Football: Too good for its own good, SCL request is denied

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The South Coast League’s request to break away from the Pac-5 Division for Southern Section football playoffs was rejected by a unanimous 5-0 vote this week.

The league, which includes Mission Viejo, Tesoro and San Clemente in South Orange County, had cited competitive equity as a reason for the move. The league is 1-6 in the two years that the section has had playoffs in its current format.

The league can still have its appeal placed on the agenda for the council meeting April 24 when a vote will be taken on the proposed playoff groupings for the next two-year cycle, beginning this fall.

I wouldn’t expect them to get much sympathy. Mission Viejo won the Division III title in 2001 and 2002, and was runner-up in 2003. It won the Division II title in 2004. It was beaten in the semifinals in 2005.

In 2006, Mission Viejo was 30 seconds from advancing to the semifinals of the Pac-5 Division but was beaten by Santa Margarita on a two-point conversion.

In much the same way Long Beach Poly has lifted the entire Moore League into the Pac-5, Mission Viejo
did the same for the South Coast League.

For years South OC has complained about Mission Viejo attracting talent away from other schools -- and before the Diablos they complained about former South Coast League member Mater Dei.

Mission Viejo has reaped the fruits of its success, and it has made the bed in which the South Coast League now lays. Mission Viejo wanted to compete on a scale with the Mater Deis and LB Polys, and now it does -- in the Pac-5 Division. Everyone else in th league is collateral damage.

The South Coast League does have it right. It was not as strong as the four-team Mountain View League the last couple of years. The MVL is being absorbed into a new Big 8 league in the Inland Empire, but including the Big 8 at the exclusion of the SCL would create logistic problems for Pac-5 at-large berths.

Mission Viejo was down in 2007, but should bounce back in 2008. Tesoro’s surprising success attracted some off-season transfers and it appears to be a program on the rise. San Clemente is always a benchmark for the top 25 standard. The immediate future for the league looks prosperous.

Mission Viejo’s playoff success earlier this decade has already proved the Diablos belong with the big boys. Put another way, it has proven it can beat the little guys. Come the playoffs, everyone else in the league will have to live with the consequences.

-- Martin Henderson

-- Image from www.missionfootball.com