American Legion Area Playoff Opener Pits Woodland Hills West, Westlake

In a way, it will be a rubber match of sorts. This time, however, one team will take the first step toward bouncing the other out of the playoffs.

Thursday at 4 p.m., District 20 champion Woodland Hills West will face District 16 winner Westlake-Agoura in the first round of the American Legion Area 6 playoffs at Birmingham High.

Westlake-Agoura (27-3-4) and West (23-3) split two inter-district games this season. After each game, the losing coach was heard mumbling something about it being “just a scrimmage,” or emphasizing that some key players were held out of the lineup because of upcoming district games.

The stakes will be much higher in this time. So high, in fact, that there was some grousing going on before the game.

“I wasn’t thrilled to hear about it,” Woodland Hills West Coach Gary Gibson said of the pairings. “Probably the two best teams in the tournament play each other right off the bat. The only good thing is that we’ve seen them before and we know what to expect.”

Thursday at 9 a.m., Panorama City (21-6) will face Hollywood. Panorama City, which lost, 12-11, to Woodland Hills West in the District 20 championship Sunday, received an at-large berth. At 12:30 p.m., defending state champion Claremont will face Santa Monica.

The winner of the double-elimination tournament, which concludes Saturday, advances to the state tournament next week in Yountville, Calif., located in Napa County.

With both Westlake-Agoura and Woodland Hills West rested, Gibson promised that there would be no alibis offered this time.

“Neither of us will be taking this one for granted, that’s for sure,” he said.