January 21, 2025
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Durand-Pecatonica to join Big Northern Conference for football, soccer in 2026-27

By Joshua Welge
The Durand-Pecatonica defense swarms to the ball against Genoa-Kingston on Saturday, November 2, 2024, in a Class 3A first-round playoff game.

The Durand-Pecatonica defense swarms to the ball against Genoa-Kingston in November in a Class 3A first-round playoff game. The Durand-Pecatonica co-op will join the Big Northern Conference for football, boys soccer and girls soccer in the 2026-2027 school year, the league announced in a statement Tuesday. (Photo provided By Phil Jerbi)

The Durand-Pecatonica co-op will join the Big Northern Conference for football, boys soccer and girls soccer in the 2026-2027 school year, the league announced in a statement Tuesday.

All other sports in the co-op will remain in the NUIC.

The addition of Du-Pec in football keeps the Big Northern at 10 football playing members for the near future. The league scrambled to fill games this past season when Rockford Christian announced in August that it was dropping out of the IHSA’s 11-man football system and would play 8-man football.

Du-Pec in football is coming off a 10-2 2024 season in which it reached the Class 3A quarterfinals, the program’s second consecutive quarterfinal appearance. The program has reached the playoffs for four consecutive seasons after a 15-year playoff drought. Du-Pec beat Big Northern Conference member Genoa-Kingston 66-0 in the first round of this year’s playoffs.

“For boys and girls soccer, the addition of Du-Pec will help alleviate wide swings in participation numbers at multiple schools throughout the conference,” the Big Northern Conference said in a statement. “Since 2021, each season at least one member school has not been able to field either a boys or girls soccer team due to low roster numbers. This addition will provide member schools more consistent opportunities to play conference games should a particular school not be able to field a team in a given season.”