Congratulations to the Alisal Boys’ Varsity Soccer Team for winning the 2015-2016 Gabilan League Championship. This is Alisal’s third title in the four-year existence of the re-aligned MBL Gabilan League, arguably the toughest league in the nation, from its inception in 2012. This year’s Gabilan Title marks the sixth championship in eight-years for the Trojans, a span that has seen them win 105 games.
However, as has been the standard for quite a long time at Alisal, the Trojans are reaching for an even more significant title: The California Central Coast Section (CCS) Open Division Championship! For the first time in the history of the CCS, the governing body has created an Open Division for this year’s playoffs, opening the door for a full-on California State Championship that could become a reality as soon as next year. With the San Joaquin Valley and other schools in the more remote parts of California switching their soccer seasons from fall to winter, California is now aligned from San Diego to Northern California, making it a bit easier to organize a legitimate state title.
CCS Background
In years past, the CCS has assigned divisions to each schools. These assigned divisions were based on school populations. For example, Bellarmine Prep, which has a student population of approximately 3600 students (all boys), and Alisal, which has a population of around 2600 students, co-ed, would be categorized as Division I schools. The CCS then turns to the medium sized schools like Archbishop Mitty, Harbor, and St. Frances, for example. These schools have smaller populations than do DI schools. Thus, they are placed in the Division II category. The smaller schools, like Palma, Pacific Grove, Carmel, and Soledad, to name a few, are put into the Division III category. When it’s all said and done, each school competes against schools that, more or less, have similar student populations.
But this year the CCS has decided to make things much more interesting. Now, eight schools, regardless of the size of their student population, can qualify to compete in the newly formed CCS Open Division, the highest division in this part of California. Entry in to the Open Division can be had in two ways: 1. Winning an “A” League championship 2. Having a high number of Power Points (earned by playing and beating A League teams)
As a result of their league championship, Alisal has automatically qualified for this year’s Open Division. The seedings for the Open Division playoffs will be revealed tomorrow. Because they are a high seed, Alisal is sure to host their first round match, which according to Prep2Prep.com, will be against Leigh High School. However, this is only an educated guess at this point, as the CCS will have their official seeding meeting tomorrow afternoon. First round games begin on Saturday, February 27, 2016. Stay tuned for more details.
Go, Trojans.
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