Area’s oldest league looks intriguing

The tradition-soaked Citrus Belt League is the oldest in the area.  

The CBL dates to 1901 when Redlands High, San Bernardino, Riverside, Ontario, and Pomona formed the Interscholastic League of Southern California – the first high school sports league south of the Bay Area. It became the Citrus Belt League in 1906.  

More than a century after that, Redlands is still a member and has a veteran-laden football team that hopes to make some noise behind traditional powers Cajon of San Bernardino and Citrus Valley.

But as of now, Cajon is the favorite.

“We’ll be carried by our offense,” said Cajon coach Nick Rogers who is in his 11^th year at the helm. “We return players in key positions.”

Redlands and Beaumont get a quick gauge of where they’re at, playing a pair of Hawaii teams on Thursday, Aug. 15 in Oahu.  

Here’s a closer look at each CBL team: