Football: For title games, Southern Section and HDC are splitsville

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The Southern Section’s marquee Pac-5 Division, along with the Southwest Division, will settle its football championships this fall at Angels Stadium -- and not Home Depot Center -- on Dec. 13.

‘We are pleased to be returning to a familiar and friendly venue in in Angels Stadium of Anaheim,’ Southern Section Commissioner Jim Staunton said in a release.

Hogwash.

The Southern Section announced Monday it could not come to terms with the Home Depot Center, which was obviously the first choice, and for good reason. Anyone who has attended high school football games at Angels Stadium and HDC are well aware that the Carson facility is the superior venue for these events.

Home Depot Center last week entered into a partnership with the California Interscholastic Federation to be the host site for state bowl championship games in 2008 and 2009 after CIF Executive Director Marie Ishida indicated previously that HDC was out of the running. Five bowl games will be played at HDC on Dec. 19-20.

For the benefit of fans of the Southern Section, which could serve up a title game that includes Orange Lutheran, Long Beach Poly, Edison or Mater Dei in what is commonly regarded as the state’s best division, let’s hope the section and HDC are able to enter into a similar partnership for 2009 and beyond. Both sides have benefited from their past together.

The section has played its marquee title games at HDC the last three years and four of the last five. HDC has benefited from the print and television exposure gleaned from these section championships, and in some cases, semifinal games.

Angels Stadium is a baseball-only venue with less-than-desirable sight lines for football. The field runs from home plate to left field, and the stadium seats 40,950. It hosted its first high school championship game in 1967 when Anaheim defeated Santa Ana, 27-6, for the AAAA title in front of 26,383.

The Home Depot Center seats 27,000.

-- Martin Henderson

-- Image from www.anaheim-angels-fans.com