SVHS: Trojans in limbo after exploring move from DML

YERMO • The Silver Valley High School athletic department got what it wanted, but it isn’t so sure it wants it anymore.

Confused? So is Silver Valley and the CIF-Southern Section.

Silver Valley is in the process of evaluating its position in the Desert Mountain League and is considering a move to another league.

The CIF-SS granted Silver Valley’s request to move to the Small Schools Area in November, but the administration realized that’s not what they want and are planning to appeal the decision.

“I’m baffled,” CIF-SS Commissioner Jim Staunton said. “The first option is, for God sakes tell us what they want to do.”
Areas are used to form leagues within the CIF-Southern Section and can be constructed for geographic or other reasons. There are nine areas in the Southern Section. Silver Valley currently resides in the Desert Area but could be moved to the Smalls Schools Area beginning with the 2009-2010 school year.

Schools can request to switch areas every four years during the area placement process. In between that time schools can only change leagues with unanimous approval from the league the school is leaving and the one it is joining. However, a school can only join a league within its area.

Former Silver Valley principal Heather Griggs, who left the school in December, requested the move due to a tightening state budget and the travel costs associated with playing in the DML with Mammoth and Lone Pine. A round trip to Mammoth, 530 miles, takes almost 20 hours including the drive, breaks for food and the freshman, junior varsity and varsity games that are played, Griggs said. A round trip to Lone Pine is 338 miles. To compound the problem, many Silver Valley students live as much as an hour away from the campus.

“We petitioned CIF to re-league basically because of geographic distances,” said Griggs in early December. “It’s not good for (students) physically. It’s not good for them academically. It’s expensive, and something has to change.

“The reality of the state budget is we’ve got to look at what we can do.”

Cutting down on travel costs means the Trojans could offer more sports, Griggs said. Silver Valley makes about seven trips a year to Mammoth with each trip costing the school more than $1,000, Griggs said. Mammoth Athletic Director Scott Luke did not return a call for comment.

Silver Valley originally asked to be moved to the Small Schools Area with the intention of trying to get in the Agape League. However, the Agape League plays eight-man football, and, with a school size around 600 students, the Trojans are considered too big to play eight-man football.

Cameron Smart, Silver Valley interim principal, admits that the school probably didn’t understand the process fully.

“On our part, we didn’t do our homework,” he said.

Now Smart is tasked with trying to find the best fit for the Trojans. He is talking with people in the Small Schools Area and the Christian League — which includes Aquinas, Arrowhead Christian, Loma Linda Academy, Ontario Christian and Western Christian — about a possible move to the league if the Trojans stay in the Small Schools Area. However, he admitted the Trojans best fit might still be in the Desert Mountain League.

CIF-SS will hold a council meeting Jan. 22 to hear final area placement recommendations, and re-leagueing won’t be sorted out until May.

Although the Southern Section includes more than 500 schools, Silver Valley is limited in where it can be placed. The Small Schools Area might sound like a perfect home for a rural school in Yermo, but some of schools in the area are double the size of Silver Valley. Smart said he worries that if the Trojans stay in the Smalls Schools Area, they won’t get placed in the league of their choosing. Members of the Southern Section vote on proposals put together by the schools to determine the leagues.

“We want to have some say in where we go,” Smart said “Our concern is we won’t have much control where we go. We don’t want to be stuck in a situation where we can’t be competitive. We are not doing this just for money.”

The move was not met with universal approval. Among those questioning the move are Boron Athletic Director Jim Boghosian and former Silver Valley football coaches Ernest Vogt and Doug South.

“I think it’s a bad deal,” Boghosian said. “They do OK in our league. I didn’t want to stop them, but I thought it was stupid.”

Vogt and South recall previous moves which placed the Trojans in leagues that weren’t  good fits. The Trojans twice landed in the De Anza League where bigger schools like Serrano and Big Bear beat up on them. The De Anza League is not an option this time around because it is not in the Smalls Schools or Desert Areas.

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(760) 256-4124 or
mpeters@desertdispatch.com