Northern Illinois Conference (athletic conference)

For similarly named conferences, see Northern Illinois Conference.

Northern Illinois Conference

Conference	IHSA
No. of teams	10
Region	Illinois (Boone, Stephenson, and Winnebago counties)
Locations
The Northern Illinois Conference within Illinois

5km
3miles

Jefferson

Hononegah

Harlem

Guilford

East

Boylan

Belvidere North

Belvidere

Auburn

  

Locations of NIC 10 Schools

The Northern Illinois Conference (NIC-10) is a high school athletic conference consisting of nine high public schools and one Catholic school in Illinois' Boone, Stephenson, and Winnebago Counties. Member schools are also full members of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA), and are among the larger schools in that area, all competing in Class AA (in the two class system) of IHSA competitions.

Current members

School	Location	Mascot	Colors	Year Joined	IHSA Classes A/AA	Website	Reference
Auburn High School	Rockford	Knights	Red, Black	1960	AA/3A/4A	"Home of the Knights". Archived from the original on 2014-04-20.
Belvidere High School	Belvidere	Bucs	Gold, Purple	1963	A/AA/2A/3A	Belvidere Community Unit School District 100
Belvidere North High School	Belvidere	Blue Thunder	Navy Blue, Scarlet Red, Vegas Gold	2006	AA/2A/3A/4A	Belvidere North High School
Boylan Catholic High School	Rockford	Titans	Green, White	1964	AA/2A/3A/4A	Boylan Catholic High School
East High School	Rockford	E-Rabs	Red, Black	1940	AA/2A/3A/4A	East High School
Freeport High School	Freeport	Pretzels	Orange, Black	1916	AA/2A/3A
Guilford High School	Rockford	Vikings	Columbia Blue, White	1963	AA/3A/4A	Guilford High School
Harlem High School	Machesney Park	Huskies	Black, Orange	1963	AA/3A/4A	Harlem High School
Hononegah High School	Rockton	Indians	Purple, Gold	1982	AA/3A/4A	Hononegah Community High School District 207
Jefferson High School	Rockford	J-Hawks	Red, White, Gold	1971	2A/3A/4A	Jefferson High School

* Depending on the sport/activity, schools compete in a variety of class systems. The classes are listed in that order in this table.

Previous members

School	Location	Mascot	Colors	Year Joined	Year Left	Total Years	Current Conference	Website	Reference
DeKalb High School	DeKalb, IL	Barbs	Orange, Black	1916 1919	1917 1929	13	DuPage Valley Conference	DeKalb High School
Rockford Central High School	Rockford, IL	Rabs	Red, Black	1916	1940	24	School Closed
Aurora East High School	Aurora, IL	Tomcats	Red, Black	1916	1963	47	Upstate Eight Conference	East Aurora High School
Aurora West High School	Aurora, IL	Blackhawks	Red, Blue	1916	1963	47	Southwest Prairie Conference	West Aurora High School
Elgin High School	Elgin, IL	Maroons	Maroon, Cream	1916	1963	47	Upstate Eight Conference	Elgin High School
Joliet Township High School	Joliet, IL	Steelmen	Royal Blue, Gold	1916	1960	44	Southwest Prairie Conference	Joliet Township High School
LaSalle-Peru High School	LaSalle, IL	Cavaliers	Red, Green	1936	1964	28	Interstate Eight Conference	LaSalle-Peru Township High School
Rockford West High School	Rockford, IL	Warriors	Red, Black	1940	1989	49	Converted to a middle school

History

The Northern Illinois High School Conference (NIHSC) was founded in 1916 as a high school football conference. Boys track and basketball soon followed, and other sports were added over time. Original members included Freeport High School, Rockford High School, Joliet High School, Elgin High School, DeKalb High School, Aurora East High School, and Aurora West High School. DeKalb withdrew after one season, and for two years the league operated with six schools. The flu pandemic of 1918, which hit the Rockford area particularly hard, caused the cancellation of that year’s football season, and when league play returned in 1919, DeKalb rejoined. At this time, newspapers began referring to the league as the Big 7 for brevity.

