Is it time for CIF to give Bishop Amat relief? One playoff win since 2005 kinda answers the question …

Editor’s note: To be clear, in order for Amat to change leagues, Amat would have to ASK FOR RELIEF or schools in Amat’s respective parochial area would have to move them out. The CIF office doesn’t do the re-leaguing. But it does do the divisions every two years.

Here’s something all Bishop Amat fans had better start thinking about as your team prepares for the upcoming season — R-E-L-I-E-F.

Amat has just ONE playoff win since 2005.

ONE!

If that doesn’t change starting with this season, then it’s looking more and more possible that CIF will have NO CHOICE but to give the Lancers relief when it’s time to re-league and re-division in two years.

While CIF won’t publicly say that it takes anything other than recent results into account when re-leaguing and re-divisioning, you can bet they’re aware just how far back Amat’s postseason futility extends.

So that means the Lancers need some postseason success and fast to stave off such a situation.

But is that really such a good idea? Might relief actually be a good thing for Amat?

While I have a hard time believing the business side of CIF would do anything it could to keep a big-ticket item like Amat in the PAC-5, I also know that going by their rules they probably cannot as things currently stand.

Exiting the PAC-5/Division 1 would be a big blow to many Amat fans, and a bit of a status hit. Once they’re over it, though, my bet is they’ll see the light.

Moving the Lancers to somewhere like, say, the Mission League and thus the Western Division may return the program to tangible prominence, i.e. things like league titles and deep postseason runs. The return of some big-time recruits calling the La Puente campus home would likely follow.

By getting relief, my bet is that the business side of Amat football would actually benefit. The longer the season goes, the more games that are played, the more money can be made for CIF and the school. On a business level, it’s in everyone’s best intere$t that Amat’s season lasts longer than 10 or 11 weeks.

Nobody, and I mean NOBODY is IMMUNE to RELIEF. And nobody, and I mean NOBODY is IMMUNE to being bumped up. Just ask South Hills where it was in 2000 and where it is now.

Yes, big September wins are nice. Beating O-Lu and St. Bonnie’s a few years back was certainly sweet and showed what the Lancers are capable of on a given week. But the playoffs are about MORE THAN ONE GAME.

If things don’t get any better in the month of November, CIF will be forced to make a very tough decision regarding the Lancers’ future and it actually just might work out best for everybody even though several the fan base might go kicking and screaming.

Right now, Amat is losing out on local talent. It’s not a joke. It’s not an opinion. It’s a fact.

Players are seeing that they can get scholarships and win CIF championships at other local schools. Playing at PAC-5 school can only appeal so much to a teenager, who along with his parents is looking at the big picture and seeing that Monrovia and West Covina are winning CIF titles AND getting players out.

The big-time recruits in this Valley are not all playing at Amat any longer. That would likely change with relief.

This is no knock on the current players who strap it up for Amat. This would actually be better for them. As it stands, head coach Steve Hagerty and his staff do a brilliant job of competing and pulling upsets even when they’re out-manned. It’s about time both the players and coaches enjoy the experience of a Week 12 or 13 or 14 or more.


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