After playing in the Mission Football Conference for the past 20 years, the Lancer football team will play in the newly founded Southern California Football Association’s (SCFA) National Northern Conference (NNC) next season.PCC will play an almost entirely new schedule, featuring only two teams (Mt. San Antonio and Riverside) from their former league.
The NNC will feature Alan Hancock, Bakersfield, Canyons, Glendale, Moorpark and Ventura.
Beside Glendale, which is only nine miles away from PCC, the other schools in the conference are an average of 90 miles away from Pasadena, Allan Hancock being the farthest away at 175 miles.
“The travel is going to be brutal,” PCC Head Coach Kenny Lawler said. “They tried to make the conferences regional, but it didn’t work out.”
SCFA officials knew geography was going to be a problem, but cite balance in talent to be the main concern.
“[For PCC] the commute is going to be an issue,” SCFA Director of Football Operations Rich Kollen said. “But competitive games are more important.”
“It’s going to be better competitively and better for our student athletes,” SCFA Commissioner Jim Sartoris said. “The conferences are regional, but some schools are in the middle.”
Lawler agrees that the conference shuffle will be better for competition, and feels his team will succeed.
“We will be just as, if not more competitive in this conference,” Lawler said. “I’m excited to play different teams.”
The SCFA is set to include five conferences, on a two-tier system based upon team’s records from the past two years. The top tier will feature 21 teams and will be called the National Conference with Northern, Central and Southern subsets. The second tier will have 16 teams and be called the American Conference, with Pacific and Mountain subsets.
The Southern California playoff tournament will feature eight teams, including the top two teams from each National Conference and the winners from both American Conferences. The winner of the tournament will go on to face the Northern California champion for the state title.
To keep the balance of talent in order, the SCFA will reevaluate the conferences every two years and adjust them accordingly.
Sartoris, a former head coach and athletic director at Glendale, headed the effort to form the SCFA and feels it is for the best.
“This is historical,” Sartoris said. “For 37 colleges in Southern California to play under the same umbrella is great.
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