By Noel Smith
The SCCAL Board of Managers, comprised of principals from seven high schools in Santa Cruz County, voted unanimously to disband SCCAL Football after forty years — established 1976, disbanded 2016 — on December 13 2016 in the name of competition. The Aptos High football program had dominated the league for the past six years with six straight SCCAL titles, a 32-0 league record and had beaten three SCCAL teams by 52, 55 and 81 points this season.
Aptos High football will be joining the Monterey Bay League.
The Mariners, winner of three Central Coast Section championships in the past four years, were placed in the Gabilan Division. In 2017, the MBL-G includes Aptos, Alvarez, Monte Vista Christian, North Salinas, Palma, Salinas, San Benito and Seaside.
The MBL-P (Pacific Division) contains Alisal, Christopher, Gilroy, Monterey, North Monterey County, Pajaro Valley and Watsonville.
Six other teams — Harbor, Soquel, Santa Cruz, St. Francis, San Lorenzo Valley and Scotts Valley — will be playing in the Mission Trail Athletic League (MTAL). The MTAL had already approved the merging of leagues before Aptos officially joined the MBL.
The six teams would be placed in the two-tiered equity league for the 2017 season.
Tier One, the Mission Trail Division: Carmel, King City, Pacific Grove, Soledad (CCS Division IV champion), San Lorenzo Valley, Scotts Valley and Stevenson.
Tier Two, the Coastal Division: Gonzales, Greenfield, Harbor, Marina, Santa Cruz, Soquel and St. Francis that competed in the North Coast Section’s Bay Football League in 2016.