The California Interscholastic Federation on Monday changed the way it will place the State Bowl participants in football for its five-game championship weekend, Dec. 17-18, at Home Depot Center in Carson.
No longer will the bowl games be enrollment based, as they were the first four seasons of the Bowl Series.
Now they will be based on competitive equity, with champions from the strongest divisions in each section competing in State Division I, the next tier of section champions in State Division II, and the next tier in State Division III.
Bowl participants must be section champions. The top teams from the North and South will continue to meet in the Open Bowl and can come from any division.
De La Salle celebrates a victory over Crenshaw in the 2009 Open Bowl.
Photo by Heston Quan
In the Southland, Southern Section Pac-5, Inland and Northern division champions will be vying for the same Division I Bowl berth as top division champions from the Los Angeles City, San Diego and Central sections.
The Division II Bowl representative will be drawn from the Southern Section's Central, Southwest, Western, Eastern and Southeast divisions; City Section Division II; San Diego Section Division II and III; and Central Section Division II and III.
The Division III Bowl representative will be drawn from the Southern Section's Mid-Valley, Southern, East Valley, Northeast and Northwest divisions; San Diego Section Division IV and V; and Central Section Division IV, V and VI.
The Division IV Small School Bowl representative must have an enrollment of 500 or less, and can come from a Division III champion that fits the enrollment requirement.
Notably in the North, the Division I Bowl teams will come from champions of Central Coast Open and Division I divisions, as well as the largest divisions from the North Coast and Sac-Joaquin sections.
The decision to change the format comes after four of five games last season were decided by five points or less, and the fifth game featured De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) overcoming a 14-0 first quarter deficit to beat Crenshaw (Los Angeles, Calif.).
The new format doesn't just hurt the elite programs in the Southland. The San Diego Section's marquee program, Oceanside (Calif.), is a Division I school by enrollment and under the previous format benefited from a Division II school winning the Pac-5 championship, which was the case last season when Servite (Anaheim, Calif.) won the title.
Now, commissioners must determine that a San Diego Section or Central Section champion is better outright than the Pac-5, Inland, Northern or City champion.
“I don't see this as a hindrance to us,” said Jim Staunton, the Southern Section commissioner referencing his section's' ability to secure bowl berths to the Orange County Register. “I don't see us getting shut out. We just saw this as a very fair representation, and I saw an effort to get our smaller schools feeling they are part of this process statewide.”
The new format does raise the prospects of a wider variety of teams participating. It could especially benefit programs such as La Habra (Calif.), which won the Southwest Division title last season but didn't get a sniff for a bowl game because it was being considered against City champion Crenshaw (14-0), Pac-5 champion Servite (13-1) and Northern champion Westlake (Westlake Village, Calif.) (14-0).
La Habra this season has scheduled Pac-5 programs Orange Lutheran (Orange, Calif.), Servite and St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.), and a couple of losses against that caliber of opponent may not hurt as much in trying to earn a Division II Bowl berth against schools that don't attempt to play a schedule that's that tough.
Last year's Southern Section champions who, under the new format, would be competing for the Division II berth would be La Habra, Charter Oak (Covina, Calif.), Palm Springs (Calif.), Upland (Calif.) and Mira Costa (Manhattan Beach, Calif.).
In Division III it would be San Dimas (Calif.), St. Margaret's (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.), La Mirada (Calif.), and Linfield Christian (Temecula, Calif.). Northwest Division champion Serra (Gardena, Calif.), which won the Division III Bowl, has been moved to the Mission League and will compete in the Western Division in State Division II.
A worst-case scenario could include undefeated champions from a single Bowl pool that that by enrollment could fill the Division I, II and III Bowl games.
Something ain't right
Austin McBroom, a point guard at Campbell Hall (North Hollywood, Calif.), told the Los Angeles Daily News that he is wavering on remaining at the school for his senior season of basketball.
“It is about 50-50 right now. Serra and Taft are in the mix but nothing is final yet.”
Sounds a lot like free agency, doesn't it?
Freshman mistake
Three football players fresh out of high school were arrested on suspicion of theft and dismissed from the UCLA football team on Tuesday. Shaq Richardson from Los Alamitos (Calif.), Paul Richardson from Serra (Gardena, Calif.) and Josh Shirley from Kaiser (Fontana, Calif.) allegedly stole another student's purse.
According to the Long Beach Press-Telegram, they were attending summer school and as punishment will not be allowed to continue, or enroll for the fall quarter. They could also face additional discipline from the UCLA dean of students.
Awards, awards, awards
The Inland Valley Daily News named Scott Frazier of Upland (Calif.) and Jessica Hall of Ayala (Chino Hills, Calif.) as players of the year in baseball and softball.
