ivl to leave southern section

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SoCalHoops High School News

Imperial Valley League Wants To Leave
CIF-SS For CIF-SD Section--(Mar. 27, 2000)

The San Diego Union Tribune recently carried a story about how the five-school Imperial Valley League is seeking to leave the Southern Seciton and join up with the CIF-San Diego Section for the 2000-01 school year. The league consists of Central Union and Southwest high schools of El Centro; Brawley High School; Calexico High School; and Palo Verde High of Blythe. Though the league has yet to be officially released by the Southern Section, the proposed move is expected to be brought before the San Diego Section Coordinating Council at a meeting to be held this week, and it is expected San Diego will accept the league. Member schools range in size from an enrollment of 1,690 at Brawley to 985 at Palo Verde, which means that for playoff purposes the schools range from Division I to Division III.

According to Southwest principal Joe Evangelist, who has also served as athletic director at both Southwest and Central Union, all of the Imperial Valley League's athletic directors have endorsed joining the San Diego Section. Evangelist to the Union Tribuine that all five teams would retain their standing as members of the Imperial Valley League. "There are several reasons why we would prefer inclusion in the San Diego Section, but it's mostly because of the fact that people in the Imperial Valley identify much more with the San Diego area than they do Riverside County or Orange County," Evangelist told the paper. "We would be much closer in terms of playoff participation, whereas now we're facing trips to places like Barstow or Victorville. There's a lot less fan participation in the playoffs and considerably more time out of school for students." The Union Tribune also noted though that in addition to travel distance in the playoffs, IVL teams usually don't fare well in the Southern Section playoffs. "No one is suggesting that we're going to come in and dominate," Evangelist told the U-T, "but we think we'd have a better chance in the playoffs, rather than typically being eliminated in the first round. But the real concern is that geographically we're isolated from both the San Diego Section and the Southern Section. We've toyed with the idea of gaining membership in Arizona and joining the high schools in Yuma, but we've never gotten things ironed out. I just think this is going to be a very positive move for our schools."