Sorting out the new high school leagues: The Sun Valley, the new DVL, the Manzanita

If you are a desert high school football fan, you may have heard talk about new leagues this year.

For the last five years, the six teams of the Desert Empire League and the eight teams of the Desert Valley League have remained the same. This year there is some shuffling. There's a new league called the Sun Valley League, the DVL is restructured and what the heck is the Manzanita League? Well, the word manzanita means "little apple" in Spanish, but that doesn't really help.

Anyway, don't worry. As the season is about to kick off, we've got answers to all your questions.

What is the Sun Valley League?

The eight-team league formerly known as the Desert Valley League was split into two four-team leagues. One league will still be called the DVL and is comprised of Coachella Valley, Indio, Twentynine Palms and Yucca Valley. The other half is the Sun Valley League which consists of Cathedral City, Desert Hot Springs, Desert Mirage and Banning.

The athletic directors of the Citrus Belt -- which consists of schools in Riverside and San Bernardino counties -- voted on two new models for reconfiguration, and the one with the split DVL won out. It will stay this way for at least two years before another reconfiguration vote will be held.

Cathedral City football coach Richard Lee, the longest-tenured football coach among the eight DVL teams, came up with the name.

The DVL/Sun Valley League split applies to all sports, not just football, but finding competitive equity in football was a driving force in the decision.

Who benefits?

Since the eight-team DVL came into existence in 2018, only Coachella Valley and Yucca Valley have won a football league title. The four Sun Valley League football teams have not been competitive.

For example, the four Sun Valley League teams went 0-8 against Coachella Valley and Yucca Valley last year with an average score of 48.5 to 9.6.

So for Cathedral City, Desert Hot Springs, Desert Mirage and Banning, the Sun Valley League provides a fresh start with more competitive balance. Two of those four teams are guaranteed to make the playoffs this year, an exciting prospect for many players who haven't gotten a taste of a league-title race or playoff football (although DHS did make the playoffs as the third-place team last year).

"For desert schools like us and Cathedral City and DM and Banning, too, that have kind of been on the lower end of the majority of sports and not just football for a while, it gives us opportunities to play for playoff berths and league titles in a way our student-athletes haven't really had many chances to in recent years," said Kai Lyles, the athletic director at Desert Hot Springs. "The kids are excited. They want to fight for a championship, not just third place or fourth place. Think of last year for us, we had the best season in school history and finished in third place."

If the Sun Valley League had been in place last year for football, Desert Hot Springs, Cathedral City and Desert Mirage would have all finished the year 2-1 in league play and Banning 0-3. So two of those three teams tied for first would have gotten a playoff spot and all three could consider themselves Sun Valley League co-champions.

What about the new DVL?

The four teams in the current DVL — Coachella Valley, Indio, Yucca Valley and Twentynine Palms — may not be so bullish on the new arrangement. They are, as discussed, considered the upper crust of the former Desert Valley League

For the teams of the DVL and the Sun Valley League, the strangest part of being in a four-team league is to only have three league games to make your mark. The football teams will have to wait until Week 9 of the season to play a league game.

"It's going to be hard to get used to, it will basically be a race to win two games to get a playoff spot," said new Indio head football coach Lamont Thompson as a 2-1 league record will put you either alone in second place or in a tie for first, both good enough for a playoff spot. "I guess I don't like it, having just three league games, but we'll roll with the punches and do the best we can."

A good example of how some teams might not benefit from the new set-up would be to consider the 2022 DVL football standings.

These were the final standings that year: Coachella Valley 7-0, Yucca Valley 5-1, Indio 5-2, Cathedral City 3-4, Banning 3-4, Twentynine Palms 2-4, Desert Hot Springs 2-5, Desert Mirage 0-7.

The top three teams — Coachella Valley, Yucca Valley and Indio — earned the automatic three playoff spots.

But if the 2024 split leagues were in place. Third-place Indio would not have made the playoffs, having finished 1-2 and in third place. Meanwhile, Cathedral City and Banning who finished fourth and fifth would both make the playoffs as the Lions would be 3-0 under the new league structure and Banning would be 2-1.

So while four teams would make the playoffs instead of three, are they going to be the most deserving teams?

"Obviously, not all the schools were happy with the realignment, but something like 90 high schools vote on these proposals, so it wasn't just a DVL vote," Lyles said. "There were two proposals to vote on and the other one would've kept the DVL as it was. For us it's going to be great. But every school has certain sports they excel at, so it will be interesting to see how it all plays out."

Any changes to the Desert Empire League?

Nope. The six Desert Empire League teams — La Quinta, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Shadow Hills and Xavier Prep — stayed the same in the new Citrus Belt restructuring and will remain a six-pack with the top three teams getting an automatic playoff bid through at least the 2025 season.

What is the Manzanita League?

The Manzanita League is a new conglomeration of eight teams that will include both Desert Christian Academy and Desert Chapel. Remember the Eagles became an 11-man team last season.

In 2023, Desert Chapel was an independent team and Desert Christian Academy was in the six-team Cottonwood League.

Along with the Eagles and Conquerors, the Manzanita League includes California Military Institute, Hamilton, Nuview Bridge, San Jacinto Valley Academy, Vasquez and Saint Jeanne de Lestonnac.

As an eight-team league, the top three teams will make the postseason automatically. If the Conquerors or Eagles were to accomplish that feat, it would mark the first team either team would be in the CIF-SS postseason as an 11-man team.

Shad Powers is a columnist for The Desert Sun. Reach him at shad.powers@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Sorting out the new high school leagues: The Sun Valley, the new DVL, the Manzanita