Napa schools' move into North Coast Section could prompt league shakeup

A request by three Napa County high schools to join the North Coast Section of the California Interscholastic Federation and compete with Sonoma and Marin county teams has cleared another hurdle.

Principals and other administrators from all eight North Bay League schools agreed unanimously Wednesday to recommend that Napa, Vintage and American Canyon schools be allowed to join the NCS and be placed in the Marin-Sonoma-Mendocino Conference.

That conference now comprises 25 teams in three leagues: the NBL, Sonoma County League and the Marin County Athletic League.

The request to add three new schools triggered a realignment discussion two years ahead of schedule.

The realignment process could shuffle the makeup of Sonoma County’s two largest leagues, the NBL and SCL, changing which teams their schools play and potentially ending decades-long rivalries between traditional adversaries.

The three Napa Unified School District schools have already received permission to leave the Sac-Joaquin Section, where they currently compete.

They have asked to move west to play schools that are geographically closer and of similar competitive quality.

If the request to join the NCS is approved by the section’s 54-member board of managers next week, conference administrators will then discuss which leagues the schools should be placed in for regular-season competition.

The request requires a supermajority of two-thirds of the voting members.

If the move is approved, league alignments will follow. Athletic competition for the new configurations would begin in the 2018-19 school year.

This week, NCS Commissioner Gil Lemmon offered an overview to NBL athletic directors, principals and other administrators about what the move might mean for their schools and asked for their input on the alignment process.

Napa administrators have asked that their three schools be moved into the same league together, to preserve regional rivalries.

But NCS and CIF rules don’t take that into account. Only geographic proximity and competitive equity are considered.

Still, a variety of league realignment configurations are possible, including simply adding the three new schools to existing leagues, shuffling several schools or creating completely different leagues.

NBL athletic directors discussed the issue Tuesday and began creating potential overhauled leagues for the 28 teams.

One initial suggestion called for four new leagues: the NBL North and South, and the Sonoma Marin League North and South. Each would have seven teams.

The SML South would be all Marin County teams and the NBL North all Sonoma County teams. The other two would be a mixture of Sonoma, Napa and Marin county schools.

Lemmon has asked administrators in all the affected conferences to conduct workshops to create alignments that are satisfactory for member schools. Otherwise, the alignment committee will make the placement decisions itself.

The time frame is tight, Lemmon said.

The alignment committee will review recommendations and confirm changes in August. The NCS board of managers will vote to accept the best proposal in October.

Scheduling for the fall 2018 sports season would then begin.

The NBL includes Cardinal Newman, Casa Grande, Maria Carrillo, Montgomery, Rancho Cotate, Santa Rosa, Ukiah and Windsor high schools.

The SCL is comprised of Analy, El Molino, Elsie Allen, Healdsburg, Petaluma, Piner and Sonoma Valley high schools.

The Marin County Athletic League includes the following schools: Justin-Siena of Napa County, Branson of Ross, Marin Catholic in Kentfield, Novato, Redwood in Larkspur, San Marin of Novato, San Rafael, Sir Francis Drake of San Anselmo, Tamalpais from Mill Valley and Terra Linda of San Rafael.

Napa and Vintage currently play in the Monticello Empire League. American Canyon is a member of the Solano County Athletic Conference.

You can reach Staff Writer Lori A. Carter at 707-521-5470 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @loriacarter.