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MEDIA DAY: SJS football playoffs could undergo big change
Proposal shrinks brackets, while bubble teams play in season-ending bowl games
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 ELK GROVE — The annual Sac-Joaquin Section Media Day was Wednesday at the SJS office with Assistant Commissioner Will DeBoard briefing the area media on the upcoming policy changes for the 2025-2026 athletic year.

The biggest change for this year is one proposed for the football playoffs. A resolution will be voted on in the SJS Board of Managers meeting in October to revamp the football playoffs into two sections – one bracketed beginning the second week of the playoffs culminating in a SJS championship game and the other consisting of one bowl game the first week of the playoffs.

The old system consisted of 12 teams with the top four receiving a first-round bye. The proposal to be voted on in October would be the top 16 teams in each division as ranked by MaxPreps will be playoff teams with 9-16 randomly paired for a bowl game in the first week of the playoffs, and then their season will end. The eight bracketed teams begin playoffs the second week in an eight-team bracket with the SJS Section championship game three weeks later followed by a NorCal game.

The league champion in football and top three in other sports from each league will qualify for the playoffs with the balance of the field determined by the MaxPreps rankings. However, if a league champion is not ranked in the top eight teams in football it will not make it to the playoff brackets.

Other items discussed:


  •  Annual ejections have increased dramatically over the last three years from 619 in 2022-23 to 856 last year. Mandatory suspensions for player ejections can range from one to six games, depending on severity. Typically, the max suspension for football has been three games with six for the other sports, but there is no set rule that football is limited at three.

The suspension for coaches following an ejection is one to three games depending on severity with the determination made at the SJS office. Fans can get the hook as well, with one fan last softball receiving a lifetime ban for assaulting an umpire after a game.


  •  Ripon Christian fared well in 2024-25 with its academic team champions, finishing first in girls volleyball with a 3.94 team GPA and girls soccer (3.88), second in football (3.54) and girls cross country (3.98) and third in girls basketball (3.88).


  •  The transfer criteria remains unchanged. A verified hardship or change of schools with a bonafide and documented change of address will result in no change in eligibility. Other than that, the first transfer there will be a sit-out period of half the season for a varsity sport participated in the last 12 months at any level, with no sit out required for junior varsity participation. On the second transfer requiring sit out the period will be for the entire varsity season.


  •  Lastly, in years past teams may have been shuffled up or down a division to even out the playoff brackets, but not this season. So, there may be more teams in a given division than another.