Northern Illinois Sports Beat - Conference Musical Chairs X

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Another Confusing Cody Column

Conference Musical
Chairs X:
The Kewanee-Princeton
Edition

A long football rivalry ended this Friday between Kewanee
and Princeton. With Kewanee's move to the Big Rivers and
Princeton staying in the NCIC, how can the two possibly meet
again?

The football rivalry between NCIC Lincoln schools Kewanee and Princeton high
schools stopped around 10:00 p.m. Friday night. That's opposed to simply saying,
“the football rivalry will cease” because the rivalry is a noun (an idea) that is
etched in history.

Last October, Kewanee decided to leave the North Central Illinois Conference to
join the Three Rivers Athletic Conference (TRAC-8) and the Big Rivers in football
only. The decision, undisputedly, is based on athletic competition and school size.
The Boilermakers will replace the floundering River Valley cooperative.

The Big Rivers football conference has ten teams in it, and in a nine-week football
season, each conference school plays one another. Kewanee will play against the
other nine Big Rivers teams. They won't play the NCIC's Princeton.

So how can Kewanee and Princeton get together once more?

One possibility would be their enrollments becoming similar and face each other in
the playoffs.

The other possibilities would involve some sort of structural change within the Big
Rivers. The Big Rivers would need some sort of void, which would allow for one
non-conference game. Or, the Big Rivers can expand and create a divisional
structure.

What possible voids could there be in the Big Rivers? There are two scenarios:

1. Morrison and Fulton were discussing consolidation a couple of years back.
These talks ultimately fizzled, but they exist. Before most consolidations come
sports cooperatives: with examples being Ashton and Franklin Center, and Aledo
and Westmer. With Fulton's football team currently experiencing a numbers
crunch, the possibility of a football cooperative becomes greater. That's even
considering the fact that these two communities rich in Dutch heritage play for a
trophy called the Wooden Shoe.

A cooperative between Morrison's 366 kids and Fulton's 316 kids equals a 682-
enrollment football team we'll call for now The Wooden Shoes. It is a team that is
way too big for the Big Rivers, and would be a candidate for the NCIC.

2. Current Big Rivers member St. Bede will be joining the NCIC in all sports except
for football in 2010. St. Bede's football team isn't really a power in the Big Rivers.
It's multiplied enrollment is 501.60 (304 actual), which is 3A in football. NCIC
member Hall is also 3A. IVC, Mendota, Princeton and Rock Falls are 4A. Also, IVC
has 429 more students than St. Bede, who would be at a size disadvantage.

All it would take is for St. Bede to be better in football in order to “be promoted” to
the NCIC in football competition.

With the two possible voids involving a move to the NCIC, it would make for an
NCIC schedule to have their traditional weeks 1-3 and 9 non-conference slate. The
Big Rivers would have their one non-conference game made in a rotating basis
among the teams. A Kewanee-Princeton game that takes place for Week 1 would
continue for two more years, and then waiting until Kewanee gets Week 9 as their
non-conference slot.

If both voids were to happen, the Big Rivers scheduling format would be similar to
the current Western Sun setup: 1-2 non-conference and 3-9 conference. A
contract can be made and renewed for a week one or week two Kewanee-
Princeton tilt, using the 1-2 non-conference format.

Then there's expansion, which is an idea that the Big Rivers has tossed around at
times. Get out your road map, or pull up Mapquest to get an idea of what's coming
up.

The Big Rivers is pretty much bounded by U.S. Route 30 to the north, the
Mississippi River to the west, Interstate 80 to the south, and Illinois Route 23 to the
east. Then there's Kewanee, which sticks out south of 80.

1. The current NCIC Lincoln schools are within the boundary, but these schools
are too big to be joined up with the Big Rivers. Numberwise, it would make for a 14-
team conference but an unusual 7-7 split.

2. The Annawan/Wethersfield football cooperative, which is 1A but leans 2A,
touches the boundary. Great for Kewanee, but too far apart in numbers.

3. Go outside the box 10 miles or so, which is the distance from Interstate 80 to
Kewanee. Milledgeville, Polo, AFC, Fieldcrest and Orion are five schools that come
to mind. Both Milledgeville and Polo have considered co-oping (combined
enrollment of 400), but the Upstate Illini schools are pretty much considered closed
off, so they are out. This includes AFC. Both Fieldcrest, of the Heart of Illinois, and
Orion, of the Olympic/West Central, are 2A.

Fieldcrest and Orion joining the Big Rivers would create a 6-6 split, preferably
North and South. The scheduling can either be a traditional 1-2-3-9 non-
conference and a 4-5-6-7-8 conference, or a format which the future NIB-12 will
operate: 1-2 non-conference, 3-4 crossover and 5-9 conference. Again, a contract
can be made and renewed for a week one or week two Kewanee-Princeton tilt,
using the 1-2 non-conference format.

These scenarios, albeit unlikely, are the only ways a Kewanee-Princeton football
tilt can happen. Remember, we are considering Kewanee's desire to play at a level
in which they can compete. Simply having Kewanee rejoin the NCIC is not an
option.

Cody Cutter is the Publisher of Northern Illinois Sports Beat, and writes columns
about Illinois high school sports. He can be reached at
Northernillinoissportsbeat@yahoo.com.