Prep football: Major storylines for the 2023 season

Hundreds of high school athletes around Sonoma County woke up Monday morning and likely had one thought in mind.

It’s game week.

The 2023 high school football season kicks off Friday night with a full slate of games for local teams. For the underclassmen who are suiting up, it will be the last season before a significant shakeup in how the sport is conducted in the region.

The North Bay is set to undergo a massive three-county, football-only realignment starting in 2024, making this the final year of the current league structure that’s been in place since 2018.

That year, the Sonoma County League merged with the North Bay League to crate a two-division system, while the Vine Valley Athletic League was formed for schools in southern Sonoma County and Napa County.

Under the planned realignment, teams from the NBL, VVAL and the Marin County Athletic League will merge to form four new leagues based on competitive equity, or their overall records over the previous few seasons. This will only be for football; other sports will remain in their current league structure.

The four leagues will be as follows:

League 1: Marin Catholic, Cardinal Newman, Rancho Cotate, San Marin, Vintage and Windsor.

League 2: American Canyon, Casa Grande, Justin-Siena, Petaluma, Redwood, Tamalpais and Napa.

League 3: Analy, Maria Carrillo, Montgomery, St. Vincent, Santa Rosa and Ukiah.

League 4: Archie Williams, Healdsburg, Novato, Piner, San Rafael, Sonoma Valley and Terra Linda.

The realignment’s main purpose is to create more even competition, proponents say. By grouping football teams of similar skill level, the new leagues will likely feature fewer blowouts, allow weaker schools to experience more success to grow their programs and allow stronger schools to test themselves against equal opposition.

Most local coaches are in favor of the move.

“It’s a huge challenge going into next year, but it’s one of those things that you coach for,” Windsor head coach DJ Sexton said.

“I think the competitive-equity thing is going to be better for us in the long run and hopefully we can get to the point where we make the playoffs and have a chance to play those other teams,” added Santa Rosa head coach Roy Keegan.

Cronin returns

After a year of consulting work with local programs, one of the winningest coaches in area history is back on the sideline.

Paul Cronin, who trails the late Jason Franci by 10 victories for the most career wins in Sonoma County history (per records compiled by CalHi Sports), has taken over at Ukiah High School.

Cronin has racked up 222 career wins over a 20-plus-year career — most of which was spent at Cardinal Newman, where he led the Cardinals to five section titles, three state title game appearances and the school’s first-ever state title in 2019.

Cronin left Newman in 2021 for Windsor and, in one season at the helm, led the Jaguars to their second NCS title in program history. He left Windsor after the season for a job at a powerhouse in Ohio, but his stint in the Midwest lasted only six weeks before he returned to Sonoma County.

Elsie Allen back, too

After several years that saw Santa Rosa’s Elsie Allen High School fail to field a team — then play a JV schedule last season — the Lobos are set to play eight-man football in the Coastal Mountain Conference.

They will take on other North Bay schools that play the eight-man version of the sport, including Branson, Calistoga and Tomales.

With just under 40 players on the roster (the biggest number the team has seen in recent memory), coach Tony Castro should have plenty of options as the Lobos reenter the varsity football picture.

Girls flag football

This fall season will be the maiden voyage for a new landmark sport in California: girls flag football.

The California Interscholastic Federation approved its addition in the spring and dozens of schools across the state are set to begin competing this fall.

Locally, Rancho Cotate, Casa Grande and Analy are all set to field teams this year, with Petaluma and Rio Lindo Adventist Academy in Healdsburg also possibly following suit.

The games will be played 7-on-7 style with two 20-minute halves. Local teams will play as independent since the NBL doesn’t have an official girls flag league yet, and the North Coast Section won’t hold championships for the sport this year. The NBL would look to create an official league next year if they get four consistent teams.

“The girls are super excited,” Rancho Cotate head coach Sarah Shaw said of the school’s inaugural team. “They’re super excited because this opportunity has never been available to them and they’re super stoked because we’re kind of writing the history for the sport right now in the area.”

Roster and schedules are still being finalized, but there will be several local matchups throughout the fall. Shaw also said there will be a Sonoma-Marin tournament at the end of the season.

Newman scandal

A story that may be hanging over this season is the racism and retaliation scandal at Cardinal Newman.

A former Newman student and member of the football team filed a lawsuit in July saying that he was kicked out of school for speaking out about alleged racist nicknames that head football coach Richard Sanchez called players. The lawsuit alleges that Sanchez gave players of color nicknames like “Fried chicken,” “Taco Bell,” “Green Card” and “Gardener.”

Despite the allegations, it appears the school is sticking with Sanchez, who has led the Cardinals to back-to-back NCS Division 4 title game appearances in his first two years at the helm.

Neither Sanchez nor Athletic Director Monica Mertle, who is also named in the lawsuit, have publicly commented on the matter and school president Linda Norman declined to comment when reached last week.

Unless the lawsuit is settled out of court, the first court date wouldn’t take place until after the season is over.

You can reach Staff Writer Gus Morris at 707-304-9372 or gus.morris@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @JustGusPD.