CIF playoff grouping proposals: Monrovia and West Covina staying put, but CIF tries to make it harder on them to remain dominant … Montivew gets bad news … La Habra’s run looks to be over …

2012-14 Football Playoff Division Proposals

Mid-Valley: Almont, Alpha, Mission Valley, Rio Hondo, Valle Vista
Inland: Baseline, Sierra, Big VIII, Citrus Belt, Southwestern
Southeast: Hacienda, Del Rio, Pacific, San Gabriel Valley, Suburban
Pac-5: Marmonte, Moore, Serra, South Coast, Trinity
Northwest: Montview, Del Rey, Olympic,Pioneer, Tri Valley

PAC-5
IN: Marmonte (Westlake, Oaks Christian, St. Bonaventure, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Moorpark, Royal, Newbury Park, Agoura, Calabasas)
OUT: Sunset (Edison, Huntington Beach, Newport Harbor, Los Alamitos, Fountain Valley, Marina)
Synopsis: CIF is gunning to make the PAC-5 a super division and now it truly is. Although losing teams like Los Al, Edison and Newport Harbor is hard to swallow, adding teams like Westlake, Oaks Christian and St. Bonnies is pretty epic.
Aram’s take: Overall, the division got much tougher. And that means things got much tougher on Bishop Amat.


Mid-Valley
OUT: Montview, Olympic
IN: Alpha (Sierra Canyon, Paraclete, Brentwood, Campbell Hall, Calvary Chapel, Kilpatrick, Marshall).
Synopsis: In my original write up I failed to mention that the Olympic would get out along with the Montview. OK, that changes things. CIF obviously felt that the Montview was the weakest league. What they felt about the Olympic is anybody’s guess.
Aram’s take: The Olympic was one of the better leagues in the division. So replacing it with the Alpha isn’t that much of a boost. I would have rather seen the Olympic stay with the Alpha added. With five leagues, the playoff situation will be a little less dire. All the third-place teams could get in and one at-large? In the end, I thought this division was a good fit for the Montview. Sad to see it go, if it happens.


Southeast
OUT: None
IN: San Gabriel Valley (Compton Dominguez, Paramount, Downey, Gahr, Lynwood, Warren).
Synopsis: Nobody leaves, the San Gabriel Valley League is added. Well, there’s nothing SGV about the San Gabriel Valley League, but the this does add some VERY ATHLETIC teams to the equation. Paramount, last year, was considered by Monrovia coach Ryan Maddox to be one of the toughest teams his team played.
Aram’s take: This division truly needed another league and it got it. West Covina just saw its competition increased heavily. There was talk that West Covina and the Hacienda League would be heading out, to possibly the Central or the Southwest. Instead, CIF decided to leave them be and make things tougher. Compton Dominguez’s nonleague schedule last year included Crespi and Redlands East Valley. Compton Dominguez is still a program that moonlights (and probably think its belongs) with the really big boys.


Inland
OUT: None
IN: None
Synopsis: Uh yeah, I guess CIF sees it as not broken, so why fix it?
Aram’s take: I kinda side with CIF. You can say that the Sierra League doesn’t belong, but that wasn’t really proven last year.


Southwest
OUT: None
IN: Sunset
Synopsis: Things just go WAY, WAY, WAY more difficult for La Habra, which has dominated this division. The Sunset League joining means the Highlanders just saw the competition cranked way up.
Aram’s take: Well La Habra, if any of you wanted to be considered and Orange County school, you got your wish in spades. However, the Sunset League figure to dominate here. We all know La Habra is more a Whittier-area school than it is an OC school. That’s the bottom line. The Sunset got MAJOR RELIEF and it can now FEAST on this division. That could mean a return to prominence for Los Al and Edison.


IMPORTANT NOTE: THESE ARE ONLY PROPOSALS FROM CIF-SS. ON MAR. 27, AN APPEALS PANEL WILL CONVENE. DEPENDING WHAT HAPPENS, THIS WILL GO TO THE FULL SOUTHERN-SECTION COUNCIL. IF AN APPEAL IS DENIED, IT CAN APPEALED AGAIN AT THE COUNCIL MEETING ON APR. 25 WHERE THE COUNCIL WILL VOTE ON IT RIGHT THERE … AND THE NEW DIVISIONS WILL BE RATIFIED.

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