Northwest Upstate Illini Conference

Northwest Upstate Illini Conference
Association	IHSA
Divisions	Northwest Division Upstate Division
Members	20
Region	Northwest and North-central Illinois (Carroll, Jo Daviess, Lee, Ogle, Stephenson, and Winnebago counties)
Locations
The Northwest Upstate Illini Conference within Illinois

The Northwest Upstate Illini Conference is a high school conference in northwest and north central Illinois. The conference participates in athletics and activities in the Illinois High School Association. The conference comprises 19 small public high schools and one small private school, with enrollments between 64-382 students in Carroll, Jo Daviess, Lee, Ogle, Stephenson, and Winnebago counties.

In 1996 the Northwest Illinois Conference (NWIC) and Upstate Illini Conference (UIC) merged under the Upstate Illini banner. Three divisions were formed: West - Dakota, East Dubuque, Galena, Lena-Winslow, Orangeville, River Ridge, Stockton, and Warren East - Ashton-Franklin Center, Durand, Kirkland-Hiawatha, North Boone, Pecatonica, Rockford Lutheran and South Beloit, and South - Forreston, Freeport Aquin, Eastland, Pearl City, Milledgeville, Mt. Carroll and Polo. In 1999 Savanna was added to the South Division and Rockford Christian Life to the East Division for a total of 24 teams. In 2000, six schools (Ashton-Franklin Center, Durand, Kirkland-Hiawatha, North Boone, Pecatonica and South Beloit) left to form the Four Rivers Conference, the remaining schools realigned under the Northwest Upstate Illini moniker. Based on proximity, the two remaining schools from the East, Rockford Christian Life and Rockford Lutheran, also left the conference following the 2000 school year.

Founded in 2001, the Northwest Upstate Illini was divided into two divisions: Northwest - Dakota, Eastland, Forreston, Galena, Lena-Winslow, Pearl City, Mt. Carroll and Savanna, and Upstate - Freeport Aquin, East Dubuque, Milledgeville, Orangeville, Polo, River Ridge, Scales Mound, Stockton, and Warren. In 2006, Mt. Carroll and Savanna consolidated with Thomson to become West Carroll. During the same year, four teams from the Four Rivers Conference (Ashton-Franklin Center, Durand, Pecatonica, South Beloit) were accepted to join the conference. Durand, Pecatonica and South Beloit joined the Northwest Division and Ashton-Franklin Center entered the Upstate. Outside of the Chicago Public High School League, the Northwest Upstate Illini Conference is the largest conference in the state of Illinois.