Southern Section Dials a Wrong Number

Southern Section administrators have switched the pairings in the Division I-A and Division II-A boys’ basketball playoffs after discovering that Chino Hills Ayala competed in the wrong division in the opening round.

Directly affected will be Trabuco Hills, which will play at Whittier La Serna instead of Ayala in a second-round Division II-A game tonight.

Ayala, with 1,718 students in its upper three classes, competed in first round of Division II-A (1,125 to 1,499) Friday and defeated La Serna, 56-50. When La Serna officials questioned Ayala’s placement in the division, section administrators discovered the mistake.

“It was a clerical error in our office,” said Dean Crowley, the section’s associate commissioner. “But there are no forfeits involved.

“We’re handling it as if the Ayala-La Serna game never happened. Fortunately, we caught it after one round. It could have been a nightmare.”

Ayala will move to Division I-A (1,500 to 1,799) where it will play host to Hueneme on Wednesday in a first-round makeup. Thousand Oaks, originally scheduled to meet Hueneme tonight, will play host to the winner on Friday.

Placement of schools into divisions is based on enrollment figures for sophomores, juniors and seniors, posted last November. Next season, Ayala will compete in Division I-AA (1,800 or more).

“We’ll move the quarterfinal and semifinal games of that quarter of the bracket to Monday and Wednesday next week,” Crowley said.

Trabuco Hills Coach Rainer Wulf said he was informed of the switch at noon Monday.

“I spent the whole weekend breaking down the film on Ayala,” Wulf said. “Now, I’m doing a cram session on La Serna.”