Kewanee prefers status quo in 3 Rivers
The Three Rivers Conference will continue to discuss expansion when league officials convene for its next meeting in January. They have gone as far as proposing divisional play scenarios.
Not all schools are necessarily on board with the idea.
The Kewanee High School board met Monday and according to the Kewanee Star Courier, the Boilermakers, who joined The Three Rivers in 2010, are not in favor of further expansion. Kewanee principal Jamie Bryan told the Star Courier that KHS is happy with the status quo.
“We have some objections to the proposal as it stands,” Bryan said. “Kewanee High School’s stance on expansion right now is we are pretty happy with our 10 teams in the Big Rivers.”
The Three Rivers Conference’s football league, the Big Rivers, unanimously voted Spring Valley Hall into its fold for the 2012 season to replace Ottawa Marquette, which departed for the Northeastern Athletic Conference. Hall, which joined the West Central and Tri-County conferences this season with the crumbling of the NCIC, would like to call the Three Rivers home for all sports.
There are others who would like to follow them.
St. Bede, another member of Big Rivers football, would like to come on board. So would Princeton, which remains in the floundering NCIC with St. Bede and IVC, and fellow West Central Conference football members Orion, Rockridge and Sherrard.
Bureau Valley athletic director Eric Lawson presented his board with an update of the conference discussions. He said expansion would bring further stability to the conference, but at the same time, noted the size discrepancy of Princeton competing against some of the smaller schools.
Despite having declining enrollment and playing bigger schools, Lawson likes the expansion, because “in order to be the best, you have to play the best.”
With Hall’s addition, the Big Rivers remains at 10 teams for football, which fills the nine-week schedule. Should the conference expand further, it would require adding by pairs (two or four schools) to maintain an even balance for football scheduling.
There are three proposals for divisions on the table, two based geographically and one based on enrollment. There would be one division of eight schools and one of seven schools. Erie and Prophetstown co-op for football.
In the North-South scenario, all of the current TRAC schools except Kewanee — Amboy, Bureau Valley, Erie, Fulton, Morrison, Prophetstown, Port Byron Riverdale and Sterling Newman would remain paired. Kewanee would be grouped in the South Division along with former NCIC rivals Hall and Princeton, plus Orion, Rockridge, Sherrard and St. Bede.
By going East/West, the dividing line changes to place Amboy, Bureau Valley, Hall, Kewanee, Newman, Princeton and St. Bede in the East with Erie, Fulton, Morrison, Orion, Prophetstown, Riverdale, Rockridge and Sherrard in the West.
There has also been discussion for a large-school, small-school set-up. Based on current enrollments, that would group Princeton (629), Kewanee (510), St. Bede (487 with multiplier), Sherrard (481), Rockridge (432), Newman (419 with multiplier) and Hall (395) in the large-school, and Erie (234), Amboy (294), Prophetstown (295), Fulton (309), Orion (319), Riverdale (334), Morrison (349) and Bureau Valley (377) on the small-school side.
The Bureau County Republican has previously proposed similar East-West, North-South and large-school/small school divisions.
Kewanee, which was one of the smallest schools in the NCIC, presently stands as the largest in the Three Rivers with 133 more students than the next largest school, Bureau Valley. There are some schools not wishing to take in Princeton, because of its size. PHS’ enrollments are projected to fall closer to 550 within three years, however.
Kewanee does not like the divisional format.
“When we signed up two years ago, we signed up to play Three Rivers schools,” Bryan told the Star Courier. “With this proposal on the table, we would be playing none of those schools, except maybe in a crossover game. That’s a negative for us.”
It was no secret Kewanee began to explore new avenues with its recent lack of success in the NCIC. The Boilers have been far more competitive across the board in all sports since joining the Three Rivers/Big Rivers last year.
“Whenever you choose a conference, you want to choose a conference where you think you can compete year-in and year-out,” Bryan told the Star Courier. “Currently with the TRAC-9 and Big Rivers, we feel we can do that. When you look at some of the schools that are being added, we still feel like we can compete with them, but they will bring a different level of competitiveness to the league. It will definitely be a challenge.”
The Big Rivers last played divisional play for football in 2003. It would call for division games for Weeks 3-8 with cross-over games in weeks 1,2 and 9 against the other side of the conference.
In sports such as basketball, volleyball, baseball and softball, each school would play home and away series with each team in its division. In other sports, including cross country, golf, wrestling and track, conference champions would still be determined by league tournament/meets.
Kewanee is not in favor of this set-up.
