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. The high schools of the Big Northern Conference are located in the following counties:

Boone, DeKalb, LaSalle, Lee, Ogle, Whiteside, and Winnebago. 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 2015-2016 school year, Burlington Central, Harvard, Johnsburg, Marengo, and Richmond-Burton left the BNC to join Woodstock and Woodstock Northin creating the Kishwaukee River Conference. With 11 schools in the 2016-2017 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. In 2018, Rockford Christian will become independent in football while remaining in the BNC for all other sports.