The 3 Rivers will run through it
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The Three Rivers Conference will run through St. Bede Academy and Princeton and Hall high schools.
The three Bureau County schools were each extended an invitation to join the Three Rivers Athletic Conference, beginning with the 2013-14 school year for all sports, PHS superintendent Kirk Haring told the BCR Thursday afternoon.
They will be paired with newcomers Orion, Rockridge and Riverdale, who were also approved to join the conference at Thursday's TRAC meeting in Rock Falls, and current TRAC member Kewanee to form the new South Division. The remaining eight current TRAC members will form the North Division, including Bureau Valley,and charter members Amboy, Erie, Fulton, Morrison, Newman, Prophetstown and Riverdale,
Interstate 80 serves as the dividing line between the North and South divisions.
"Obviously, we're very excited. It's nice to have someone want you," said Haring, who was informed of the invitation via a phone call Thursday from TRAC president Scott Vance.
Haring planned to discuss the invitation with PHS coaches during Friday's workshop and will take it to the school board for approval on Jan. 25. He expects the PHS board to be on board with the move. PHS has been a member of the NCIC since 1939.
St. Bede athletic director Tom McGunnigal said principal Michelle Mershon received the Academy's notification Thursday afternoon and understands they have until Feb. 1 to accept the invitation.
"Certainly a nice thing. It's a good conference, a big conference," McGunnigal said. "Could be really big and open up a lot of competition for us. Being a part of a conference, especially a nice conference like this, with good competition, good competitive schools, it's a win-win for our kids, for our scheduling, for competition, for everybody. Certainly there's a lot of positives we're going to take out of it."
While its notification came a little later, because of the early dismissal of school Thursday, officials at Hall were equally excited to get the good news. Athletic director Eric Bryant said the move will allow the Red Devils to get back closer to schools their size and playing longtime rivals like Princeton, St. Bede and Kewanee.
"Once we get the OK from the board, which we don't see any reason why they won't, we'll have a new conference in a couple years," Bryant said. "The Tri-County was a nice conference too. It was kind of hard to tell them thanks for what you did for us for two years, but we got to leave. Considering the tradition in their conference and how welcoming they were to us, but we're excited on with the opportunity with the Three Rivers."
Hall had been a member of the NCIC since 1942 before joining the Tri-County this year.
The vote for expansion needed a two-thirds approval (six schools) to carry. It passed by a 8-1 vote, according to a source, with Kewanee opposing the move.
Vance. the principal of Morrison High School, said while there was some discussion Thursday, most principals came ready to vote and get the expansion project completed.
"I think we all had accepted the fact that expansion would take place, and we had a proposal that a majority were in favor of," Vance told Shaw Media Service. "We could have debated logistics fro now until forever, but we said, 'OK, let's not reinvent the wheel,' and we went ahead and took a vote to see where the cards fell.
"There's no perfect solution, but everybody there wanted to do what's best for their school and the conference, and I think we all knew this would make us better off in the long run."
Vance said expansion will maintain the strong tradition in the Three Rivers which was established in 1976.
"When you look at the records and stats and performances the schools in our conference have put up, both recently and historically, then add these new schools, we certainly feel like we've added even more strength and depth with this move," he said.
Bureau Valley athletic director/acting principal Eric Lawson welcomes the new teams to the conference.
"It provides more stability for the conference. It's exciting to see new teams," he said.
The biggest issue on the table is how to split the league in two but still make sure it's under the umbrella of one conference. Newman athletic director Mike Papoccia said almost every AD he's talked to is in favor of playing every team once in sports outside of football, rather than playing each divisional team twice and playing crossover games as nonconference matchups, That would keep the two halves of the conference from becoming alienated from each other, which Papoccia believes is key to the league's long-term survival.
The Three Rivers would go back to divisional play for football for the first time since 2003. There will be seven teams on each side, including the Erie/Prophetstown co-op. The format will call for six conference games and three crossovers.
Princeton, Rockridge, Orion and Sherrard will play West Central Conference football next year making the move in 2013. Princeton and St. Bede, which already plays Big Rivers football, will continue in the three-team NCIC league with Chillicothe IVC for all other sports in 2012-13.
Hall was previously approved to join the Big Rivers for football in 2012. The Red Devils will continue to play all other sports in the Tri-County for the next school year before moving to the TRAC.
PHS volleyball coach Andy Puck was excited to have a new home for the Tigers.
"I am excited to renew old rivalries, and to start new ones. And it is always good for athletic programs to have stability," he said.
Comment on this story at www.bcrnews.com.