Frazier went 6-2 with a 1.16 earned-run average and batted .386 with 21 RBI. Hall pitched Ayala to the Division III championship; she went 28-3 with a 0.68 ERA and 336 strikeouts in 204.2 innings, and batted .340 with 32 RBI.
The paper named John Knott of Bonita (La Verne, Calif.) and Bubba DeJournett of Upland as its respective coaches of the year.
Baseball America named its All-America team and included outfielder Austin Wilson of Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.) and right-handed pitcher Dylan Covey of Maranatha (Pasadena, Calif.) on the first team; infielder Christian Yelich of of Westlake, outfielder Angelo Gumbs of Torrance (Calif.) and right-handed pitcher Cody Buckel of Royal (Simi Valley, Calif.) on the second team; and left-handed pitchers Griffin Murphy of Redlands East Valley (Redlands, Calif.) and Henry Owens of Edison (Huntington Beach, Calif.) on the third team.
Coaching
Kevin McCaffrey has been named interim football head coach at University (Irvine, Calif.) while Mark Cunningham continues treatments for cancer. He was diagnosed in May and has said he hopes to return to the program in October when the team begins Orange Coast League play.
Cunningham has coached at University for 25 years. McCaffrey has been an assistant for four seasons.
Scott Zine has been named the new baseball coach at Villa Park (Calif.). He had been the coach at Sunny Hills (Fullerton, Calif.).
Josh Doty has been named the new baseball coach at San Bernardino (Calif.). He replaces Jeff Bunyea, who resigned at the end of the season.
Mario Trutanic, 103-45 as a high school coach that includes developing South (Torrance, Calif.) into a perennial contender, has been named girls basketball coach at Oaks Christian (Westlake Village, Calif.). Since guiding South to the 2006 Division II finals, he has been an assistant coach at Santa Monica College and Long Beach State. He replaced Andre Chevalier, who was named the boys' coach.
John Romagnoli has been named the new athletic director at Miller (Fontana, Calif.), pending board approval. He has been the school's boys basketball coach.
Respp Relatores has been named the boys basketball coach at the new Jurupa Hills High (Fontana, Calif.) Tony Blakely has been named the girls' coach.
Kurt Ruth has been named new baseball coach at Vista Murrieta (Murrieta, Calif.). He had resigned as boys basketball coach in order to watch his son, Aaron, play soccer during the winter sports season. He had been the team's pitching coach.
Bill Grisham has been appointed athletic director at Arlington (Riverside, Calif.). He is the school's water polo coach. He replaces Dave Legg, who resigned.
Recruiting news
Jemond Hazeley, a wide receiver/defensive back at Santiago (Corona, Calif.), has committed to San Diego State, as have wide receiver Paul Pitts from Los Osos (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.), and quarterback Chad Jeffries from Glendora (Calif.). Scott Thompson, a long snapper from Trabuco Hills (Mission Viejo, Calif.), has committed to North Carolina State. . . . Rahim Cassell, a linebacker at Lakewood (Calif.), has committed to Florida. Defensive tackle Jeff Worthy of Whittier Christian (La Habra, Calif.) and linebacker Emil Smith of Rancho Verde (Moreno Valley, Calif.) have committed to Boise State. . . . Derrick Brown, a quarterback at Vista Murrieta (Murrieta, Calif.), has committed to Utah. . . . Paxton Luke, a kicker at Poly (Riverside, Calif.), has committed to Air Force. Mitch Bluman, a first baseman from City Section champion El Camino Real (Woodland Hills, Calif.), has committed to San Diego State. . . . Austin Boyle, a pitcher at El Modena (Orange, Calif.), has signed with Long Beach State, as have pitcher/infielder Michael Hill of La Quinta (Westminster, Calif.), pitcher Jason Deitrich of Pacifica (Garden Grove, Calif.), and Zack Belanger of Cypress (Calif.). . . . Matt Rowatt, a catcher at Woodbridge (Irvine, Calif.), will attend Cal Poly Pomona. . . . Alex Froloff, an infielder at Trabuco Hills (Mission Viejo, Calif.), has signed with Concordia.
The transfers among you
The Los Angeles Times has noted some of the faces wearing new uniforms at the Fairfax (Los Angeles, Calif.) boys basketball tournament this summer.
Chauncey Hill, a 6-6 sophomore at Chauncey Hill, has joined Fairfax. Sophomore guard Jahmel Taylor of Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks, Calif.) has been playing with Fairfax though he apparently has not determined what school he will be attending in the fall.
Xavier Johnsonn, a 6-6 forward who was All-CIF last season as a sophomore at Chaparral (Temecula, Calif.), has enrolled at Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.).
Martin Henderson began covering Southland preps in 1993 for the Los Angeles Times. He contributes to the Orange County Register, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin and San Bernardino Sun, and offers up motorsports opinions at Racescribe.com. You can reach him at southlandpreps@yahoo.com.
