Football: Marmonte League is looking like the Pac-10

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Marmonte League football coaches and administrators appear headed toward accepting the fact they are going to be a 10-team league for football beginning in 2010, meaning they will have just one nonleague game.

Westlake Village Oaks Christian and Ventura St. Bonaventure are scheduled to join eight public school teams in the league, which are Westlake, Calabasas, Newbury Park, Moorpark, Thousand Oaks, Agoura, Simi Valley and Royal.

There was talk of trying to split into five-team divisions, but Rob Dearborn, athletic director at Moorpark, said there’s a consensus growing to stick with a 10-team league because the Southern Section is unlikely to grant additional playoff spots besides the current four teams eligible for postseason.

The Marmonte League is expected to ask the Southern Section Council at its next meeting to grant one additional playoff berth, but league officials are not optimistic about receiving approval.

So the public schools are going to have to find a way to compete against Oaks Christian and St. Bonaventure for a four-year cycle while others will be trying to figure out how to rid themselves of the two private schools.

Tom Moran, president of the Catholic Athletic Assn., said his organization will have a procedure for considering teams that want to join the CAA, so don’t be surprised if moving one or both schools into the CAA becomes a proposal in the future.

-- Eric Sondheimer