Column: They’ve made it to Pac-5 Division playoffs, and task only gets tougher

Tony Henney, the first-year football coach at Westlake Village Westlake, spent lots of time trying to figure out the Southern Section at-large playoff formula, adding, subtracting and comparing scores and records to see if his team would be selected for the Pac-5 Division playoffs.

“I didn’t sleep a wink last night,” he said Sunday morning. “I thought they’d figure out a better way to [stop] us. You’re doing the math and it always said Westlake and Chaminade were in.”

Westlake players had left the field Friday night after a 52-29 loss to Westlake Village Oaks Christian thinking maybe their season was over after a third-place finish in the four-team Marmonte League.

“We thought we were done,” Henney said. “The coin flips in the Trinity League gave us second life.”

The coin flips to break a three-way tie for third place in the Trinity put Orange Lutheran (5-5) in third (automatic berth), San Juan Capistrano JSerra (7-3) in fourth and Anaheim Servite (4-6) in fifth. If Servite had been fourth, its strength-of-schedule edge would have given the Friars an at-large berth. JSerra (7-3), however, had a much weaker nonleague schedule that proved decisive. The point system rewards teams for strength of league, strength of schedule, win-loss record and wins over a common opponent.

That led to the selection of Westlake (7-3) and Chaminade (7-3) and left out JSerra, Servite and 19-time champion Long Beach Poly (4-6).

Now comes the harder part — trying to win a Pac-5 Division in which No. 1-seeded Corona Centennial (10-0) and No. 2-seeded Bellflower St. John Bosco (10-0) have been looking better than some college teams.

“Obviously, they’re tremendous football teams that are probably at a level above the Pac-5 right now,” Henney said. “Both those teams are rolling. It seems like a daunting task, but if you get those guys, the message is if you want to get a CIF championship, you have to go through those guys.”

Chaminade drew Centennial in a first-round road game Friday. Westlake will play at No. 4-seeded Gardena Serra (8-2). Oaks Christian is seeded No. 3.

Veteran Coach Bruce Rollinson of Santa Ana Mater Dei said, “I’ve been in this tournament long enough to know every week, there’s an upset that you didn’t see coming.”

This season, however, “daunting task” is the appropriate term for any team dreaming of reaching the Pac-5 final Dec. 5 at Angel Stadium if your name isn’t Centennial or St. John Bosco. They’ve dominated all season, producing running clocks in the fourth quarter on a consistent basis.

Of course, upsets are possible.

“I think on any given day in high school football, if the right circumstances happen, you have a chance to win,” Chaminade Coach Ed Croson said.

There will be 13 division titles crowned in the Southern Section. Mission Viejo (10-0), top seed in the West Valley Division, has a 22-game win streak.

Probably the most intriguing team is Placentia El Dorado. It went 0-10 on the field, picked up a forfeit win and made the Southern Division playoffs as an at-large team. Also in the playoffs is 1-9 Agoura in the Western Division. It won a coin flip.

Yes, things can get a little strange around playoff time, with forfeits and with emotions running high, but now it’s simple to figure things out: You win or go home.

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com

Twitter: @LATSondheimer