Eagle Rock awaiting its fate

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Eagle Rock Coach Jerry Chou will be on edge until Monday afternoon. That’s when he finds out if the Eagles can try to defend the Invitational Division championship title they have won the last two years, or if they will be forced to move into the Championship Division.

Even though Eagle Rock won the Invitational title in 2005 and 2006 and is currently riding a 16-game winning streak after defeating Bell, 28-0, on Friday, the Eagles don’t always have the size or talent to consistently compete with Birmingham and San Pedro, the teams that played for the Championship tltle last year.

‘We have about 900 boys [out of an estimated student population of 1,800],’ Chou said. ‘It’s not like we just reload every year.’

Eagle Rock’s recent success might work against it, however. There is a City Section administrative meeting on Monday to determine the Championship and Invitational entrants. Some 33 teams have applied for the Invitational bracket, and 22 teams for the Championship bracket. That’s not the kind of balance the City Section wants.

I don’t know the meeting’s agenda or protocol, but here are a couple of scenarios that City administrators ought to consider, if not on Monday then in a future meeting.

All league champions should automatically be placed in the Championship bracket. Period. That’s nine automatic slots right there (out of the available 16), which makes the Championship bracket easier to fill. And if there are ties, use coin flips (as they do now) to determine who is No. 1.

If the idea doesn’t fly, this one should: Get rid of the ‘Championship’ and ‘Invitational’ designations and go back to 4A and 3A, or something as benign.

‘Inviational’ comes off as the title without worth, and it certainly doesn’t get the respect the ‘Championship’ Division title does. One way to determine 3A and 4A worthiness is by student population, and then seed teams accordingly. If a team petitions to move up to 4A, it already knows what it’s getting into.

Unilke Jerry Chou and Eagle Rock, who will have to wait till Monday.

- Mike Terry