Northern Area representatives in charge of putting together high school sports leagues for the 2010 through 2014 seasons voted 31-23 in favor of forming a four-team private-school league for football only on Tuesday in Santa Barbara.

The four schools are Oaks Christian, St. Bonaventure, Santa Clara and Grace Brethren.

The outcome drew immediate criticism from officials at multiple schools.

"With everyone in a budget crisis, we wasted thousands of dollars and five hours of time to solve absolutely nothing," Oaks Christian athletic director Jan Hethcock said.

"We are back to square one. We know CIF isn't going to approve this. This just isn't logical."

The proposal that passed was No. 4A. There were 14 proposals.

Oaks Christian has won six consecutive CIF-Southern Section championships, while St. Bonaventure has captured eight section banners in the past decade.

Although they've had some success on the gridiron over the years, Grace Brethren and Santa Clara were overwhelmed in recent meetings with the Lions.

Grace Brethren athletic director Matt Cooper was also disappointed with the outcome.

"I think there was a statement made that said leagues like the Marmonte are scared to death of playing Oaks Christian and St. Bonaventure," Cooper said.

"But someone has to play them, so we'll throw Grace Brethren and Santa Clara to the wolves."

The vote also appears to fall short of the CIF's criteria for establishing a new league.

According to CIF-SS director of communications Thom Simmons, there are three factors that must be met—geography, enrollment and competitive balance.

Royal athletic director Jim Wilber defended the decision.

"We are sending a message that says to private schools that they can't do whatever they want to and have our schools be forced to play them," Wilber said.

Wilber later added, "We needed to protect the interests of student-athletes at our school. We've been in the Marmonte League since it's inception over 40 years ago. Why should we leave?

"If I was the principal at Santa Clara or Grace Brethren I'd be unhappy, too. But the CIF flat-out told us we needed to do something, and we did," Wilber said.

Hethcock said another proposal, No. 14, included Oaks Christian moving to the Marmonte League for all sports and St. Bonaventure going to the Marmonte for football only. That proposal received 23 votes.

"Although there were other proposals that may have been better, we liked proposal No. 14 the best from the beginning because we felt it would get the most support," Cooper said.

Cooper said he was also in favor of proposal No. 12, which was made by St. Bonaventure athletic director Mike Gianelli.

Under proposal No. 12, Oaks Christian and Calabasas would switch places in the Tri-Counties Athletic Association for every sport; Royal and Simi Valley would go into the TCAA for football only; and St. Bonaventure would go to the Marmonte League for football only.

According to Gianelli, the proposal made it into the final three.

"To be honest, I've been thinking of different proposals for the last year," Gianelli said. "Proposal No. 12 literally came to me in the 11th hour. I had never thought of Simi Valley and Royal leaving together.

"I thought moving Royal and Simi Valley would help them. They've struggled for a little while in football, and I thought they might want to compete. A lot of schools have gone from the TriValley League to the Frontier League and have enjoyed success. You don't necessarily have to win to have fun, but after losing every game, year after year, you start to have kids quitting," Gianelli said.

Cooper said Gianelli's proposal was intriguing but added Royal and Simi Valley did not agree.

"No, (Simi and Royal) weren't for it," Cooper said. "They said they wanted to keep all their teams in one league, and they were willing to fight tooth and nail for it."

The Marmonte League has made it clear in recent months that it has no intention of adding the Lions for football.

Oaks Christian's proposal, No. 10, was to put Calabasas in the Tri-Valley League and move Oaks Christian from the TVL to the Marmonte for football.

Calabasas has lost 47 of 49 league games since joining the Marmonte and has never won a Marmonte home game.

"Most of the other proposals were laughable, especially the one that ending up winning," Gianelli said.

A Northern Area appeals hearing has been set for May 6. At that time, the current proposal could be altered before a May 20 CIF Executive Committee meeting.