Four Rivers Conference (Illinois)

Last updated

Four Rivers Conference
Conference IHSA
Founded2001
Ceased2005
No. of teams6
RegionNorth-central Illinois (Boone, DeKalb, Lee and Winnebago counties)
Locations
IL counties four rivers conf.png The Four Rivers Conference within Illinois
Four Rivers Conference (Illinois)
Transparent.svg
Transparent.svg
13km
8.1miles
Red pog.svg
South Beloit
Yellow pog.svg
Pecatonica
Green pog.svg
North Boone
Yellow pog.svg
Kirkland-Hiawatha
Blue pog.svg
Durand
Yellow pog.svg
Ashton
Locations of Four Rivers Schools

The Four Rivers Conference was a high school conference in north central Illinois. The conference participated in athletics and activities in the Illinois High School Association. The conference included small public high schools with enrollments between 150-550 students in Boone, DeKalb, Lee and Winnebago counties. The conference was named for the 4 rivers that ran through its geographic area, the Rock River, Pecatonica River, Kishwaukee River and Sugar River.

Contents

History

Founded in 2001, the Four Rivers Conference was based primarily on the teams within the East Division of the Upstate Illini Conference. Those teams included: Ashton-Franklin Center, Durand, Kirkland-Hiawatha, North Boone, Pecatonica, Rockford Christian Life, Rockford Lutheran and South Beloit. By 2000, the Upstate Illini had grown to be the second largest conference in the state of Illinois and included 24 teams and 3 divisions, the East as well as the West - Dakota, East Dubuque, Galena, Lena-Winslow, Orangeville, River Ridge, Stockton and Warren and the South - Forreston, Freeport Aquin, Lanark (Eastland), Milledgeville, Mt. Carroll, Pearl City, Polo and Savanna. These divisions were based on geography and not enrollment with the hope of keeping rivalries alive and travel time minimized. Unfortunately, due to football coops as well as enrollment discrepancies, the conference began to have issues regarding football scheduling and opened talks about reorganizing the divisions based on enrollment. During the spring of the 1999-2000 school year, at the annual conference meeting, the issues of realignment created a sticking point that found the administrators of the East Division at odds with the majority of the league. It was at this meeting that 6 of the 8 teams in the East withdrew from the Upstate Illini, establishing the Four Rivers Conference. The remaining 2 schools, Rockford Christian Life and Rockford Lutheran, joined the Private School League in order compete with other non-public schools with similar enrollments. The conference ceased in 2005 with North Boone joining the Big Northern to effectively disband the Four Rivers. The remaining teams joined the Northwest Upstate Illini Conference, while Kirkland-Hiawatha went to the Little Ten Conference.

Scheduling

Based on the fact that football schedules are set several years in advance, The Four Rivers Conference played a "home-and-home" football schedule with the first meeting being considered non-conference and the second being counted as the conference game. In a 9 game schedule, and only 6 opponents in the league, a team could become conference champions with only 5 wins. All other sports within the conference played traditional schedules with a championship based on the total wins within the league.

All-Time Membership

The list of Four Rivers Conference schools.

SchoolLocationMascotColorsYear JoinedYear Left IHSA Classes A/AA [1] IHSA Music Class [2] IHSA Football Class [3] Current NUIC Member
Ashton-Franklin Center
High School
Ashton, IL Raiders   
Black, Gold, White
20012005A-1AYes
Durand
High School
Durand, IL Bulldogs  
Royal Blue, White
20012005AC1AYes
Kirkland-Hiawatha
High School
Kirkland, IL Hawks  
Navy Blue, Gold
20012005AD1ANo
North Boone
High School
Poplar Grove, IL Vikings  
Green, White
20012005AC2ANo
Pecatonica
High School
Pecatonica, IL Indians  
Purple, Vegas Gold
20012005AC1AYes
South Beloit
High School
South Beloit, IL Sobos  
Scarlet Red, White
20012005AC1AYes

Membership timeline

Four Rivers Conference (Illinois)

Full membersFull members (non-football)

References