Palomar, Avocado Leagues Well-Represented in Playoffs

The two North County leagues, Palomar and Avocado, have a combined 12 teams in the San Diego Section football playoffs.

There could have been 14. The big debate during Saturday’s meeting to determine seedings focused on whether to allow seven teams from the eight-team Palomar League into the playoffs.

The debate centered on the merits of Poway (4-5-1, seventh in the Palomar). Was it markedly better than Granite Hills (4-6, tied for second in the Grossmont 3-A League) or Patrick Henry (4-5-1, fourth in the City Eastern League)?

The final decision was no.

There was also a similar discussion over another North County school during the process of elimination among 2-A teams. San Pasqual (3-5-2, seventh in the Avocado) almost made it in ahead of Coronado (5-5, second in the City Harbor League) and University City (4-5, tied for third in the City Western League).

3-A

Filling in the bottom rungs of the draw sheet was the difficult part. The easy part was giving the top-seeding in the 3-A bracket to top-ranked Morse (10-0, first in the City Eastern).

Morse’s reward is to play host to Granite Hills. The second-seeding went to third-ranked Helix (8-1, first in the Grossmont 3-A League), which will play Patrick Henry.

The county’s second-ranked team, Point Loma (8-1, second in the City Eastern) was not seeded and will play host to Mt. Carmel (5-4-1, fourth in the Palomar) in the first round.

Fourth-ranked Rancho Buena Vista (8-2, first in the Palomar), which lost to Point Loma earlier in the season, was third-seeded. RBVHS plays host to seventh-ranked Sweetwater (7-3, tied for second in the Metro Conference).

Sixth-ranked Chula Vista (8-2, first in the Metro) was fourth-seeded and will play host to Fallbrook (5-4-1, sixth in the Palomar).

The other three Palomar teams are Torrey Pines (5-4-1, fifth place), which plays at fifth-ranked Mira Mesa (8-2, third in the City East), Orange Glen (6-4, third place), which plays at 10th-ranked Southwest (8-2, tied for second in the Metro), and Vista--on the strength of a five-game winning streak which made for a 5-5 record--will play host to Mt. Miguel (6-4, tied for second in the Grossmont 3-A).

2-A

The top-ranked 2-A team, Kearny (No. 8, 8-1-1, first in the City Western), received the top seeding and will play host to Coronado.

The only other 2-A team ranked in the top 10, San Marcos (6-3-1, tied for second in the Avocado), was not among the top four seeds, but it did make the playoffs and will play host to Santana (4-4-1, third in the Grossmont 2-A).

The second-seeding went to El Camino (6-4, first in the Avocado), which will play host to University City. West Hills (8-2, second in the Grossmont 2-A) is third-seeded and will play host to Oceanside (4-4-2, fourth in the Avocado).

Madison--after moving down from the 3-A City Eastern, where it hadn’t made the playoffs since 1985, and into the 2-A Central--was fourth-seeded after finishing with a record of 6-4, good for first place. It will play host to Ramona (5-5, tied for fifth in the Avocado).

The other two Avocado teams to make the playoffs are Carlsbad (7-2-1, second place), which plays at St. Augustine (6-3-1, first in the City Harbor), and Escondido (5-5, tied for fifth place), which plays at Grossmont (6-2-1, tied for second in the Grossmont 2-A).

The first round will be played on Friday and Saturday.