New league alignments set for East Valley and Valley Mission

New alignments for East Valley League and Valley Mission League rejected

Five Reseda defenders team up to force Crenshaw wide receiver Centrell Wise out of bounds.

Columnist

Jan. 17, 2023 4:54 PM PT

The City Section Board of Managers has voted down a recommendation for a realignment for the East Valley League and Valley Mission League, thus leaving the leagues alone.

The recommendation was for Sun Valley Poly, North Hollywood and Chavez to leave the East Valley League this fall and move to the Valley Mission League for all sports. They would exchange places with three teams moving from the Valley Mission to the East Valley — Panorama, Van Nuys and Reseda.

Four schools from the East Valley League didn’t like the move, and the Board of Managers agreed to keep the leagues intact.

Roybal High, which has the largest gym in the Los Angeles Unified School District, declined to make its site available. The same situation with Roybal, whose gym was built bigger with the intention of using it to host district events, happened last year until intervention by LAUSD. The City Section also wanted Roybal to host wrestling championships but that too was rejected by the school’s principal.

In other news:

• The Board of Manageers approved girls’ flag football as a new sport for this fall. It will be up to the CIF State Federated Council for final approval Feb. 2.

• The Animo Jackie Robinson eight-man football team is facing sanctions from a playoff incident last fall in which the school refused to tell officials the name of its coach.

• The City Section is considering changes to the way it seeds teams for football playoffs after what commissioner Vicky Lagos called a “barrage of complaints from coaches and schools.” The City Section primarily has seeded teams based on rankings from CalPreps.com. Any adjustments will be up to the Games Committee, in consultation with a football advisory committee, to decide.

• The girls’ water polo finals will be held Feb. 16 at Valley College.

• The soccer finals will be held at Valley College and Lake Balboa Birmingham High.

• The site for the wrestling finals has yet to be determined, with Venice and San Fernando under consideration.