Rockford Christian drops football for 2024, leaves BNC scrambling to fill schedules

Rockford Christian informed the other Big Northern Conference schools Thursday it will not be fielding a football team in 2024, leaving the 10-team conference scrambling to fill in games.

Byron and Oregon already have picked up replacement games. The Tigers will face Williamsville on the road in Week 3, a rematch of the 2019 state title game in DeKalb. Williamsville won the game 46-42 after trailing 42-32 in the fourth quarter.

Oregon will face Athens in Week 9.

Genoa-Kingston athletic director Phil Jerbi said he’s optimistic the Cogs will find a replacement for the Royal Lions. The teams were scheduled to meet in Week 1 in Genoa.

“We made several phone calls [Thursday], checked all available resources for open dates,” Jerbi said. “We made a couple calls, sent a couple emails and have some other people looking for us, as well. We’re doing everything we can to find a compatible opponent, and we’ll see what happens.”

Jerbi said the team is trying to find a home game since the RC game was scheduled to be in Genoa. But he added the players really want a game and not a forfeit victory.

“The kids say they’d play whoever we can find,” Jerbi said. “So we’re going to try to find someone suitable. Obviously, we’re not going to play an 8A powerhouse or something where the safety of the athletes comes into play. But once we find a suitable and compatible opponent, we’ll roll out the red carpet in Geona.”

Dixon was scheduled to host Rockford Christian in Week 7, while Rock Falls was slated to face the Royal Lions in Rockford in Week 5. Rock Falls coach Kevin Parker said Friday the team has not yet found a suitable replacement but continues to look. Dixon coach Jared Shaner said the Dukes also are looking.

Since making the playoffs in 2019 as a member of the now-defunct Northeastern Athletic Conference, the Royals Lions are 2-30 since joining the BNC.

Before the season, Jerbi said Rockford Christian athletic director Isaiah Johnson told the conference it appeared the program would be able to move forward with a season. But Jerbi said a couple of players ended up dropping out, and the numbers became unsafe for the Royal Lions to field a team.

Jerbi said talking about the future of Rockford Christian in the conference is putting the cart before the horse.

“They need to figure out their situation now in regards to their future,” Jerbi said. “That community will have to determine what they do, and when we meet as a conference again we can discuss the viable options about moving forward whether they move to eight-man or discontinue football. ... It’s too early to tell what happens next. Everybody is focused on filling the voids.”