A realignment committee has voted to replace Morgan Hill
’s two high schools with two more Salinas-area high schools in
the Tri-County Athletic League beginning in the 2006-07 school
year. At Thursday’s Southern Conference meeting at Palma High in
Salinas, the committee decided that Alisal and Alvarez will join
the remaining TCAL teams, including Gilr
oy and Hollister-San Benito, when Live Oak and Sobrato move to
the Blossom Valley Athletic League in 2006. The impending exodus by
Live Oak and Sobrato sparked the need for the Southern Conference
to realign its leagues, including the TCAL.
A realignment committee has voted to replace Morgan Hill’s two high schools with two more Salinas-area high schools in the Tri-County Athletic League beginning in the 2006-07 school year.
At Thursday’s Southern Conference meeting at Palma High in Salinas, the committee decided that Alisal and Alvarez will join the remaining TCAL teams, including Gilroy and Hollister-San Benito, when Live Oak and Sobrato move to the Blossom Valley Athletic League in 2006.
The impending exodus by Live Oak and Sobrato sparked the need for the Southern Conference to realign its leagues, including the TCAL.
The Central Coast Section-appointed committee, which made its own realignment recommendation, voted instead to accept a proposal submitted by the Mission Trail and Santa Cruz Coast athletic leagues.
“This was a good meeting because (committee chair) Duane Morgan did a good job of getting out all the material to everybody,” CCS Commissioner Nancy Lazenby-Blaser said. “This is exactly how the process is supposed to work.”
Representatives from all 38 member schools of the Southern Conference met at Palma to discuss and vote on the three different proposals for realignment of the conference leagues.
In all three proposals, which had to be submitted by March 28, the Tri-County Athletic League (TCAL) was to be structured the same, moving Alisal and Alvarez from the Monterey Bay League to the TCAL.
The new TCAL will include current members Gilroy, Hollister-San Benito, Salinas, North Salinas and Palma/Notre Dame, along with Alisal and Alvarez.
The commitee-approved proposal must now be approved by the CCS executive committee when it meets on Tuesday, April 12. It is expected to pass.
An appeal can be made during the 20-day period following CCS approval.
Sobrato will join the TCAL (except for football, which will play an independent schedule) for just the 2005-06 school year, then depart with Live Oak to the BVAL the following year.
That would have left the TCAL with only five members, unacceptable by CCS rules.
In addition to the committee’s proposal, two other proposals – the one from the MTAL and SCCAL and one from the Pajaro Valley and Watsonville high schools – were submitted for consideration. (See box at right.)
Like the committee’s proposal, the MTAL/SCCAL proposal suggested a traditional league structure, but placed a few schools in different leagues.
The Pajaro Valley/Watsonville proposal, however, proposed a Monterey Bay County Athletic League (MBCAL) which would have been a power league split into two divisions using the SCCAL and MBL schools.
The realignment committee discussed different options and gathered feedback over a span of five months and seven meetings before deciding to submit a final proposal that called for a group of traditional leagues instead of creating an “equity” or “power” league.
An equity league, like the BVAL, has a larger number of schools that are split into divisions which can be changed from year to year, if necessary, to match the skill levels, geographical situation and program needs of the athletic departments.
“It was pretty much a feeling that people wanted to do a traditional-type proposal,” said Morgan, the Hollister-San Benito assistant principal. “People were not ready to have an equity-type league.”
Morgan said if an agreement hadn’t been reached, the CCS executive committee would have had to make a decision, which is something he doesn’t want to happen.
An additional proposal, which passed unanimously, formed a new league – the Coast Athletic League – from six independent schools, including Anchorpoint Christian School (Gilroy), Calvary Chapel (Murrieta), Cypress Grove (Monterey), Pacific Collegiate School (Santa Cruz), Prunedale Christian (Prunedale) and Waldorf Charter (Pacific Grove).
In a January Morgan Hill Times story, Gilroy athletic director Jack Daley and Hollister-San Benito athletic director Todd Thatcher expressed interest in being part of a power league.
Morgan said the school and Thatcher would still prefer a power league structure.
“A lot of coaches in TCAL have been in a power league and they know how it works,” Morgan said. “The major advantage is you put like-schools with like-schools. If you’re a good team, you’re with good teams. If you’re a medium team, you’re with medium teams. You have a better chance to win a division league title, which is a big deal.”
But Morgan said that the pursuit of the best solution for students and the ability compromise to reach that goal was the most important aspect of the process.
The realignment proposals
These three proposals for restructuring the CCS Southern Conference will be discussed at tonight’s meeting at Palma HS in Salinas:
Realignment Committee’s proposal
SCCAL: Scotts Valley, San Lorenzo Valley, Santa Cruz, Harbor, Soquel, Monte Vista Christian, St. Francis, Mt. Madonna
MBL: Monterey, Seaside, North Monterey County, Watsonville, Pajaro Valley, Aptos, Catalina
TCAL: Gilroy, Hollister, Salinas, North Salinas, Alisal, Alvarez, Palma/Notre Dame
MTAL: Carmel, Pacific Grove, Stevenson, Gonzalez, Soledad, Greenfield, King City, Anzar, York
- MTAL/SCCAL proposal
SCCAL: Scotts Valley, San Lorenzo Valley, Santa Cruz, Harbor, Soquel, Aptos, St. Francis, Mt. Madonna
MBL: Monterey, Seaside, North Monterey County, Watsonville, Pajaro Valley, Monte Vista Christian
TCAL: Gilroy, Hollister, Salinas, North Salinas, Alisal, Alvarez, Palma/Notre Dame
MTAL: Carmel, Pacific Grove, Stevenson, Gonzalez, Soledad, Greenfield, King City, Anzar, York, Catalina
Pajaro Valley/Watsonville proposal
MBCAL (Power League):
North: Scotts Valley, San Lorenzo Valley, Santa Cruz, Harbor, Soquel, Aptos, Mt. Madonna
South: Monterey, Seaside, North Monterey County, Watsonville, Pajaro Valley, Monte Vista Christian, St. Francis
Traditional leagues:
TCAL: Gilroy, Hollister, Salinas, North Salinas, Alisal, Alvarez, Palma/Notre Dame
MTAL: Carmel, Pacific Grove, Stevenson, Gonzalez, Soledad, Greenfield, King City, Anzar, York, Catalina
- This proposal was the one approved by the realignment committee at Thursday’s meeting.
