SUBURBAN VALLEY CONFERENCE: Norwalk is feeling good about new conference, league configurations for school year

July 22, 2026

By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X

This is the seventh 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.

NORWALK HIGH-INSIDE THE NUMBERS OF THE EIGHT MAJOR SPORTS SINCE BREAKING OFF FROM THE ORIGINAL SUBURBAN LEAGUE SINCE 2018

Football: 15-17 league record, first place twice, second place once, third place twice

Girls volleyball: 33-30 league record, first place once, second place twice, third place three times

Boys basketball: 22-45 league record, third place five times, fourth place twice

Girls basketball: 40-25 league record, second place five times, third place twice

Boys soccer: 47-18-6 league record, first place four times, second place twice

Girls soccer:  22-46-3 league record, third place four times, fourth place three times

Baseball: 43-39 league record, first place once, third place three times,

Softball: 44-20 league record, first place once, second place four times, third place once

CIF-Southern Section divisional championships: None

CIF-Southern Section divisional finalists: None

CIF-Southern Section semifinalist: Once

CIF-Southern Section quarterfinalist: 10 times

Norwalk High was one of the four schools left in the former Suburban League when the 605 League was formed, and for the first several years since, the downsized league of Bellflower High, La Mirada High, Mayfair High and Norwalk had to play shortened league schedules in its sports. As everyone knows, in a four-team league, the number of CIF-Southern Section automatic playoff berths decreases to just two. But that all changed when it merged with the former San Gabriel Valley League to form the original Suburban Valley Conference, which was then divided into the Gateway League, or upper league, and the Mid-Cities League, creating an 11-school outfit.

“We saw any chance of making the [playoffs in football go down],” said Norwalk athletic director David Snyder of the early years of the smaller Suburban League. “We didn’t make the playoffs for a few years. [Former head football coach] Ruben [Guerrero] did a good job, and people often wanted to criticize him for running the double-wing [offense]. But you do understand that under his leadership, we had a very good record and made playoff appearances.”

While football struggled in the final years of the smaller Suburban League, going 4-21 overall and winning one of nine league games, the other major sports had equivalent results. Boys basketball, baseball, softball, girls soccer and girls volleyball never finished above third place for those few seasons right before the pandemic hit. In fact, only boys soccer was the lone major sport to win a league title, which it did twice.

While in the original SVC, Norwalk athletics had mixed results, getting to the semifinals once in the major sports and the quarterfinals 10 times. But in this new era of competitive equity and a new 20-school conference, Snyder is thrilled to see what the future holds for his athletic programs after he and the other athletic directors spent the past year going to meetings and putting together the conference. In fact, he gave so much praise to Sean Steward, the Director of Student Activities and Athletics for the Whitter Union High School District.

“That was a hell of a lot of meetings,” said Snyder. “But I will say this; Sean Steward is about success at running meetings as I’ve ever seen. All the meetings were pretty much done fast, they were informative, and I’ve got no issues with any of that.

“He did so much of the homework that normally we would have been asking of him,” he continued. “He’s one of those real personal guys; he explains [everything] every step of the way,”

Outside of boys tennis, which will begin the new SVC era in the 605 League, or lowest of the four leagues, all other Norwalk athletic teams will be in either the Mid-Cities League or the Rio Vista League. For the fall sports, the Lancers are situated in the Mid-Cities League for four of the eight CIF-Southern Section sports while they will be in the Rio Vista League in three other sports. Norwalk does not field a boys water polo program.

Snyder is, as he put it, is ‘super hopeful’ about the football team for the upcoming season as not only will it have Bellflower, California High, Gahr High, Paramount High and Santa Fe High as Mid-Cities League opponents, but the Lancers have a new head coach in Anthony Cobbs.

While Snyder is hopeful the football team can repeat as league champions, it appears to be a different situation with the school’s girls tennis team, which is currently looking for a new head coach ahead of a season where it will be facing Downey High, La Mirada, Mayfair and Santa Fe twice in Mid-Cities League action.

“I think the expectations will be a little bit low for that team,” said Snyder. “The girls graduated a lot of seniors and it’s a fairly young team.”

Girls volleyball, which will be in the Mid-Cities League this fall along with Oxford Academy, Paramount, Santa Fe and Whitney High, is in a prime position to win the league, or at the very least, grab one of the three automatic playoff berths. The Lancers have reached the playoffs in the last four seasons under former Norwalk volleyball standout Paola Nava after missing the postseason in the first three seasons since the breakup from the original Suburban League.

“She is a godsend; I will tell you that,” said Snyder. “She was telling me based off how they were going to play in the [Gateway] League last year…she said ‘don’t be surprised if we don’t make [the] playoffs because we’re facing a lot of really good teams’. And yet, they made the playoffs. There’s nothing that Paola does that surprises me.”

When it comes to the winter sports, Snyder doesn’t believe the girls basketball team should have been dropped to the Rio Vista League, especially after finishing in second place in the Mid-Cities League. That was the highest the program had finished in league since the 2021-2022 season and bouncing back from a 10-13 campaign the previous season. But, if there’s any motivation to being deserving of the second league, a.k.a. the Mid-Cities League, the girls basketball team should have an easier time with league foes California, Gahr, Mayfair and Oxford Academy. Snyder said that head coach [Ashley] Baclaan ‘has always been competitive no matter where she’s at’.

The boys soccer program, with the legendary Vinson Pluma, returning for his 24^th season in that role, will be in the Mid-Cities League with Bellflower, California, Lynwood High and Santa Fe. Under his tutelage, the Lancers have gone to the quarterfinals six times, the semifinals once and have missed the playoffs twice in the past 21 seasons. However, Pluma has been associated with the program for over 30 years.

“He’s been coaching soccer for a while, and he’s always competitive,” said Snyder. “

As for the spring sports, only boys golf and boys volleyball will be in the Mid-Cities League while the others will be in the lower two leagues with track and field yet to be determined. Snyder predicted at least a return to the quarterfinals or semifinals in baseball in the spring of 2027. Also in the same league for this upcoming season in baseball, which will be the Rio Vista League, is Artesia High, Bellflower, Oxford Academy and Whittier High.

“The power rankings are a fairly good indication of where a team is,” said Snyder. “I can’t argue with football. Baseball, I would say they probably should have been up in the Mid-Cities. But they’re going to dominate and hopefully that doesn’t hurt them. You never know.”

If there was one negative Snyder had from the year-long meetings, it was when the other athletic directors were discussing league placements for boys and girls water polo and boys and girls wrestling, citing there was too much whining. He said over an hour was spent on those sports about anything and everything one could say about water polo and wrestling.

Now that Snyder and his school will be part of a 20-school conference instead of an 11-school conference, admitted he is looking forward to, ‘pain’, making a reference to the line James “Clubber” Lang, portrayed by Mr. T, used in Rocky III.

“Very few people get that reference,” he said. “These [future] monthly meetings are going to be so long. And I apologize; I tend to get a little chippy about some things because I just don’t understand why people get upset over the little things. We are putting together a 20-school super conference. We have made everything as equal as we can. Did Norwalk get screwed in a couple of ways? Maybe. I doubt it; we’re getting pretty much everything. Every school is getting placed where they belong.”

Snyder’s concluding thoughts on the new conference is that this is the greatest way for the greatest amount of kids to be recognized in athletics, even better than the original 11-school SVC. He went on to say that teams who have never the CIF-SS playoffs will now have a chance.

“I want to see teams be successful; I want to see kids share the wealth,” he added. “I like the super conference. I voted for the super conference; I advised my principal to go for the super conference. He sees the benefit of it; I see the benefit of it, and I think we will be very successful initially.”