The Foothill League could be heading toward a major shift, possibly as soon as the next school year, with the addition of an eighth school, according to Hart High Principal Jason d’Autremont.  While saying talks are preliminary and nothing is set in stone, d’Autremont said William S. Hart Union High School District officials are conducting a “fact-finding mission” to see if coaches at the district’s seven schools — which compose the entirety of the current Foothill League — would be welcome to the idea of an expansion.  “This is a very, very preliminary talk,” d’Autremont said in a phone interview. “It’s a fact-finding mission to see what our coaches in our league feel, what administrators in our league feel.”  It would be the first time since the early 2000s that the Foothill League would include a school outside the Hart district. In 2006, Burbank and Burroughs high schools left the Foothill League after the Hart district added West Ranch and Golden Valley high schools.  The Foothill League remained at six teams until Castaic High School opened in 2019. The first varsity competitions at Castaic occurred in the 2021-22 school year, and the Foothill League has been at seven teams since then.  Now, conversations are being had to have an eighth school join the fray. The eight schools would be part of what d’Autremont called the “Foothill Conference,” which would then be split up into two four-team leagues.  Foothill League President Vince Ferry, principal at Castaic High School, said conversations are “purely exploratory” at this point.  Other schools in the CIF Southern Section have been talking about expanding to create conferences, d’Autremont said. Conferences already exist, he said, including some in Orange County that are seen as the blueprint.  “They are moving towards this conference (idea), but they were leaving us out and we are having to add an eighth team to get two four-team leagues,” d’Autremont said. “That’s why this conversation came up … They’re doing this, so we’re just trying to stay up with what’s current in high school sports — at least in Southern California that seems to be the trend.”  The leagues would likely be different for each sport, d’Autremont said.  “There’s gonna be fluidity when it comes to who goes into which league or not,” d’Autremont said.  Hart district schools would likely all still play each other, d’Autremont said, but not all of those games would be in league.  “We’d always try to keep the spirit of competition, keeping those in-valley rivalries, if you will, annually,” d’Autremont said. “So, that’s not something we’re looking to get rid of.”  Having two four-team leagues would benefit every team in the conference, according to d’Autremont, as two teams in each league would automatically get section playoff berths in most sports. As things currently stand, only three teams in each sport get automatic spots in the seven-team Foothill League.  It’s even more prudent these days to get those automatic playoff spots, or to have a lighter league schedule to allow for a more packed non-league schedule, due to the section’s shift to a competitive-equity playoff model. In the new system, teams are judged using a computer ranking system that then determines who makes the playoffs and in which divisions they are placed.  “We’re just trying to put our student-athletes in the best position possible to compete,” d’Autremont said.  The most likely scenario would see the league change prior to the 2026-27 school year, which is the start of the next four-year cycle in the section, according to d’Autremont. Should officials want to expedite the process for the 2025-26 school year, unanimous approval from every member of the Foothill League and every member of the league that the other school is currently part of would be needed.  “That’s something that we have to see what works for the best interest of all of our schools and (the other school),” d’Autremont said, adding that if an eighth school can’t be found, or if there is no unanimous decision among the current Foothill League schools, then “it’s a moot point.”  The post Hart district schools looking at possibility of Foothill League expansion  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.