Okay, so I’m not going to even pretend that I understand very much about football in general. I watch football occasionally with the husband if I absolutely have to, but I do enjoy Super Bowl football, as it’s only once a year and we make it an event and there are good commercials and periodically really good half time shows, but I digress.
And, coming from a small town in the midwest, my first experience ever with football was at a Friday Night football game where the whole town had turned out to root for our local high school team, the Redskins. While I didn’t understand the concept of the game and wouldn’t until I was much older, I do understand the passion that folks have for their local football teams. So many congratulations to the Encinal Jets for winning their division, but boo on the California Interscholastic Federation for not selecting Encinal to play in the “State Football Championship Bowl Games Presented by Farmers” aka the Farmers Bowl (if that’s not what they call it, they should).
So anyway, who understands their convoluted selection process? I certainly don’t. According to their press release the team that was eventually selected for the division that Encinal was eligible did not have an undefeated record, but because one loss was to a really hard team. Serioulsy though, could the press release be less clear though?
St. Mary’s of Stockton’s greatest strength was its tough schedule. Its only loss was to Bellarmine, a contender for the Division I state berth. The Rams had strong playoff wins against Merced and twice defeated Lincoln of Stockton, giving them their only two losses of the season.
I’ve now read this thing multiple times and still can’t sort it out. According to the little indication by St. Mary’s of Stockton’s name in the paragraph before the one I highlighted it says “(12-2, 5-0)” which I understand to mean they won 12 games and lost two. Right? So how can it have “[i]ts only loss to Bellarmine” and yet still have “two losses of the season.” Did they lose to Bellarmine twice? So confusing and feels rather arbitrary.
Of course this is the same organization that decided to make a team forfeit five games in which one young man played in because the paperwork regarding his transfer wasn’t filed correctly. The rules are intended to prevent high schools from recruiting students to play for their teams but in trying to prevent that sort of poaching the CIF didn’t allow for some measure of flexibility. In this case the CIF decided to not take into consideration that the young man in question had a tumultuous home life — in and out of foster care and shuttled between relatives:
…[Attorney Art] Woodward appealed to the CIF, suggesting that it choose to see foster children as a “family of one,” thereby making their court-ordered moves “valid changes of residence” under CIF rules and exempt from the need for hardship paperwork.
When the CIF rejected Dyer’s appeal, the National Center for Youth Law decided to take up the case…
In the end, the court decided that the CIF violated state law and overturned the CIF’s decision to make the school forfeit those games. By the way, interestingly enough the CIF is headquarted in Alameda.
I think the theory for the CIF is to have the best teams play in the big bowl game.
While we can be very proud of our Jets, the division they now play in has smaller schools. Team records and stats are one thing, but when you are playing high schools with student populations of several thousand, it is probable that their teams are better than schools with less than half the number of students to draw from, despite records and stats. It is a convoluted system, but the CIF tries to make the competition fair by having different divisions for comparable schools.
Comment by David Kirwin — December 16, 2008 @ 7:46 am
It was so exciting and cold. We braved the toe numbing temperature and cheered and cried and then cheered and cried. The Jets were playing Navato High, which I realize isn’t Mill Valley but it is Marin. The school brought their cheerleading dance coach (I met her in line for the girls room) and all of the BMW’s had stickers cheering on the team. This was the 4th year in a row Navato has been in this game. The Jet’s had a huge number of fans who loved them and tons of the cross-town rivals (AHS Hornet Football sweatshirts were plentiful) cheering on the kids who showed up out of no-where. It was like a Friday night in Texas only thank goodness it was actually a Saturday night in California.
The Dublin High School field in which we played has perfect turf with the two-toned green panels. You didn’t have to worry that any of your belongings were going to fall under the stands as they had metal panels to prevent that. They served Tri-tip steak sandwiches and had matching booster sweatshirts and a kitchen that would make most restaurants jealous. The stadium bathrooms (you didn’t need to walk back into the school, they have separate ones) were all brand new. You couldn’t help but see the glaring differences. As we were leaving I paid much more attention to the school itself and of course was amazed at the pristine nature of the building and the grounds. I don’t think of Dublin as an Alamo or Piedmont where there is so much money thrown at the school from parents that very few towns can match. I think most of us know that the equity issue between Alameda and Dublin has to do with equitable funding from the state within our county. I don’t blame the elected officials who have way more than their fair share from not wanting to give it up. I wouldn’t want to give it up either. I can imagine that not only would they not get re-elected but they would probably be stoned in the town square. As sad and frustrated I am at the Public School System in this state I couldn’t be much prouder of our kids and the spirit in which they work with our great teachers in making what we have work no matter how unfair it is.
Comment by Barbara M — December 16, 2008 @ 8:27 am
Encinal was very deserving to go to the championship game as an undefeated NCS champion. The teams that were selected had many flaws, as detailed in the Alameda Times Star. In fact, the team picked over EHS had two losses – one of them a wipeout to Bellarmine.
EHS has about 1050 students, the same size or smaller than every school in its new league, with the exception of John Swett. Encinal beat many larger schools – AHS, Monterey, El Cerrito, Marin Catholic, and Novato. The last two were established football powers with many titles.
The EHS team only had 25 players – literally 1/2 of what Novato had suited up for the game.
Last year the Northern Cali squads lost 5 of 6 games. I don’t think the selection committee has much of a good track record.
As Barbara pointed out, there was a STARK contrast between the facilities at Dublin and EHS. Unlike Barbara, I blame the elected officials who cannot cut a deal on the budget or cooperate to get equitable school funding.
But you can’t beat the spirit of a town like Alameda.
Comment by Brian Rodriguez — December 17, 2008 @ 3:57 pm
Just wondering if the City will recognize the Encinal High School football team for its super season. I sure hope that we can do something for these great kids.
Comment by John Pizaili — December 17, 2008 @ 7:27 pm
My high school won the state CIF in 1991 when I was a senior, and it was an incredibly exciting experience for all of us. Our team played at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego and it was a great community event.
So…it seems unfair that EHS, even with a perfect record, were handicapped from the beginning since their schedule is predetermined by the powers that be. Besides, who cares if EHS is a smaller school. Wouldn’t that equate to more talented players in a smaller selection pool?
Boo on you CIF…and congratulations to our EHS team for a great year! I hope to see a lot of you recruited by great colleges!
Comment by Val — December 18, 2008 @ 3:20 pm