The 2024 season, with 72 teams, up from 46 in 2023, and a potential full schedule of 20 games in the regular season, plus playoff jousts, total games should surpass 600, up from about 325 in 2023.
Most of the 26 new squads are from North County, including all 5 from Poway Unified (Del Norte, Poway, Mt Carmel, Rancho Bernardo, Westview). Other new large schools include Carlsbad, Escondido, La Costa Canyon, Mission Hills, San Marcos, Oceanside, Ramona, and Vista.
CIF-RELATED ISSUES
Halves are now 24 versus 20 minutes, and a pass clock is in effect. If ball is not thrown or touched by another player in 7 seconds, the play is dead. As previous, no blocking downfield, only behind the line-of-scrimmage. The defender must avoid a stationary ‘blocker’, as contact is never allowed. Similarly, a ‘tackler’ cannot obstruct a runner to grab a flag. Typically, the most legal contact occurs with some hand-fighting for a pass. Anything further produces a yellow hankie.
The 10-page CIF Flag Rule Book is here, with 2024 changes and clarifications highlighted in red.
More games and the always dearth of officiating crews, may be solved with frequent multiple games per day, per site involving multiple teams. The early season weekend’s tournament style plan, with up to 6 games with 10 teams per day, proved successful. In-season, afternoon dual/triple contests at a single site will be a norm.
PLAYOFFS [October 20 Update]
Pairings appear on November 6, with 12 teams in each of 4 divisions, seeded primarily by record and MaxPreps ranking, and first round play begins November 12. The top 4 seeds have a 1st round bye, and the higher seed is the home team. The 4 champions will be determined by 4 games on Saturday, November 23.
No further regional playoff participation is scheduled by San Diego CIF.
CONFERENCES (UNOFFICIAL)
Avocado: Carlsbad, El Camino, La Costa Canyon, Mission Hills, San Dieguito, San Marcos
City: Clairemont, Canyon Hills, Crawford, Madison, Mission Bay
Eastern:Â Cathedral, Kearny, Lincoln, Morse, Our Lady of Peace, University City
Grossmont: Granite Hills, Grossmont, Steele Canyon, Santana
Imperial Valley: Brawley, Calexico, Calexico Vincent Memorial, El Centro Central, El Centro Southwest, Holtville, Imperial
Independent: Chula Vista Learning, Mabel O’Farrell
Metro:Â Castle Park, Chula Vista, Hilltop, Mar Vista, Montgomery, San Diego Southwest, San Ysidro, Sweetwater
Sunset:Â Classical, Coastal, Escondido Charter, Francis Parker, Orange Glen, San Diego Jewish, Santa Fe Christian, Tri-City
Palomar: Canyon Crest, Del Norte, Mt Carmel, Oceanside, Poway, Rancho Bernardo, Westview
South Bay:Â Bonita Vista, Eastlake, Mater Dei, Olympian, Otay Ranch
Valley: Escondido, Rancho Buena Vista, Ramona, Sage Creek, San Pasqual, Valley Center, Vista
Western: Hoover, Mira Mesa, Patrick Henry, Point Loma, San Diego, Scripps Ranch
2023: FLAGS FLYING IN GIRLS FOOTBALL
San Diego Section-sanctioned Girls Flag Football began on Aug. 15, 2023, with an inaugural game between San Ysidro and Clairemont. Forty-six teams are aligned in seven Conferences (see below). See the CIF San Diego Section 2023 Flag Football Rules pages for more detail. For playoff purposes the teams are separated into DI and DII divisions by enrollment, roughly over/under 1700 students.
Teams and Conferences 2023
| Conference | Teams (Division) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City (17) | Canyon Hills (II) | Kearny (II) | Mission Bay (II) | Point Loma (I) |
| Cathedral Catholic (II) | Lincoln (II) | Morse (II) | San Diego (I) | |
| Clairemont (II) | Madison (II) | Our Lady of Peace (II) | Scripps Ranch (I) | |
| Crawford (II) | Mira Mesa (I) | Patrick Henry (I) | University City (II) | |
| Hoover (I) | ||||
| Coastal (2) - playing with North County | Classical Academy (II) | Santa Fe Christian (II) | ||
| Frontier (1) (Independent) | Chula Vista Learning Community Charter (II) | |||
| Grossmont (1) - playing with Metro | Grossmont (I) | |||
| Metro (13) | Bonita Vista (I) | Hilltop (I) | Montgomery (II) | San Ysidro (I) |
| Castle Park (II) | Mar Vista (II) | Olympian (I) | Southwest (II) | |
| Chula Vista (I) | Mater Dei Catholic (II) | Otay Ranch (I) | Sweetwater (I) | |
| Eastlake (I) | ||||
| North County (5) | Canyon Crest Academy (I) | San Dieguito Academy (I) | Torrey Pines (I) | Vista (I) |
| La Costa Canyon (II) | ||||
| Southeastern (7) | Brawley Union (I) | Calexico Vincent Memorial (II) | El Centro Southwest (I) | Imperial (II) |
| Calexico (I) | Central Union (I) | Holtville (II) | ||
