The Pacific Coast Athletic League, a 33-school super league that will contain the current members of the Monterey Bay League and Mission Trail Athletic League and St. Francis of Watsonville, is here.

Here are four takeaways from the division placings for the PCAL’s first fall season:

BIGGEST WINNERS
Watsonville star freshman cross country runner, Layla Ruiz, has to feel great about repeating as champion in the Cypress division, which will feature Gonzales, Monterey, Pajaro Valley, Seaside, Stevenson and York.

All seven football teams in the Santa Lucia division — Gonzales, Greenfield, Harbor, Marina, Pajaro Valley, Soquel and Stevenson — are set up nicely to succeed next season. Marina is the only team in the bunch that finished with a .500 record this fall — the program’s first since becoming an 11-player team in 2010.

Carmel and Soledad football have to be happy to dodge the Gabilan division and be left down in the Mission division, which will house Alisal, Monte Vista Christian, North Salinas, Scotts Valley and Watsonville. Although none of those teams are pushovers, the road to the playoffs will be much easier when compared to the absolute slugfest that is set for the eight Gabilan teams.

SURPRISES
The reshuffling of the league’s 29 football teams was, for the most part, fair. But the decision to leave Alvarez in the Gabilan division with Aptos, Christopher, Gilroy, San Benito, Palma, Salinas and Seaside is puzzling.

The Eagles finished second to last in the MBL-Gabilan division this season, while being shutout three times and averaging just 10.3 points per game. They also have not produced a winning record over three years in Gabilan.

Leaving them in a division that will feature two league champs, seven playoff teams and three Central Coast Section finalists seems like cruel and unusual punishment to me.

Also, Pacific Grove football making the cut for the Cypress division after a 1-9 season and winless league campaign is a bit strange, but the program’s success at the lower levels might be the cause for the move.

RIVALRIES
It’s nice to see some big football rivalries like Palma-Salinas, Gilroy-Christopher and San Benito-Palma survive but I’m sad to see other great local rivalries be somewhat diminished.

The Belgard Kup Game, the Shell Game, the Stump Game, the Shoe Game and the unnamed battle between Scotts Valley and San Lorenzo Valley are all meeting the same fate as the Monterey-Seaside “Battle of the Bay,” which was moved up into the preseason this fall.

This was one of the major drawbacks of creating the PCAL and I’m worried that these great football rivalries will never be the same.

The Belgard Kup Game between Watsonville and Pajaro Valley was a special night for the community over its first 11 years, drawing more than 2,000 fans for each iteration. The game has been moved up to the opening week of the season — Aug. 24 at Emmett M. Geiser Field, mark your calendars — and we’ll see if the draw will continue to be the same as it has been in the past.

GABILAN DIVISION VOLLEYBALL, YIKES
As if the MBL’s Gabilan division was not tough enough already, the PCAL’s Gabilan division boosted the difficulty a whole ‘nother notch.  

Carmel, Christopher, San Benito, King City, Monte Vista Christian, Notre Dame-Salinas, Salinas and Santa Catalina all made the playoffs this season, six of them advanced to the CCS semifinals and one captured a section title.

But I’ll give it to the coaches, there is not one team in the division that does not belong. One could make a case that Carmel or Christopher should be in another league, but both teams would beat up on teams in either of the PCAL’s “B-rated” divisions.

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