Things looking a bit different for Metro Conference winter sports after 2016-17 league re-alignment

If you’ve had a chance to scan the Metro Conference basketball and soccer standings over the last month, you’ll notice quite a few changes. San Ysidro’s boys basketball team, for instance, is now in the Mesa League. The reverse is true for Olympian, which moves to the South Bay League.

What’s going on?

It’s called competitive re-alignment.

The San Diego Section has been conducting it for the past several years in making its playoff format more competitive for all teams involved. No one can say it’s been a bad arrangement. The number of South County teams winning CIF championships has increased as have local teams reaching the higher strata of the section playoffs.

So why not implement it at the league level? The Metro Conference has done just that beginning this season.

The conference has done this by reducing its playing format from three leagues to two leagues and then balancing the teams in each league based on recent performance.

The Metro-Mesa League is now the Mesa League while the Metro-South Bay League is now the South Bay League.

The Metro-Pacific League is no more for sports other than football, which retains its three league format.

Moreover, the same schools are not represented in the same league in the same sport. The more competitive teams have been grouped into the Mesa League regardless of geography, meaning league membership has become much more diverse.

The leagues also do not have the same number of teams. That will vary between seven teams in one league to six in the other, however they are filled out.

Only one sport was affected during the fall sport season as Montgomery’s girls volleyball team moved from the Metro-South Bay League into the Mesa League, upping that league’s membership to six teams, while the conference’s remaining seven teams were grouped into the restructured South Bay League.

The 2016 Mesa League girls volleyball season thus began with two league champions from 2015: Eastlake (Metro-Mesa) and Montgomery (Metro-South Bay).

Eastlake won the 2016 title with a 10-0 showing while Montgomery finished 2-8 in its new surroundings.

Seven teams comprise the Mesa League in boys basketball: Mater Dei Catholic, Otay Ranch, San Ysidro, Eastlake, Bonita Vista, Montgomery and Sweetwater. Mater Dei won last year’s Metro-Mesa title while San Ysidro won last year’s Metro-South Bay championship.

Mater Dei is off to an 8-4 start this season while Otay Ranch carried a 10-5 record into the new year, San Ysidro was 8-6, Eastlake was 7-6 and Bonita Vista was 7-7.

This year’s six-team South Bay League alignment includes Hilltop (last year’s Metro-Pacific League tri-champion), Olympian, Chula Vista, Castle Park, Mar Vista and Southwest. Olympian competed in the Metro-Mesa League last season while Mar Vista and Southwest are combined into the fold from the old Metro-South Bay League.

Olympian is off to an 11-1 start after finishing runner-up in the Spartan Classic tournament at Chula Vista High School over the holiday break.

 

 

Mesa League tip-off: Barons, Crusaders start out 2-0

The Bonita Vista Barons and Mater Dei Catholic boys basketball teams have both jump-started Mesa League play on a winning note as the teams swept their opening two opponents this week.

Bonita Vista (2-0 in league, 10-7 overall) defeated visiting Otay Ranch in a game on Wednesday, Jan. 4, that was not decided until the final shot attempt. The Barons then grounded the visiting San Ysidro Cougars by an 87-58 score on Friday.

Mater Dei Catholic (2-0 in league, 10-4 overall) defeated visiting Montgomery, 64-53, on Wednesday and shaded host Sweetwater, 74-63, on Friday.

The Barons next play at Montgomery (1-1 in league, 7-9 overall) on Wednesday, Jan. 11; the Crusaders next host Otay Ranch (0-1 in league, 10-6 overall) on Friday, Jan. 13.

Both games tip off at 6 p.m.

Otay Ranch held a narrow lead midway through the third period but quickly found itself staring at a 50-42 deficit by the end of the quarter after superb offensive and defensive play by the host Barons.

But the game would finish in a hotly contested manner.

Bonita Vista led 50-47 with 44 seconds elapsed in the fourth quarter after the Mustangs charged out with five points to start the quarter. A three-point bomb tied the score, 50-50, before the Barons went back on top 54-50.

A basket by BV’s Sage Crawford upped the lead to 56-51 but Otay Ranch came right back on a three-point shot to tie the score 56-56.

The teams were tied 58-58 with 2:49 to play in regulation.

But a trey by Crawford put the Barons ahead 61-58. The hosts inched ahead 62-58 on a foul shot by Jordan McDaniel with 47 seconds to play.

But Otay Ranch narrowed the score to 62-61 on a three-point play executed with 38 seconds left.

The fans on both side of the court were cheering deliriously – and holding their hearts – at this point with the game in doubt.

Crawford sank a shot with 21 seconds left to put Bonita Vista on top 64-61. Defense – and a bit of luck – sealed the game for the Barons in the dying seconds of the exciting contest.

McDaniel blocked a shot by Otay’s Devin Lloyd with seven seconds left that sent shockwaves through the crowd. But Lloyd promptly got the ball on the other side of the key and launched a three-point shot. The ball went in and then out of the hoop as time expired to secure the three-point BV victory.

“We valued possession,” Baron head coach Don Dumas explained after the game. “At the beginning we played a little bit sloppy in the first half. We cut down our mistakes in the second half. We rebounded well. I thought that was the difference.”

Crawford the Bonita Vista with 16 points while Taylor Nelson dropped in 13 points and McDaniel scored 11 points.

The Barons dropped in six treys during the game.

Chris Stanek led the Mustangs with 23 points while Lloyd poured in 12 points. Stanek sank four of six three-point tries.

Bonita Vista and Otay Ranch are joined by five other teams, including two newcomers, to Mesa League play in 2016-17.

San Ysidro and Sweetwater come on board while Olympian departs for the South Bay League.

Mater Dei Catholic (Metro-Mesa League) and San Ysidro (Metro-South Bay League) won respective league titles last season.

“It’s always been a tough league and it’s going to be an even tougher league,” Dumas noted. “Adding these two new teams will make for a longer season. It will be which team can get through that grind. Whatever team can do that will come out on top.”

Mater Dei Catholic received 25 points from Trey Anderson in its win over Montgomery on Wednesday while Jacob Viss contributed 12 points and Beon Riley scored 11 points.

Riley led the victorious Crusaders with 11 rebounds while Anderson had nine boards. Cliff Kidd had eight rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Timothy Crawford led Montgomery with 24 points while teammate Kyle Paranada dropped in 11 points. Crawford also had five rebounds.

Metro Conference
Boys Basketball Standings
(Through Jan. 6)
Mesa League 

Mater Dei Catholic 2-0, 10-4
Bonita Vista 2-0, 10-7
Montgomery 1-1, 7-9
Sweetwater 1-1, 4-7
Eastlake 0-1, 7-8
Otay Ranch 0-1, 10-6
San Ysidro 0-2, 8-8

South Bay League
Olympian 0-0, 14-2
Mar Vista 0-0, 6-2
Chula Vista 0-0, 6-11
Southwest 0-0, 4-12
Hilltop 0-0, 3-11
Castle Park 0-0, 3-12

Metro Conference
Girls Basketball Standings
(Through Jan. 6)

Mesa League
Bonita Vista 2-0, 11-5
Mater Dei Catholic 2-0, 9-5
Eastlake 1-0, 10-6
Olympian 1-1, 6-7
Otay Ranch 0-1, 6-5
Hilltop 0-2, 5-8
Montgomery 0-2, 2-14

South Bay League
Mar Vista 0-0, 10-1
San Ysidro 0-0, 4-5
Castle Park 0-0, 5-7
Chula Vista 0-0, 3-10
Sweetwater 0-0, 3-11
Southwest 0-0, 2-11