Long Beach Poly gets the call in the Pac-5

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Long Beach Poly, which has won 16 Southern Section football championships, will head into the playoffs next week favored to win its 17th.

The Jackrabbits emerged as the top-seeded team in the powerful Pac-5 Division, which includes eight team that can lay claim to league championships in the 16-team bracket. The pairings for all 13 divisions were released today/Sunday.

Because of the depth of the division, it creates some intriguing matchups, and one bona fide marquee game that would stand out any weekend of the season: fourth-seeded Orange Lutheran (8-1) against Mission Viejo (6-3-1).

Poly (9-1), the first-place team from the Moore League, will open Friday against the at-large entrant, Santa Margarita (5-4), the fourth-place team from the Trinity League. A possible second-round matchup looms against either Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (8-2) or Newport Harbor (7-3).

Although Notre Dame was ranked No. 2 in the division going into the final week of the season, the Knights were beaten by Crespi, 23-3. Notre Dame quarterback Dayne Crist suffered a concussion in the second quarter and did not return to the game.

It appears that Poly has the easiest path to the semifinals. Santa Margarita was clearly a notch below the three teams that tied for the Trinity League title; Notre Dame could be without Crist, and Poly has already beaten Newport Harbor, 34-7.

Crespi (8-2), which was defeated in the first round of last year’s Pac-5 playoffs by Edison after winning back-to-back Division X titles, was seeded second and plays the fourth-place team from the Moore League, Millikan (7-3), generally regarded as the weakest team in the division. Crespi is the only team this season to defeat the City Section’s No. 1 team, Birmingham, which is the only team to defeat Poly.

Two of the three tri-champions from the Trinity League were seeded. Because it won a coin flip, Servite (7-2) was the designated first-place entrant, was seeded No. 3 and will play San Clemente (7-2-1). Orange Lutheran, the second-place team, was seeded fourth.

Mater Dei (8-1), the third-place team from the Trinity League and ranked No. 1 in many regional and state polls for most of the year, will play on the road against Tesoro (7-3), the surprise South Coast League champion after it beat both Mission Viejo and San Clemente. The winner of that game could play Crespi in the second round.

The Sunset League co-champions are in the other games. Edison (7-3), the designated first-place team, faces Compton (8-2) for the opportunity go to against the Lutheran-Mission Viejo winner. Esperanza (9-1) plays host to Lakewood (7-3) for the right to play the Servite-San Clemente winner.

The Pac-5 pairings:

Santa Margarita (At-large/Trinity 4, 5-4) at Long Beach Poly (Moore 1, 9-1)
Newport Harbor (Sunset T3, 7-3) at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (Serra 2, 8-2)

Compton (Moore 3, 8-2) at Edison (Sunset T1, 7-3)
Mission Viejo (South Coast T2, 6-3-1) at Orange Lutheran (Trinity T1, 8-1)

San Clemente (South Coast T2, 7-2-1) at Servite (Trinity T1, 7-2)
Lakewood (Moore 2, 7-3) at Esperanza (Sunset T1, 9-1)

Mater Dei (Trinity T1, 8-1) at Tesoro (South Coast 1, 7-3)
Millikan (Moore 4, 7-3) at Crespi (Serra 1, 8-2)

-- Martin Henderson

-- Editor Bob: For complete City and Southern Section first-round playoff pairings, go here.