This is the new league alignment as passed by Mt. SAC Area Principals on Tuesday.
Baseline League – Alta Loma, Etiwanda, Glendora, Los Osos, Rancho Cucamonga, Upland
Sierra League – Ayala, Charter Oak, Chino Hills, Claremont, Damien/St. Lucy’s, South Hills
Miramonte/San Antonio League – Bonita, Diamond Bar, Diamond Ranch, Los Altos, Rowland, Walnut, West Covina
Mt. Baldy League – Chaffey, Chino, Colony, Don Lugo, Garey, Montclair, Ontario
Valle Vista League – Baldwin Park, Covina, Nogales, Northview, Pomona, San Dimas, Wilson
Montview League – Azusa, Bassett, Duarte, Ganesha, Gladstone, La Puente, Sierra Vista, Workman

Big Winners: Diamond Ranch, Wilson, Damien, Nogales
Big Losers: Glendora, South Hills, Charter Oak

Fred’s thoughts: Here we are worried about operating costs, travel, and teachers getting pink slips, and this committee goes ahead and approves a proposal that makes little geographical sense. Again, rationale decisions take a back-seat to personal agendas, and who pays, the schools. Glendora moves out of the Sierra League and will have it tough for years to come in the Baseline. Competive-wise, they will be okay, but lots of travel. Kind of sad when your closest league opponent is Upland, with Bonita, Damien, and Charter Oak around the corner. But that would make sense. For what it’s worth, I like the Sierra League. I would have flip-flopped Chino Hills and Glendora (geographical/competitive reasons), but I like South Hills, Charter Oak and Damien all in the same league. How Damien got this lucky, I don’t know. Why isn’t Diamond Ranch among these teams if you’re going to leave them in the SGV? Shouldn’t they be in the toughest SGV group if they stay? Chino Hills will make the Sierra extremely tough across the board, and so will Ayala. The Miramonte/San Antonio league is the best the SGV has to offer with upper-tier sports schools not named Charter Oak, South Hills and Glendora. My question, why they heck is Diamond Ranch in there. Again, this is the price South Hills and Charter Oak pay for being good. It make complete geographical sense for one of them to be in this league, and no sense whatsoever for Diamond Ranch to be in it. But here’s the kicker, Diamond Ranch and Diamond Bar in the same league. It’s on now fellas. The Valle Vista adds Wilson and Noglaes, which is huge relief for the Cats and Nobles and will raise their athletic profile now that they will be able to win again. Other than that, what do you think?

I’m writing local reaction for tomorrow, and thought I would share some of it ...
South Hills football coach Steve Bogan welcomes the challenge of competing in the Sierra League, but wonders why principals would vote for a proposal that will further strain the school’s operating costs. With West Covina a few blocks down the road and Walnut around the corner, South Hills is now being asked to travel to Claremont, Ayala and Chino Hills. “This (Sierra) looks like a heck of a football league, and it’s a great challenge for us to try and compete,” Bogan said. “But as a school, when I look at our size and the transportation costs, especially when it comes to the lower-level sports, it doesn’t make much sense. This is going to be a huge travel cost. The Covina school district is closing two (elementary) schools and laying-off teachers, where are we going to get the (gas) money for these additional costs, not to mention the extra-time the kids have to spend traveling. There is no free lunch, the money has to come from somewhere.”

I don’t know if South Hills coach Steve Bogan will have this much vacation time in the new league. South Hills, Charter Oak and Damien? Which school reigns supreme?

Reaction from the Bulletin’s Pete Marshall, who was there: Someone was going to be unhappy, and it turns out it is Glendora and South Hills. I firmly believe that Damien/St. Lucy’s was a better fit competitive-equity wise for the Baseline League, but the Chaffey district schools blocked that possibility. Glendora wanted relief from the Sierra League, only to be placed in a tougher league. Glendora will likely appeal on competitive equity grounds, as Glendora officials repeatedly said as the school’s name kept being mentioned in the Baseline League. South Hills’ issue is more with geography, and transportation costs that would rise. But, competitive equity has been determined to be the No. 1 criteria. South Hills should be able to compete in the Sierra League, which it is under the new plan. Just like there are a lot of schools that don’t want to be in the same league as Damien/St. Lucy’s, there are also a lot to the west that don’t want to be in the same league as South Hills. Last time that happened, it was 8 years ago, and South Hills’ fellow Covina Valley schools Covina and Northview wanted to be separated from South Hills, after the trio had been together in the Valle Vista League.