The North Central Illinois Conference, far better known as the NCIC, is an IHSA recognized high school extra-curricular conference. It is located, as the name would indicate, in the north-central part of the state. The schools all hail from single-high school communities, except for Kewanee which has two school districts(Kewanee and the smaller wethersfield school district),with municipal populations in the 5000-20,000 range. The conference, which has twelve schools, is split up into two divisions for all sports. The larger enrollment schools participate in the Reagan Division, while the smaller enrollment schools participate in the Lincoln Division.

Until the departure of the Rochelle Hubs in 2006, the NCIC's 42-year span of unchanged membership was the longest of any high school conference.^[1]

Contents 1 History 2 Current membership 3 References 4 External links

[edit] History

The decision in the late 1960s to divide the conference into two divisions was based upon a difference in the sizes of the member schools' populations. Due to IHSA regulations, the different NCIC schools could not participate in the same size division during high school populations, and thus the conferences was split into Northeast and Southwest divisions (today called Reagan and Lincoln divisions). However, over the next thirty years, the larger schools grew far more rapidly than the smaller schools, creating even greater discrepancies; it became doubtful that the twelve schools could continue to share the same banner.

The 2006 season saw the first change in the conference line-up in 42 years, as the Rochelle Hubs left the NCIC. The Hubs having won nine consecutive NCIC football championships, were in search of stronger competition, and became a charter member of the Western Sun Conference.^[2] Rochelle was quickly replaced in the conference line-up by Illinois Valley Central High School, located in Chillicothe.^[3] However, the departure of Rochelle created shockwaves through the conference which continue to reverberate.

In 2009, the NCIC will add the Morris Redskins to its Reagan Division. Meanwhile, other long-time NCIC schools, such as LaSalle-Peru, are making plans to find another conference. The 2010 season will mark the first season in the NCIC for the St. Bede Bruins of Peru, who as a smaller school will be added to the Lincoln Division, to replace the departing Kewanee Boilermakers. However, St. Bede does not field a football team.

Today, the NCIC's future existence is in doubt. Reportedly, all the teams from the NCIC Reagan are leaving the NCIC for the 2010 season, planning to participate in a two-division larger school conference, which will include former NCIC member Rochelle, along with Yorkville, DeKalb, Sycamore and Kaneland. The newly formed conference will be named the Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference. If this happens, this will leave the NCIC in 2010-11 as a six-team smaller school conference, with only five participating football teams. Under IHSA regulations, with only five football participants, the automatic playoff qualifier privileges for the NCIC's champion will be suspended. However, a team could still make the state playoffs as an at-large team.

[edit] Current membership

• Dixon High School ^^
• Geneseo High School ^^
• Hall (Spring Valley) High School
• Illinois Valley Central High School
• Kewanee High School
• LaSalle-Peru High School ^^
• Mendota High School
• Morris Community High School (added in 2009) ^^
• Ottawa High School ^^
• Princeton High School
• Rock Falls High School
• Sterling High School ^^
• Streator High School ^^

^^ = leaving for the Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference beginning in the 2010-2011 academic year

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Illinois High School Association (official site)