Alpha Teams Left Scrambling With Western Christian’s Exit

Western Christian High in Covina dropped its varsity football program this week because of a lack of players, cutting the Alpha League to four teams and sending league affiliates scrambling to fill out their schedules.

It is the first time in more than 15 years of 11-man football that Western Christian will not field a varsity team. The junior varsity team remains intact and Western Christian plans to return to varsity competition next year.

“It basically comes down to numbers,” said Don Payne, principal at Western Christian.

Western Christian, which finished third in the league and made the Southern Section Division X playoffs last year, has gone up in overall attendance, but has fewer boys in the junior and senior classes. Of the 395 students enrolled in grades 9-12, 237 are girls and 158 are boys.

“The boys we do have are mainly interested in baseball and basketball,” Payne said.

Payne notified its four league affiliates Wednesday of the move, hoping teams would still have time to fill the open dates.

In less than 24 hours, Mike Plaisance, Village Christian’s athletic director and football coach, had done exactly that. The Crusaders added a game at Boron on Oct. 22 at 7:30 p.m.

Western Christian is the second team to drop from the league in football in as many years. Montclair Prep, now an independent, was ousted May 6, 1992, by a vote of league members.

L.A. Baptist, scheduled to play Western Christian on Nov. 12 in the final regular-season game, has tried to fill the open date, but has not found any available candidates.

“We’ll take a extra week to get ready for playoffs,” said Coach Mark Bates.