FCW football co-op plans to leave HOIC

FLANAGAN and RURAL STREATOR — Adding a few additional athletes from another school to the Flanagan-Cornell/Woodland football co-op didn't make much of a dent in either the numbers or the competitiveness of the Falcons during the 2018 season.

With that in mind, the administrations at the two schools are planning to try something different to help build the program while keeping the young players who do come out to play safer:

Going independent.

At their school board meetings held Tuesday evening, both Flanagan-Cornell and Woodland high schools approved moving ahead with a plan to withdraw from their current home in the Heart of Illinois Conference and seek an independent, varsity-only schedule beginning with the 2019 season.

The FCW Falcons — who became FCWRB last season with the additional of Roanoke-Benson to the co-op — suffered through their third consecutive 0-9 season earlier this fall, are currently mired in a 28-game losing streak and haven't won a Heart of Illinois Conference game since Week 9 of the 2014 season. In 2018, the Falcons were outscored 431-8 during their nine games, including 397-8 in their eight contests against fellow HOIC squads, and failed to finish their Week 7 loss to El Paso-Gridley due to injuries suffered by their small roster.

The recent struggles came after nine consecutive playoff appearances for FCW (initially known as FWC) from the formation of the co-op in 2006 through the 2014 season.

According to a joint press release issued by Woodland and Flanagan-Cornell high schools Tuesday night, the schools' administrators, athletics directors and board presidents met recently to discuss the future of the co-op and the wisest path to pursue "in the best interest of not only Woodland and Flanagan-Cornell, but in the best interest of all student-athletes involved in the program presently (and) in the future.

"We would continue to fulfill the co-op but would do it in a way that would continue to keep student-athletes safe. Playing only one game a week was decided as being in the best interest of the program (currently the HOIC plays varsity games on Friday nights and JV games the following Monday) ... (and) it was also determined that playing a varsity schedule only would allow for all Friday games, which would be in the best interest of both schools in conjunction with annual events such as homecoming and senior nights.

"The decision was made that FCW would be seeking to withdraw from the Heart of Illinois Conference in football only for the 2019 school year. FCW would become one of several teams in the state that operate under the 'independent' label. We felt as a group this would allow FCW to choose regional opponents which would allow for shorter travel distances and also allow us to play opponents that may better match ourselves competitively."

Schools from the Tri-County Conference, the HOIC and independent teams were discussed as possible future opponents.

The current Heart of Illinois scheduling format has teams playing eight games against conference opponents (five divisional, three crossovers), with Week 1 open for scheduling inside or outside the league. This past season, FCWRB originally had a Chicago opponent scheduled for Week 1, but that was changed to Rockford Christian, currently a member of the Northeastern Athletic Conference to which Marquette also belongs. The Falcons lost that contest 34-0.

Eight football programs played traditional 11-man football as independents in 2018. Those included former Heart of Illinois Conference member Blue Ridge (which went 3-6) and former Interstate Eight Conference member Westmont (5-4).

Independent teams are still eligible for at-large IHSA playoff bids, but not for the automatic bids awarded to conference champions.

Administrators stressed in the press release that both Flanagan-Cornell and Woodland high schools have benefited and hope to continue to benefit from the multiple-sport co-op arrangement, which also includes track and field, baseball, softball and until this current season girls basketball.

"We look forward to future success at all co-op levels and activities," the release said, adding that questions from the Woodland and Flanagan-Cornell communities are welcome.