Pacific Coast Athletic League football teams began spring ball this week, and there’s a buzz among the players and coaches who compete in the league’s bottom tier, the Santa Lucia Division, which has been reclassified as a D League.
In addition to preparing and setting goals for the upcoming season, many players are learning that the Santa Lucia champion will automatically advance to the Central Coast Section semifinals.
At a CCS league commissioners meeting in mid-March, athletic directors voted to create a separate Division VI for D League programs the playoffs, beginning in the fall of 2026. There’s a caveat: The D-VI champion doesn’t advance to the state playoffs, aka a CIF NorCal Regional bowl game.
Giving D Leagues their own division in the playoffs is expected to help even the playing field by eliminating possible mismatches against teams from A, B and even C-rated leagues. It’s also expected to strengthen the other divisions, which features teams fighting for a NorCal berth.
Santa Cruz High’s Finn Mitchell returns an interception against Sobrato during the CCS Division V quarterfinals in Morgan Hill on Nov. 15. The CCS will add a sixth division to the football playoffs this fall, which will exclusively feature teams from the section’s three D Leagues. (Raul Ebio – Santa Cruz Sentinel file)
“I think it’s good,” said Joseph Manfre, Pajaro Valley’s athletics director and a football assistant: “I think it gives teams, especially in our division, the Santa Lucia Division, it gives them a little bit more hope to not only make the playoffs, but to play teams that are the same caliber.
“I hope it goes well this year. And, hopefully, next year they expand it, and, hopefully, there is a chance for state.”
Cardinals coach Sergio Escobar, whose team lost in the first round of the 2025 CCS D-V playoffs after winning the Santa Lucia title, said the news was greeted with mixed emotions from his players.
“There’s a lot of guys on our team this year that felt had we all our bullets in the chamber last year we would’ve had a chance to win CCS and an opportunity to go to (NorCal), which would’ve been to really exciting,” he said. “But for the kids who don’t really know the workings, they’re just excited to have a legitimate chance (at winning CCS).
“We’re not going to have to worry about being put up against an A League that’s freaking 3-7. You know what I mean? Because we’ve definitely seen that in the past. … Your team can be put in a tough matchup. It sucks for a team of smaller caliber, that had a great season, to run into a team like that.”
The Division VI playoffs will feature four teams — the champions of the section’s three D-rated leagues, plus one at-large qualifier from a D League.
Several locals’ immediate thoughts jumped to 2024, when San Lorenzo Valley went 9-1 overall, took second in the Santa Lucia Division behind Stevenson of Pebble Beach, and was excluded from the playoffs.
“If we had this situation back then, they had a chance,” Escobar said. “Not guaranteed, but they had a chance at an at-large. Nine and one and a second-place finisher, you’d think they would’ve got it.”
Running back Justin Griffiths and the San Lorenzo Valley High football team missed the CCS playoffs in 2024 after posting a 9-1 record and finishing second in the PCAL’s Santa Lucia Division, which has been reclassified as a D League. A sixth division will added to the playoffs this fall and exclusively feature the section’s three D League champions, plus an at-large D League team. The Cougars now compete in the PCAL’s Mission North Division, a B League. (John Lee – Santa Cruz Sentinel)
Escobar said the at-large berth helps teams that endure a league loss maintain their postseason aspirations.
That said, there’s still pressure to win every week, the Cardinals coach said.
“Once you get to league, you’re in playoffs, because we only send one (team, guaranteed),” Escobar said. “You have yourself a bad half or a bad quarter, that can cost you the whole league.”
Harbor coach James Gaynor Jr. said: “To do (a division for) the lower tier teams only kinda gives everybody a realistic shot to say, ‘Hey, we want to compete for a CCS Championship.’ And it’s not just Harbor, Santa Cruz or PV, it’s the 30 smaller schools that are competing in that. It’s solid, man. I think it’s really good.
“The inclusion part of it is key, the equity piece.”
In addition to Santa Cruz, Harbor, and Pajaro Valley, five other schools, Gonzales, Greenfield, Marina, Rancho San Juan, and Seaside, will compete in the Santa Lucia Division in 2026.
With eight teams in the Santa Lucia, coaches are going to have to be extra picky when filling out their nonleague schedule. Most of them want to play programs from higher rated leagues to help their cause for an at-large berth, but not so much so that they endure costly injuries that may affect their chance at competing for the division title.
The CCS’s other two D Leagues are the Peninsula Athletic League’s Lake Division and Blossom Valley Athletic League’s West Valley Division. Andrew Hill, Evergreen Valley, Independence, James Lick, Mt. Pleasant, Prospect, and Yerba Buena compete in the BVAL’s West Valley Division. Cupertino, El Camino, Gunn. Homestead, MacDonald, Mills, Monta Vista, and Saratoga compete in the PAL’s Lake Division.