Nine schools recommended to be in revamped Delta League

If the first Sac-Joaquin Section conference alignment proposal navigates its way to approval in the spring, Davis High will find itself in a nine-school loop — called the Delta League — which will include newcomers Jesuit, Pleasant Grove, Sheldon and St. Francis.

Gone would be Laguna Creek but old friends Elk Grove, Monterey Trail, Grant and Franklin would remain with the Blue Devils.

Is this early recommendation, unveiled Tuesday by Sac-Joaquin Section officials good for DHS?

“I don’t think it is,” Davis Athletic Director Dennis Foster reports. “It’s going to cut down our nonleague football games … it’s going to cut down our nonleague games in virtually every sport.

“There will be teams that don’t have teams in all the sports that we do,” added the AD, who went on to say he’d like to see the schools grouped according to the number of sports they offer. “Otherwise, we’ll have big holes in our league schedules.”

Foster, who attended meetings on Tuesday at the CIF’s Lodi office, said other athletic directors joined in opposition to the proposal, which would take effect during the 2014-15 athletic calendar.

Foster said some schools, presumably Pleasant Grove, had concerns about travel.

In addition to the Division I Delta League realignment, the Monticello Empire League could get a complete facelift with the six-school circuit including Napa, Bethel, Rodriguez, Vallejo, Vintage and Vacaville.

Del Oro, Granite Bay, Nevada Union, Folsom, Oak Ridge, Rocklin, Roseville and Woodcreek would be lumped into the Sierra Foothill League.

In the proposal, the section had just those three D-I conferences.