It’s an Ifs-Ands-and-Buts Race to the Football Playoffs

The playoff hopes of three Marmonte League football teams may end up riding on the outcome of a California tiebreaker.

If Thousand Oaks defeats last place Royal, it would win the Marmonte League championship. But if Westlake defeats Simi Valley and Newbury Park beats Camarillo, there would be a three-way tie for second place.

If such a tie occurs, Westlake, Simi Valley and Newbury will meet at Camarillo on Saturday morning at 10 to play a California tiebreaker.

Newbury Park would play Westlake first, then Newbury Park and Simi Valley would meet, followed by Westlake and Simi Valley. The team going undefeated in the tiebreaker will finish second place in the league. The 1-1 team will finish third and the 0-2 team fourth. The three top teams in the league automatically receive a playoff berth in the Southern Section’s Coastal Conference.

The fourth-place team might also earn a wild-card playoff spot. Wild-card teams in each conference will be announced along with the first-round pairings on Sunday.

A four-way tie for first place also is possible, but Royal (1-8) would need to upset Thousand Oaks (6-3).

The California tiebreaker is part of the Marmonte League’s charter, but in the Del Rey League, principals may be flipping a coin to decide a five-way tie for second.

Loyola has wrapped up the Del Rey title, but all other positions in the standings are up for grabs. If Loyola (4-0) defeats Alemany (2-2), St. Francis (1-3) beats St. John Bosco (2-2) and Crespi (1-3) defeats Notre Dame (2-2), five teams would finish with 2-3 records in league.

Should there be a two-way tie for any of the three top spots in the standings, the team that defeated the other during the season will advance. If three or more teams finish in a tie, a coin flip will take place after the Loyola-Alemany game Saturday night at Glendale High to decide the final standings.

Earlier in the season, San Fernando Coach Tom Hernandez was telling people that his team would be lucky if it scored more than two touchdowns a game.

San Fernando had opened the season with a 21-0 win over Manual Arts, but followed that victory with a 9-3 loss to San Pedro. Then, in the their third game, the Tigers scored an unimpressive 15-6 win over a weak Crenshaw team.

“There was a lot of second guessing as to how good we were,” Hernandez recalled.

And much of the second guessing came from Hernandez, who decided to make three changes.

David Richards was moved from running back to wide receiver, Ron McMillan was used more at fullback and Charles Thomas and Clarence Bradley became running backs in place of Richards.

The results were immediate as San Fernando won five of its next six games, including four in a row heading into tonight’s showdown with Granada Hills for the Valley 4-A League title.

The key change was moving Richards to wide receiver. The senior’s speed has provided the Tigers with a deep threat.

“You have to double-cover him,” Hernandez said. “If you don’t, he’ll pick up some yards on you.”

Richards has 347 yards and 2 touchdowns on 23 receptions.

Hernandez has also made sure running back Lance Harper carries the ball at least 10 times a game. He has responded with 581 yards and 5 touchdowns on 71 carries. Harper rushed for 236 yards on only 12 carries in a 40-0 win over El Camino Real last week.

The Tigers have outscored their last four opponents, 145-14.

So much for the early predictions of weakness.

Said Hernandez: “This team is probably the best the school has had in 10 years.”

For the third time in four years, the game between Hart and Schurr will decide the champion of the Foothill League.

Although Hart has been the favorite in the last three meetings, Schurr won the league championship in 1982 and 1983. Hart defeated Schurr last season, 14-0, but the Spartans were 3-7 and out of the championship race.

Hart was ranked No. 1 in the Coastal Conference in preseason this year. Schurr is the current No. 1 team.

Coach Ken Davis of Schurr is downplaying his team’s role as the favorite.

“They were the favorites in the preseason, they should probably still be,” Davis said. “They have the players from an undefeated sophomore team and a bunch of starters back from last year’s team. They’re bigger than I’ve ever seen them. Their freshman and sophomore teams are bigger than our varsity.”

Davis says this year’s Schurr defense averages only 160 pounds across the line.

If Davis sounds a bit pessimistic, it should be nothing new to Hart fans. He has in the past talked of his smaller and slower Spartans, who then went on to beat Hart.

The game is for little more than pride this season, but Burbank and Burroughs will renew their rivalry for the 36th time tonight at Memorial Stadium in Burbank.

Burbank has won two years in a row, but Burroughs leads the series, 20-16.

Burbank is 1-3 in the Foothill League and 3-6 overall this season. Burroughs is 0-4, 2-7.

Faith Baptist, defending champion of the Southern Section’s Eight-Man Large Division, will play host to El Paso de Robles in the first round of playoffs Saturday at 1 p.m.