Santa Barbara County high school football teams will be scattered among nine playoff divisions under the CIF-Southern Section’s new competitive equity system.
Under the new system, playoff divisions will no longer be determined by leagues.
The CIF-SS on Friday released the list of member schools that play 11-man football and grouped them in 13 divisions. The division placement was determined by a power-ranking system that took in playoff success and strength of schedule over the last two seasons. The CIF also used input from a Coaches Advisory Committee.
Lompoc was the highest-placed team from the county, drawn into Division 4. Nineteen schools will be vying for 16 playoff spots in the division.
Bishop Diego, which competed in the Northern Division (Division 3) playoffs the last two years and advanced to the semifinals last season, will compete in Division 5 this fall. Joining Cardinals in the 22-team division will be area schools St. Joseph, Ventura and Calabasas.
The three local Channel League schools were placed in different playoff divisions: Santa Barbara is in Division 9, Dos Pueblos in Division 10 and San Marcos in Division 12.
Carpinteria, of the Tri-Valley League, also was placed in Division 12.
The other county schools and their divisions are: Righetti (Division 7), Pioneer Valley (Division 8), Santa Ynez (Division 10), Cabrillo (Division 11) and Santa Maria (Division 12).
Division 13 features the largest number of schools with 84.
The breakdown: Division 1 (18 schools), Division 2 (18 schools), Division 3 (19 schools), Division 4 (19 schools), Division 5 (22 schools), Division 6 (22 schools), Division 7 (23 schools), Division 8 (25 schools), Division 9 (29 schools), Division 10 (38 schools), Division 11 (38 schools), Division 12 (46 schools), Division 13 (83 schools).
The CIF noted that the playoff groupings are subject to change based on new or missing data provided by member schools. Adjustments to the divisions will be made before August.
Once the 2016 Fall season ends, the divisions will be changed for Fall 2017, based on the data from the 2015-16 and 2016-17 school years.
— Noozhawk sports editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.