CIF stamps approval on 13 state football championship games
There were five state champions crowned during the 2014 football season, from legendary De La Salle in the Open Division to local powerhouse Central Catholic in Division IV.
The California Interscholastic Federation announced Friday afternoon that there will be 13 state football champions next season.
The CIF voted to expand the state football playoff system from five divisions to 13 during a meeting in San Jose. The proposal, which needed a minimum of 69 “for” votes for approval, passed 71-64.
“I knew it was going to be close,” said Escalon football coach and athletic director Mark Loureiro. “I’d been to a couple of section meetings recently, and we knew it was going to be close.”
Under the current bowl system, only section champions are eligible for selection to a regional bowl game. A committee made up of the state’s 10 section commissioners select 18 teams for the NorCal and SoCal bowls.
Starting next season, all 51 section champions will get to play in a regional bowl (the North will have one play-in game), and will be paired by competitive equity rather than school enrollments.
The proposal was the work of former Sac-Joaquin Section Commissioner Pete Saco and CIF Associate Executive Director Ron Nocetti.
Earlier this week, Saco shared a story about having to tell a Vacaville team that had just won a section title that it probably wasn’t going to get a bowl invitation.
“You win a section title, and later that day, or night, you’re disappointed,” said Saco.
Loureiro, who guided his Cougars to the 2010 state championship, two years before there was a regional bowl round, said this is a positive step.
“When Pete and Ron came up with this, they basically said, ‘Who are we to make these decisions,’” said Loureiro. “The old process put a lot of pressure on the commissioners and it also left some good teams at home.”
Clayton Valley (Concord), Enterprise (Redding) and Oakdale all were section champions and were the main contenders for the Division II NorCal regional. Ultimately, Oakdale leapfrogged defending NorCal champ Enterprise in Cal-Hi Sports final bowl poll and took on Clayton Valley.
Under the new setup, all three would have played in a regional.
“It’s tough to come up with a foolproof system in a state that’s so large,” said Loureiro. “This might take a little flavor out of the state game and dilute things just a hair, but it’s worth a try.
“It’s what a lot of people have been asking for.”
A lot, but not everyone.
The Orange County Register reported that the CIF-Southern Section Council voted against the proposal.
Newport Harbor athletic director Mike Zimmerman told Steve Fryer of OCVarsity.com that the proposal sent a contradictory message.
“We’ve limited the amount of contact and the number of hours in football practices,” Zimmerman told Fryer, “yet we’re expanding the playoffs and the number of games that will be played. ...
“And the smaller sections would get their section champions going to the state football playoffs when some of them are not better than teams in the bigger sections that get eliminated in the first or second rounds of their playoffs.”
For years, the only way to win a state football championship in California was to be ranked No. 1 at the end of the season by Cal-Hi Sports, the longtime authority on prep sports in the state.
But starting in 2006, the CIF instituted state championship games in three divisions. That was expanded to five divisions in 2008, and starting in 2012, the path to the state championship game required winning a regional bowl game. Still, other section champs were left out.
Starting next season, one section champ from Northern California and one from Southern California will advance straight to the state’s Open Division championship game – no regional bowl required. After a play-in game in the north, the 48 remaining champions will be slotted into 12 NorCal bowl games and 12 SoCal bowl games. And the winners will meet for the state crown.
Bee staff writer Joe Cortez can be reached at jcortez@modbee.com or (209) 578-2380. Follow him on Twitter @ModBeePreps.
FAQ
Who’s the big winner here?
Just about everybody. Section champions that were passed over in the selection process for regional bowl games will never have to worry about that again. The CIF wins because, let’s face it, football is the financial golden goose of high school athletics. Time Warner Cable wins because under its current television contract with the CIF, it has a lot more games to sell.
Won’t this add an extra week to an already lengthy prep football season?
No, it does not. There has been a regional bowl round for the past three seasons. This merely increases the number of teams playing that week.
Who determines the regional bowl matchups?
It’s expected that a committee of the state’s 10 section commissioners will slot the teams into various divisions, which no longer will be based on enrollment. A David could be matched up with a Goliath.
What will championship weekend look like in 2015?
A lot different than in 2014. While all five state championship contests were held at the StubHub Center in Carson in 2014, they were scheduled to move to Sacramento State for 2015. There’s no way Hornet Stadium can accommodate 13 state championship games over two days, so additional sites throughout the state now must be considered. Sac State will probably get three to five of the premiere matchups.
This story was originally published January 30, 2015 at 6:41 PM with the headline "CIF stamps approval on 13 state football championship games."