Hononegah rules the NIC-10. Again.
Well, more like again and again and again.
But its 15th consecutive NIC-10 All-Sports Trophy victory felt different for the 2024-25 school year. Yes, the all-around dominance is similar — conference titles in 9 sports and top-three finishes in 19. But Hononegah faced more adversity than usual in high-profile championships. Consider:
At the time North had scored three straight touchdowns. Hononegah had one first down in its previous five drives. One. But then Hononegah scored. And then it scored again, throwing a 56-yard pass on fourth-and-6 with 1:38 to play. Even then, North almost forced overtime, barely missing a 35-yard field goal on the final play.
“Occasionally in athletics we get lucky and have an unexpected win,” Hononegah football coach Brian Zimmerman said. “That’s what happened in football with us at Belvidere North. In all my years of coaching, I can’t remember that happening to Hononegah. Usually it’s against us.”
But that type of resiliency marked Hononegah’s entire sports program this year, which also won titles in boys track, boys volleyball, boys swimming, girls tennis, girls volleyball and wrestling.
“The expectations are high here in all our athletes across the board,” Zimmerman said. “We play until the clock strikes zero. You just play until you have nothing left.”
Guilford finished second for the third year in a row in this all-sports competition created by the Rockford Register Star in 1972.
Hononegah was easily the No. 1 with 198½ points, with teams earning one point for each school they finish ahead of in every sport. Guilford (152½), Harlem (149½) and Belvidere North (146) were all in a close race for second.
Freeport, easily the smallest public school in the NIC-10 with 1,028 students, moved into the top five for the first time in six years with 121½ points. Pretzel highlights started with making the football playoffs for the first time in 16 years and ended with titles in baseball and boys tennis in the spring.
“It’s been some years coming,” Freeport baseball coach Shaun Dascher said. “We have good continuity between programs and consistent work ethic, identifying what we want to see from our student athletes. It’s starting to show. Every year might not be this year, but hopefully we continue to see a consistent uptick.”
Guilford was led by its third straight boys basketball title and a title in the new sport of girls flag football. Harlem won boys and girls bowling. Belvidere North won in football, softball, boys cross country and cheer.
Boylan, although sixth in the standings with 119 points, won the second-most titles, finishing first in boys and girls soccer, boys golf, girls cross country and girls track.
Auburn (95 points), East (81½), Belvidere (80½) and Jefferson (75½) did not win any conference titles in the 2024-25 school year.
Matt Trowbridge is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at mtrowbridge@rrstar.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @MattTrowbridge
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: NIC-10 All-Sports Trophy results: Hononegah’s streak lives, but the field is closing in
Reporting by Matt Trowbridge, Rockford Register Star / Rockford Register Star
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