A New Era: Changes To EYL In 2026 For League Play

Back in June, it was announced that Central Valley Christian (CVC) was to transition into East Yosemite League (EYL) play next football season. Assistant CIF Central Section Commissioner, and three football players give their insights on this change to the league.

By: Fabian Anguiano

In the beginning of June, it was announced that CVC was moving to the East Yosemite League next season for league Football play.

Assistant CIF Central Section Commissioner Matt Sozinho has worked in education-based athletics for the past eight years, and spent thirteen years at Redwood as the athletic director.

“When this opportunity opened up I applied for it and I was fortunate enough to receive the job, I had been in high school sports for the better part of my career and then I was involved in leadership rolls throughout the section, and the state, and I was fortunate enough to be hired,” says Sozinho.

Every four years, schools from the Central Section have the opportunity to make changes to their leagues. In this case, EYL’s season took place as two years ago when schools were looking at which league they would like to be a part of.

Sozinho says “The conference model is becoming a popular model where you have a group of schools and that group of schools have the economy to decide how they want their leagues to be structured.”

“When the conversations took place, there was a green light that brought a public meeting and at that point, schools began to talk about what they would like to see happen,” says Sozinho.

The committee that decides this consists of nine people, including Sozinho himself, from two different parts of the Central Section. This consisted of athletic directors and athletic administrators who were voted into this committee by schools.

The committee met and listened to schools and designed conferences that would start in 2025/2026.

Sozinho says, “we’ll be at that format now for four years.”

Varsity Redwood Football player Chase Luna, ’28, says his first initial reaction to CVC moving to the EYL, “was kind of happy because we play better competition, compared to Porterville, I think CVC is a good school and they put up a good game.”

As to how the change can affect the league as a whole, Luna says, “I think them coming to us will affect the league a lot, it will make more competition, and it will be a lot more fun.”

Luna says “It will definitely make it harder to be EYL champions.”

“It’s definitely a game that I’m going to have to look for during the season, compared to the other ones,” says Luna. “It’s definitely a good school, so I have to make sure I’m locked in.”

Luna finishes off by saying “I just hope we have a good game, and I’m happy they’re coming to our East Yosemite League.”

Varsity Redwood Football Player Levi Campos, ’27, says “I feel excited because I’ve never played that team before, and I’m ready to experience how they play.”

Campos says “We don’t know what to expect,” in regards to how the change can possibly affect the league as a whole.

A new team can lead to a new game plan, the efforts will come by “Playing hard, going to practice every day, working hard every day, day by day,” says Campos.

A new team being added can make winning the EYL more difficult, Campos says, “It’s definitely a challenge, but we will try our best.”

Junior Varsity Redwood Football Player Ethan Mendonca, ’29, speaks about his initial reaction to CVC transitioning to the EYL, saying “I found out about it like a month ago, and I just thought that it’s another team that we’re gonna beat.”

In regards to CVC moving into the EYL and how it will affect the league, Mendonca says “There’s definitely gonna be more competition.” But there is no doubt that “it’s not going to affect Redwood at all.”

Tags: Chase Luna, cvc, Ethan Mendonca, fabian anguiano, football, Levi Campos, Matt Sozinho, Redwood, redwood gigantea, redwood high school, redwood journalism, redwood sports, sports