In 1929, DeKalb again left the conference with six teams, and the league was known as the Big 6 until LaSalle-Peru High School joined in 1936. In the spring of 1940, Rockford High School was replaced by Rockford West and Rockford East, and the conference naturally became the Big 8.

1940 to 1960 was a period of stability, as the league operated with the same eight members spread over five far-flung counties. However, the high school building boom that began throughout northern Illinois in the late 1950s led to a series of conference realignments that brought rapid changes and a geographic shift to the Big 8. The first in this series of moves was Joliet’s departure for the South Suburban Conference in 1960. The Steelmen were replaced by the newly opened Rockford Auburn High School that same year. In 1963, NIHSC charter members East Aurora, West Aurora, and Elgin departed to help form the new Upstate 8 Conference, and Harlem High School, Belvidere High School, and the newly opened Rockford Guilford High School immediately stepped in to take their place. With the other seven league members now concentrated in the farthest reaches of northern Illinois, LaSalle-Peru withdrew in 1964 to join the North Central Illinois Conference, which was closer to home. Boylan Central Catholic High School, the league’s only private school, replaced the Cavaliers that same year.

The Big 8 became the Big 9 with the addition of Rockford Jefferson High School in 1971.

In 1982, Hononegah High School joined the league, and to avoid the obvious confusion with the collegiate Big 10, the league returned to its roots by becoming the Northern Illinois Conference (NIC-10).

The league became the NIC-9 when Rockford West was closed after the 1988–89 school year, and reverted to NIC-10 when Belvidere North High School opened in 2007. Freeport High School remains the only original member of the conference.

Expansion

In April 2018, requests from both Kaneland High School and DeKalb High School for consideration to be admitted to the conference starting in the 2019-20 school year were sent to the NIC-10 president, Freeport principal Dr. Beth Summers. On May 14, 2018, Kaneland was rejected by the NIC-10 and joined the Interstate Eight Conference. Based on a May 24, 2018 announcement, the NIC-10 unanimously voted to table discussions toward expansion, denying DeKalb the opportunity to return to the conference after a 90 year absence.

Membership timeline

Full members

State championships

69 IHSA State Championships have been earned by the conference membership:

• Basketball (boys)-9: Rockford High School (1918–19, 1938–39); Elgin (1923–24, 24–25); Freeport (1925–26, 50–51); Joliet Township (1936–37); Rockford West (1954–55, 55–56)
• Bowling (boys)-8: Jefferson (2002–03); Freeport (2007–08); Guilford (2010–11, 2013–14); Hononegah (2014–15, 2017–18); Harlem (2016–17, 2018–19)
• Bowling (girls)-9: Rockford East (1996–97); Jefferson (2007–08); Harlem (1999–2000, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2004–05, 2010–11, 2016–17, 2017-18)
• Chess-3: Jefferson (1990–91); Auburn (1991–92, 92–93)
• Competitive Cheerleading (coed) 3: Belvidere North (2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19)
• Cross Country (boys)-2: Belvidere North (2009–10, 10-11)
• Cross Country (girls)-3: Guilford (1981–82) Belvidere North (2016–17, 2018–19)
• Field Hockey (girls)-1: Rockford West (1975–76)
• Football-7: Rockford East (1974–75, 85–86); Guilford (1982–83); Belvidere (1993–94, 1994–95); Boylan (2010–11, 2011–12)
• Golf (boys)-12: Rockford East (1941–42, 42–43, 43–44, 44–45, 46–47, 56–57); Rockford West (1940–41); Guilford (1974–75, 75–76, 83–84, 85–86); Boylan (2002–03)
• Golf (girls)-1: Guilford (1994–95)
• Golf (girls -individual)-1: RPS205 Coop Team (2015–16) Madasyn Pettersen (Guilford)
• Journalism-1: Jefferson (2006–07)
• Scholastic Bowl-2: Auburn (2007–08, 2014–15)
• Soccer (boys)-1: Boylan (2010–11)
• Softball-2: Harlem (1979–80, 98–99)
• Swimming & Diving (boys)-1: Rockford High School (1932–33)
• Track & Field (boys)-5: Joliet Township (1915–16); Rockford High School (1926–27, 32–33, 34–35); Freeport (2016–17)
• Debate (Public Policy)- 1: Belvidere North (2018–19)