First look: A projected Pac-5 playoff bracket

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The Southern Section will release pairings for its football playoff divisions on Sunday. But with a three-way tie for first place in the Trinity League among teams that came into the final week of the regular season ranked 3-4-5 in the Pac-5 Division, and a two-way tie for second in the South Coast League with a surprise champion, the section’s marquee division’s pairings figure to be anybody’s guess.

After a series of coin flips that had Servite, Orange Lutheran and Mater Dei emerging from the Trinity League in that order, and Tesoro, Mission Viejo and finally San Clemente coming out of the South Coast League, here’s one possible scenario that -- as near as I can tell -- follows all the rules and reasonably maintains the integrity of the ranking while working with the designated league champions. But as my colleague Eric Sondheimer said, it’s a mess.

If this is the way it shakes out, it’s also going to create some great games.

Top Bracket
No. 1 Long Beach Poly (Moore 1) vs. No. 16 San Clemente (South Coast 3)
No. 8 Mater Dei (Trinity 3) vs. No. 9 Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (Serra 2)

No. 4 Orange Lutheran (Trinity 2) vs. No. 13 MIssion Viejo (South Coast 2)
No. 5 Edison (Sunset 1) vs. No. 12 Compton (Moore 3)

Bottom Bracket
No. 3 Crespi (Serra 1) vs. No. 14 Santa Margarita (at large)
No. 6 Esperanza (Sunset 2) vs. No. 11 Lakewood (Moore 2)

No. 7 Tesoro (South Coast 1) vs. No. 10 Newport Harbor (Sunset 3)
No. 2 Servite (Trinity 1) vs. No. 15 Millikan (Moore 4)

This is assuming that Santa Margarita is named the at-large team, and that Poly doesn’t match up with Newport Harbor, which it has already played this season.

Let the debate begin.

-- Martin Henderson