State Football Champions: Can Poor Inner-City Schools Compete With Private and Suburban Schools?

The state football championships were brought back last year after Southern California schools got tired of hearing that Concord's De La Salle was so good that it could probably beat the worst NFL teams on a given Sunday. Champions are decided in three divisions based on school size, and last year SoCal teams won all three championships. De La Salle will be back for revenge this year, playing Centennial of Corona in the Division I game. Novato goes to battle Oceanside in the Division II game and Central Catholic of Modesto will go against Ventura's St. Bonaventure in the Division III game.

One thing that will be missing among the six teams competing for state championships will be representation from any schools from inner city school districts. No schools from San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond, Los Angeles, San Diego or any other school district with a mostly Black or Latin population are represented in this year's championship games.

Teams that play in the CIF state championship games are selected from a list of 47 schools that win their divisions within geographical regions, also known as Sections, and the overall strength of schedule

Read More