(PHOTO: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone).
Realignment for most of Orange County’s high school football leagues into a five-team format for the 2027 season will begin in December, according to Ray Elliott, president of the Orange County Football Committee and Athletic Director at El Dorado.
The Trinity League consisting of Mater Dei, Santa Margarita, Orange Lutheran, JSerra, Servite and St. John Bosco is not part of the conference and is expected to remain a six-team league.
The decision by the Orange County committee comes after the CIF passed a by-law in September that mandates three automatic qualifiers for a five team league.
Under the current format, three teams from six team leagues are guaranteed CIF playoff berths.
“All 11 football leagues have now voted in favor of adjusting to five team leagues for one season,” the release from OCFC committee said. “The individual school vote was 56 to 13. The change to five team leagues directly benefits us as a county because our automatic qualifiers will now change from 34 to 41.
“To accommodate all 69 member schools, the conference configuration will now consist of 12 five
team leagues and one nine team league at the bottom.”
The nine team league will now get five automatic qualifiers in the CIF playoffs, the committee said.
“All 11 football leagues voted in favor of using new data (2026 65 percent and 2025 35 percent,” the release added. “The individual school vote was 50 to 19.”
Officials said the next step will be finalizing the leagues. The committee will meet the week of Dec. 14.
“At that time we will finalize league placement for all 69 schools and we will create league schedules for the 2027 season,” officials said.
Elliott added that he hopes that football coaches and athletic directors will have schedules by Thursday, Dec. 17.
The change will affect a number of programs including 2025 CIF Division 13 champion Woodbridge which will be in its third league in three years.
“Myself and the staff feel indifferent on the league changes,” Woodbridge Coach Connor McBride told OC Sports Zone Friday. “This will mean three different leagues in three seasons for myself as a head coach. Although we did look forward to facing Lambda league opponents again next season, we look forward to preparing for new programs.
“According to a few projections, it looks like we will be placed into a league with Westminster, Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa and Kennedy. We faced three {Kennedy, Calvary Chapel and Westminster} of those same teams during the 2026 season. Excited no matter who we play.”
Other projections have Crean Lutheran moving up to the highest league, the Alpha League. The Saints, coached by Rick Curtis, captured the championship of the highest league, the Bravo League, this past season.
The lowest rated league, the Tango League, consisted this year of La Quinta, Godinez, Loara, Bolsa Grande, Santa Ana Valley, Savanna, Santiago, Century and Magnolia.
The committee did not indicate what additional names will be used for leagues.
The new plan is expected to be in effect for two seasons.
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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