Goodbye, MMC. Hello, CCAL. Realignment spawns conference for Modesto, Turlock teams.

It's official: These are the final days of the Modesto Metro Conference.

The MMC has been sentenced to death by the Sac-Joaquin Section realignment committee, which voted in the spring to break up the Modesto City Schools' seven high schools.

Beyer, Davis and Johansen will move to the Western Athletic Conference beginning in the fall of 2018, while Enochs, Downey, Gregori and Modesto will be joined by Pitman and Turlock in a conference of a new name.

Modesto Metro Conference commissioner Ed Felt unveiled the name of the new conference last week: the Central California Athletic League, or the CCAL.

The name was voted upon unanimously by the league's principals and athletic directors during their first administrative workshop. Other candidates included the Stanislaus Athletic Association and the Central Stanislaus Athletic Association. There also was a push for the Central California Conference North, an attempt to connect the Turlock schools, as well as Modesto and Downey, to their CCC roots.

Modesto principal Jason Manning will continue to serve as the MMC league president and Board of Managers representative in its final months. Manning will also remain the Board of Managers representative during the CCAL's maiden voyage.

Felt will stay on as the commissioner.

The MMC was targeted by the realignment committee because of its lack of competitive equity and diminishing enrollments. Davis and Johansen have long-suffering athletic programs, while Beyer, a regular contender in football, baseball, basketball and wrestling, is the smallest campus in the Modesto City Schools system.

To contact reporter James Burns, email jburns@modbee.com or follow him on Twitter @jburns1980.

This story was originally published October 25, 2017 at 2:39 PM with the headline "Goodbye, MMC. Hello, CCAL. Realignment spawns conference for Modesto, Turlock teams.."