TCAA tells Oaks Christian to hit the road
By Stephen Dorman sdorman@theacorn.com

The Tri-Counties Athletic Association has sent a message to Oaks Christian: We no longer want you in our leagues. Please find somewhere else to play sports.

Oaks Christian's response: We're not going anywhere.

On Wednesday, TCAA president Dick Billingsley confirmed that the association's 13 members, which comprise both the Tri-Valley and Frontier leagues, have voted 84 in favor of recommending that Oaks Christian move out of the TCAA during the CIF-Southern Section's next releaguing cycle, prior to the 2010-11 school year.

There was one abstention, something that wasn't supposed to occur per the association's voting rules, Billingsley said. Each school's individual vote was not made public.

"Basically, this is a confirmation that the overall majority of the Tri-Counties Athletic Association is telling Oaks Christian they should have moved out when they said they were going to three years ago," said Billingsley, who also serves as athletic director and head football coach at Oak Park High.

"They should really consider moving out now. . . . But we cannot force them out."

Oaks Christian athletic director Jan Hethcock called Wednesday's announcement by the TCAA an informational and nonbinding decision that was a "no issue."

"They are asking us to completely leave the northern area and go to the southern area," Hethcock said. "That's basically what they want. They want us out of the entire area, and that's not what's best for our school.

"We have to do what's best for our school. What's best for our school is to stay in the community where the majority of our kids live. It's not our desire, in any way, to play the majority of our games in Los Angeles or even further south."

Hethcock said Billingsley's assertion that Oaks Christian promised to eventually join another league, including a possible move to the Mission League, has been taken out of context.

"We never promised to go into the Mission League," Hethcock said. "My quote was that we would look into the Mission League and do what's best for our school. I looked into the Mission League . . . they aren't going to accept us, for the same reason the Marmonte League doesn't want to accept us."

Oaks Christian moving to the Marmonte League isn't an option, Hethcock said, adding that OCHS doesn't have the number of studentathletes necessary to compete at the varsity, junior varsity and frosh-soph levels in all Marmonte sports.

OCHS, a five-time CIF-SS champion on the gridiron, has been pushing for years to join the Marmonte League for football only, but those efforts have been rejected.

On Tuesday, Marmonte principals adopted a unanimous resolution requesting the CIF keep things status quo for the next releaguing cycle.