Plutko Has an Upsetting Weekend

Southern Section Commissioner Ray Plutko, the person who oversees the pairings and seedings for the playoffs, probably likes surprises just as much as the next guy. But, please, not on the final weekend of the regular season.

Four of the nine top-ranked conference teams--Long Beach Poly from the Big Five, Newport Harbor from the Central, Montebello Schurr from the Coastal and Norco from the Eastern--lost on Friday or Saturday and forced the Southern Section to reshuffle the pairings. Poly, the No. 1 team in California before being upset by Long Beach Millikan, Schurr and Norco are all second-place entries by their respective leagues.

Moreover, the Big Five had seven of the top 10 teams lose, and four from the Northwestern met the same fate, while the Central had three lose and one tie. The first- and third-ranked teams from the Coastal were beaten, while the Eastern had Nos. 1, 4 and 9 lose.

So it was a revised set of pairings that were announced Sunday afternoon. Plutko’s work is done on that front, but the teams that made the playoffs and play this weekend have no such luxury.

In fact, some teams never seem to get a breather. Take St. Paul of Santa Fe Springs, for instance. The Swordsmen come out of the Angelus League, the toughest either section has to offer, as an at-large team after losing to Anaheim Servite (8-2) and La Puente Bishop Amat (10-0) in the last three weeks.

Now they get to the playoffs and draw Long Beach Poly, which until Friday night had yet to give up a touchdown on defense. The winner of that one advances to the second round and gets the survivor of the game between fourth-seeded Loyola (8-2) and Fontana (7-3) at Glendale High, and neither of those teams are pushovers.

Bishop Amat, which will open the playoffs as the No. 1 team in the Southern Section and the Big Five, plays host to Lakewood (5-4) in an upper-bracket game. Defending champion Riverside Poly (10-0) is second seeded, and therefore in the bottom bracket, and meets Westminster (6-4) at UC Riverside. Third-seeded Huntington Beach Edison (8-2) plays Alemany (8-2) at a site to be determined.

A capsule look at the other conferences:

Coastal--Pasadena Muir (9-1) is top-seeded and meets Burbank (4-6) at Pasadena City College. The Bay League comprises two of the final three seeds, with champion West Torrance (6-2-2) playing host to wild card Oxnard (7-3), and No. 4 Santa Monica (6-3) meeting Pasadena (6-4) at Pasadena City College. Newhall Hart, which began the season as the top-ranked team in the conference and then went 0-3-1, seems to be playing up to its potential and goes into the game against Newbury Park (6-3-1) at College of the Canyons as the third seed, Foothill League champion and winner of six straight games.

Southern--Lynwood, whose only loss in a 9-1 regular season was by two points to Carson, is the top draw and will play host to Santa Ana (6-4). Second-seeded Tustin Foothill (8-2) goes against Anaheim Esperanza (5-5) at Tustin High and No. 4 El Modena of Orange plays host to Paramount (7-3).

Southeastern--Undefeated Covina Charter Oak is the No. 1 seeded team, with Diamond Bar, also undefeated, seeded second and in the bottom bracket. Together, they have the potential to score more points than some leagues. El Centro Central (9-0-1) takes the No. 3 spot and will host Riverside Norte Vista (6-4), while fourth-seeded Riverside La Sierra (9-1) meets defending champion Baldwin Park (4-4) at Riverside City College.

Northwestern--Top-seeded Canyon Country Canyon (10-0) meets Gardena Serra (5-5), but the defending champion Cowboys have lost quarterback John Watkins for the rest of the year because of a hand injury. Verbum Dei (10-0) is seeded second and meets Beverly Hills (6-3) at Jackie Robinson Stadium. No. 3 Hawthorne (9-0-1) plays host to Santa Maria Righetti (6-4) and fourth-seeded Lompoc (8-2) plays Long Beach St. Anthony (6-4).

Eastern--Once-beaten and top-seeded Claremont meets City of Industry Workman (6-4) at Citrus College. No. 2 Pico Rivera El Rancho (9-1) hosts La Canada (6-4), with West Covina South Hills (7-1-1) meeting Bell Gardens (8-2) and Whittier La Serna (6-4), fourth-seeded, playing Upland (6-4) at California High School in Whittier.

Desert-Mountain--Santa Clara (9-1), Panorama City St. Genevieve (8-2), Lawndale Leuzinger (8-1-1) and 7-2-1 Canoga Park Chaminade lead the way.

Central--The top four seeds are Newport Harbor (8-2), Santa Ana Saddleback (9-1), La Habra (8-2) and Westminster La Quinta (8-2).

Inland--Two teams from the Olympic League, Cerritos Valley Christian (10-0) and Ontario Christian (9-1), are the first and third seeded team.

Defending City 4-A Division champion Carson (8-1) is top-seeded in that section’s playoffs, which begin Friday night. The Pacific League champion Colts are matched against El Camino Real (1-8), the No. 4 team from the Valley 4-A League.

San Fernando (7-2), which won the Valley 4-A league title with a win over previously undefeated Granada Hills Friday night, is second seeded and will play Gardena (4-5).

Four teams from both leagues advance to the playoffs. In the past two years, the Pacific League has won seven of the eight first-round games. San Fernando, in 1983, was the only Valley League winner.

In the 3-A Division, Fairfax (9-0) is seeded No. 1 and Chatsworth (6-2-1) is No. 2.

Because there was a three-way tie for second in the Crosstown League and second-place teams take precedence over third place teams, Hamilton (3-6), Palisades (4-5), and Manual Arts (3-4-1), all advanced to the playoffs. Hamilton won a coin flip designating it as the No. 2 team and Palisades and Manual Arts filled the two available at-large berths.

Undefeated Bell (9-0) is the top seeded in the 2-A Division with Venice (8-1) No. 2. The two at-large berths went to University (4-5) of the Pac 8 League and Belmont (3-6) from the Northern League.