_____________________
_____________________
June 18, 2026
By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X
This is the third in a series of stories on the new Suburban Valley Conference which involves 20 schools from the 605 League, Del Rio League, Gateway League and Mid-Cities League. The SVC will begin with the 2026-2027 school year and over the next month and a half, I will be getting comments from the athletic directors of the area schools on what it has been like the past year and the effects the new SVC will have on their respective schools this upcoming school year and beyond.
CERRITOS HIGH-INSIDE THE NUMBERS OF THE EIGHT MAJOR SPORTS WHILE IN THE 605 LEAGUE SINCE 2018
Football: 18-6 league record, six league titles, last place twice
Girls volleyball: 68-2 league record, six league titles, second place once
Boys basketball: 67-8 league record, five league titles, second place twice
Girls basketball: 60-15 league record, four league titles, second place twice, third place twice
Boys soccer: 36-25-12 league record, one league title, second place twice, third place twice
Girls soccer: 60-3-1 league record, six league titles, second place twice
Baseball: 60-4 league record, six league titles, second place once
Softball: 66-2 league record, seven league titles
Two CIF-Southern Section divisional championships
CIF-Southern Section divisional finalist: three times
CIF-Southern Section semifinalist: four times
CIF-Southern Section quarterfinalist: five times
When Cerritos High moved from the Mission Valley League to the Suburban League at the beginning of the 1999-2000 athletic season, the Dons were average to very good across the board with its athletics. More times than not, the athletic teams would be overpowered by Artesia High, especially in boys and girls basketball, La Mirada High, in baseball and softball, and Mayfair High, in boys and girls basketball and softball. Then came the 605 League to commence the 2018-2019 school year and just like that, the Dons became the kings and queens in the major sports of the new circuit for the next eight years, winning 41 of the 61 possible league titles in the major sports. But now with the Suburban Valley Conference a few months away, the Dons will be facing new league rivals and many challenges that in time will keep them competitive.
“It is what it is,” said Cerritos athletic director Todd Denhart. “The power rankings are there, and I think it will be good for us. Is it going to be challenging; is it going to be more difficult? Yes, but that’s athletics, isn’t it? Nobody enjoys a pushover and in a football game when it’s 56-7 or a basketball game when you’re winning by 40 or 50 points…from that standpoint, [this conference] is good. This is exactly what was needed.”
As a member of the original seven-member Suburban League, Cerritos captured seven
league championships in softball, six in girls basketball, four in girls volleyball, two in boys soccer and shared the 2001 football title. On top of that, Cerritos won the 1999 and 2000 CIF-Southern Section Division II softball championship, played for a CIF-SS championship in girls volleyball in 2009, advanced to the semifinals once and lost in the quarterfinals nine times.
There was a chance the league would have consisted of eight schools divided into two divisions. But Pioneer High was not invited to join despite getting the thumbs up to leave the Del Rio League. Three votes were taken over a span of 18 months and each time, the league rejected Pioneer’s admittance by a 4-3 decision. According to Denhart, Pioneer was granted permission to leave its league. Nearly a decade later, Pioneer, which was a member of the six-school 605 League, is slated to be a league rival of Cerritos in at least two sports for the first year of the SVC.
Cerritos may not win as many league titles in the beginning of the SVC, but the Dons will be competitive across the board, and why wouldn’t they be? For the first year, the black and gold will be situated in the Gateway League, or upper league, in at least seven sports, and the Mid-Cities League in nine sports. Only boys cross country (Rio Vista League) and boys soccer (605 League) will begin this new frontier in the bottom two leagues.
“I just turned in all my banners to get updated for the summertime; it was a heavy bag,” joked Denhart. “I don’t know if it’s going to be heavy next year. The competition is going to be there. Nothing is going to be a cakewalk, and that’s what the conference was set up for. It’s based off competitive equity going into next year.
