Carpinteria in Playoffs Thanks to Chaminade

Chaminade High has sacrificed a first-round bye in the Southern Section 2-AA Division basketball playoffs and will play Carpinteria at home tonight at 7:30, thanks to the generosity of Eagles’ Coach Mike Lynn.

Sunday night Lynn chose to schedule the game after the Southern Section had released the playoff pairings that awarded Chaminade a bye in today’s opening round and omitted Carpinteria from the bracket because of a communications error between the Southern Section office and the school.

The Southern Section agreed to let Carpinteria, the third-place team from the Tri-Valley League with a 7-16 record, into the playoffs with the stipulation that the Warriors had to find a team with a first-round bye that was willing to play.

When Lynn received a call from Carpinteria Coach Tom McCollum, he thought the request was a joke. When he was convinced that McCollum was on the level, he asked for time to consider it.

“I wanted to play a first-round game, but this was going to make me put my money where my mouth was,” Lynn said. “I talked to a couple other coaches who told me that McCollum was a good guy who ran a good program, so I decided to do it.”

Lynn also was swayed by the chance of playing a home game in the playoffs. The Eagles, the third-place team from the San Fernando Valley League with a 12-10 record, were scheduled to play in the second round Friday at Beaumont in Riverside County.