Laguna Beach might be headed to the Pacific Coast League, and the Pacific Coast League might want Sage Hill to move somewhere else. The Empire League might be kaput, and the Coast View Athletic Association would like to become a 10- or 12-school group.
And there might be an Orange County super-conference made up exclusively of county high school football teams.
It’s releaguing time again for Orange County’s high school sports programs. Every two years county athletic directors and principals create new league memberships. County high schools are at the end of the current two-year league cycle and are planning what leagues will look like for the next two-year cycle that begins with the 2023-24 school year.
Athletic directors meet April 24 and principals meet May 15. Mater Dei president Michael Brennan chairs the sessions with assistance from Mater Dei executive director of athletics Joel Hartmann. They held those positions during the previous releaguing process when they were Servite guys. John Dahlem, longtime county principal and coach who has held high positions in the CIF Southern Section, is the parliamentarian.
The first issue to accept is that football is the tail that wags the releaguing dog. Coaches of other sports, some administrators and a few biology teachers might not like that football reigns. Football sets the tone for school spirit for the rest of the school year and at many schools football is a fine source of income.
From what is being discussed …
Some leagues will stay the same. The Trinity League isn’t changing and neither is the Freeway League.
Laguna Beach could seek to exit from the Sunset Conference to become part of the Pacific Coast League, which is mostly made up of Irvine schools.
Five of the Orange League’s six schools might want to evict the sixth school, Western. Western’s average margin of victory in league football games last season was 52 points and was 50 points the season before.
Crean Lutheran and Sage Hill are…
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