The Turning Point

My-oh-my has HS Football grown in the past decade and change. There was a period of five years or so in the latter half of the 90's where BC HS Football began to morph into its present structure. We began to change from Lower Mainland-Interior to LM-Interior-Island and laid down a base to add Interior AAA ball as well. After reaching a critical mass, we have now gone truly provincial with teams in Prince George, Cranbrook, Quesnel, and Vanderhoof. There are a few voids to fill in Greater Victoria, Williams Lake, Hundred Mile House and the Peace River and I am sure this will happen over the next ten years if not less. We now also have a third tier in the shape of Tier 2 Varsity. My crystal ball shows me an expanded AA varsity league in the coming years. I think AAA will be pretty stable in terms of numbers based on the limited numbers of large public schools and private schools. This is all assuming that we don't go to a three tier system based on school size. We are getting close to that critical mass. Me thinks it would work with a 4th "Tier 2" group still attached. Another discussion I suppose.

Back to the turning point years:

I dug up a few old championship gameday programs and reviewed the numbers this week. I cannot find the 1996 Program which is why that year is absent. Ninety-Six was a crucial year as that is when the Island broke into the mix with Mt. Douglas and John Barsby joining AA Ball. Folks newer to BC HS Football will take note that there are a few programs that are no longer in existence today as well. During the late 90's and early part of this decade BC went to smaller schools as opposed to larger ones and this meant that some programs died or calved into smaller buildings. All in all, this period of years sowed the seeds of the conferences and regional alignments that we see today. There was also the big experiment of bringing up some of the more successful small public schools to AAA ball for awhile in the period 1999-2001. It became clear at the end of this experience that they could compete til the early rounds of the playoffs and then the big schools with their legions of horses just wore em out. This is something to not forget as we head into more growth and change provincially late in this decade and early in the next.



1995

AA Varsity (what we now call AAA) (14 Teams)

North Delta, Carson Graham, St, Thomas More, Notre Dame, Abbottsford,Terry Fox, Handsworth, Steveston

Vancouver College, Richmond, Mouat, Holy Cross. Centennial, Kamloops, West Vancouver, Port Moody

A Varsity (what we now call AA) (13 Teams)

Windsor, John Oliver, Sentinel, South Delta, Seaquam, Delta

Burnaby Central, Frank Hurt, Norkam, Westsyde, Brocklehurst, Rick Hansen, Aldergrove

1997

AAA Varsity (15 Teams)

Notre Dame, Carson Graham, STM, Terry Fox, North Delta, Burnaby Central, Abbottsford

Van College, Holy Cross, Mouat, Richmond, Centennial, Port Moody, Kamloops, West Vancouver

AA Varsity (22 Teams)

Handsworth, Windsor, Sentinel, John Oliver, John Barsby, Aldergrove, Pinetree

Westsyde, Kamloops, Vernon, Fulton, Kalamalka, Brocklehurst, Norkam, John Peterson

Hugh Boyd, R.C. Palmer, Mt. Douglas, S. Delta, Delta, Seaquam, Frank Hurt

1998

AAA Varsity (12 Teams)

Centennial, Holy Cross, John Oliver, WJ Mouat, Richmond, Vancouver College, West Vancouver

Burnaby Central, Carson Graham, North Delta, STM, Notre Dame, Terry Fox

AA Varsity (19 Teams)

John Peterson, Vernon, Kalmalka, Fulton, NorKam,Westsyde

Sentinel, Windsor, Handsworth, Pinetree, Rick Hansen, John Barsby, Timberline

South Delta, Seaquam, Hugh Boyd, Delta, Mt. Douglas, R.C. Palmer

1999

AAA Varsity (20 Teams)

Handsworth, Notre Dame, Carson Graham, Windsor, West Vancouver

W.J. Mouat, North Delta, Holy Cross, Rick Hansen, Burnaby Central

STM, Pinetree, Terry Fox, Centennial, John Oliver

Van College, Richmond, South Delta, Hugh Boyd, Mt. Douglas

AA Varsity (13 Teams)

Abbottsford, John Barsby, Delta, Seaquam, Sentinel, Frank Hurt, Timberline, Clarence Fulton, John Peterson, Kamloops, Norkam, Vernon, Westsyde

2000

AAA Varsity (19 Teams)

Carson Graham, Windsor, Notre Dame, Handsworth, West Vancouver

W.J. Mouat, North Delta, Holy Cross, Rick Hansen, Burnaby Central

STM, Terry Fox, Centennial, Pinetree

S. Delta, Vancouver College, Hugh Boyd, Mt. Douglas, Richmond

AA Varsity (20 Teams)

John Oliver, Frank Hurt, Seaquam, Abbottsford, Port Moody, RC Palmer,

John Barsby, Timberline, Delta, Ballenas, Sentinel

John Peterson, Kamloops, Clarence Fulton, Westsyde, Salmon Arm, W.L. Seaton, Vernon
Kalmalka, Norkam