Win and you’re in.
It seems like the simplest of formulas – win a section championship in high school football and you get an automatic berth to a regional championship game with a shot at a state title.
That’s what is on the table in a proposal the 10 CIF sections plan to vote on Jan.30. Every section gets at least one seat at the table, from the six football schools that compose the Oakland Section to the behemoth that is the Southern Section.
It would increase the number of teams selected for state and regional bowl games from 18 this year to an estimated 50 teams next year and would increase the current number of five state championships to 13.
St. Margaret’s is the lone selection from Orange County this season. The Tartans play a Division IV regional game tonight against Christian of El Cajon. But if the proposed system were in place this season, three more county teams – each a division champion – would still be playing this week – Mission Viejo (West Valley), Trabuco Hills (Southwest) and Garden Grove (Southern).
Even with the apparent simplicity of the proposed system, it has its own complex set of issues and share of detractors.
“I think it’s really tough, because I feel if you’re a section champion, you feel like you should play on,” Trabuco Hills coach Tony Henney said. “I’m not sure we wanted to play another game or coach a game versus the fact that we didn’t want to be disrespected.
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The most prevalent critique of the state and regional bowl system, even the current one, is the number of games required to win a state championship.
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State projections: What could have been in 2014
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For eight of the 10 teams that will compete in this year’s state championship games, players will take the pounding of 16 games – more than any college team will play this season and the same number games in a regular-season NFL schedule.
To keep the maximum number of games locked at 16, the CIF proposal has added extra divisions to include all the section winners instead of adding more rounds in a playoff-style system that would not only add weeks to the season, but would also add games.
Still, many coaches acknowledge the fatigue already involved in a 14-game season.
“My belief is that 14 games in high school is the most you’d ever want to play,” Mission Viejo coach Bob Johnson said. “When you finish the (Southern Section) championship game, you are ready to go to bed and let the kids go on to basketball.”
Adding games, even if the maximum for each team remains the same, also seems incongruous in the face of new rules limiting full-contact practices starting next season. If the idea is to limit collisions and the various injuries caused by them, why play more games?
“The thing I really struggle with is, we go through all this stuff about concussions and we’re being told we can only have full-contact practices – whatever that means – twice a week,” Henney said. “And now we want to add more games for more teams. It started with six teams (in the first state bowl system), then eight teams, now (18 teams) and 50 teams?”
According to Garden Grove coach Ricardo Cepeda, the season took such a toll on Argonauts offensive lineman Marcos Horduno, the fifth-ranked wrestler in Orange County in the 285-pound weight class at the start of the season, he is taking two weeks off to shrug off the bumps and bruises from football before he hits the mat.
“You have summer football for six weeks, spring football for six weeks, hell week, 14 weeks of games,” Cepeda said. “My body is beat up and I’m not even playing.”
Despite those concerns, however, none of the three Orange County coaches who would have been eligible under the proposed new system, said they would have turned down a bowl bid. Refusing a bowl bid is one of the provisions of the proposal.
All three coaches also acknowledged they would handle the week of preparation for a potential regional game the same way, changing practice tactics to focus more on fun and staying fresh, rather than adding extra stress to already-sore bodies.
Henney did exactly that when he led Nordoff of Ojai into the Division III regional game last season against Corona del Mar.
“We knew our kids were tired mentally and physically, even if they were expected to play on,” Henney said. “We gave them Monday off, went out and practiced Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, but didn’t hit and cut off a lot of parts (of practice). The kids really enjoyed that we did that.”
The coaches might have mixed feelings about playing on, but its safe to assume most players would choose to continue playing, even in a battered state.
“The kids would say they want to play,” Henney said, “but kids would like to do a lot of things against their best interest.”
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What most seem to be in support of is the loss of subjectivity that is involved in the selection process for the current five state championships.
“If it takes the whole selection process out, it takes the human error or biases out of the equation,” said St. Margaret’s coach Stephen Barbee.
Cepeda and Henney both said they wanted a shot at the next level this season, but the CIF selection committee, composed of the section commissioners, chose different Southern California representatives for their respective divisions.
