Changes are coming for CCS football

The reason for the changes, according to Jeff Scheller, San Mateo head football coach and athletic director, is that the previous system of deciding which teams qualified for CCS was no longer working. For the longest time, the CCS used a formula called “League Championship Index,” LCI for short, that was developed by former longtime Terra Nova head coach Bill Gray. It was a formula used to determine which leagues were “A” leagues, or the best in the section, which leagues were “B” and which were “C.”

“At the time, it was right on,” Scheller said.

But as the CCS saw a merger of leagues into three super leagues — the Peninsula Athletic League, the Pacific Coast Athletic League and the Blossom Valley Athletic League — along with the West Catholic Athletic League, those ratings were starting to become, and no pun intended, a little more gray.

Take the PAL Bay Division, for example. When the PAL absorbed the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League teams, both the PAL Bay and SCVAL De Anza were both considered “A” leagues.

the reality — and numbers — said they weren’t. In fact, the De Anza was considered to be, non-officially, as an “A-minus” division.

There were similar issues in the PCAL and BVAL, as well.

“Over time, we found the (LCI) system was broken,” Scheller said, who served on committee to explore changes to the system.

The CCS had already incorporated the use of rankings and ratings published by what used to be called Calpreps.com, but information from that site wasn’t used until filling out the playoff brackets.

Rebranded as HSratings.com, it is now the sole source formula to determine a league’s ranking and classification.

With the new ranking system, there is a new order of power in the PAL. The Bay Division will be the sole “A” league, while the De Anza will drop down and join the Ocean Division as “B” league teams. The El Camino Division, which was formerly a “B,” is now a “C.” And the Lake Division will drop down one more level for a new developed “D” league.

Which goes to another change. There are now three “D” leagues in CCS, with the PCAL’s Santa Lucia and BVAL’s West Valley joining the Lake. The three division champions and the highest rated second-place team will go into a four-team Division 6 CCS playoff bracket. While the winner will be crowned CCS champ, the champion is not eligible for Northern California or state bowl games.

Additionally, leagues will be capped at six teams qualifying for the playoffs — which is almost directly aimed at the WCAL, but there was some push back from the BVAL, as well, as both CCS strongest division (WCAL) and the one of CCS’s largest leagues (BVAL) routinely qualified seven teams into the various CCS brackets.

Also, there are two new requirements for playoff berths: a team has to win at least one game in division play and has to have at least three wins.

And finally, the number of teams qualifying for the playoffs, 40, will remain the same, the distribution of the berths are changing. Previously, 34 of the 40 spots were taken up by automatic qualifiers and only six at-large bids.

Beginning in 2026, there will be 29 automatic qualifiers and 11 at-large bids.

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The high school basketball season has been over for a little more than a month, but there are going to plenty of new faces on the sidelines for the 2026-27 season as there have been a number of coaching changes.

The biggest comes from Atherton, where Sacred Heart Prep will be looking for its third head boys’ varsity coach in two years. Jeff Wulbrun, who took over for Tony Martinelli prior to last season and led the Gators to the CIF Division Division state championship, has stepped down.

Jason Armstrong, SHP assistant principal of athletics, said in an email that this was Wulbrun’s decision.

“As he looks to pursue other opportunities and spend more time with his wife, kids and new grandson,” Armstrong said. “Jeff made a lasting impact on our program in a short period of time. … We’re grateful for the leadership he provided and the role he played in one of the most memorable seasons in school history.”

Meanwhile, Martinelli, after sitting out the 2025-26, is poised to re-emerge as the new head coach at Capuchino, replacing George Atkins. Martinelli, is a Mills graduate who got his start coaching the Vikings’ junior varsity team beginning the 1995-96 season before taking over the SHP program ahead of the 2007-08 season. He won 349 games with the Gators.

Meanwhile, Hillsdale is looking for a new girls’ varsity coach after parting ways with Dan Mori. San Mateo is beginning interviews for its boys’ varsity opening after Marvin Lui stepped down.

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The NorCal Crew varsity men’s boat is going to have a hard time matching this season’s accomplishments as it was recently ranked No. 1 in the country by RowingByTheNumbers, a college and high school ranking resource.

Fresh off a win at the San Diego Crew Classic, the NorCal team went back East to the East Coast Invitational, where it beat previously top-ranked Greenwich Crew, current No. 4 St. Joe’s Prep and the Princeton National Rowing Association’s Juniors, which is currently ranked No. 10 in the country.

Nathan Mollat has been covering high school sports in San Mateo County for the San Mateo Daily Journal since 2001. He can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com.