Fear the Spartans, if you must

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Huntington Park (7-5) has become the team everyone else hates to play: a hot team.

For those of us who thought the 16th-seeded Spartans -- who were .500 in the regular season -- had nothing left emotionally after stunning top seed Eagle Rock in the first round of the Invitational Division playoffs, the Spartans kept it going by beating ninth-seeded North Hollywood in the quarterfinals.

Who is going to bet against them in the semifinals this week against 13th-seeded University (8-4)? I will, since I’ve yet to pick Huntington Park in the playoffs. I also don’t like the fact that the Spartans are playing a third straight road game.

The other semifinal, third-seeded Fairfax (8-4) against host and second-seeded Garfield (9-3) is a pick’em -- the Lions’ fleet no-huddle offense vs. the Bulldogs’ relentless defense. I’ll give the edge to Garfield since it plays so well at home. But the athleticism Fairfax has could give Garfield the same kind difficulty the Bulldogs had against Jordan.

-- Mike Terry

-- Image from greekmilitary.net