City Coaches Want Single Division : High school football: Simpler format would try to ensure that best teams reach playoffs.

As late as 1987, there were three divisions in City Section football. If the Los Angeles Football Coaches Assn. has its way, there soon may be one.

The officers of LAFCA, which represents football coaches in the Los Angeles Unified School District, met last week to discuss postseason play with the idea that simpler might be better.

“The pond is looking pretty even these days,” said Kennedy Coach Bob Francola, LAFCA’s treasurer and the Northwest Valley Conference representative to the group.

“Dorsey or whoever may have a pretty good team, but it isn’t like it was in the 1970s or ‘80s (when Banning and Carson were clearly dominant).”

Because 3-A and 4-A division playoff brackets are limited to 16 teams, several good teams are eliminated from consideration each year.

Among the postseason plans being considered by the group is a 32-team, one-division playoff. Also under consideration is a nine-game regular season for all 49 City schools, after which 32 teams would qualify for postseason play.

The eventual City champion would compete in five playoff games. Under the concept, the 17 schools that did not qualify for the tournament would play in a consolation tournament.

“The whole idea is to eliminate situations where good teams don’t make the playoffs,” Francola said.

Other plans under discussion:

* Francola said the association will petition the City athletics office to allow season openers next fall to be played Sept. 9, the date Southern Section schools begin play. City schools don’t open until Sept. 12, he said.

* Hell Week, a football staple, could fall by the wayside. Mny City schools are on the year-round calendar and cannot conduct two-a-day practices because students are in class all morning. Consequently, Francola said, the association will propose that an extra week of practice be added and that two-a-day practices be eliminated. Under the plan, practice would begin two weeks before the first game.

* A City Section all-star game, which could be in place by the summer of 1995, also is being considered.

The association is expected to meet again next month to iron out the specifics of the proposals, which must be submitted to the Interscholastic Athletics Committee for approval.