Desert Valley League will split in 2024, with four teams creating the Sun Valley League

Since the Coachella Valley’s high school sports teams divided into the Desert Valley League and the Desert Empire League in 2018, just two football teams have won DVL titles: Coachella Valley and Yucca Valley high schools.

The Arabs won titles in 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022 and Yucca Valley, which is a win on Friday from winning the DVL this year, won in 2019.

But starting next year, the road to a league title won’t necessarily go through either of those schools. At least not for Desert Hot Springs, Cathedral City, Desert Mirage and Banning high schools.

Starting with the 2024-25 school year, those four schools will be in a league of their own — the Sun Valley League. Citrus Belt area athletic directors have approved the reconfiguration, meaning that Coachella Valley, Yucca Valley, Indio and Twentynine Palms high schools will remain in a four-team DVL.

While the split in the DVL has been official for some time, the new league name was just revealed this week.

“I had not heard the name until now,” Coachella Valley football coach Bill Johnson said over the phone. “The DVL and the SVL. That’ll take some getting used to.”

The change does nothing to affect the DEL, which will continue to include Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Xavier Prep, Palm Desert, La Quinta and Shadow Hills high schools.

The reconfiguration included several other schools in the Citrus Belt area, which includes San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Athletic directors were asked to vote on one proposal that included all schools that were trying to move into new or existing leagues, and the one that was approved included the DVL split.

"I'm not sure four teams is the right number for a league," said Cathedral City football coach Richard Lee, the person who came up with the Sun Valley League name. "To prepare the entire season for three league games will be different, but I understand the reasoning for the change."

More competitive balance

One reason for the splitting of the DVL is to give more of the eight teams currently in the league a chance to win a league title and reach the CIF postseason. The split affects all sports, not just football. But competitive balance on the football field played an important role in the decision.

In the SVL, it’s been more than a decade since any one of the four schools have won a league football title. Being in a new league increases their chances. The split also ensures that two of the four teams in each league receive an automatic playoff berth.

“The purpose of looking for some relief with our four schools is that in our current DVL you have a couple schools that are winning the majority of the championships,” Desert Hot Springs athletics director Kai Lyles said. “When you’re trying to change the culture at a school, vying for fourth place isn’t really a winning culture.”

Lyles is the Citrus Belt area representative to CIF and he sits on the CIF executive committee. Because of that, he ran the reconfiguration process in favor of the DVL split, while also attempting to represent the best interests of all schools involved.

Looking at last year’s DVL sports landscape, all four of the teams that will be in the SVL would have each won a league championship in a different sport had the split theoretically taken affect last year.

“It’s going to be a competitive league with like-minded teams,” Lyles said. “Right now, we’re playing Coachella Valley, Yucca Valley and Indio in sports that they’re dominating.”

More scheduling flexibility

One major benefit of the league split is that teams in the DVL and the SVL will have more freedom in building their non-league schedule. Currently, each team in the DVL has just three non-league games in football. That will increase to seven starting next year, giving teams more opportunities to face competition that matches up more closely with their program.

“I like the flexibility this will give us with our schedule,” said Johnson, whose Coachella Valley team has already scheduled Xavier Prep and Rancho Mirage for next season. “We’ll get to schedule more teams that will help us prepare for the playoffs.”

One belief among area coaches is that the split could offer more opportunities to match up DVL schools with DEL schools. Outside of the Shadow Hills dominated Mayor’s Cup matchup between the Knights and Indio, there aren’t any annual DVL-DEL matchups. It is hopeful that additional competitive non-league games between schools from the two valley leagues can form.

“I think there will be a lot of opportunities there,” Johnson said.

But having scheduling flexibility also brings some problems.

"Scheduling seven non-league football games won't be easy," Lee said. "I get the benefits, but there will be some challenges, too."

Not everyone will be a fan

The split isn’t a dream scenario for everyone. For instance, teams that may have been the third-best team in the league in their sport may now be the third-best team in a four-team league that only garner’s two automatic postseason berths.

One team that comes to mind is Indio’s football team, which finished third last season in football and has been playing for a third-place finish again this season. In a four-team league, they would need to be in either first or second place in a league with Coachella Valley, Yucca Valley and Twentynine Palms.

The same could be said for Twentynine Palms volleyball, which finished third in the DVL, behind Indio and Coachella Valley, this year.

But with more non-league scheduling flexibility, teams have a chance to improve their postseason resume for an at-large playoff berth.

New league, new name

Lyles said that after the split was made official there was the option of naming the new league the De Anza League, which existed prior to 2018, when the current DVL was formed. Lyles’ Desert Hot Springs was a part of that league.

But the idea was to not go back, but forward, and create a new league name for the new league. It was a way to generate excitement for the future of high school sports among the schools in the SVL.

Lyles said that this likely won’t be the last reconfiguration we see in the valley for the next few years. Desert Christian Academy could also find its way into the SVL when the Citrus Belt area again has an opportunity to vote on reconfiguration.

But for now, there’s a wide belief that the DVL split will create a competitive balance across all sports that should be welcome to most schools.

“It just gives more teams a chance to fight for first and second to get to the playoffs,” Lyles said, “rather than a fourth-place spot. So, when you’re changing a culture, now it’s a championship culture, not just, ‘Hey guys, let’s try to get (third) place in league, so that we can go to playoffs.’”

Andrew John covers sports in the Coachella Valley for The Desert Sun and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Four schools to split from the DVL to create the Sun Valley League