“We’re going to compete for a playoff spot,” he later said. “At this point last year, I could have told you these are the sports that we’re going to be able to qualify for the playoffs and these are the sports that we’re going to win a league championship, and I probably would have been 90 percent right. Our boys tennis team this year had a great year; first league championship in a few years. I think in all sports, we’ll have a chance to make the playoffs,” he continued. “As far as league championships go, that’s a different story. The competition is going to be more fierce, or more competitive. But that’s what we’re looking for.”
After losing the first six 605 League games, the football program turned it around and won the final 18 league games in the circuit. But at least for next season, the Dons will find a much tougher task with powers Downey High, La Serna High, Mayfair and Warren High, along with La Mirada. One could say that the winner of the Oct. 2 contest between Cerritos and La Mirada could determine who moves down to the Mid-Cities League for the following season and who stays in the Gateway League.
“Back in the old Suburban League, we were getting waxed by three or four schools yearly and pretty handily,” said Denhart. “But the guy who have running the program right now is going to have his kids better prepared than in previous situations. The gap might still be there a little bit, but the gap is not going to be as wide as it was 10 years ago in the old Suburban League.”
Obviously. when you mix in Cerritos, which had dominated the 605 League the past eight years along with La Serna, which had been the school to beat in the Del Rio League along with the powers from the Gateway League, and Mid-Cities League, league titles and new league rivals are bound to be more interesting and unexpected. Denhart admitted the meetings went better than expected and he gave high praise to Sean Steward, the Whittier Unified School District athletic director, saying he did a ‘phenomenal job”.
“I think it’s going to be okay,” said Denhart. “Obviously with 20 schools, there’s going to be some bumps along the way. But we just have to make sure we communicate with those schools we’re playing against as far as starting times, locations, this and that. It we’re to communicate, we’ll be okay.”
Denhart said the biggest challenge was putting together the schedule, but the athletic directors had to wait until the CIF-SS power rankings were final at the end of each regular season so all 20 schools could be slotted into the correct league. Denhart said the turnaround was much quicker than he thought.
“Virginia [Brice] at Whitney did a good job of the spring schedule as far as Spring Breaks and making sure people aren’t playing during their Spring Breaks,” he said. “The one that was really scary is winter, because you’ve got two basketball teams, two soccer teams two wrestling teams [who] all could be going to different places.”
The SVC decided for girls wrestling that the genders are going to be split as far as the power rankings go. Dates of the wrestling meets have been set, but undecided yet is who plays where. However, the schools who have both a boys and girls wrestling team will be home together, possibly against different schools.
While all 20 schools have faced each other in non-league events the past eight years or so, Denhart said that maintaining old rivals will continue if they are not in the same league for the beginning year or two. However, there will be some circumstances that do not, or will not warrant teams facing each other.
“Yes, most of our coaches will,” said Denhart on maintaining current rivalries. “It depends on the sport, too. Boys and girls tennis…Artesia is not going to want to play us, and that goes back to [our] conversation a year ago about Gahr and Cerritos baseball. And I always tell you that’s not beneficial for either baseball team. But I think in boys basketball, I don’t know if they were able to work anything out for this year. I know we do have a non-league game against Bellflower because we’re not in the same league.”
Bottom line is the Dons may not compile as many league titles in the first eight years of the SVC as they did in the 605 League. But in this era of competitive equity, the Dons are primed for many automatic playoff berths again with tougher competition. As a reminder, of the eight major sports while in the 605 League the past eight years, Cerritos missed the playoffs five times in non-Covid seasons and finished below third place five times with three coming from boys soccer and the other two from football.
“I’m looking forward to it,” said Denhart. “Eight years ago when we moved into the 605 League, I think it was the right move for all the schools involved. Artesia went to the CIF finals [in football], John Glenn won a league championship in football, Cerritos won a championship. I think [the league] did what everyone wanted it to do.
“We created the 605 League for competitive equity, and I think initially, that’s what happened,” he continued. “Towards the end there, it got a little sideways, but I’ll tell you, it’s been a great eight years working with that group. We all knew each other really well; worked together well and each one of us would bend over backwards for the other. We’ll see how that works with 20 schools. I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
