ONTARIO – There will be five divisions in the State Football Championship Bowls in December. There may be six divisions in the State Basketball Championships in 2010.
The State Federated Council yesterday voted to make football a permanent part of the California Interscholastic Federation's postseason lineup and later approved the expansion to five divisions.
What form those divisions take is anyone's guess. The Football Advisory Committee will meet in two weeks and is expected to suggest a plan in advance of the council's next meeting in May.
The North-South bowl format remains, with only section champions eligible. Teams are chosen by the CIF's 10 section commissioners.
“Up to two weeks ago, it was the consensus that we'd just expand to five divisions,” said the Central Section's Mike Henson, who serves on the Football Advisory Committee.
“Since then, however, there has been considerable interest in having one Open division and four others by enrollment. The Open division would pit the best two teams – North and South.”
Which would offer one other advantage.
“By expanding to five divisions, we're going to have four more teams get the positive experience we're all seeking,” said Sac-Joaquin Section Commissioner Pete Saco. “With an Open division, we could get one team from one division and the other from another.”
North Coast Section Commissioner Tom Ehrhorn noted that Concord De La Salle would have been the Division I team from the North each year during its record 151-game winning streak, frustrating other unbeaten champions.
“With an Open division, De La Salle would still have played, but another team could have moved up to play in the Division I game,” Ehrhorn said. “That would spread it around and give more schools a chance.”
San Diego Section Commissioner Dennis Ackerman said selecting teams for the Open division would have been fairly easy the past two years with state polls and computer analyses available.
The San Diego Section expanded to five divisions three years ago in anticipation of yesterday's action and voted in favor of the move. The vote, however, was not unanimous.
Saco and Ehrhorn said the state's smaller schools, those with enrollments of 500 or less, may still feel left out if the Football Advisory Committee goes with the Open division.
The two said they have already heard suggestions that sections with strong programs might set up regional playoffs to accommodate the smaller-enrollment schools.
“That might be a few years down the road,” said Saco, “but I could see one of our strong small-school programs playing one of Tom's, giving those schools a chance. TV may not be interested in those games, but the schools would love it.
“It's that kind of out-of-the-box ideas that we're looking for here.”
Especially in basketball, which already has the traditional enrollment-based five-division format. With the possibility of an Open division in football comes the chance of a restructure in basketball.
Yesterday, the council approved moving ahead on a proposal that would have the largest three divisions, boys and girls, consider something other than enrollment – like strength of program.
That also prompted talk of a Super division and the possibility of the basketball playoffs soon expanding to six divisions – the traditional five enrollment-based divisions and one that features the state's best teams.
Yesterday's discussion touched on many possibilities, including multiple sites for football and basketball.
Football's move to five divisions will require a new plan for venues, days and times. The first two years, the bowls were played at The Home Depot Center in Carson. Under the five-tier format, the games might be split with perhaps three in the South and two in the North. Or maybe the games will be played at one site spread over two days.
While football will definitely change, basketball has a little more time to field all considerations.
“It's exciting now, but adding Open divisions will bring even more excitement to the selection process,” said Henson. “Right now, everything and anything is possible.”
Steve Brand: (619) 293-1854; steve.brand@uniontrib.com
