teams in football made it possible for the BNC to have a full conference schedule, as there are 9 games in the regular season.[2][3]

Membership

The conference's current members, as of 2019–20:[4]

School Town Team Name Colors Enrollment[nb 1] IHSA Classes 2/3/4[nb 2][nb 3]
Byron High SchoolByronTigers         
Orange, Black		471A/1A/2A
Dixon High SchoolDixonDukes/Duchesses         
Purple, White		762A/2A/3A
Genoa-Kingston High School Genoa Cogs               
Blue, Orange, White		 594.5 A/1A/2A
Mendota High SchoolMendotaTrojans         
Purple, Gold		554A/1A/2A
North Boone High School Poplar Grove Vikings          
Green, White		 513.5 A/1A/2A
Oregon High SchoolOregonHawks         
Red, White		430.5A/1A/2A
Rock Falls High SchoolRock FallsRockets         
Green, Black		646.5A/1A/2A
Rockford Christian High School Rockford Royal Lions               
Blue, Metallic Gold, Black		 378.5[nb 4][5] A/1A/2A
Rockford Lutheran High SchoolRockfordCrusaders         
Purple, White		362[nb 5][5]A/1A/2A
Stillman Valley High SchoolStillman ValleyCardinals         
Red, Black		588.5A/1A/2A
Winnebago High SchoolWinnebagoIndians         
Orange, Black		454.5A/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 of 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 accompany the other Big 8 schools in the BNC football merger, playing football independently for 1991 and 1992 and in the Upstate Illini Conference for 1993 and 1994.

Mid-Northern (1972-95) Big 8 (1980-95) BNC Football Only (1991-95) Big Northern Conference full members BNC members (non-football)

Notes
  1. Starting in the 2019–20 school year, the school enrollments listed by the IHSA are the average of the previous 2 school years.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. When applied with a multiplier, Rockford Christian's enrollment is treated as 624.53
  5. When applied with a multiplier, Rockford Lutheran's enrollment is treated as 597.30

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. "Big Northern Conference's Football Impact On Kiswaukee River Conference, Illinois Has A Problem". Stateline Sports Network. June 28, 2018.
  4. "Conferences and Affiliated Schools". Illinois High School Association. Retrieved June 16, 2012.
  5. "IHSA By-Law 3.170 requires a 1.65 multiplier be applied to the enrollment of every non-boundaried school. Waivers of the 1.65 multiplier are granted to individual sport and activity programs on a yearly basis. A sport or activity program at a particular school is not eligible for an automatic waiver for the current school term if, over the course of the previous four school terms, the program (as a team) has accomplished any of the following:
    1. Won a state tournament trophy.
    2. Qualified for the state final tournament (the final weekend of play).
    3. Accumulated four points based on highest title attained each season (sectional title=2, regional title=1).
    All other sport and activity programs are granted an automatic waiver of the 1.65 multiplier."
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