Just two years removed from joining the football portion of the Vermillion Valley Conference after the dismantling of the Sangamon Valley Conference, Dwight’s football program is on the move, joining several other schools in search of a perfect fit by helping create the Chicago Prairie Football League.

Next season, the Trojans will join Seneca, Ottawa Marquette, Westmont, Walther Christian, Ridgewood, St. Bede and Elmwood Park to make up the newly formed 8-team conference tentatively named the Chicago Prairie Football League (CPFL), which was co-founded by Dwight and Seneca. All of the Trojans’ other prep sports will remain a part of the Tri-County Conference.

“I would say the driving force behind this was because of the travel distance and we were looking to get more centrally located,” Dwight athletic director Cathy Ferguson said. “The schools that are going to be in this football league, four of them are in our Tri-County Conference that we are already in, and so that’s beneficial.”

The move to join the CPFL not only made sense in terms of being able to reduce travel time, but it will also allow Dwight’s football program, which resumed its co-op with Gardner-South Wilmington this season, to compete against teams with similar participation numbers. The change in conferences is planned to make for more balanced nonconference competitions for a Trojans squad that went 3-15 in the VVC during their two-year tenure in the conference.

“I think numbers-wise, we were playing schools that were much larger than us when we had to play crossover games,” Ferguson said. “So I think this will benefit us numbers-wise and put us in a more balanced position.”

Clifton Central and Momence are two football programs that also just play football in the VVC — participating in the football-less River Valley Conference in other sports — but neither school plans on making any moves outside of the VVC for their respective football programs.

“Really the only effect for us is that it closes the VVC to a 10-team conference,” Central athletic director DJ Harris said. “That’s the only effect on us and so it will change our schedule and stuff, but we aren’t moving away from the VVC for football.”

As a result of Seneca and Dwight’s departure from the VVC, the formerly 12-team super conference on the gridiron that was split into the VVC North and South divisions will realign into a single, closed 10-team conference featuring Bismarck-Henning-Rossvile-Alvin, Georgetown-Ridge Farm-Chrisman, Hoopeston-Armstrong-Potomac, Oakwood, Salt Fork, Westville, and area teams Central, Iroquois West, Momence and Watseka.

“I think each school has to look out for itself,” Harris said. “Dwight’s reducing its travel and so when you think about Dwight to Westville, that’s almost a two-hour trip not only on Friday night, but on a Monday night when you’re playing junior varsity games, and so it makes a difference.”