Imagine Folsom High School competing against Granite Bay, Del Oro, Oak Ridge, Rocklin and Nevada Union for the Sierra Foothill League football championship each fall.

Or baseball powers Franklin, Davis, Elk Grove and Jesuit battling for titles in a new Delta League.

Fantasy may turn into reality for some – and reality into discord for others – if the latest Sac-Joaquin Section realignment proposal passes for the academic years 2014-18.

Section Commissioner Pete Saco and Assistant Commissioner John Williams consider realignment every four years to maintain as much competitive balance as possible. New schools, the loss of enrollment or decline or rise in athletic prowess influence change. The three main criteria for realignment are enrollment, scope of program (the number of total sports offered) and competitive equity.

Saco said fitting 181 schools into leagues will not make everyone happy. As many as four more realignment meetings are scheduled as school administrators promote ideas or voice concern about change.

"It's not like getting a puzzle at the store and saying, 'OK, this piece goes here,' and it all comes out in one nice square or rectangle," said Saco, in his 20th year as commissioner. "There's no real end, no finished product. It's never a perfect puzzle. There could be changes, different recommendations, and that's why we have more meetings."

The SFL has long been considered one of the state's premier conferences, but adding Folsom, fresh off a 14-1 football season, and Oak Ridge, which lost to Granite Bay in the Division I section finals, would surely add to it.

To that end, Saco said the SFL would be allocated four playoff teams, and possibly five.

"It'd be an incredible football league," Folsom coach Kris Richardson said. "We would have to be the best league in Northern California with four teams that recently have been to a State Bowl. I love it."

Those state teams are Rocklin in 2009, Folsom in 2010, Del Oro in 2011 and Granite Bay last month. Those four schools, along with Nevada Union and Oak Ridge, have won a total of 26 section football titles.

In baseball, Elk Grove, Jesuit, Davis and Pleasant Grove have been powerhouse programs with scores of scholarship athletes and/or pro draftees.

Under the new realignment, those schools would be consolidated from the current six-team Delta River and Delta Valley leagues into one eight-team Delta League.

Some proposed changes will continue to generate discussion.

Sacramento High, a charter member of the Metro Conference within the Sacramento City Unified School District, seems like an odd fit in the Division III-proposed Capital Athletic League with Casa Roble, El Camino, Oakmont, Placer, Vista del Lago and Christian Brothers.

Sac High administrators and coaches say they would prefer to remain in the Metro with longtime rivals that include Burbank, McClatchy, Kennedy and Johnson.

Placer administrators said they will drum up petitions, protests and argument, if necessary, to prevent a move into the CAL and out of the preferred Pioneer Valley League with decades-long rivals in the foothills in Colfax, Lincoln and Bear River.

Saco said enrollment is a major criterion.

Placer has more than 1,400 students and Colfax is projected to have as few as 550 within a few years.

The next section meeting is Jan. 29.

REALIGNMENT PROPOSAL

Here's how area leagues would look in Divisions I-V for the 2014-18 school years if there are no changes to the realignment proposal by the Sac-Joaquin Section:

DIVISION I

DELTA LEAGUE

• Davis

• Elk Grove

• Franklin

• Grant

• Jesuit/St. Francis

• Monterey Trail

• Pleasant Grove

• Sheldon

SIERRA FOOTHILL LEAGUE

• Del Oro

• Folsom

• Granite Bay

• Nevada Union

• Oak Ridge

• Rocklin

• Roseville

• Woodcreek

DIVISION II

CAPITAL VALLEY CONFERENCE

• Antelope

• Bella Vista

• Del Campo

• Ponderosa

• Rio Americano

• Whitney

DIVISION III

CAPITAL ATHLETIC LEAGUE

• Casa Roble

• Christian Brothers

• El Camino

• Oakmont

• Placer

• Sacramento

• Vista del Lago

METRO CONFERENCE

• Burbank

• Cosumnes Oaks

• Florin

• Johnson

• Kennedy

• Laguna Creek

• McClatchy

• Valley

TRI-COUNTY CONFERENCE

• Inderkum

• Pioneer

• Rio Linda

• River City

• River Valley

• Woodland

• Yuba City

DIVISION IV

PIONEER VALLEY LEAGUE

• Bear River

• Center

• Colfax

• Foothill

• Lincoln

• Mira Loma

SIERRA VALLEY CONFERENCE

• Cordova

• El Dorado

• Galt

• Liberty Ranch

• Rosemont

• Union Mine

DIVISION V

GOLDEN EMPIRE LEAGUE

• Capital Christian

• Dixon

• Lindhurst

• Marysville

• Mesa Verde

• Natomas

• West Campus

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