By Zach Cavanagh
For in-game updates, news and more for all of the San Clemente High School sports programs, follow us on Twitter @SouthOCSports.
Changes to Coast View Conference Roster in 2020
Laguna Hills will leave the Coast View Conference for the Pacific Coast League in all sports, and Dana Hills will follow suit in football only for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years in a proposal approved at an Orange County league alignment meeting on Monday, Sept. 9.
This leaves the Coast View Conference, which is split between the Sea View and South Coast Leagues and of which San Clemente is a member, with eight football teams for the next two-year cycle and nine teams in all other sports.
League affiliations in Orange County are reviewed in two-year cycles, and the Coast View Conference itself has a two-year period between shuffling teams between the “upper” South Coast League and “lower” Sea View League.
The proposal, which also swaps Katella and Western from the Orange League and Golden West Conference, respectively, garnered 76% of the approval vote.
The new leagues are set for approval at the CIF-SS Council meeting on Oct. 1. Appeals to the decision may be made at this meeting, but none are expected.
In the previous nine football seasons of the current Coast View Conference lineup, Laguna Hills has a Sea View League record of 16-20 with titles in 2010 and 2012. The Hawks have never moved up to the South Coast League and have never finished better than 2-2 outside of the league title campaigns, with two 0-4 records.
Dana Hills football has an 8-28 league record over those nine seasons, four seasons in the South Coast League and five in the Sea View League. The Dolphins won a Sea View League title in 2012 but have only won one league game in the past five seasons, 10-0 over Laguna Hills in 2017.
SCHS Alum, Former Coach McElroy Sets Saddleback Wins Mark
Saddleback College head football coach Mark McElroy, who graduated from San Clemente in 1978 and coached the Triton football team for seven seasons in the ’90s, recorded his 150th victory for the Gauchos on Saturday, Sept. 7 to become the winningest coach in Saddleback football history.
The Gauchos defeated the College of the Canyons, 45-20, in Santa Clarita, with 2016 San Clemente graduate Liam Eldridge providing 169 yards receiving and three touchdowns on 10 receptions.
McElroy, in his 21st season coaching Saddleback, improved to 150-72 overall to pass Ken Swearingen on the Gauchos’ all-time wins list. Saddleback has made the postseason in 17 of the past 18 seasons, with five league titles and a state championship game appearance in 2015.
As a student at San Clemente, McElroy played football, wrestled and golfed. As coach of the Tritons, McElroy went 43-28-3, and San Clemente went to its first playoff game in 14 years in 1993 and won its first league title in 17 seasons in 1995. The Tritons had been winless in league in the six seasons prior to McElroy’s tenure as coach.
SCHS Lacrosse Coach to Host Clinic
San Clemente boys lacrosse coach Brendan Finnerty will lead the SC Sharks 3v3 League lacrosse clinic from Sept. 22 to Oct. 27.
The clinic consists of six two-hour sessions that include 30 minutes of instructional training and 90 minutes of guided 3-on-3 games. The sessions run from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Sept. 22 and 29 and Oct. 6, 13, 20 and 27.
The clinic is for all levels, from novice to advanced, and accepts participants from second grade to eighth grade.
To register, go online to sclaxexperience.leagueapps.com/camps. Registration cost is $50.
Zach Cavanagh
Zach Cavanagh is the sports editor for Picket Fence Media. Zach is a California Journalism Award winner and has covered sports in Orange County since 2013. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @ZachCav and follow our sports coverage on Twitter @SouthOCSports.
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