REDLANDS — A releaguing proposal that would have altered the landscape of Inland Empire high school football started the morning as a long shot.
That plan gained steam throughout Monday’s Citrus Belt Area releaguing meeting at Citrus Valley High School and made it to the final round of voting.
In the end, administrators from those schools voted 50-39 against adopting a wide-sweeping football-only alignment based on calpreps.com rankings.
Orange County is one of the few areas that has grouped football teams into leagues based on some sort of power ratings, and those league alignments are different than ones used for other sports. The major problem for the Citrus Belt Area adopting a similar proposal is its schools are spread out among three counties (54 in Riverside, 35 in San Bernardino and one in Kern). Transportation would be a concern, with three- and four-hour bus rides possible.
The final two proposals were identical for all sports other than football. The only difference between the two was one included a football-only addendum.
Many athletic directors believe a total football realignment for the Citrus Belt Area could happen in the near future. What form it takes remains a question.
Administrators had opportunities to speak for or against any of the 40 proposals on the board at the start of the meeting. None did so until the final vote. Adelanto athletic director Wayne Wilson spoke before the final vote. Wilson was of the opinion of jumping in feet first now and not delaying the inevitable.
San Bernardino’s Patrick Mills and Fontana’s Brandon Colbrunn countered by bringing up issues with transportation and unequal participation numbers.
“Another issue with putting the best 24 schools in the top four leagues is many of our top football teams won’t make the playoffs now,” opined Colbrunn, who drew up the winning proposal with support from the schools in the Citrus Belt League. “It is going to be hard to make that work for all 90 schools.”
Colbrunn and many of his fellow athletic directors believe one way to do a football-only alignment and not have some of the aforementioned problems is creating more conferences with location and competitive equity the big factors. The Big VIII and Southwestern leagues formed a football-only conference (The Big West) a few cycles ago, and it will remain the lone football-only conference in the Citrus Belt Area through the end of the 2027-28 school year.
“Conferences are the way to remedy those issues,” said Cajon’s Rich Imbriani, who is the president of the Citrus Belt Area Athletic Directors Association. “If every school gets into a conference (for other sports), then you really don’t to worry about a football-only proposal coming through again in the future.”
The conferencing model has gained more traction over the years. The Citrus Belt Area currently has two conferences: the Raincross Conference was the first one and is made up of 18 Riverside County schools. The Arrowhead Athletic Conference followed and includes 14 San Bernardino County schools. The conferences split their teams into different leagues based on yearly finishes in the standings, with pro soccer-style promotion and relegation in place.
And Monday’s winning proposal will create two new conferences: one includes all the low desert schools and Banning, while the other combines most of the schools in the River Valley and Mountain Valley leagues and Big Bear. The number of teams in conferences will rise from 32 (35.6 %) to 56 (62.2 %).
Below is the Citrus Belt Area realignment, which is be in effect for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 school years.
Arrowhead Athletic Conference (14): Arroyo Valley, Bloomington, Carter, Colton, Eisenhower, Fontana, Grand Terrace, Indian Springs, Jurupa Hills, Kaiser, Rialto, Rim of the World, San Gorgonio, Summit.
Big VIII League (6): Centennial, Corona, King, Norco, Roosevelt, Santiago.
Citrus Belt League (6): Beaumont, Cajon, Citrus Valley, Redlands, Redlands East Valley, Yucaipa
Desert Sky League (5): Adelanto, Barstow, Granite Hills, Silverado, Victor Valley.
Mojave River League (6): Apple Valley, Burroughs, Hesperia, Oak Hills, Serrano, Sultana
Mountain Pass League (5): Elsinore, San Jacinto, Tahquitz, Temescal Canyon, West Valley.
Raincross Conference (18): Arlington, Canyon Springs, Citrus Hill, Hemet, Heritage, Hillcrest, Lakeside, Liberty, Moreno Valley, North, Orange Vista, Paloma Valley, Perris, Rancho Christian, Rancho Verde, Riverside Poly, Valley View, Vista del Lago.
Southwestern League (6): Chaparral, Great Oak, Murrieta Mesa, Murrieta Valley, Temecula Valley, Vista Murrieta
New Conference (14): Banning, Cathedral City, Coachella Valley, Desert Hot Springs, Desert Mirage, Indio, La Quinta, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Shadow Hills, Twentynine Palms, Xavier Prep, Yucca Valley.
New Conference (10): Big Bear, Jurupa Valley, La Sierra, Miller, Notre Vista, Pacific, Patriot, Ramona, Rubidoux, San Bernardino.
Big West Conference, football only (12): Centennial, Chaparral, Corona, Great Oak, King, Murrieta Mesa, Murrieta Valley, Norco, Roosevelt, Santiago, Temecula Valley, Vista Murrieta,
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