CIF shuffles football playoff divisions

In the last four years, none of Newport-Mesa’s four public high schools has played a CIF Southern Section football playoff game outside of Orange County.

That is bound to change next season.

Traveling in the postseason for Corona del Mar, Newport Harbor, Estancia and Costa Mesa might take longer than in years past with the section releasing its new playoff groupings on Friday. The section made several changes. No longer are the playoff divisions geographically aligned and no longer are all the teams in a league in the same playoff division, with the intent to make it a level playing field.

The section implemented a new formula — based on a school’s regular-season record, its strength of schedule and its section playoff performance during the past two years — for its new playoff model. The section is going with 13 playoff divisions, each featuring a 16-team bracket, with Division 1 being the most advanced. CdM is in Division 4, Newport Harbor in Division 6, Estancia in Division 12 and Costa Mesa in Division 13.

Local coaches praised the restructuring of the playoffs, hoping it creates competitive equity, but they also had some concerns regarding how a program could switch divisions after each year, depending on the team’s success or lack of success.

“You could have a really good season, win CIF, and the drawback is you can get penalized for being good because the next year you could move into a higher division and you could have a rough year,” Sea Kings Coach Dan O’Shea said. “Another drawback [with the divisions changing annually] is you don’t develop and keep those rivalries for the playoffs.

“There are also a lot of teams [in our division] that we’re not familiar with. If we have to play at Lompoc in the playoffs, that’s a five-hour bus ride for us. The distance for a game like that doesn’t allow our students and fans to come watch us and support us.”

Of the four programs in the area, the Sea Kings, who finished 9-3 last year, have won the most in recent years, claiming three CIF Southern Section Southern Division titles from 2011-13 and a CIF State Division III title in 2013.

After its success, CdM played in the equivalent of the Division 4 playoffs the last two years, reaching the Southwest Division quarterfinals each time. The Sea Kings, who have won four consecutive undefeated Pacific Coast League championships, are the lone program from their league in Division 4, which features 19 schools. Woodbridge is in Division 9, and University, Beckman, Irvine and Northwood are in Division 10.

As for the Sailors, who were in the West Valley Division (considered Division 2) since 2014, they dropped four divisions. Newport Harbor made the playoffs once during the two years in the robust West Valley Division, losing in the first round at Tesoro, 52-14, two years ago. It was the most any Sailor team had given up in the postseason.

Newport Harbor, which went 4-6 and placed fourth in the Sunset League at 2-3 last year, is the only team from its league in Division 6, which has 22 schools. League champion Edison and Los Alamitos are in Division 3, while Fountain Valley is in Division 5, Huntington Beach is in Division 7 and Marina is in Division 12.

Since 2006, Estancia and Costa Mesa have been part of the Southern Division, considered Division 9 for the first eight years and Division 12 for the last two years. Both Orange Coast League programs failed to reach the playoffs a year ago, the Eagles finished 3-7, 2-3 in league, good for fourth, and the Mustangs were 5-5, 1-4, coming in fifth. Estancia remains in Division 12 and Costa Mesa moves down a spot to the lowest division.

Both Estancia Coach Mike Bargas and Costa Mesa Coach Glen Fisher said they haven’t had a chance to look at the schools in their respective divisions. There’s quite a discrepancy when it comes to the amount of schools in each division. Division 12 has 46 schools, including Orange Coast League representatives Calvary Chapel and Saddleback, while Division 13, home to league opponents Godinez and Laguna Beach, has 84 schools, the most of any division.

“Why didn’t they make another division? With only 16 playoff spots, there could be some good schools who don’t make the playoffs,” said Fisher, adding that a tougher nonleague schedule could help a team like the Mustangs receive an at-large playoff berth, if they don’t earn one of the league’s three automatic entries. “There are things to consider when you’re a small school [like Costa Mesa]. When you’re that small and you’re scheduling games against bigger and tougher schools, you risk going into league with a lot of injuries. Last year, we lost Mason Mataafa, both of our quarterbacks, Ben Swanson and our backup, went down, and Cameron [Curet] was beat up [before league]. We went 5-1 [in the first six games and finished] 0-4 [in our last four]. We lost a lot of players.”

Bargas, who is also an athletic director at Estancia, said he supports the direction the section is moving because it allows football programs to achieve more.

“This gives us a more genuine opportunity to go deeper in the playoffs,” said Bargas, who since leading Estancia to the Southern Division semifinals in 2011, has seen his team lose in the first round in its last three appearances. “The better you do, the more you go up; and if you struggle, you go down.

“This also gives us an opportunity to play in [different] places [we’ve never played before]. You may have to travel and that’s what the playoffs are all about.”