BRIGHTON – The new year in prep sports comes with a new athletic conference with a lot of familiar faces.

    The Eastern Metro Athletic Conference’s membership includes many of the members of the former Skyline League (Adams City, Brighton, Fort Lupton, Prairie View and Westminster high schools). The new members are the Aurora Public Schools (Gateway, Aurora Central, Hinkley and Rangeview) plus Thornton and Northglenn high schools.

    “I’m looking forward to seeing the conference grow and make progress,” said 27J athletic director Rich Affleck. “Standley Lake (which will play Brighton and Prairie View in football this fall) has been competitive. Rangeview, Gateway, Thornton and Northglenn may not be dominant across the board. But they are good teams.

    “Northglenn has a good wrestling team. Rangeview will help our basketball programs. I think it will raise the competition level in all sports.”

    The former Skyline League was one of the weakest in the state. That bore out when it came time for state tournaments.

    The new league alignment applies to all sports except football. The Colorado High School Activities Association allows a separate enrollment count for the schools that play football. Brighton and Prairie View are in the North Metro Conference the next two years.

    The other schools are Dakota Ridge, Green Mountain, Golden, Monarch, Standley Lake and Wheat Ridge.

    That arrangement could change in the 2012 season.

    “I think both Brighton and Prairie View will be class 5A in football,” Affleck said. “Taking some of our top teams to state will be nice. I want to encourage our teams to not be happy about just making it to state. I want them to go and make a splash.”

    Prairie View’s volleyball team moved to the regional round of the playoffs a year ago.

    “I know they want to get to the final eight,” Affleck said. “But it was a nice step for the program.”

    The coaching lineup at both Brighton and Prairie View changed during the summer because of budget problems. The result will be not as many in-building coaches as before.

    “We may not have the same talent level as other schools,” Affleck said. “We want a positive, successful program. Sometimes, we don’t always see that through the final result.Our coaches are doing their best to make the kids as successful as they can be.”