Will Valor Christian High School, new to the Centennial League, continue to dominate the competition?

The Centennial League just got even tougher. Valor Christian, a five-time defending state champion, is set to join the Centennial, following a Colorado High School Activities Association meeting.

January will be the finality of Valor’s movement to a new league. Five of the six options for new leagues suggested the Eagles be moved to the Centennial.

The only proposal that didn’t place the Valor Eagles into the centennial league was based solely on a “waterfall system.” This system would place the teams into conferences with previously determined teams.

The number 9 team would be placed with the number 6 team. The number 10 team would be placed with the number 5 team. The 11th team would be placed with the number 4 ranked team. And so on would go the order. This option was no longer considered because the committee felt it would reconstruct the entire alignment.

The committee came to an agreement on option E.

Valor was moved to the Centennial league and another large point is that Grand Junction and Fruita Monument High School are to be placed into Metro-area leagues.

Valor, for the 2013 season was still placed in an independent league. Previously, Valor Christian was denied access to the Centennial league.

“That’s our job: to put them in a league. They had to be in a league,” CLOC chair Tom Arensdorf said on CHSAAnow.com. “Every member has the right to be in a league after they’ve done their probationary period.”

Regis Jesuit’s athletic director Kelly Doherty sees the new changes as a positive change.

“It is good for the Valor Kids to at least know where they are playing year in and year out and ultimately high school sports are about the kids,” Doherty said.

With as few as three or four private schools in 5A, Doherty does not see an opportunity for a separate private school division such as a 6A.

“There are not enough large private schools to form a league of just private schools. Now, if 3 or 4 more private schools popped up similar to Valor then I could see it happen,” Doherty said.

Doherty does like the new playoff system because it won’t over rank teams who shouldn’t be there.

“Now there will be representatives from all seven leagues that will seed the football playoffs rather than just by power points.  This will maybe prevent some schools coming out of weaker leagues to get higher seeds then they deserve,” Doherty said.

Many rumors are buzzing around whether or not Regis Jesuit will leave the Continental League. Doherty says that is not happening.

“No, we are not looking at moving because our league, the Continental League, is generally always considered one of the top 2 leagues in the state when it comes to sports across the board.  We are very happy where we are.”

Doherty thinks that the changes are overall positive for Valor and the rest of the state of Colorado, and does not see any big changes in Regis Jesuit’s 5A placement in the near future.

Varsity wide receiver “Dom” Dean believes the changes are for the best.

“Valor will finally meet their true test, finally their road will not be as easy a trail to the playoffs as it used to be. They will face the best teams in football each year and will not blow out every team they play,” Deane predicted.

Dean would love to see a private school league, but he knows that it might never happen.

“An all private school division would be so fun to play in, I know that this probably will never happen though, because the only good ones are Regis Jesuit, Mullen, and Valor,” Deane said.

Deane likes the new playoffs as it opens up new opportunities for teams like RJ.

“Honestly I feel as if the playoff system took advantage of Regis Jesuit, the reason why we lost that game [Regis Jesuit vs. Grandview] is because we didn’t get the home field advantage like we deserved. I am glad to see that the higher seed will be getting the advantage throughout the playoffs,” Deane said.

Deane believes Regis Jesuit is fine right where they are.

“The league that we are in now is perfect for us because it is the competitive level that we are at and the games are filled with excitement. Also the schools we play are like our rivals and moving leagues would lead us to having to find new ones,” Deane said.

Although the changes are small, he feels as if they will make a huge change in the Colorado Football organization.

Varsity  linebacker Christopher Linn also sees the new alignment as a interesting shift in power.

“Yes, Valor has won state the past 5 years and they are a fantastic team, but they are losing a good player in Christian McCaffrey so I am excited to see how they stack up against other schools of such high standards that the Centennial League has to offer,” Linn said.

Linn says a private school league will never work.

“In Texas, they have this and it works great, but that is because of their high student population in private schools, also we would only be playing Mullen High School and Valor repeatedly and that would get very boring,” Linn said.

He would love to see Regis Jesuit switch to the Centennial League because those schools are so close geographically.

” I would love to face Grandview, CT, and Creek as we are already rivals with them and they are all so close to us it would be so great for the athletics in general. I feel as if the competition is not enough for us to compete against, plus it makes our away games so far away,” Linn said.

Change is always a good thing and I am glad that I will be able to witness it and play through it.

High School Referee Jim Zehner, has something to say about the division realignment.

“Valor is changing leagues, I think that this will be an interesting season for all of the Centennial league because of the change. I feel that Valor will not dominate as they used to. They will still be a dominant team, I think,”  Zehner said.

Zehner would hate to see a private school football division.

“In high school football, the best should be competing against the best, and if the private schools broke off from 5A, then they would not be competing against the best,” he said.

According to the long-time referee, the new playoffs are going to be very beneficial to Colorado High School Football.

“Last year many high seeded teams lost in the first and second round because they weren’t prepared and were expecting a home game,” he said.

“The Centennial is a strong football league so it will be a really competitive situation week in and week out for Valor,” Doherty said.