Benefield: Realignment of Empire high school leagues set for approval

Morning breakfast meetings for principals or gathering in the afternoon over snacks? File that burning question under “Still to be determined,” while a long list of other, much stickier decisions have been made as officials press forward with plans to organize the North Bay League into a 12-school, two-division league next fall.

Long in the works, the new super league will combine the existing NBL, minus Casa Grande, and pull in Sonoma County League schools Analy, El Molino, Elsie Allen, Healdsburg and Piner ,while Sonoma Valley, Petaluma and Casa are headed into an entirely new league along with Napa, Vintage, American Canyon and Justin-Siena.

The new NBL divisions - Oak and Redwood - assign schools on a sport-by-sport basis designed to increase competitive equity. Division champions will both earn spots in NCS postseason play. The divisions will be considered by the North Coast Section alignment committee Thursday in San Ramon. NBL Commissioner Jan Smith Billing, who is heading up the monthslong process, will present the plan as well as schedules for 2018-19.

“I go down there and kind of defend what we did, which I think was an incredibly fair process,” she said. “The goal is not to make the divisions equal but to make competitive opportunities for kids.”

Example: Cardinal Newman and Elsie Allen girls basketball will not meet in the new division.

Boys soccer has one of the most radical changes, with the Oak division to consist of Elsie Allen, Healdsburg, Montgomery, Rancho Cotate, Santa Rosa and Windsor.

The Piner High boys team might be a bit miffed looking at that - the Prospectors lost out on Sonoma County League championship honors by a half-game to Sonoma Valley this season. Still, the Prospectors were put in the Redwood division along with Analy, Cardinal Newman, El Molino, Maria Carrillo and Ukiah.

Another significant change is that if the divisions are approved, Analy High - the dominant force in the Sonoma County League since the last reconfiguration before the 2012-13 school year - has moved to Oak, the stronger of the two divisions, in all sports except boys soccer, cross country, wrestling and track and field.

Many schools will have teams in both. Santa Rosa will have 10 teams in Oak, seven in Redwood.

Montgomery will send 14 teams to Oak, three to Redwood.

Rancho Cotate will have five teams in Oak and 11 in Redwood while Cardinal Newman will have 10 teams in Oak and six in Redwood.

These divisions weren't meant to be perfect. They can't be. The existing leagues certainly aren't perfect. But these new divisions can be adjusted every two years if necessary.

“We will evaluate things every two years,” Smith Billing said.

And it is worth noting that these divisions were not created without forethought. Hundreds of hours of meetings, negotiations and, yes, arguing have all preceded the groupings that Smith Billing will take to San Ramon this morning.

“It wasn't just, ‘Stick them in a hat and draw them out,'” she said. “We had criteria. We looked at the last five years, essentially.”

Coaches, athletic directors and principals were all part of the process.

“Coaches know best about the competition and where they should be,” she said.

And for the vast majority of decisions, there was agreement, she said. And there is a key reason for that agreement.

Tight games are good. Overtime is fun. Blowouts stink.

That 81-8 final score when the Cardinal Newman girls basketball team beat Maria Carrillo on Jan. 10? Hopefully the likes of that won't happen again. Newman will be in the Oak division and Carrillo will be in Redwood.

Game after game, and sometimes season after season, of getting nary a win keeps kids from coming out for squads. That is the polar opposite of what officials are looking for.

“Those kids are not going to come back. They are going to go away and say ‘Forget it,'” Smith Billing said of teams on the losing end of repeated thumpings.

“It's exciting for both teams to have competition. That is what we want to do,” she added.

And Smith Billing feels satisfied that officials have reached the divisions fairly.

“I think we are going to be in fairly good shape,” she said.

If the NCS Alignment Committee gives the plan the go-ahead, it's a done deal. Schedules for all sports barring swimming are set beginning in the fall. Swimming depends on community pool use and schedules, so that sport will be organized later, Smith Billing said.

“Left to be decided is constitutional bylaws,” she said.

Bylaws are the rules that cover individual sports - what is permitted, the playoff structure, home team duties, overtime rules and the like.

“All the little nitty gritty things,” she said.

And on the list of things still to tackle is the pressing question of what to serve at principals' meetings, breakfast or snack.

You can reach staff columnist Kerry Benefield at 707-526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com, on Twitter @benefield and on Instagram at kerry.benefield.