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LONG BEACH – The CIF-Southern Section Council voted overwhelmingly to pass a proposal that will radically change how teams are selected for CIF-SS playoff divisions in several sports.

For decades, all CIF-SS playoff teams from the same league played in the same CIF-SS playoff division. Beginning with the 2016-17 school year, teams will be placed in playoff divisions based upon power-point profiles, which are constructed from how well the teams performed over the previous two seasons. Three playoff teams from the same league could be placed in three different playoff divisions.

The sports affected are the fall sports of football, girls tennis, girls volleyball and boys water polo; the winter sports of boys and girls basketball (which already have a similar playoff structure), boys and girls soccer and girls water polo; and the spring sports of baseball, softball, boys tennis and boys volleyball.

After constructing the power-point profiles for each team, the CIF-SS office will create the playoff divisions and release which teams are in which divisions about a month before the fall, winter and spring seasons begin.

The facets of a power-points profile are regular-season record, strength of schedule and CIF-SS playoff results over a two-year period.

Villa Park athletic director Tom Fox said the Century Conference, made up of the Crestview League, of which Villa Park is a member, and the North Hills League, supported the proposal because Century Conference schools are confident this is a step in the right direction.

“Those teams that should be playing ‘up’ in the playoffs will be playing up,” Fox said. “And those teams that have struggled historically will have a better opportunity in playoff divisions that make more sense for them.

“This is not going to be perfect for everybody, but it is a way to take care of the vast majority of schools.” 

The vote was 74 “yes,” 10 “no” and one abstention. Two Orange County leagues, Empire and Orange, voted no on the proposal.

Orange League representative Sal Glorioso, athletic director at Katella, said the league had three concerns: that some teams that finished high enough in their final league standings to earn guaranteed playoff entry would not get playoff berths because of too many such qualifiers within a division; that teams from the same league might play each other in the first round of the playoffs; and that a team that was heavy on talented seniors one season would be sent to a high division the following season when the talent level had dropped considerably.

“You could end up in a higher division,” Glorioso said, “when you don’t have the guys that got you to that higher division.”

CIF-SS commissioner Rob Wigod verified that teams that were guaranteed football playoff qualifiers, by finishing high enough in their leagues’ final standings to receive guaranteed qualification, might not get into the playoffs under the new system.

The proposal states that in the selection of football playoff teams, league champions get first priority followed by second-place and then third-place teams and so on. At-large teams would go to playoffs divisions only if a division has room for at-large teams, a rule that already has been part of CIF-SS football playoffs.

Wigod was happy the vote was so one-sided.

“We’re very pleased with the mandate,” Wigod said. “It sends a pretty clear message that our schools want this. Now, it’s our turn to deliver.”

Also Wednesday, the council voted against a proposal that would have moved the date of first contest in several sports. Baseball and softball, for example, are scheduled to have their first games of 2017 on Feb. 25. The proposal would have moved those first 2017 games to Feb. 11.

The proposal was designed to make the seasons of sport in better alignment with when classes begin and end at most CIF-SS member schools.

Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com