The three major boys’ sports
– baseball, basketball and football – will be most affected by
new TCAL alignment
By Ana Patejdl and Scott Campbell Sports Editors
Baseball hasn’t played even one game in the new version of the Tri-County Athletic League. But the sport has already felt the early effects of the new alignment, having been bumped down to a ‘B’-league for the upcoming season, a move that will drastically effect the playoff hopes of TCAL teams. Could the same happen to football? In basketball, the league could have a new team vying for a title in Alisal. Read on for more about how the three major boys’ sports will be affected by the new TCAL.
Baseball
– Alisal in 2006: 4-18 overall, 3-12 in MBL
(5th place)
– Alvarez in 2006: 1-24-1 overall, 0-15 overall in MBL (6th place)
– Gilroy in 2006: 16-11 overall, 12-6 in TCAL
(3rd place)
– San Benito in 2006: 24-5 overall, 16-2 in TCAL
(1st place)
Nine months before the first pitches of the 2006-2007 Tri-County Athletic League baseball games have been thrown out, the league’s teams have already been dealt a blow.
Upon the entrance of Alisal and Alvarez, which combined for just five wins in the 2006 season, the league has been changed from an ‘A’-league to a ‘B’-league for the 2007 season. The move – which was approved by a one-vote margin – was voted on by league representatives from around the Central Coast Section at the sport’s end-of-the-season meeting.
So what does that mean? It means that by playing each other, TCAL teams will earn less power points for a bid into the CCS playoffs. Teams earn more power points for playing ‘A’-league teams than ‘B’-league teams.
“Baseball’s probably going to take the biggest hit,” said San Benito athletic director Tod Thatcher. “That’s going to be the biggest hit right there.”
Gilroy baseball head coach Clint Wheeler feels the same way.
“I think it’s going to affect us tremendously,” Wheeler said. “You take an average season this year, we were 15-7 in our last 22 games. That gave us 56.5 (playoff power) points. I re-did our points if we had been a ‘B’-league (this season) and we would have had only 36 points.”
That barely would have been enough for Gilroy, which took the No. 7 seed in the Division I playoffs, to make the 16-team Division I playoffs. And, Wheeler noted, the Mustangs would have had to play a West Catholic Athletic League powerhouse in either Bellarmine or Serra in an away game in the first round.
San Benito baseball head coach Michael Luna estimated that in its last 22 games – the games which count in the power points system – a ‘B’-league team would have to finish 16-6 “to have a chance as a ‘B’ team” in the playoffs. On the flip side, he said, an ‘A’-league team could finish 11-11 (possibly even 10-12) and make CCS.
Concluded Wheeler, “So unless you win league, we’re never going to have a home game (in the first round of the CCS playoffs).”
This season, Luna’s San Benito squad was the TCAL champion and earned a No. 3 seed in the Division I playoffs. That wouldn’t have been the case if the ‘Balers were a ‘B’-league team this year.
“Obviously, I’m not very happy about (changing to a ‘B’-league),” Luna said. “If Live Oak stayed, we’re still an ‘A’-division league.”
The coach feels Gilroy, Palma, Salinas and the ‘Balers are “without a doubt” ‘A’-league caliber teams.
In the new league alignment, the TCAL will also be changing its league play format. Instead of playing a triple round robin 18-game TCAL season, the league teams will play a double round robin 12-game season. Therefore, each team will have six extra non-league games to schedule.
“I’m scheduling as many ‘A’ opponents as I can,” Luna said.
Basketball
– Alisal in ’05-’06: 23-7 overall, 7-3 in MBL (2nd place)
– Alvarez in ’05-’06: 2-22 overall, 0-10 in MBL (6th place)
– Gilroy in ’05-’06: 21-8 overall, 11-1 in TCAL (1st place)
– San Benito in ’05-’06: 13-14 overall, 7-5 in TCAL (T-3rd place)
With similar records last season and key players returning to both teams, Alisal and Gilroy could have a nice little battle for the TCAL title in their first season as league rivals.
Both teams enjoyed 20-plus-win seasons this winter. And both teams have two big men returning. The Trojans have 6-foot-7 Jorge Camacho (22.8 ppg) and the Mustangs have 6-foot-8 Jason Conrad (area leader in blocks with 117).
“Alisal, for sure, is going to be one of the top teams in the league next year,” said San Benito head coach John Becerra, whose squad tied Live Oak with the third-best league record this past season. “I think they’ll be one of the favorites.”
Said Gilroy head coach Bud Ogden, “I think Alisal with Camacho and their good point guard, I think they’ll fit right in,” he said. “Alvarez, right now, they’re struggling.”
The Eagles head into next season coming off a 2-win season.
Ogden, whose squad beat out Palma for the 2006 TCAL title, said he’ll miss the rivalry with Live Oak, but that the Acorns will still play in Gilroy’s annual Bob Hagen Memorial Tournament.
“That will be a great game,” he said.
The shift to Salinas does have Becerra worried about what those at the CCS playoff seeding meetings will – or will not think – about the TCAL.
“The less we play close to San Jose. . . it seems like it’s more of a negative impact in terms of seeding,” he said. “I don’t think they have much respect for us anyway.”
Football
– Alisal in 2005: 7-4 overall, 3-2 in MBL
– Alvarez in 2005: 2-8 overall, 0-5 in MBL
– Gilroy in 2005: 5-5 overall, 2-3 in TCAL
– San Benito in 2005: 9-4 overall, 4-1 in TCAL, CCS Division I champion
With CCS football leagues classified like baseball leagues, is there a chance the ‘A’-league TCAL also could be changed to a ‘B’-league in pigskin?
No, say Gilroy head coach Rich Hammond and San Benito head coach Chris Cameron.
“I don’t think we’ll have problem remaining an ‘A’-league as long as we have Palma and San Benito and another strong team,” said Hammond, who added that neither the TCAL nor the old MBL has ever been reduced to ‘B’ status. “As long as we can keep ‘A’-league competitive.”
And both coaches feel Alisal and Alvarez will pose some tough competition. The ‘Balers beat Alisal in the first round of last fall’s CCS Division I playoffs en route to their section title.
“Alisal’s been a pretty consistently good team,” said Hammond, who noted the Trojans have made the CCS playoffs a few times in recent years.
Although Alvarez did not win a game in the MBL last season, both Cameron and Hammond feel the Eagles program will be turned around under the guidance of new head coach Bobby Rawls, a former offensive coordinator for Aptos.
There are a couple other positives the realignment gives TCAL teams. Last season, Sobrato pulled out of league play. So for football, the new alignment adds one league game. The extra game will be beneficial for playoff consideration, Cameron said.
“It gives everyone a chance to play one more ‘A’-league opponent and it gives us the opportunity to get more power points,” the coach said. “I see that as a fairly significant impact. It’s tough to find games.”
And because of the departure of Live Oak, the new league schedules will pit longtime rivals Gilroy and San Benito against each other during Rivalry Week, the final week of league play and the regular season.
“Our kids will be really excited for that,” Cameron said.
But Hammond said Gilroy will also miss its rivalry with its northern neighbor Acorns. Live Oak and Gilroy will not play each other this season.
“I think it’s a sad thing to see Live Oak go because there was such a rivalry there that losing that outweighs losing the competition,” he said.
