Several Stanislaus District schools will play higher-level opponents in the playoffs next year after a California Interscholastic Federation Sac-Joaquin Section committee decision this week.
The committee decided in a Board of Managers meeting on Wednesday that Central Catholic High School would be moved to Division I for the playoffs starting next season. Manteca High football, which beat Oakdale to win its third Division III title in four seasons, moves up to Division II. Escalon football is coming off back-to-back section titles in Divisions VI and V, respectively and is locked into Division V for playoffs. Escalon volleyball, which won its second straight Division IV title this year, moves up to Division III.
The vote is specific just to section playoffs. The CIF has a separate process for selecting which division teams will be placed in for state playoffs.
The Raiders have moved up three divisions within the section in the past few years.
After winning Division IV titles in 2012, 2013 and 2014, Central Catholic was moved up to Division III for the 2015 season. They won a section title that year. They were moved up immediately to Division II at the beginning of the 2016 season because of the section’s “Three in a row” rule that states: “Schools that win three championships in a row will be moved up one division. If that school wins again the following year at its new level, it will be moved again to the next higher level.”
The section also has a continued success rule. According to its bylaws, continued success may include, but is not limited to: “Section semifinalist or finalist for four or more years in a row with at least one section title; or four section titles in a span of six years.”
This year’s team went 13-2 and 6-0 in the Valley Oak League and won its only Division II section title, advancing to the 2-AA State Championship. The Raiders have been section semifinalists three times since 2016.
Central Catholic athletic director Billy Hylla attended the section’s Board of Managers meeting to make the school’s case for staying in Division II.
“At least in those (previous) situations, we knew,” Hylla said. “At the end of the D3 championship game, I actually made the comment on the field, ‘We’re going to be playing D2 football next year.’ But this year, we weren’t expecting it because we don’t meet any of the criteria.”
The Valley Oak League made a proposal to remove Central Catholic from Wednesday’s continued success movement group that was seconded by the Delta League. Ultimately, the committee decided it wouldn’t make any changes and the decision to keep Central Catholic in the continued success group passed with a vote of 27-26.
“This is certainly the first time where a team has proposed to not be moved up due to continued success and a vote was that close to keep them down.” said Sac-Joaquin Section assistant commissioner Will DeBoard.
All other schools in the “Proposed Continued Success Movement” item meet at least one of the requirements for moving up.
After originally opposing the move, Hylla said thee team has embraced the challenge.
“Our attitude is not ‘Woe is me, what are we going to do here?’” Hylla said. “In life, you get thrown challenges, and so you’ve got to respond. So, we’re gonna respond. We’re going to get better our kids are going to work harder. We’re gonna go in and compete. Now our goal is to win a section title at the D1 level.”
