Conference carousel
 continues to spin

The West Central Conference is taking steps to fill its vacancies for the 2013 football season.

Last week, the West Central extended invitations to Quincy Notre Dame, Chillicothe IVC and Canton. If those schools accept, they would push the West Central to eight members following the departure of Princeton, Orion, Rockridge and Sherrard in 2013 to the Big Rivers/Three Rivers.

“We didn’t want to wait,” Macomb athletic director Dave Bartlett told the McDonough Voice. “We have been backed into a corner where we need to find some teams that are willing to join our conference, so when we saw there might be three teams interested in joining, we wanted to start the process.”

Quincy Notre Dame didn’t take time to wait, accepting the invite within 24 hours. QND sought to join the WCC in the past, but WCC officials had been disinterested in adding a parochial school.

Bartlett said Canton, a longtime member of the Mid-Illini, was offered full membership while QND, and IVC’s invitations are for football only.

The WCC has already lost Spring Valley Hall to the Big Rivers and Camp Point Central to the Western Illinois Valley. Schools returning for the 2012 season include Carthage Illini West, Hamilton West Hancock, Macomb, Monmouth-Roseville and Pittsfield.

IVC joined the Mid-State 6 in 2012 after the break-up of the NCIC.

The move by WCC created a domino affect around the state, leaving the Mid-State 6 in Peoria and the Western Big 6 out of the Quad Cities area renewing their merger discussion. The Mid-State 6 would be left with just four teams, should IVC follow QND’s lead — Peoria Central, Manual, Notre Dame and Richwoods.

The Western Big 6 consists of Galesburg, Moline, Quincy, Rock Island and Rock Island Alleman and United Township.

The musical chairs around Illinois conferences may include the Big Northern once again. The BNC would be open to further expansion following the addition of Mendota and Rock Falls the past two years, and Rockford Christian this fall. Two eight-team divisions would help for scheduling purposes, spokesman Dale Purvis of North Boone said.

Dixon, which left the NCIC to form the Northern Big 12 in 2010, is said to have an interest.