Orange Coast football alignment to be altered

The Mission Conference, the most respected alliance of community college football teams in the nation, no longer exists, after the coaches of 37 schools in Southern California combined to form a new two-tiered system.

Orange Coast College Coach Mike Taylor, president of the state coaching assn., worked to establish the change, which will take effect in the 2008 season.

The top 21 schools, based on cumulative records during recent seasons, will be grouped in the National Division of the 37-school Southern California Football assn., while the other 16 schools will form the American Division.

The National Division, including Orange Coast, will be divided into Northern, Central and Southern conferences, based largely on geography.

OCC joins Santa Ana, Saddleback, Fullerton, Long Beach, Grossmont, and Palomar in the seven-team Southern conference, meaning there will be six conference games this season.

Perennial powers El Camino and Mt. San Antonio, former members of the Mission Conference, are no longer on the Pirates’ schedule.

Taylor said the top two teams in each of the three National Division conferences will compete in the state playoffs.

Taylor said teams can move from division to division based on criteria involving records, every two seasons.

Golden West College, another member of the Mission Conference and a perennial division foe of Orange Coast, will continue to play the Pirates in a nonconference game. Golden West is the only former Mission Conference school in the American Division.

“We wanted to keep that rivalry alive,” said Taylor, who noted the Southern California schools’ current alignment is similar to that employed in Northern California. “We could be in the same conference with them again in two years.

“There are a lot of question marks about how it is all going to play out, but we got everyone to buy in,” Taylor said.

— Barry Faulkner