Troy out of playoffs, and Southeast Division is a mess

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Can’t say how disappointed I am that Troy forfeited six victories and found itself outside the Southeast Division playoffs. The Warriors have an exciting running back in Derrick Coleman, and the Swaney cousins, quarterback Tyler and receiver Josh, are pretty good, too. Josh Swaney is 6-foot-5 and was getting some looks from Pac-10 schools and Coleman is headed to UCLA.

The Warriors probably would have been seeded third into the playoffs if not for using an ineligible player in six of its victories. It’s too bad, too, because La Habra seems to be the class of the division, and it has played some great games with Troy the last couple of years. Troy won last year’s Freeway League game, 42-38, and La Habra won this year’s meeting, 29-22. A possible championship game between the two would have been absolutely electric.

Instead, the integrity of the playoff bracket probably goes out the window. Troy’s forfeit gave Fullerton a victory and a share of the Freeway League title with La Habra; those teams didn’t play because of poor air quality from area wildfires, and Fullerton won a coin flip to be the league’s top playoff entrant.

That means that La Habra, ranked No. 1 in the division and the defending champion, can’t be seeded higher than Fullerton, which was ranked No. 10. And Troy, which was ranked No. 3, is out completely.

It gets worse. California, which was ranked No. 2 last week, lost to El Rancho, but because it still won the Del Rio League title, it can’t be seeded below No. 5 La Serna, which finished second. When it shakes out, I doubt any of the top-five ranked teams in the division heading into the final week of the season will actually be among the top-four seeded teams going into the playoffs.

As messy as the Pac-5 bracket might be, this one is going to be just plain weird.

-- Martin Henderson