Paloma, Heritage to open season with Menifee Bowl March 20

By Doug Spoon, Editor

Story has been updated with confirmation of Paloma Valley and Heritage football schedules, as well as a date change for the Menifee Bowl.

The Heritage and Paloma Valley high school football teams will meet in the annual Menifee Bowl March 20 to start an abbreviated season, officials said today.

Given the green light by state and county officials as COVID-19 case numbers continue to decline, administrators and coaches in several sports are throwing together schedules, holding tryouts and starting practice. The CIF office has set April 17 as the last day of competition for football. It was already announced that there would be no playoffs this year.

Paloma Valley athletic director Ryan Sharp confirmed that Zach Dilley’s varsity football head coaching debut will take place in the Menifee Bowl, which normally is one of the last games played. The Paloma-Heritage game is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 20 at Heritage. Details about face coverings, social distancing and other COVID-19 precautions for participants and spectators have not been announced by the schools.

The Menifee Bowl will be a nonleague game this season. Prior to this school year, Paloma Valley was placed back into a revamped Sunbelt League, while Heritage remained in the Ivy League. As advised by CIF officials, administrators at both schools put together a five-game schedule that includes mostly league opponents for the five weekends stretching from March 19 to April 17.

Heritage athletic director Scott Moore confirmed the following football schedule for the Patriots:

March 19: Paloma Valley
March 26: Rancho Verde
April 2: at Valley View
April 9 or 10: at Elsinore
April 16 or 17: at Rancho Verde

Moore said the Patriots are playing Rancho Verde twice because of problems finding available opponents.

Paloma Valley's schedule is as follows. Some games could be either Thursday, Friday or Saturday, depending on the availability of officials, according to Sharp:

March 19: at Heritage
March 26: at North
April 2: Orange Vista
April 9: Hemet
April 16: Valley View

Athletic directors are also working on schedules for baseball, softball and lacrosse following Tuesday’s announcement that Riverside County had fallen below the adjusted COVID-19 case rate of 14 per 100,000 residents, which allows more outdoor sports to begin. Cross country and tennis have already begun their seasons. Baseball, softball, boys soccer, girls soccer, and track and field were already cleared to begin preseason workouts.

Indoor sports including boys and girls basketball, volleyball, wrestling and competitive cheer have not yet been cleared for competition. A decision on those sports should be made soon.

Menifee 24/7 will have more information on sports schedules as they are made available. We are making plans for sports coverage as well.