It wasn't for financial gain that Villanova Prep left the Condor League for membership in the Tri-Counties Athletic Association.

Fewer Saturday afternoon games, shorter trips, opportunities for all-league selections and the potential for increased recognition as one of Ventura County's best all-around small schools athletic programs appealed to the Ojai private school.

The allure of home games against schools like Santa Clara, St. Bonaventure, Fillmore and Santa Paula on week nights helped fill the bleachers in the school's gym for boys' and girls' basketball games and forced Villanova to move scheduled football league matchups to neutral sites.

There was a price to pay for becoming a TCAA member.

After years of not charging spectators to attend sports activities on school grounds, Villanova sold tickets in accordance to association by-laws.

School administrators had to add a new line item — gate fund — to its overall budget.

Gross receipts for ticket sales were more than $10,000 for the school year, said athletic director John Muller. That doesn't included additional funds raised by the school's booster club for merchandise sales.

On the other side of the ledger were costs for game maintenance.

"All the positives and negatives — paying for field rental, security, field prep, scorekeepers — all went toward the account," said Muller.

Net revenues were earmarked for facility upgrades. Touch pads and a new scoreboard have been purchased for the swimming pool. Stadium seating will be increased with new bleachers. The gym floor will be resurfaced in December.

Yes, it was a good year for Villanova athletics.

The movement toward eventually leaving the Condor can be traced to six years ago when, under Headmaster Tony Sabatino, Villanova became the first league school to field an eight-man football team. That coincided with the formation of a booster club and then-athletic director Tom Roanhaus beginning to upgrade athletic fields. The school has an on-campus cross country course. Improvements were made to the baseball, softball, soccer and swimming facilities.

The school has completed two new parking lots at one end of the property.

"Now we don't have cars driving through the campus late at night with our students walking around," said Muller.

By its fourth year, Villanova had an 11-man football program that proved competitive against schools its size or bigger.

It would be the final piece of the picture — to go along with other successful school programs — that made Villanova a viable option for the current four-year releaguing cycle that went into affect for the 2006-07 school year.

"It made better sense for us to go from a predominately all-boarding school league (Villanova has boarding and non-boarding students) to one that has more Catholic schools with the same mission and ideas we have," said Muller.

Foremost in the thoughts of Villanova administrators was the Wednesday-Saturday scheduling for many Condor League activities; many member schools have Saturday morning classes.

"The bottom line is that we wanted our kids involved in sports Monday through Friday," said Muller. "We value the family time for our kids."

Friday night sports activities were embraced by athletes, fellow students and parents, said Muller. It wasn't uncommon to find Villanova supporters in the stands for away games.

After years in the competitive Condor League, Villanova officials believed that the school's teams could hold its own in the 13-school TCAA.

"Some sports weren't equal and they took hits in this new league," said Muller.

A number were competitive, including a league champion girls' tennis team that advanced to a CIF championship match.

Nearly every boys' and girls' basketball game was filled to its standing-room only capacity of 400.

"It helps that we had a boys' team that was very competitive and a girls' team that won league (tying La Reina) its first year in the association," said Muller.