Prep Review : Edison Faces Tough Task in First-Round Game

Dave White, Edison High School football coach, had one word to describe his team’s Southern Section first-round playoff matchup against defending Division-I champion Fontana: “Incredible.”

Edison (9-1) will play at Fontana (9-1) at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the most attractive first-round game of the pairings announced Sunday in Cerritos. Fontana has won 23 of its past 24 games and was ranked second to Loyola all season until it lost its season finale to Rubidoux, 37-0.

“We have the second-best records in the division and we’re matched against each other,” White said. “What’s worse, we’re on the road. At the very worst, I thought we’d draw Bishop Amat or Long Beach Poly at home, but we’re going to Fontana.”

The 16-team division has an unusual number of strong No. 2 entries this season as a result of league co-championships. Long Beach Poly (8-0-1), Fontana (9-1) and Bishop Amat (8-2) all tied for league titles but were designated as No. 2 entries based either on head-to-head competition or coin flips.

Long Beach Poly, Bishop Amat, Fontana and Edison, the No. 2 team from the Sunset League, have a combined record of 34-4-1. The 4 teams designated ahead of them in their respective leagues were 28-10-1.

“An overall record is not necessarily the No. 1 criteria for the pairings,” said Bill Clark, Southern Section administrator in charge of football. “Our formula says a No. 1 plays a No. 3 and a No. 2 plays a No. 2. By rule, we split the No. 1 and No. 2 teams from each league in the upper and lower parts of the brackets.

“I think most would agree with the seeds. Edison is probably the fifth- or sixth-best team in the division. Now, do you put them in the quarterfinals against the No. 1 seed or the No. 4 seed. Obviously, you put them with the No. 4 seed.

“We knew when we finalized the pairings that there would be some problems with all the strong No. 2 entries. I’m not totally convinced that Jordan (Moore No. 1) is better than Poly (No. 2) or that Rubidoux (Citrus Belt No. 1) is better than Fontana (No. 2), but that’s what we had to work with.”

Fontana Coach Dick Bruich took a realistic approach to the pairings.

“When you lose, 37-0, and finish second, you don’t have any reason to be complaining,” he said. “The best thing is to not get beat, and then you don’t have to play games like this in the first round.”

As expected, Loyola (10-0) is seeded first in the division. Fountain Valley (8-2) is seeded second, followed by Servite (8-2) and Bishop Amat (8-2). St. Paul (6-4) drew the wild-card entry.

Fountain Valley will play host to St. Francis (4-6) at Huntington Beach High in the first round. St. Francis is probably the weakest team in the division.

“I was pleased we were seeded second, and I think we got a good draw,” Fountain Valley Coach Mike Milner said. “I think eight teams could win the title. The first-round games are some of the toughest I’ve ever seen.”

Mission Viejo (10-0) is seeded first and Los Alamitos (9-0-1) is second in the Division III playoffs, followed by Dominguez (9-1) and Paramount (8-1).

Warren (6-3-1), with victories over Freeway League champion La Habra, Century League runner-up El Modena and a tie with defending Division-II champion Thousand Oaks, edged out Irvine (6-4) for the wild-card entry.

Mission Viejo finished unbeaten in its first season under Coach Mike Rush, matching the school’s 10-0 record in 1979. But Rush is keenly aware of what happened to the 1979 team in the playoffs.

“We got beat in the first round by Leuzinger,” he said. “When you’re No. 1, opponents play with more motivation, and they play a lot harder. Like with any team, it’s very difficult to keep our kids on an emotional high each week.

“There’s going to be peaks and valleys. We were the favorites to win the South Coast League, and I thought our kids handled that very well. It’s going to be interesting to see how they handle the No. 1 rating in the playoffs.”

El Toro (5-5), the two-time defending division champion, drew a familiar playoff opponent in the first round. Santa Ana (7-3) will play host to the Chargers at Santa Ana Stadium.

El Toro defeated Santa Ana, 13-12, in the semifinals last year on a memorable last-second pass from quarterback Bret Johnson to wide receiver Adam Brass. Two years ago, El Toro beat Santa Ana, 26-10, in the championship game.

El Toro has allowed an average of 24 points per game, but Coach Bob Johnson said he’s looking for improvement after a 27-26 victory over Irvine.

“It’s a new season starting this week, and we’ve been known to get up for that season,” Johnson said. El Toro has advanced to the division’s semifinals five consecutive seasons.

Defending champion Valencia (9-0-1) is seeded first and surprising Pacifica (8-1-1) is second in Division VI, followed by Corona del Mar (8-0-2) and La Mirada (7-3).

Troy (6-3-1), which tied top-seeded Valencia, 6-6, in a nonleague game, drew the wild-card spot. “There’s 13 points between us and a 10-0 season,” Troy Coach John Turek said.

Valencia has allowed only 41 points in 10 games, with 4 shutouts. Valencia did not allow a rushing touchdown all season.

La Habra (6-3-1) will play host to Saddleback (3-6-1) in a first-round matchup. Jack Nicholls led La Habra to its fifth league title in 6 seasons in his first season as coach.

“The turning point was beating Sunny Hills (14-0) for us,” Nicholls said. “We felt after we beat them, we could beat anyone. When you see that Valencia tied with Troy, that’s encouraging for us.”

Woodbridge (9-1) had its 13-game winning streak snapped by Trabuco Hills last week, and it lost the No. 1 seeding in Division VIII. Woodbridge, the defending division champion, was not seeded in the 16-team bracket.

“We knew we would lose the seed after the loss, and we deserve to lose it,” Woodbridge Coach Rick Gibson said. “I could see it coming. I could tell in practice on Monday that the players were content knowing they had a co-championship clinched before playing Trabuco.

“You watch the films and it doesn’t even look like the same team. The kids were stunned. We’ll find out if they’re winners now.”

Three undefeated teams--Atascadero (10-0), Santa Clara (10-0) and El Segundo (10-0)--are the top three seeded teams, followed by St. Monica (9-1). Santa Ynez (6-4) drew the wild-card entry.

Olympic League powers Valley Christian (9-1) and Whittier Christian (8-2) drew the first and third seeds in Division IX, but another league member, Orange Lutheran (7-3), did not receive a wild-card berth.

Orange Lutheran defeated fourth-seeded Montclair Prep, 27-12, in a nonleague game, but the playoff committee thought Southern California Christian (7-2) and Tehachapi (8-2) were stronger entries, according to Clark.

Second-seeded Carpenteria (8-2) plays Southern California Christian, an at-large selection.