It’s official: CCS football playoffs get a makeover

The Central Coast Section football playoffs will have a new format in the fall, with the top three divisions reserved for 24 “A” league teams and the bottom two divisions comprised of 16 teams from “C” and “B” leagues.

The brainchild of Aragon coach Steve Sell and introduced with overwhelming support at a football coaches’ committee meeting in December, the format cleared its final hurdle Wednesday when the CCS Board of Managers voted unanimously to approve the proposal.

The section’s five “A” leagues — the West Catholic, BVAL Mount Hamilton, SCVAL De Anza, PAL Bay and MBL Gabilan — will each receive four automatic bids. The remaining four spots in the top three divisions will be given to “A” league at- large teams with the most CCS power points.

Once the 24 teams are determined, they will be separated into three divisions based on enrollment. The champions in each of the three divisions will be eligible for state regional bowl games.

Champions from the two divisions reserved for “B” and “C” teams will not be eligible for state bowl games. But those teams also will not have to face opponents from much stronger leagues, as they did in the previous format.

The Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League and Mission Trail Athletic League — stand- alone “B” leagues — will each receive two automatic playoff bids.

The BVAL Santa Teresa, BVAL West Valley, SCVAL El Camino, MBL Pacific, PAL Ocean and PAL Lake will each receive one bid.

The remaining six spots in the lower two divisions will be selected from an atlarge pool based on CCS power points. Once the 16 teams are chosen, they will be separated into two eight- team, enrollmentbased divisions.

The format includes opt- up language for champions from the Santa Cruz Coast and Mission Trail leagues. If the champion from either of those stand- alone leagues has more power points than the “A” league qualifier with the fewest points, they can replace the “A” league team in one of the top three bowl- qualifying divisions and bump the “A” league team into one of the non- bowl qualifying divisions.

For more on the new format, visit blogs. mercurynews. com/ hssports/