Crazy HS football off season finally comes into focus

The last California high school football bowl games of 2018 were played Dec. 15, but it’s taken over three months since then to bring the rules, league assignments, playoff format and schedules into focus for this fall’s season. Concord’s premier two football programs, De La Salle and Clayton Valley Charter, have been at the center of many of the changes brought about through the North Coast Section.

Clayton Valley Charter football has been the source of much discussion during the North Coast Section quadrennial alignment periods in 2014-15 and 2018-19. The Ugly Eagles haven’t lost a league football game since 2011 and NCS this year finally moved the Ugly Eagles to the East Bay Athletic League, at least for the 2019 and 2020 football seasons.

Joining the EBAL places CVCHS back in a league with De La Salle for the first time since 2006 when both were in the Bay Valley Athletic League. The other 11 schools in the Diablo Athletic League requested that Clayton Valley Charter football (an “overly competitive school in football”) be moved to another league while the rest of the Concord school’s athletic program remain in the DAL.

The request was granted and then the only other two leagues in the Valley Conference, East Bay and Bay Valley athletic leagues, both turned down having Clayton Valley football join their league. After numerous meetings and appeals a special NCS committee last month voted to put CVCHS in the EBAL where they will be part of the Mountain Division this fall playing in a six-team flight with DLS, Cal High, San Ramon, Foothill and Monte Vista.
In the three years the NCS Open Division football playoffs were held, both Clayton Valley and De La Salle took part every season (as did Pittsburg). San Ramon was in the 2017 Open Division and then won NCS Division II last fall. Monte Vista was NCS D-II champ in 2016.

NCS has now changed its entire football playoff division setup to follow the CIF rule that only Section champions can advance to state playoffs. Based on the new division criteria that primarily factors school enrollment numbers, CVCHS has been moved to Division II, where it reached State Bowl games in 2014 and 2015 and won D-II Section titles in 2012-14-15.

NCS will now have seven divisions of eight teams each in a three-week playoff format. Local high schools are now spread out among five NCS divisions.

De La Salle, with 27 consecutive NCS championships, is now in Division I with EBAL rivals Monte Vista, San Ramon and California. BVAL teams 2017 State Bowl runner-up Pittsburg, 2018 I-A state champion Liberty, Antioch, Freedom and Heritage are also in the top division. All of those teams must now break that Spartans stranglehold in order to move on in the playoffs.

This new format prompted Liberty football coach Ryan Partridge and former Dublin coach Matt Hoefs to present their proposal at a recent NCS Board of Managers meeting to put all private and charter schools in large and small divisions separate from public schools.

The Spartans released most of their fall schedule with away games against Central Catholic of Modesto, Folsom and St. Mary’s of Stockton. Saint Francis of Mountain View and Buchanan of Clovis will visit Owen Owens Field in Concord. A season-opening 10th game is yet to be finalized.

Clayton Valley Charter is also waiting to announce its season opener but has a home game at Gonsavles Stadium against Turlock and away games vs. Liberty in the Honor Bowl, Monterey and Canyon Springs in Nevada.

NCS Football Brackets for local schools:
Division 1 – De La Salle (EBAL Mountain Division)
Division 2 – Clayton Valley Charter (EBAL Mountain Division)
Division 3 – Northgate (DAL Valley Division)
Division 4 – Concord, Mt. Diablo (both DAL Valley Division)
Division 6 – Ygnacio Valley (DAL Valley Division)