Eagle Rock seeded second behind Narbonne for City Section Open Division football playoffs
Is Eagle Rock (9-0) really the second-best football team in the City Section?
The computer says so, and that’s why the Eagles drew the No. 2 seed behind Harbor City Narbonne (7-3) on Saturday for the eight-team City Section Open Division playoffs that begin on Nov. 9. It’s the first time a Northern League team has made the Open Division playoffs and the highest rating ever for Eagle Rock.
“Everybody knows computers are always right,” Eagle Rock coach Andy Moran said.
The City Section uses a formula from CalPreps.com that includes win-loss record and strength of schedule.
“I do think we’re that good,” Moran said.
Carson is No. 3, Lake Balboa Birmingham No. 4, San Fernando No. 5, Garfield No. 6, Palisades No. 7 and Venice No. 8.
“Everybody [seeded No.] 2 through 8 is really close,” Moran said.
The big controversy with the CalPreps rankings has been teams electing to count games that were disrupted by lightning on Oct. 12 as “no contests” rather than wins because doing so supposedly helped them in the formula. Eagle Rock took a no contest against Lincoln rather than a victory. San Fernando took a victory over Van Nuys but later tried to change it to a no contest that was rejected.
“Some rules will be changed,” Birmingham coach Jim Rose said.
Some San Fernando Valley fans are not happy, because Birmingham and San Fernando will have to meet in an opening playoff game, with the winner likely facing Narbonne in the semifinals.
Birmingham will be the home team, but its new field isn’t finished so the game will be played at a neutral site. The Patriots also will have been off three weeks after picking up a forfeit win over Taft on Friday.
The other opening matchups: Venice at Narbonne; Palisades at Eagle Rock; Garfield at Carson.
Eagle Rock doesn’t have the size on its lines that other top teams have, but the Eagles’ effort and discipline have been impressive all season. Their best victory was 37-20 over Fairfax. Fairfax shared the Western League championship with Palisades.
Narbonne remains the overwhelming favorite to win its fifth consecutive City title. The championship game is set for Nov. 23 at El Camino College.
Dorsey gained the No. 1 seed in Division I after a 44-35 win over rival Crenshaw to win the Coliseum League title. The Dons will open the playoffs on Friday night. Franklin is seeded No. 1 in Division II and Santee is No. 1 in Division III.
Record chasing: The Southern Section playoffs will decide which quarterback ends the season with the record for most career touchdown passes. Hank Bachmeier of Murrieta Valley and Jayden Daniels of San Bernardino Cajon both enter the playoffs with 154 scoring passes. The old record was 152 established by JT Daniels of Santa Ana Mater Dei.
Twitter: @latsondheimer
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