Morris to join NCIC in '09-10

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The NCIC Reagan football schedule just got tougher. The Morris School Board voted unanimously Mon-day to accept the North Central Illinois Confer-ence's invitation to be part of the league. The 1,075-student school will join the NCIC's upper division starting in the 2009-10 school year. That will create a 13-team conference, with a seven-team Reagan Div-ision and a six-team Lincoln Division. The NCIC is looking to add at least one more team to make an even number of schools in the conference. Morris has made its mark in football, winning state titles in 1980, 1984 and 2005, and adding runner-up finishes in 1979, 1989, 2001, 2004 and 2007. The Redskins went 264-55 in 28 seasons under Dan Darlington from 1977-2004, with 22 trips to the playoffs. In the past three seasons, Morris has a 32-7 record, three trips to the playoffs and two state finals appearances under coach George Dergo. The Redskins have made the playoffs in 20 of the last 21 seasons. "They're one of the premier teams in the state," Sterling football coach Greg King said. "It's a team that plays at a level that I definitely want to get to. It's another tough game to play in this conference, it's another big game for the kids to get up for and it's another chance to step up and measure yourself against a great football team." The major drawback of the addition of Morris is scheduling. Teams currently play five conference football games and four nonconference games, in weeks 1, 2, 3 and 9. A seventh team in the Reagan will run the conference schedule from weeks 3-9, with the odd team out each week forced to find a nonconference opponent. "That's the big negative for me in all this, the scheduling," King said. "It's tough enough to find four nonconference opponents at the start and end of the season; trying to fill in a spot in the middle of the season, when other teams are in their conference schedules, is going to be hard." The way around that would be to find another conference with an uneven number of teams and try to fit in nonconference games with them. Football won't be the only sport impacted. The Redskins boast several extra-curricular activities, including some that aren't offered in the NCIC. Other state titles have come in baseball (1995) and softball (1992), and the girls bowling team has made 22 trips to the state tournament since 1980, including six out of the last eight seasons. The Redskins placed fourth at state in girls basketball in 1995-96. Morris has been pondering a move for several months. The NCIC extended an official invitation to join on April 10. The move will mean longer road trips for the Redskins, but much less expensive funding costs and schools much closer to their enrollment. The average cost of funding conference activities in the Southwest Prairie Conference is $7,000, as opposed to $1,750 in the NCIC. The average enrollment in the SPC is 2,096 against the NCIC's 1,183. "I know some people in Morris, and they're pretty excited about it," King said. "There will definitely be some great games, some great competition, and not just in football."