Coronado’s Move Could Cause Others : SD Section Realignment Possible

A temporary solution approved Wednesday to help Coronado High School find a more equitable level of competition for its football team could lead to a county-wide realignment of San Diego Section high school athletic leagues.

Coronado sought and received tentative approval from the San Diego Section Coordinating Council Wednesday to move from the 2-A South Bay League to the 1-A Mountain-Desert League.

The move is seen as a short-term solution that would involve only the Coronado football team. The remainder of the school’s sports programs would stay in the South Bay League, for the moment at least.

If the move is finally approved, as is expected when the San Diego Section Board of Managers meets Jan. 22, it could trigger other changes in San Diego County. Among these are:

--A split of the nine-team Grossmont League into a five-team 3-A league and a four-team 2-A league for football.

--An overall reworking of the 3-A and 2-A leagues in the county to provide for more uniform league size and more equitable competition within each league.

If the Coronado move is approved, the Islanders would join Calipatria, Holtville, Imperial, Mountain Empire and possibly San Pasqual-Winterhaven in the Mountain-Empire League. San Pasqual-Winterhaven has expressed a desire to leave the league to join an Arizona league.

Coronado is the most highly publicized example of a problem being experienced by many other schools in the county--dramatically decreasing enrollment. Coronado, which had an enrollment of nearly 1,000 students eight years ago, currently has 704 students. That figure is expected to dwindle to 600 in the next few years.

“It’s been difficult for us for several years (in football),” Coronado principal Hugh Watson told the council Wednesday. “This year was just a disaster, which led us to canceling our last football game. The kids would be competitive for one quarter or the first half, but get killed in the third and fourth quarters. They went into games with the goal of just getting a few first downs, not winning.”

Because of decreasing attendance, many schools are finding it more difficult to field competitive sports teams--El Cajon, Ramona and Marian to name three--especially in football, which requires more athletes than any other sport. The result has been disparity within each league and the 3-A and 2-A classifications.

In addition, league size has become a concern in the Grossmont League and may become a concern in the North County’s Palomar and Avocado leagues as well. League size varies in the county from five teams in the South Bay leagues to nine in the the Grossmont. Still, each league is afforded two San Diego Section playoff representatives in team sports.

Santana High School principal Robert Brady said Wednesday the Grossmont League expects to expand to 10 teams by the end of the decade with the addition of a new school in Santee to be called West Hills. This would mean 20% of Grossmont League schools would go to the playoffs. By comparison, 40% of South Bay schools qualify.

If Coronado does leave the 2-A division, the South Bay League will be left with four schools and be reduced to one playoff entrant. The Grossmont League hopes to gain more playoff representation by splitting into two leagues and picking up the lost 2-A playoff spot as soon as the 1985-86 school year begins. The plan would see Helix, Granite Hills, Monte Vista, Mount Miguel and either Santana or Grossmont remaining at the 3-A level in the Grossmont League. El Cajon, El Capitan, Valhalla and Santana or Grossmont would comprise the new 2-A league with West Hills eventually joining them.

“This is a very complex issue,” Brady said. “In the past, the Grossmont League has been a stumbling block in considering releaguing. We wanted to keep the so-called integrity of the Grossmont League. We’re no longer hung up on that. Our conference is now to the point where we are open for a relook at the leaguing situation. The only thing we are now specific on is football. We would defer anything else to a later time.”

The two North County leagues--the Palomar and the Avocado--each have seven members, but a new school also might be added there and would increase one league to eight teams. This would create a problem similar to the one now faced by the Grossmont League. One solution discussed in the North County has been to create three five-team leagues, if and when the new school opens.

The coordinating council began addressing the realignment problem Wednesday. Initial suggestions centered on establishing a separate alignment for football. This would allow schools to compete in one league for football and another league for the remainder of its sports, in effect, what Coronado proposes to do. But this would not solve league-size problems.

After lengthy discussion, the committee decided to refer the matter to each school via a mailed questionnaire. Among other things, the questionnaire would ask whether schools would agree to: 1) switch to leagues outside of their geographical area, 2) limit league size and 3) allow some sports, such as football, to compete in different leagues than other sports at the school.

Results of the survey are expected to be discussed at the coordinating council’s next meeting, April 10. Even if results are in favor of a realignment, officials estimated that implementation could not be accomplished until at least the 1986-87 school year.