Serra League to Add Loyola, Bishop Amat for Football

The Serra League football race could become the toughest in the Southern Section starting in 2002, when traditional powers Los Angeles Loyola and La Puente Bishop Amat join the four-team league to create what Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson has labeled a six-team “super league.”

“It’s going to be harder to win a league title,” said Rollinson, whose Monarchs won the Serra League in its inaugural season in 1999. “The biggest drawback is that it’s going to be so physical, week in and week out, that you’re limping into the playoffs. [But] for a fan, it makes for great football.”

The decision to move Loyolaand Bishop Amat from the Del Rey League into the Serra League, where they will join Mater Dei, Santa Margarita, Servite and Bellflower St. John Bosco, was reached recently by the Catholic Athletic Assn.

The move, which will last for at least four seasons and is for football only, was prompted by the fact that only two teams automatically qualify for the playoffs from a four-team league such as the Serra. In a six-team league, three teams are guaranteed entry.

Loyola won the Del Rey League title last year and finished 12-2 after losing to Long Beach Poly in the Division I final. Bishop Amat finished 2-8 but had been a power for much of the 1990s.