Pioneer League Is Expected to Be Disbanded in 1994

Roger Bryant, athletic director at South Torrance High, didn’t hide his disappointment after Coast Area administrators voted Tuesday to eliminate the Pioneer League and place its six schools in expanded eight-team leagues for a four-year cycle beginning in the fall of 1994.

“It’s really the pits,” Bryant said.

The vote, which was 11-5 in favor of the two-league format, splits the six Pioneer League schools. Torrance, West Torrance and North Torrance will go to the Bay League. South Torrance, El Segundo and Centennial will join the Ocean League.

Pioneer League administrators had hoped to keep three leagues, but their counterparts from the Bay and Ocean leagues, wanting to reduce scheduling hassles, voted unanimously to go with two leagues. Centennial also voted with the majority.

Bryant said the decision will have a negative impact on area athletics by reducing the number of teams that qualify for the Southern Section playoffs and the number of athletes eligible for all-league honors.

“I think it was a bum choice,” Bryant said. “It loses us playoff spots and all the stuff that goes with it.”

The Southern Section Council had instructed the 16 Coast Area schools grouped in the Bay, Ocean and Pioneer leagues to reach a releaguing decision before Thanksgiving. This was after the Council had rejected the Coast Area’s first proposal, which also called for two eight-team leagues.

The only difference between the first proposal and Tuesday’s decision was the placement of two schools. Santa Monica, instead of joining the Ocean League, will remain in the Bay. And South, instead of joining the Bay League, will go to the Ocean.

The adjustment avoids placing El Segundo, a school of 675 students, in the same league with Santa Monica, which has an enrollment of 2,800. The disparity in those enrollments was the key issue in the Council’s decision to have the Coast Area rework its releaguing plan.

Bryant said it is unlikely the four Torrance schools and El Segundo will appeal the latest decision, as they did after the first proposal.

“I can’t see anybody appealing this,” Bryant said. “It was fair. No one railroaded or ram-rodded this thing.”

Here is how the leagues stack up for the 1994-98 cycle:

Bay League--Peninsula, Hawthorne, Leuzinger, Santa Monica, Inglewood, West Torrance, North Torrance and Torrance.

Ocean League--Morningside, Redondo, Mira Costa, Culver City, Beverly Hills, South Torrance, El Segundo and Centennial.