“Would we have liked a shot this year? Of course,” Cepeda said. “When I found out we didn’t get in, I was disappointed, but we didn’t really have an argument, because those teams (that were selected) were deserving.”
Henney felt Trabuco Hills, after a 10-4 season, was deserving of a spot in the Division II playoffs and cited computer rankings that had the Mustangs ranked ahead of regional bowl selections Redlands East Valley and Ridgeview of Bakersfield.
But subjectivity would not be entirely erased from the proposed system. Sure, committee members would no longer be selecting 18 teams from a pool of around 50 qualifying section champions, but they would place teams, through subjective measures, into divisions. Matchups would be based on “competitive equity” instead of enrollment numbers.
Still, it’s a better system, according to supporters, than leaving out teams that are deserving. CIF associate executive director Ron Nocetti, who oversees football at the state level, said that since the modern age of state championships in the sport began in 2006, around 40 undefeated teams have been left out through the selection process.
“It’s really difficult to tell teams that have done everything right on the field that, because of our system, you can’t move on,” Nocetti said.
Nocetti also addressed the common critique that the expanded state championships would diminish the accomplishment of winning a state title. He cited other sports, such as basketball, in which some sections allow quarterfinalists to advance to state tournaments. In that sense, football would still be an outlier.
“In other sports, we’re sending runners-up, semifinalists and quarterfinalists,” Nocetti said. “I can’t say it waters down (football), because we have more teams in other sports.”
It also has the byproduct of being the path of least resistance for the CIF, allowing every qualifying team to enter a regional game. Since its inception, the governing body has fielded complaints from schools left out, concern from local politicians and even lawsuits. (Christian of El Cajon sued the CIF for being excluded last season.)
To some, however, winning one of five state titles is so rare that it speaks to ultimate accomplishment. The idea is, the fewer who make it to the apex of high school football, the more significant the accomplishment is.
“Thirteen (state titles) is a little AYSO, for me – everyone’s a winner, everybody gets a trophy,” Henney said. “We didn’t get chosen this year and we get to gripe about it, but the team that goes on to win is really going to accomplish something. I’m not sure that’s going to be true with 13 teams.”
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If anyone knows what a California state title truly means, it’s Harry Welch. He led Orange County programs St. Margaret’s and Santa Margarita to state titles in 2008 and 2011, respectively, and he coached Canyon of Canyon Country to a win over mighty De La Salle of Concord in the first Division I title game.
His perspective on the proposed new system is measured, nuanced and informed by experience.
He found out the power behind the title of “state champion” when he was watching families evacuate their homes in the Santa Clarita Valley because of an oncoming wildfire. One family came on the screen and told a television reporter that they had all their important belongings – their dog, family photos and their state championship jersey from Canyon’s win over De La Salle.
If the new system allows for more teams to have that same pride and experience, he doesn’t have a problem with it.
“I like the idea of taking some of the politics out, if that can be effective,” Welch said of the proposal. “If we’re not going to have one state champion, I certainly wouldn’t be opposed. It could bring a great deal of excitement to California high school football.”
But Welch, like seemingly everyone involved currently, has some apprehensive feelings. His biggest concerns involve devaluing local rivalries, league titles and section titles. In the Southern Section, there is a common opinion that a section title is the peak of honor and anything else beyond is window dressing.
“I’d hate to see that fully diluted,” Welch said. “That would be unfortunate. I love the idea of local competition being significant.”
For the only Orange County team currently involved in the state championships, it’s about the honor of being one of a select few.
“Sixteen games is a lot, but we definitely feel it’s a blessing,” Barbee said of being selected for tonight’s Division IV regional game. “It’s something very special. Of the thousand schools in California, we’re one of the 18 schools still playing football. It’s an incredible honor.”
Barbee also goes back to the significance of a Southern Section title and echoes the sentiment of other coaches.
“Every year, I’m going to try to win league and our (Southern Section) division,” Barbee said. “Everything else is house money. If there are 12 or 13 state championships, it is what it is.”
Contact the writer: jbalan@ocregister.com
