SOCCER : Playoff Schedule Revised

All City Section soccer games were postponed last week for the second week in a row in the aftermath of the Jan. 17 Northridge earthquake. All high school soccer action is to resume Monday, except for the Northwest Valley Conference, which will resume games Wednesday.

The first round of playoffs has been rescheduled for Feb. 17 and the championship match has been moved back to March 5. Those dates are tentative.

The final, which has been played at Birmingham High since 1972 when soccer was integrated into the City Section, has been moved to Weingart Stadium at East Los Angeles College.

City Section Athletics Commissioner Barbara Fiege said the move will improve soccer’s image in the city. “The student population of this city requires that soccer be one of the major sports in the district,” she said.

Games canceled Jan. 19 and 26 have been rescheduled for Feb. 11 and Friday, respectively. The Northwest Valley Conference games will not be made up. Games not played will not affect the seeding process for the playoffs, Fiege said.

As the season reaches the midway point, two teams have come to the forefront as contenders for the sectional title. Undefeated Bell and San Pedro high schools are poised to meet in the 1993-94 City Section final. Both have dominated their conferences.

The Eagles (6-0-1) will be looking for their second sectional title since 1990, and the Pirates (6-0-1) are seeking their third in eight years.

Bell’s devastating 5-0 blowout of defending City Section champion Fremont (3-2-1) two weeks ago proved the Eagles’ consistency as a power in the Southeastern Conference. The win was even more gratifying for the Eagles, who had lost to the Pathfinders in last season’s semifinals.

Competing in the section’s toughest conference with Garfield (4-0-3), Roosevelt (4-2) and Locke (2-3-2), the Eagles have had trouble only with the Bulldogs, tying 0-0 at the beginning of the regular season.

San Pedro has beaten every Pacific Conference foe by two or more goals.

As it stands, Garfield, Manual Arts, Belmont and Jefferson are the top Central City teams capable of making it to the quarterfinals. The local teams’ biggest challengers for the title look to be Kennedy (8-3) in the Northwest Valley Conference and Canoga Park (5-0-2) of the Valley Pac-8.

Thirty-two schools--twice the number as in the past--will have a chance to advance to the sectional playoffs this season.