TheLounge
05-17-2007, 02:30 PM
Looks like the Sports Lounge jumped the gun. Earlier this week, I wrote that due to a change in the Central Coast Section procedures, the Peninsula Athletic League’s Bay Division had retained it’s “A” league status in regards to football.
Ooops. Wrong again. According to Bill Gray, Terra Nova football coach, athletic director and PAL representative to CCS and the frontman for CCS’s League Classification Index (LCI), said that the Bay Division is, indeed, a “B” league for the 2007 season.
It was thought that by giving Aragon an extra bonus point for playing in the Open Division playoffs, it would put the Bay over the top, it did not.
“We just missed by an eyelash,” Gray said. “The thing that brought us down was our LCI from two years ago.”
The LCI is a formula that ranks leagues based on wins and points garnered from those wins.
The consequences for dropping to a “B” classification is not as many teams will have a chance to make the CCS playoffs. The Bay Division gets three automatic bids to CCS. The Ocean Division gets one. As an “A” league, the fourth and fifth place teams in the Bay had a very good chance at getting an at-large bid. As a “B” league, those odds drop significantly.
The change in classification only matters in one regard — the PAL now has two “B” divisions. That means, every team in the league gets the same number of points for wins over other “B” league teams. The difference comes in the scheduling and competitiveness. Teams in the Bay play a much tougher schedule than teams in the Ocean and there is still a pretty big gap between the Bay and Ocean when it comes to competiveness. The real problems that could come into play is when teams apply for at-large bids. The fourth place team in the Bay could have a 6-4 record while the second place team in the Ocean could be 8-2. The 8-2 team would have more points despite playing a weaker schedule.
“Here’s the question,” Gray said. “Is the second-place Ocean team, playing a ‘B’ schedule, better than the fourth- or fifth-place team in the Bay?”
Gray said it’s necessarily a bad thing to be a “B” league. It means that the Bay Division winner will not automatically be pulled into the ultra-competitive Open Division when the playoffs roll around.
In fact, it’s really more of a prestige issue more than anything else. If coaches looked at it stictly as a competitive issue, it would be clear that the Bay Division is, at this point, a “B” league.
“Don’t look at just one year. Look back two, three years. None of us has put together a string like a Los Gatos,” Gray said. “Our league is not the equal of the WCAL, the SCVAL De Anza Division. We’re not the caliber of the Palma, Hollister league. We have a good team at the top (Aragon) but if you work down the line, we don’t match up with those leagues.
“We’re a good, strong ‘B’ league,” Gray said. “I’m comfortable with being a ‘B’.”
Nathan Mollat can be reached by e-mail: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 117.
Ooops. Wrong again. According to Bill Gray, Terra Nova football coach, athletic director and PAL representative to CCS and the frontman for CCS’s League Classification Index (LCI), said that the Bay Division is, indeed, a “B” league for the 2007 season.
It was thought that by giving Aragon an extra bonus point for playing in the Open Division playoffs, it would put the Bay over the top, it did not.
“We just missed by an eyelash,” Gray said. “The thing that brought us down was our LCI from two years ago.”
The LCI is a formula that ranks leagues based on wins and points garnered from those wins.
The consequences for dropping to a “B” classification is not as many teams will have a chance to make the CCS playoffs. The Bay Division gets three automatic bids to CCS. The Ocean Division gets one. As an “A” league, the fourth and fifth place teams in the Bay had a very good chance at getting an at-large bid. As a “B” league, those odds drop significantly.
The change in classification only matters in one regard — the PAL now has two “B” divisions. That means, every team in the league gets the same number of points for wins over other “B” league teams. The difference comes in the scheduling and competitiveness. Teams in the Bay play a much tougher schedule than teams in the Ocean and there is still a pretty big gap between the Bay and Ocean when it comes to competiveness. The real problems that could come into play is when teams apply for at-large bids. The fourth place team in the Bay could have a 6-4 record while the second place team in the Ocean could be 8-2. The 8-2 team would have more points despite playing a weaker schedule.
“Here’s the question,” Gray said. “Is the second-place Ocean team, playing a ‘B’ schedule, better than the fourth- or fifth-place team in the Bay?”
Gray said it’s necessarily a bad thing to be a “B” league. It means that the Bay Division winner will not automatically be pulled into the ultra-competitive Open Division when the playoffs roll around.
In fact, it’s really more of a prestige issue more than anything else. If coaches looked at it stictly as a competitive issue, it would be clear that the Bay Division is, at this point, a “B” league.
“Don’t look at just one year. Look back two, three years. None of us has put together a string like a Los Gatos,” Gray said. “Our league is not the equal of the WCAL, the SCVAL De Anza Division. We’re not the caliber of the Palma, Hollister league. We have a good team at the top (Aragon) but if you work down the line, we don’t match up with those leagues.
“We’re a good, strong ‘B’ league,” Gray said. “I’m comfortable with being a ‘B’.”
Nathan Mollat can be reached by e-mail: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 117.