HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS : RBV’s Move Tilts the Balance : Analysis: Longhorns and El Camino are favored, but schools with losing records will get their chance, too.

The San Diego Section’s 2-A schools are sighing with relief heading into next week’s football playoffs, but the reason they’re feeling that way is of foremost concern to 3-A schools.

We’re talking of Rancho Buena Vista, which romped through the 2-A ranks last year on its way to the title in just its second year of competition--its first with a senior class.

But just as that first senior class has graduated, so too has RBV. The Longhorns now participate in, and are favored to win, the 3-A division.

Perhaps the biggest benefactor of this is El Camino, the early choice to take the 2-A title.

OK. Favorites determined, what of the other 30 playoff teams?

What’s that? Thirty-two in the playoffs?

Indeed. The section’s Board of Managers decided last spring that the county schools should have a playoff format not unlike that of the National Basketball Assn.

Of the 51 schools (27 in the 3-A, 24 in 2-A), 32 will make the playoffs, 16 in each class. That means 63% of football schools will make postseason appearances.

What it also means is that teams will make it with losing records. In fact, at least five schools will enter this year’s tournament with records under .500. In 3-A, there are 12 teams with winning records, two at 5-5. In the 2-A, there 12 teams over .500, one at 5-5. That’s a total of 27, with five slots still available.

A preview of what Commissioner Kendall Webb and prospective schools will discuss this morning in the football pairings meeting:

AUTOMATIC

League champions and second-place teams (or designated second-place teams in the case of ties) are in.

The league champions in 3-A are Rancho Buena Vista (7-3, Palomar League), Chula Vista (9-0-1, Metro), Morse (8-2, City Eastern) and Helix (7-1-1, Grossmont 3-A). Mt. Carmel (6-4), Southwest (6-3-1), Point Loma (6-4) and Monte Vista (6-4) finished second, Monte Vista winning a coin toss with Mt. Miguel for the Grossmont’s second selection.

The league champions in the 2-A are El Camino (9-1, Avocado), Grossmont (9-0-1, Grossmont 2-A), Kearny (9-1, City Western) and Crawford (8-2, City Central). Lincoln (8-2), which tied Crawford for first, is No. 2 in the City Central. San Pasqual (9-1), Santana (6-2-1) and Mission Bay (8-2) finished second.

LIKELY

Schools with winning or .500 records will likely make the playoffs as at-large selections.

In 3-A, Mira Mesa (7-3), Mt. Miguel (5-4-1), Bonita Vista (5-4-1), Sweetwater (5-5), San Dieguito (7-3) and Orange Glen (5-5) should make it.

In 2-A, the picks probably will be Ramona (6-4), Oceanside (5-4), St. Augustine (6-4), Hoover (5-5) and USDHS (6-4).

FIRST-ROUND FODDER

In 3-A, expect two from among Madison (4-6), Patrick Henry (4-6), Granite Hills (3-7), Poway (4-5) and Fallbrook (3-6); in the 2-A, three from among San Marcos (3-6), Carlsbad (3-7), University City (4-5), La Jolla (3-6-1) and Valhalla (4-5-1).