Morrison school board approves move to NUIC in 2024-25

MORRISON, Ill. (WIFR) - The Northwest Upstate Illini Conference is growing once again after the Morrison School Board unanimously approved to join the conference beginning in the 2024-25 school year.

“I have been approached by alumni and rabid Morrison Mustang fans and they all seem to be in favor of it,” one Morrison school board member said during Monday’s meeting. “I haven’t had anybody come to me and say it’s a bad move.”

Barring any other moves, this will bring the NUIC back up to 10 teams in 11-player football in 2024. In the span of a decade, from 2012 to 2022, the conference saw its 11-player ranks cut in half with 18 NUIC 11-player teams across two divisions in 2012, to just nine teams in one division in 2022. Bringing the conference up to 10 teams also means NUIC schools will not have to schedule a non-conference game in football each year.

The move will also see the return of one of Illinois’ top high school football rivalries between Fulton and Morrison. Each year in football the two squads battled for the wooden shoe. Fulton joined the NUIC in 2021 as the Steamers, much like the Mustangs, also left the Three Rivers Conference to join the NUIC.