AURORA | Get used to Valor Christian, Centennial League football fans, you’re likely to see the Eagles a lot for the next two seasons.
The Colorado High School Activities Association football committee further strengthened perhaps Colorado’s most powerful conference already by adding two-time Class 5A state champion Valor Christian as part of a realignment decision made Thursday at the Doubletree Hotel in Aurora.
The football committee considered six different realignment proposals for the next two-year cycle and surprisingly landed on Option E — proposed by Jason Jacob representing the Continental League — that placed previously independent Valor Christian into the Centennial League along with Aurora teams Cherokee Trail, Eaglecrest, Grandview and Overland, along with Cherry Creek.
Five of the six proposals in the final group considered by the football committee had Valor Christian moving to the Centennial League, while the sixth option — proposed by the Centennial League itself — included a “waterfall” alignment based on the average wild card points finish of the past two seasons.
The selection must be approved and finalized at the CHSAA legislative meeting in January. Also looking for approval at that meeting is a plan for a committee of administrators to select the 32-team 5A playoff field instead of strictly using the wild card points formula.
If the changes go into effect, the Centennial League would be the landing place of a Valor Christian program that has won five consecutive state championships, two each in 5A and 4A and one in 3A. The Eagles, who captured this season’s 5A title with a 56-16 rout of Fairview at Sports Authority Field at Mile High, had been playing an independent schedule when no conference would take them.
Valor Christian met two Centennial League teams in the playoffs, downing Eaglecrest 63-22 in the first round and getting its toughest of the postseason from Cherokee Trail in the semifinals, prevailing 42-23. The Eagles outlasted the Cougars 9-0 in the 2012 5A state championship game as well.
The Aurora team moving out of the Centennial League — Smoky Hill — joins the newly created Mountain Conference team that also includes Gateway, Hinkley and Rangeview of Aurora Public Schools, which were previously part of the Aurora League. The change would reunite Buffaloes coach Justin Hoffman, previously of Gateway, with some familiar programs.
“We’re just pumped and excited for the new opportunity and excited to do something different,” said Hoffman, whose team finished 2-8 overall this past season, including an 0-5 mark in the Centennial League.
“Sometimes it takes a program awhile to get some traction, but once you get some traction, it ends up being a good thing,” he added shortly after leaving the committee meeting. “I think that’s where we’re at. We have to get some traction, so it’s good for our program to try to get some wins that are local. Hopefully we can do that and in the future be able to go to a conference like the one we came from.”
During the meeting, Hoffman secured a non-league matchup against a Centennial League team — Overland — for Zero Week next season.
Regis Jesuit is part of the six-team Continental North division, which includes three teams the Raiders were grouped with last season in Highlands Ranch, Mountain Vista and ThunderRidge, while adding Rock Canyon and Fruita Monument.
Another former Aurora League team, Aurora Central, drops from 5A to 4A and falls into the Mountain Conference along with Denver South, George Washington, Golden, Standley Lake and Wheat Ridge.
Vista PEAK, which will stay at the 3A level for another two seasons, remains in the Colorado 7, which adds an eighth team in Lutheran.
SELECTED CLASS 5A FOOTBALL REALIGNMENT (OPTION E)
CENTENNIAL LEAGUE (6): Cherry Creek, CHEROKEE TRAIL, EAGLECREST, GRANDVIEW, OVERLAND, Valor Christian
CONTINENTAL NORTH (6): Fruita Monument, Highlands Ranch, Mountain Vista, REGIS JESUIT, Rock Canyon, ThunderRidge
SOUTH METRO LEAGUE (6): Arapahoe, GATEWAY, Grand Junction, Heritage, HINKLEY, RANGEVIEW, SMOKY HILL
CONTINENTAL SOUTH (6): Castle View, Chaparral, Doherty, Douglas County, Fountain-Fort Carson, Legend
FLATIRONS (8): Boulder, Brighton, Denver East, Montbello, Northglenn, Prairie View, Thornton, Westminster
FRONT RANGE (8): Fairview, Fossil Ridge, Horizon, Legacy, Monarch, Mountain Range, Poudre, Rocky Mountain
JEFFCO (8): Arvada West, Bear Creek, Chatfield, Columbine, Lakewood, Mullen, Pomona, Ralston Valley
SELECTED CLASS 4A FOOTBALL REALIGNMENT
MOUNTAIN (6): AURORA CENTRAL, Denver South, George Washington, Golden, Standley Lake, Wheat Ridge
SELECTED CLASS 3A FOOTBALL REALIGNMENT
COLORADO 7 (8): Elizabeth, Englewood, Fort Lupton, Fort Morgan, Lutheran, Skyview, VISTA PEAK, Weld Central
Courtney Oakes is Sports Editor of the Aurora Sentinel. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. Facebook: Aurora Prep Sentinel
