STREATOR -- Streator High School's affiliation with the North Central Illinois Conference, which was founded 80 years ago, will end after the upcoming school year.

Streator will become a member of the 12-school Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference in 2010-11.

"We are (sad to leave), no question about it," said Streator athletic director and football coach Kelly Kane. "It's long been thought of as a very good conference in all sports, but particularly as a solid football league for years and years."

Joining the Bulldogs in the new league's six-team West Division will be five other NCIC Reagan Division members: Geneseo, Dixon, LaSalle-Peru, Ottawa and Sterling.

The East Division of the NIB-12 will consist of NCIC Reagan Division member Morris and five of the eight schools from the Western Sun Conference: DeKalb, Maple Park Kaneland, Rochelle, Sycamore and Yorkville.

The wheels of change for the NCIC were set in motion in 2005-06 when Rochelle left. It was the league's first alteration in 42 years.

Illinois Valley Central replaced Rochelle, but the league's wide range of enrollments among members led schools to rarely face teams from the other division.

"It made us more like two leagues as opposed to one league," Kane said.

Interest in a new league grew when Kewanee announced it would join the Three Rivers Conference in 2010-11.

The NIB-12's average enrollment is 1,209 students with DeKalb the largest (1,698) and Geneseo the smallest (890). All 12 schools will be in Class 2A for three-class sports and 3A for four-class sports.

"There are all sorts of advantages playing different people north and east of us," said Kane, who expects travel to be less for Streator.

Scheduling for the NIB-12 has yet to be sorted out, but in football, teams will play five divisional and two crossover games. The first two weeks of the season will be open dates.

"Fans will have the opportunity to see teams they aren't accustomed to seeing," Kane said.

Basketball teams will play home-and-away series with divisional rivals and four cross-over games. One-day conference meets will be held in sports such as golf, track, cross country and wrestling. In baseball, teams will play three-game series.

"I think it's a really good situation for the entirety of the league," said Kane, who won't participate in the new conference because he will retire after this school year.

"I don't think there will be any bad teams. There won't be teams who get shellacked every week. It will be competitive."

The breakup of the Western Sun Conference stemmed from the rapid enrollment growth of suburban Chicago members Glen Ellyn Glenbard South, Geneva and Batavia.

The NCIC Lincoln Division will continue to exist for Rock Falls, Princeton, Mendota, Spring Valley Hall and IVC, whose ranks will grow to include Peru St. Bede (in all sports but football) in 2010-11.

Asked if the NIB-12 will last, Kane said, "I would hope so, but you don't know that. I would certainly think it would."

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Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference

West Division

Schools......Enrollments

Geneseo......890

Dixon......896

Streator......1,053

Sterling......1,089

LaSalle-Peru...1,225

Ottawa......1,562

East Division

Morris......1,013

Rochelle......1,166

Sycamore...1,175

Kaneland......1,229

Yorkville......1,376

DeKalb......1,698