The disparity between the first four teams in the Gabilan Division and the next four has grown to the size of the Grand Canyon.
I am having a hard time believing this is fun - for the winners - when you're using a running clock in the middle of the third quarter for football games after the deficit reaches 35 or more points.
So imagine what it must feel like to be on the other side of these debacles, which occur each week in the Gabilan.
Four battles among the first four teams against the next four were decided by an average of 37 points last Friday -- three of the games incorporating a running clock in the second half.
This has been a trend all season. Aptos' average margin of victory is 41 points. Salinas' has been 39, Palma's 35 and San Benito's a paltry 25.
Granted these have been perennial postseason teams. But this is getting worse. Just take a look at last season's results.
This is a problem that potentially could ruin programs, particularly for the four teams that are thrown into the division.
How many times are we going to put Christopher into the Gabilan Division before we realize it is not a good fit.
In four stops in the Gabilan, the defending Central Coast Section Division IV champion Cougars are a combined 3-19 -- 1-3 this fall, with the win coming against winless Seaside.
While we have seen teams come and go and prove to be competitive in the past such as Monte Vista and Seaside, sustaining it long term is not possible when you don't have the numbers.
Seaside is winless this fall. Its numbers in the program have shrunk in each of the last two years. Its average margin of defeat in the Gabilan has been 35 points.
Alvarez has never barked about being in the Gabilan. But it's not a good fit. And next fall part of the schools enrollment will be headed to Rancho San Juan High when it opens its doors.
Before insisting Carmel belongs in the Gabilan because it beat Salinas, it was one game. A program with small numbers and no freshman program will eventually be crippled.
Yet, that probably where it is headed next fall.
The argument that schools with bigger enrollments should be in a bigger league doesn't work. We've been down that path before.
So what is the solution? You can't have a four-team division. Someone has to be sacrificial lambs. Of course, not everyone is going to win. But don't we at least want competitive balance?
John Devine has been writing about high school sports in Monterey County since, well, practically since he was an athlete at King City in the days just after leather helmets. In PrepNation, John has even more in-depth analysis of the latest results and news he's brought to you in The Herald and in his weekly videos.
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2 comments:
Make it a 6 team division. Require that all teams in the Gabilan have1,200 or more students. Unless a smaller school opts to play in the Gabilan Duvision. No longer allow B league winners to opt up for A league playoffs where the winner and even second place team might get a state playoff game. That way if a Carmel wanted to try to be in an A league playoff game they would have to have played in an A league all year.
Why don’t you ever mention Monterey when you talk about teams competing in the Gabilan? When Tom Newton was the coach and Jimmy Hill and Carter Aldrete the QBs they were at the same level as Salinas and Hollister and easily handled Monte Vista and Seaside. MVC and Seaside never had a string of seasons like that in the Gabilan, so I don’t know why you keep bringing them up as examples.
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